Laurel Gould (1931-2008) and Alan J. Gould (1929- ) Papers
Scope and Content Note
The Laurel and Alan J. Gould Papers include materials from the end of 1960’s to early 1980’s and the bulk of the collection originated throughout the decade of 1970’s. The documents include correspondence, memoranda, publications, news clippings, photographs, slides, ephemera and audio recordings.
Dates
- undated, 1963, 1969-1982
- Majority of material found within 1970 - 1980
Creator
- Gould, Laurel, 1931-2008 (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 Laurel and Alan J. Gould 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 Movements 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.
Laurel Gould was an American Soviet Jewry Movement activist, involved with the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews in Washington D. C. area and in the San Francisco Bay area. Her husband, Alan Gould, a practicing attorney, served as a chairman of the Northern California Lawyers Committee for Soviet Jews and was a member of the Board of Directors of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. Together they traveled to the Soviet Union to aid Soviet Jewish Refuseniks in Moscow, Minsk and Kiev, and were involved in publishing the Soviet Jewry Law Review, the first law review exclusively focusing on legal issues of Soviet Jewry.
Extent
8.25 Linear Feet (16 manuscript boxes, 1 half manuscript box)
Language of Materials
English
Russian
Abstract
The collection contains papers of Laurel Gould and her lawyer husband Alan J. Gould, activists of the American Soviet Jewry Movement involved with the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews in Washington D. C. area and in the San Fracisco Bay area, Northern California Lawyers Committee for Soviet Jews and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. The bulk of the collection covers the decade of 1970 through 1980. The materials include correspondence, memoranda, individual files on Soviet Jewish Refuseniks, documentation of special projects, events and visits to USSR, publications, legal materials pertinent to the Soviet Jewry, photographs, slides and audio recordings of conversations and interviews with the Soviet Jews.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into six series as follows:
- Series I: Correspondence, 1974-1979
- Series II: Personal Files of Refuseniks and Prisoners of Conscience, undated, 1969, 1972-1981
- Series III: American Lawyers’ Assistance to Soviet Jews, undated, 1970, 1972-1981
- Series IV: Projects, Events and Visits to USSR, undated, 1971-1980
- Series V: Publications, undated, 1963, 1971-1982
- Series VI: Audio Recordings, Photos and Slides, Ephemera, undated, 1974-1976, 1978, 1981
- Subseries A: Audio Recordings, undated, 1974-1975
- Subseries B: Photos and Slides, Ephemera, undated, 1978, 1981
Acquisition Information
Donated by Alan J. Gould in 2008 (boxes 1-14) and in 2017 (boxes 15-17).
Digitization Note
The compact cassettes in Series VI were digitized and made available online in 2017.
- American Bar Association
- Antisemitism
- Audiocassettes
- Begun, Yosif, 1932-
- Case files
- Correspondence
- Emigration and immigration
- Fletcher, George P.
- Former Soviet republics
- Gould, Alan J., 1929-
- Gould, Laurel, 1931-2008
- Human rights
- International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
- Jews, Soviet
- Legal documents
- Memorandums
- National Conference on Soviet Jewry (U.S.)
- News bulletins
- Newsletters
- Pamphlets
- Phonograph records
- Photographs
- Prisoners -- Legal status, laws, etc
- Refugees
- Refuseniks
- Shcharansky, Anatoly
- Slepak, Vladimir
- Slides (photographs)
- Soviet Union
- Soviet Union -- Politics and government -- 1953-1985
- Stolar, Abe
- Union of Councils for Soviet Jews
- United States
- Title
- Guide to the Laurel Gould (1931-2008) and Alan J. Gould (1929- ) Papers, undated, 1963, 1969-1982 P-866
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Andrey Filimonov and Vital Zajka
- 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
- March 2017: Boxes 15-17 were added to the finding aid by Andrey Filimonov. Links to digitized audio was added by Nicole Greenhouse.
- October 2020: RJohnstone: post-ASpace migration cleanup.
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository
