Zangwill, Israel, 1864-1926

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.

The collection consists primarily of letters written by Zangwill to Philip Cowen (1897-1903) regarding the American Hebrew and social matters. Also includes letters to Philip Henry on the Jewish Territorial Organization (1905 and 1908), and a letter to Max J. Kohler regarding an invitation to a meeting in his honor given by the Judaeans (1923).

This collection consists of papers of Ray (Rachel) Frank, the first Jewish woman to preach formally from a pulpit in the United States. It contains correspondence relating to her personal life; her activities as an author and lecturer; programs; and printed and manuscript copies of sermons, speeches, and writings by Frank. There is also a scrapbook (1879-1901) of newspaper clippings of articles by and about Frank, reflecting her view on women's suffrage, Judaism, and other topics.