HIAS Board of Directors and Steering Committees

An international Jewish immigrant and refugee service founded in 1909 in New York through the merger of the Hebrew Sheltering House and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. HIAS activities included financial and legal aid, transportation arrangements, educational and vocational programs, location of missing relatives, lobbying in the U.S. and other governments on behalf of individual cases. Until 1915 the HIAS confined its activities to the U.S. During World War I HIAS helped refugees in Europe and the Far East. In the period 1920-1922, HIAS established offices in Europe to assist war and pogrom victims. In 1927, HIAS joined with the Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) of London and EMIGDIRECT of Berlin to form a joint organization, HICEM, whose headquarters were in France and which dealt with European operations. HICEM was dissolved in 1945. At the end of 1953, HIAS had offices in 50 countries. In 1954, HIAS merged with the United Service for New Americans to form the United HIAS Service. The records of HIAS reflect the activities of all of its administrative offices in the U.S. and abroad. The collection is comprised of the records of HIAS, HICEM and the United HIAS Service.