Myrtle Sitowitz Papers
Scope and Content Note
Myrtle Sitowitz’ collection contains correspondence, newspaper articles, a children’s guide to Soviet Jewry, profiles and case histories of the Refuseniks and Prisoners of Conscience, community planning information.
The documents include notes, memos, correspondence, publications, news clippings and a bumper sticker.
Dates
- undated, 1972, 1975-1989
Creator
- Sitowitz, Myrtle (Person)
Access Restrictions
The collection is open to all researchers, except items that may be restricted due to their fragility, or privacy.
Use Restrictions
No permission is required to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection, as long as the usage is scholarly, educational, and non-commercial. For inquiries about other usage, please contact the Director of Collections and Engagement at mmeyers@ajhs.org.
For reference questions, please email: inquiries@cjh.org
Historical Note
The Papers of Myrtle Sitowitz represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). These papers reflect the effort, beginning in the 1960s through the late 1980s, of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Jews in the Soviet Union. The American Soviet Jewry Movement (ASJM) is considered to be the most influential Movement of the American Jewish community in the 20th century. The beginnings of the organized American Soviet Jewry Movement became a model for efforts to aid Soviet Jews in other countries, among them Great Britain, Canada, and France. The movement can be traced to the early 1960s, when the first organizations were created to address the specific problem of the persecution and isolation of Soviet Jews by the government of the Soviet Union.
The collection reflects Myrtle Sitowitz' work on behalf of Jews in the U.S.S.R. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Mrs. Sitowitz was active in The 35's—The Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry, an international organization with members throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. The 35's maintained direct contact with the Jews of the Soviet Union and documented and publicized the human rights violations they were subjected to by the Soviet government and also encouraged public protest. The 35's sponsored rallies, demonstrations and marathons to promote their cause. The group kept in touch with United States elected officials to inform them about the plight of Soviet Jews, and facilitated political action on their behalf. The Campaign's activists wrote and telephoned Soviet officials to demand that the U.S.S.R. complied with international human rights laws.
Extent
0.5 Linear Feet (1 manuscript box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The papers of Myrtle Sitowitz reflect her work on behalf of Jews in the U.S.S.R. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Mrs. Sitowitz was active in The 35's—The Women’s Campaign for Soviet Jewry, an international organization with members throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and New Zealand. Myrtle Sitowitz’s collection contains correspondence, newspaper articles, a children’s guide to Soviet Jewry, profiles and case histories of the Refuseniks and Prisoners of Conscience, community planning information. The materials include notes, memos, correspondence, publications, news clippings and a bumper sticker.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into a single series.
Acquisition Information
Donated by the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2007.
- Antisemitism
- Bumper stickers
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Emigration and immigration
- Human rights
- Jews -- Soviet Union -- Politics and government
- Jews, Soviet
- Memorandums
- Notes (documents)
- Political prisoners
- Prisoners -- Legal status, laws, etc
- Publications (documents)
- Refuseniks
- Soviet Union
- United States
- Title
- Guide to the Myrtle Sitowitz Papers, undated, 1972, 1975-1989 *P-908
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Andrey Filimonov
- Date
- © 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
Revision Statements
- November 2020: RJohnstone: post-ASpace migration cleanup.
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository