Janowsky, Oscar I. (Oscar Isaiah), 1900-1993

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.

Papers of Louis Kraft: social worker, writer, and executive director of the Jewish Welfare Board, 1938-1947. The collection is valuable to researchers studying the Jewish Community Center movement, in particular the activities of the National Jewish Welfare Board during the 1940's, as well as the reestablishment of Jewish community life in Europe after World War II. The collection contains correspondence, minutes, financial and fund raising documents, newspaper clippings, publications, agenda of meetings and conferences, resolutions, annual reports, and handwritten notes. Also included are personal items such as certificates, scrapbooks, diaries, greeting cards, and photographs.

The collection documents the National Jewish Welfare Board's (JWB) evolution from an organization founded in 1917 to provide support for soldiers in times of war to an agency involved in all aspects of Jewish life both in the United States and abroad. In 1990 JWB recreated itself as the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America.

The collection consists mainly of minutes, surveys, reports, photographs, and correspondence of both JWB personnel and U.S. military chaplains, directed toward or concerned with the Jewish men in the Armed Forces.

The material in this collection covers such topics as: holiday arrangements (primarily the High Holy Days and Passover), food needs, religious services, furloughs, prayerbooks; budgeting and staffing; registration and marking of Jewish graves; anti-Semitism in the military; the general problems of Kashruth; communication between the men and their families; and general recreation and entertainment.

University professor, historian, and scholar Oscar I. Janowsky sought to understand Jewish culture and human rights in light of modern anti-Semitism, imperialism, and pluralistic states. Throughout his robust career he was a professor of history at the City College of New York, he also served as an advisor to League of Nations High Commissioner James G. McDonald, directed and authored major studies in the fields of Jewish community centers and education. The papers in this collection include his correspondence with colleagues and friends, research notes and article drafts, and his unpublished memoirs.

The Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA), formerly known as the American Association for Jewish Education, was founded in 1939. The Association promotes and supports Jewish education in communities throughout the United States and Canada by supplying studies of Jewish education, developing supplementary educational materials, and collaborating with Jewish organizations. This collection primarily contains the results of surveys and consequent reports, in addition to some correspondence, meeting minutes, and newsletters of the administration. Somewhat unrelated, the Jewish Media Services's files on films and filmmakers make up the last series of this collection, as JESNA took over some of the responsibilities of this organization in the early 1990s.