American Soviet Jewry Movement Photographs Collection
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains digitized photographs and slides from the Archives of the American Soviet Jewry Movement and other related collections at the American Jewish Historical Society.
American Soviet Jewry Movement Photographs Collection consists of 1244 digitized photographs and slides selected from several collections of the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement. It documents not only the everyday struggle for Soviet Jewry in the USA by depicting over two decades of demonstrations, vigils, and meetings, but also contains scenes of mourning and celebrations regarding Movement activists of all ages and walks of life, whether ordinary citizens, politicians, or celebrities. A number of photographs in the collection offer a glimpse into Cold War-era Jewish life on the other side of the Iron Curtain: prominent Soviet Jewish activists, Prisoners of Conscience in Siberian labor camps, clandestine gatherings and forbidden observations of religious holidays and ceremonies, and daring public protests by Refuseniks in the center of Moscow.
The physical aspect of the collection consists of 1 manuscript box containing 415 photographs. The digital collection contains digital surrogates of the 415 photos in the box, and those of 734 additional photographs that were not physically separated from their parent collections. The total number of digital images is 1494.
Dates
- undated, 1969-1991
Language of Materials
The collection is in English.
Access Restrictions
The collection is open to all researchers by permission of the Director of Library and Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society.
Permission to reproduce collection materials must be obtained in advance and paid for prior to usage. A Materials Release Form must be completed for photographs. Usage fees are assessed by the AJHS as the owner of the physical collection material.
Use Restrictions
Information concerning the literary rights may be obtained from the Director of Library and Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society. Users must apply in writing for permission to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection. For more information contact:
American Jewish Historical Society, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, N.Y., 10011 email: inquiries@cjh.org
Historical Note
American Soviet Jewry Movement Photographs Collection represents a selection of photographs from various collections 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.
Extent
1 Digital Files : 1 manuscript box (415 images) and 1494 digital images
Abstract
This is an artificial collection that contains digitized photographs and slides selected from various collections in the Archives of the American Soviet Jewry Movement, and other related collections at the American Jewish Historical Society. The physical part of the collection consists of one manuscript box containing 415 photographs that were separated from their parent collections.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into a single series.
- American Soviet Jewry Movement Photographs Collection, undated, 1969-1991
Physical Location
Located in AJHS New York, NY
Alternate Access to Digitized Photographs
The digital images can also be accessed by following this link: AASJM photographs in Digitool.
Acquisition Information
This artificial collection was created by the American Jewish Historical Society in 2009 and extended in 2013-2014.
Digitization Note
The digitization of a portion of the items available here has been made possible through a generous grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
Processing Information
This artificial collection is the result of several digitization efforts of the American Jewish Historical Society and the Center for Jewish History. The first batch of 415 photographs and slides was digitized in 2009. The photos and slides were physically removed from their parent collections to form an artificial American Soviet Jewry Movement Photographs Collection, I-494. The digital surrogates of the photos comprised an artificial digital collection of the same title. The call number was eventually changed to the current number, I-495. Several subsequent digitization efforts added 734 images to the digital collection, while the original photographs remained in their parent collections. While the initial batch of 415 photographs and slides was digitized on item level, the subsequently added 734 photographs were digitized on folder level.
The original call number assigned to this collection was I-494. The initial 415 photographs and slides, digitized in 2009, were named, ingested, and cataloged using that call number. The old call number appears in those digital images' file names and individual call/accession numbers.
- Abram, Morris B.
- Abzug, Bella S., 1920-1998
- American Jewish Congress
- Anti-Jewish propaganda
- Antisemitism
- Baez, Joan
- Ballet dancers
- Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews
- Begin, Menachem, 1913-1992
- Bush, George, 1924-2018
- Circumcision
- Civil rights demonstrations
- Detente
- Driftwood sculpture
- Drinan, Robert F.
- Emigration and immigration
- Former Soviet republics
- Gilbert, Martin, 1936-2015
- Grassley, Charles
- Human rights
- Huneke, Douglas K.
- Hunger strikes
- Imprisonment
- International law
- Jews, Soviet
- John F. Kennedy International Airport
- Kennedy, Edward M. (Edward Moore), 1932-2009
- Koch, Ed, 1924-2013
- Meir, Golda, 1898-1978
- Moscow (Russia)
- National Conference on Soviet Jewry (U.S.)
- New York (N.Y.)
- Nudel, Ida
- Photographs
- Political activists
- Political prisoners -- Abuse of
- Prisons
- Purim
- Refugees
- Refuseniks
- Saint Petersburg (Russia)
- San Francisco (Calif.)
- Scheuer, James H. (James Haas), 1920-2005
- Shcharansky, Anatoly
- Siberia (Russia)
- Simḥat Torah
- Slides (photographs)
- Soviet Union
- Synagogues
- Union of Councils for Soviet Jews
- United States
- Watt, James G., 1938-
- Weiss, Avi, 1950-
- Wiesel, Elie, 1928-2016
- Title
- Guide to the American Soviet Jewry Movement Photographs Collection, undated, 1969-1991 *I-495
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Andrey Filimonov
- Date
- © 2014
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Sponsor
- as part of the Leon Levy Archival Processing Initiative, made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation
Revision Statements
- August 2016: Container list updated by Andrey Filimonov.
- August 2017: Included information on the call number change from I-494 to I-495 in the Processing Information field.
- March 2020: Post ASpace Migration Cleanup by Tanya Elder.
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository
