Lazarus, Emma, 1849-1887

Lazarus is best remembered as author of "The New Colossus," and as a strong supporter of Jewish immigrants' rights. Her collection includes correspondence, articles, a notebook of her poetry, published copies of her poems, and copies of her obituaries.

Philip Cowen (1853-1943) was a Conservative Jew who grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Though he only studied for one year at the City College of New York, the literary-minded Cowen became the founder (with Rev. Dr. Frederic de Sola Mendes) and editor of the Conservative Jewish publication, the American Hebrew from its inception in 1879 until his resignation in 1906. In 1905, Cowen was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to the Ellis Island positions of Immigration Inspector on the Board of Special Inquiry, determining the fitness of émigrés to the United States, and later advanced to Inspector-In-Charge of the Division of Information for Employment and the Discharging and Information Division. In addition, Cowen was a member of the Young Men's Hebrew Association, was a founder of the The Judeans society, a secretary for B'nai B'rith, and published an autobiography entitled Memoirs of an American Jew (1932). Documents include writings and material on immigration, surveys of American leaders and intellectuals on Anti-Semitism, and background materials for articles written in the American Hebrew. The collection contains correspondence, articles, documents, official reports, telegrams, clippings, pamphlets, photographs, and handwritten notes.