Jewish Theological Seminary of America

This collection is comprised of papers pertaining to Admiral Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss, his career, and his community and organizational activities. He belonged to such groups as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Temple Emanu-El in New York, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the Jewish Agricultural Society, and the Union of Hebrew Congregations.

His papers include extensive correspondence, organizational and institutional records, photographs, and publications which document his personal and public life as well as American Jewish issues that he was involved with such as relief efforts for Jewish refugees from Central Europe, interest and involvement in the Reform movement, and endeavors to combat anti-Semitism, especially as propagated by Father Charles E. Coughlin and Henry Ford.

The records of the American Jewish Historical Society, the oldest national ethnic historical organization in the United States, include correspondence of officers and staff as well as inter-office memos, multiple versions of the constitution and by-laws of the society, meeting minutes of administrative branches and committees, membership and financial records, reports, exhibit materials, records relating to the society’s library and archival holdings, press releases and newspaper clippings, and publications and newsletters created by the society. There are also materials from various programs, such as meetings and conferences, tours, lectures, awards and dinners, films, and educational programs.

The AVI CHAI Collection contains a breadth of files relating to the administrative and outreach activities of the organization, from its founding in 1984 through 2019.

The AVI CHAI records stored at the AJHS relate to the foundation's activities in North America. The records relating to the AVI CHAI's activities in Israel are stored at the archives of the National Library of Israel.

The records consist of correspondence, reports, minutes, financial documents, digital files, and printed materials that chronicle AVI CHAI’s administrative communication and outreach programming. The collection consists of physical paper records (see detailed breakdown below), born-digital files (including computer files), as well as audiovisual materials such as audiocassettes, microcassettes and DVDs. There are some 35mm slides, but otherwise very few photographic prints or negatives. Of note in the collection are materials that outline the foundation’s research on, and enthusiastic support of, Jewish day schools, camps, teacher training and libraries.

Administration files include by-laws, incorporation documents, and insurance policies, among others.

Board records are comprised of meeting materials, such as minutes and agendas. They document the philosophy, direction and activities of the organization.

Communications files consist primarily the files of Deena K. Fuchs. They include media kits, graphics, working files for annual reports, and other materials.

Files related to AVI CHAI finances include investment portfolio documentation as well as quarterly and annual reports.

The core of the foundation’s history can be found in its Programs files which document the various programs initiated or supported by AVI CHAI. They include detailed files on the foundation’s loans to schools (including building programs) and to summer camps. Also included in this series are files relating to AVI CHAI communications activities, such as media kits, graphics, working files for annual reports, and other materials.

This Collection consists primarily of English, German, Hebrew, and French language correspondence concerning Reform Judaism, Zionism; the founding of the American Jewish Historical Society; the Jewish Publication Society; B'nai B'rith; the legal position of Jews in England and the United States with particular reference to the Naturalization Acts; the religious and social life and the history of Jews in Russia and Poland; Bible readings in public schools; the study of Jesus in Jewish Sabbath Schools; anti-slavery issues in the Fremont Campaign in 1856; and other correspondence pertaining to his numerous activities.

The Emil Schorsch Collections documents professional activities of Emil Schorsch, a Rabbi and a communal leader, after his emigration from Germany in 1939. The collection includes brochures, booklets, clippings, correspondence, notes, immigration documents, printed materials, and writings.

Born in Arkansas and raised in Pennsylvania, Cyrus Adler was a prominent Jewish scholar, educator, and leader. A nephew of the Philadelphian Sulzbergers (Mayer and David), Adler developed an interest in libraries, Semitics, and Assyriology, going on to earn a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins. In 1888, Adler began work at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C., and eventually became the President of Dropsie College in Philadelphia. Adler was active in the American Jewish Historical Society, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the United Synagogue, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Agency for Palestine, The Jewish Encyclopedia, and the National Jewish Welfare Board. He also participated in the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.

This collection represents a small portion of Adler's papers, with materials concerning Jewish activism, Conservative Judaism, and Jewish scholarship and history in America. The collection contains correspondence, page proofs, manuscripts, and published articles, clippings, notes, speeches, and ephemera.

This collection documents the professional and personal life of Henry M. Rosenthal from 1925 to 1989. His tenure as religious director of the 92nd Street Young Men's Hebrew Association and membership of the faculty at Hunter College are well documented through correspondence and supporting materials. Rosenthal’s Philosophical career and published writings make up the bulk of the collection, which includes manuscripts, drafts, and bound copies of his work. Unpublished manuscripts are of particular interest, as are the early drafts of his posthumously published "The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes's Secret; Spinoza's Way". Personal journals and early letters between Rosenthal and his wife, the former Rachel Chernowitz, complete the collection.

Isidore Meyer was an editor (1940-1968), librarian (1940-1962) and archivist (1940-1968) at the American Jewish Historical Society and a rabbi at the Jewish Center of Bay Shore, Long Island (1937-1943). Also a historian, Meyer wrote and spoke on the use, study and impact of Hebrew language and texts during the colonial period in the United States. The collection documents his AJHS career, historical writing and research, rabbinical work, teaching experience and general professional activities. Materials include correspondence, manuscripts, notes, photostats, clippings, printed materials, photographs, slides and negatives.

The Marjorie Goldwasser Wyler Papers document the work of Marjorie Wyler throughout her fifty-five-years as the Director of Public Relations for the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS). The collection also details Wyler’s volunteer work, both before and after retirement, as well as her personal writings and correspondence. The bulk of these materials relate directly to Wyler’s time as Executive Producer of the Eternal Light program from 1944 to 1993. Also of note is a substantial collection of correspondence between Wyler and Dr. Louis Finkelstein, Chancellor of the JTS from 1940 to 1972.

Series I contains a small selection of personal items including correspondence, bibliographic materials, photographs, and a childhood yearbook.

Series II is comprised of documents relating to Wyler’s work at the JTS and other religious organizations. These materials include broadcast catalogues, program ideas and proposals, professional correspondence, and various writings.

The Milton Steinberg (1903-1950) Papers documents the personal and intellectual life of the American author, philosopher, rabbi, teacher, and theologian. The collection contains correspondence, writings, photographs, audio recordings, and memorabilia. In addition to numerous articles, he authored several books including, The Making of the Modern Jew (1934), As A Driven Leaf (1939), A Partisan Guide to the Jewish Problem (1945), Basic Judaism (1947), A Believing Jew (1951), Anatomy of Faith (1960), and A Prophet’s Wife (2010). In a professional career that lasted a little over twenty years, he served as rabbi at three synagogues, primarily at the Park Avenue Synagogue. In addition, he was active in the community at large, and worked with many Jewish community and civic organizations. As a disciple of Mordecai Kaplan, he and others helped to establish the Reconstructionist movement of American Jewry.

The collection consists of correspondence, articles, newspaper clippings and miscellaneous publications pertaining primarily to the founding and activities of the Young Israel Movement. Of interest is material on the role of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and an announcement by Dr. Judah L. Magnes on the founding of the Movement.

This collection contains material relating to Norman Salit's activities with various organizations, including the Synagogue Council of America, the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the Wartime Emergency Commission for Conservative Judaism, the Boy Scouts of America, the Jewish Education Committee, the American Child Guidance Foundation, Religion in American Life, the Valley Forge Foundation, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and the National Community Relations Advisory Council. There are also speeches, writings, sermons, items related to Sharit's legal work and Zionist activities, as well as some letters from Mordecai Kaplan.

The Papers of Rabbi Samuel Geffen document his professional career as the rabbi of the Jewish Center of Forest Hills West in Queens. The collection is the result of Rabbi Geffen's work as a religious leader and educator at the Jewish Center and depicts the center's and Rabbi Geffen's role in the Jewish community there.

The records of the National Council of Jewish Women, New York Section document the organization's community service, advocacy, and supportive administrative, fundraising, membership, and public relations activities from the Section's early years to the present. Included is a large amount of material from the National Organization in relation to the New York Section. This material is dated from 1896 to 1999 and consists of administrative, events, and advocacy matters. The New York Section's community services files include its work on aging, child care, consumer telephone referrals, counseling support, crime prevention, the disabled, domestic violence, early child education, feminism, homelessness, hunger, immigrants, Israel, Jewish education and promotion, literacy, probation, the sick, summer recreation for children and the elderly, and war relief. The Section's advocacy files consist of lobbying efforts for the rights of children, the disabled, the elderly, families, the homeless, immigrants, Israel, and women. The collection is primarily in English, with some Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Greek, Spanish, Chinese, and Italian. Among the types of material are audio tapes, blueprints, correspondence, minutes, photographs, publications, scrapbooks, and scripts.

Spanning from its inception and incorporation in 1925 to its culmination in 2002, the Queens Jewish Center collection highlights this congregation's wide-range of religiously oriented and secular educational activities, ceremonies, developments, events, and programs. Predominant in this collection are the reports, bulletins, financial, legal and property records, and meeting minutes. In addition, books, clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, programs, publications, negatives photographs are also contained with in this collections.

The Robert Rifkind Papers document the Jewish philanthropic and lobbying activities of Robert Singer Rifkind. Robert Rifkind was born in New York City in 1936 and became a partner at the law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore in 1971. He served on the boards of many Jewish philanthropic and activist organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies. The collection includes correspondence, photographs and publications from Rifkind’s involvement in these and other organizations, primarily dating from the 1980s to the 2010s.

The collection consists of papers pertaining to a dispute over the retention of the rabbi in North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, Highland Park, Illinois, primarily correspondence, and including Board meeting minutes, committee reports, newspaper clippings as well as pamphlets & reprints of articles by the Rabbi.