Papers of William Edlin (1878-1947)

William Edlin was born in Priluki, Poltawa Province, Ukraine on May 3, 1878 to Paltiel Nochim and Miriam (Borodinsky) Edlin. He attended cheder until he was 12, at which point his family immigrated to the United States, settling in San Francisco in 1891. Edlin attended public evening school for two years and then enrolled at Stanford University, where he was greatly influenced by Socialist ideas.

At the end of 1896, he came to New York and began writing articles for English and Yiddish Socialist publications, including Abend Blatt (Evening Paper), as well as writing a book, The Coming Social Struggle (1897). He also was involved in the Socialist Labor Party, and was the assistant editor of The People in 1900. He became the manager of the Folks Tsaytung (Peoples Paper) in 1899 and later helped to found the weekly Social Democrat, for which he was the first editor, along with several other break-away members of the Socialist Labor Party, including B. Feigenbaum, Leon Kobrin, B. Weinstein, A. Kaspe, Morris Hillquit, as well as Abe Cahan and Morris Winchevsky. After the Social Democrat ceased publication, Edlin began working at The Jewish Daily Forward, where he was the editor from 1902-1903 and also wrote a weekly column about drama and music. He edited the Haverhill Social Democrat in Haverhill, MA, 1901, was the editor of the Capmakers’ Journal in Yiddish and English from 1902-1905, wrote for the Abendpost (Evening Post), the Jewish Daily Herald, 1903-1904, and the Morgn Zhurnal (Jewish Morning Journal), 1904-1913, for which he was also the drama and music editor.

Edlin helped to found the Workmen's Circle and was the General Secretary in 1913-1914. He supported Yiddish cultural activities and more widespread labor education through lecture tours and publications. He was later involved in the educational commission of the Workmen's Circle and served as the president. In late 1914, Mr. Edlin became city editor of Der Tog (The Day) newspaper and served as editor-in-chief from 1916 to 1925. He resigned from The Day in 1925 and became the National Executive Secretary of the Keren Hayesod in the U.S.A. from 1925-1928. He returned to The Day as editor-in-chief in 1929.

Edlin was also involved with music and theater. His book, Velt-Berimte Operas (World-Famous Operas) (1907) discusses and critiques popular Italian, French and German operas as well as music and opera in general. Der Yid (The Jew) was a four-act play, written with L. Cooperman in 1911, and was one of several plays Edlin wrote, including Mentshn in Keytn (Men in Chains), which was going to be performed in Jacob P. Adler’s People’s Theater with Adler playing a role in 1912, although this ultimately did not happen. Edlin was also president of the New York Foreign Film Critics, president of the I.L. Peretz Yiddish Writers Union, a prominent member of the Zionist Organization of America, and a translator of various works of fiction and history, including Ellen Thomas’ two-volume History of the United States (1912).

Edlin married Sarah Boudianoff in New York City in 1901 and they were divorced in 1912. He married Pauline (Polia) Zeltzer in 1912 and their daughter Charmian was born 1914. William Edlin died in New York November 30, 1947.