Jewish Agricultural Society

This collection contains papers related to the lives of individuals belonging to the Berwin and Neisser families. The papers include documents related to the business operations of the Guttman company. as well as documents related to the emigration of the Berwin and Neisser families to Israel and the United States. The materials include correspondence; official documents; newspaper clippings; publications; and photographs.

Contains research and writing compiled by Rabbi H. David Rutman, primarily regarding the Jewish agriculture movement and New York Jewish agricultural colonies in the mid 1800s and early 1900s. Also includes Rutman's Master's dissertation for New York University, titled, "Ludwig Lewisohn: His Writing of Religious Interest." Agriculture material consists of copies of mortgages and listings of landowners from Sholam colony; and newsclippings and articles regarding the Jewish Agricultural Society, the beginnings of the agricultural movement in America, Ellenville colony, Sholam colony, and boardinghouses in the Catskills in the early years.

The Baron de Hirsch Fund Records document the organization's involvement in the planning of agricultural communities across the United States and to some extent in South America; the founding and administrative dealings of agricultural and trade schools; the establishment of the Jewish Agricultural Society; and the business records of the Fund itself. In addition, the collection documents the protection offered to immigrants through port work, relief, temporary aid, promotion of suburban industrial enterprises and removal from urban centers through the Industrial Removal Office, land settlement, agricultural training, and trade and general education. In this respect, the collection is of major interest for Jewish genealogists as it documents a number of individual immigrants. In addition, the collection contains documentation on the administration and organization of the fund, documentation on Jewish farming colonies such as the Jewish Agricultural Society, Woodbine Colony and Agricultural School, and documentation on the Baron de Hirsch Trade School. In addition, the collection contains blueprints and photographs of facilities.

The Industrial Removal Office was created as part of the Jewish Agricultural Society to assimilate immigrants into American society, both economically and culturally. It worked to employ all Jewish immigrants. The collection contains administrative and financial records, immigrants' removal records, and correspondence. A database has been constructed to search for persons removed by the Industrial Removal Office.