Records of the Source of Life Benevolent Society
Scope and Content Note
This collection mainly consists of information about burial and monument benefits offered to members. There are also documents relating to the dissolution of the Society in 2003-2005. Materials include correspondence, deeds of grave ownership, gravestone drawings, death certificates, bank statements and financial records, a dues register, a membership list, cemetery maps and grave plot charts, ballots, legal documents, minutes, and tax records.
The materials in this collection date from 1911-2011 with the bulk dating from 1994-2005. The collection is in English and consists of 2 manuscript boxes and 1 oversize folder comprising 1 linear foot. Oversize materials consist of maps of the Society’s plots at Beth El Cemetery in Bergen County, NJ and at Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, NY, as well as the Society’s State of New York incorporation certificate.
Dates
- 1911, 1945-2011
- Majority of material found within 1994-2005
Creator
- Source of Life Benevolent Society, Inc. (Organization)
Language of Materials
The collection is in English.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open to researchers.
Use Restrictions
There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
American Sephardi Federation, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011
email: ASFinquiries@cjh.org
Historical Note
The Source of Life Benevolent Society was a fraternal organization incorporated in New York on September 21, 1911. According to the state of New York incorporation records (Box 2, folder 12), the Society was founded “for the advancement of social, intellectual and moral and charitable purposes…to foster the bonds of brotherhood…to voluntarily afford relief and assistance to distressed and needy members and furnish ministration for the sick; to bury our dead and offer prayers for the repose of their souls according to the rites of the Hebrew faith, and to render voluntarily aid necessary in the proper preparation of the dead for burial.” A Florida branch was incorporated in Miami on May 15, 1972 and registered as a charitable organization in 1984, at which point there was mention of a scholarship fund (box 1, folder 1). The Miami office became the main headquarters in 1985 while the New York office became the subsidiary branch. The Society’s directors decided to dissolve the Society at a February 28, 2003 meeting and the membership voted to uphold this decision at a special meeting on February 28, 2004. The dissolution was finally completed in 2005.
Extent
1 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection contains the institutional records of the Source of Life Benevolent Society, a fraternal organization founded in New York in 1911. These records primarily relate to mortuary benefits.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in one series and folders are in alphabetical order.
Acquisition Information
The collection was donated to the American Sephardi Federation by Adele Wolman Derby and Irving Glass on December 16, 2013.
Separated Material
There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.
- Bergen County (N.J.)
- Burial
- Correspondence
- Death certificates
- Fraternal organizations
- Hasday, Solomon
- Jewish Community of Miami
- Jewish Community of New York City
- Maps (documents)
- Miami (Fla.)
- Minutes (administrative records)
- New York (N.Y.)
- Official documents
- Sephardim
- Source of Life Benevolent Society, Inc.
- Title
- Guide to the Records of the Source of Life Benevolent Society 1911, 1945-2011 (bulk 1994-2005) ASF AR-69
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Rachel S. Harrison as part of the Leon Levy Archival Processing Initiative, made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation.
- Date
- ©2015
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
Repository Details
Part of the American Sephardi Federation Repository