Robinson, Jacob, 1889-1977

The Institute of Jewish Affairs was a scientific and research organization attached to the World Jewish Congress. The collection consists of brochures, reports, surveys and other research publications. The materials address the plans, goals and activities of the organization as well as containing studies of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, Jewish life in the postwar era in various countries and political events influencing Jewry and anti-Semitism. The collection also includes analyses of international legislation on questions which were influencing the Jewish situation within the spheres of human rights, minorities and migration at the time.

The Lithuanian Jewish Communities Collection is comprised of documents relating to Jewish cultural, religious, social, political, and economic life in approximately 150 towns in Lithuania. The bulk of the collection pertains to the period between 1919 and 1926, when elements of a system of Jewish national autonomy existed within the Lithuanian state, including a Ministry of Jewish Affairs and governmentally empowered Jewish community councils. Smaller parts of the collection relate to the periods before (1860-1918) and after (1927-1940) the autonomy.

Contains correspondence, judicial opinions, addresses and speeches, newspaper clippings, and published material relating to Perlman's career as a judge in various municipal courts of the city of New York (1935-1952), his political career as a New York State Assemblyman (1915-1917), member of the United States House of Representatives (1920-1927), and as an unsuccessful candidate for New York State office.

It also contains published material relating to Perlman's activities on behalf of the Jewish community, especially the American Jewish Congress (1942-1946), where he served as chairman of its National Executive Committee.

Approximately half of this collection consists of the official minutes; memoranda; administrative and investigatory reports; and correspondence of the Mayor's Committee on Unity established by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in 1944, of which Perlman served as a member on the subcommittees on Housing, City Services, and the Timone Investigation.