The materials in this collection constitute a semi-random sample of the pre-war archive that was transferred to the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic following the liquidation of the Vilnius Jewish Museum in 1949. The collection includes records of YIVO work and activities, financial records, correspondence, and publications; documents about pogroms in Ukraine, and Red Army and Soviet activity in Vilna and Bialystok; and a significant amount of records of socialist, communist, and Zionist political parties, as well as associated newspapers and one-time publications.

The papers of Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt include copies of published and unpublished songs, poems and articles in both typed and handwritten manuscript form, newsletters, newspaper clippings, programs, scrapbook pages, and sheet music. There are also drafts and correspondence regarding her autobiography, including original letters sent to her from her husband Isidore when he visited Palestine in 1920, which form a portion of her autobiography. The collection also contains correspondence and legal documents from Greenblatt’s family, documents relating to her Zionist and charitable activities, and correspondence from other Yiddish writers and poets.

This collection documents the life of pharmacist and entrepreneur Arthur Abelmann. It contains materials about his personal and professional life, including his service in World War I. The bulk of the material concerns Chemiewerk, the pharmaceutical firm he founded in 1920 and cultivated for 13 years. In 1933, Abelmann was forced to resign his leading position and then to sell the company in one of the earliest cases of "Aryanization."

The collection consists of more than 300 autobiographies and supplementary biographical materials, such as correspondence, diaries, and documents collected by YIVO in the interest of Jewish youth research. The autobiographies were assembled through public competitions in 1932, 1934, and 1939 directed at Jewish youth aged 16-22. The collection also contains records of the contest, including lists of the contestants, correspondence with them, reports and clippings.

This collection contains the papers of Babette Wampold and the Alabama Council to Save Soviet Jews and documents their activities on behalf of the American Soviet Jewry Movement. The collection is comprised of correspondence, case files, clippings, newsletters, photographs, and trip reports.

The collection contains Bernard G. Richards personal and official correspondence, papers from his involvement with the American Jewish Congress and Jewish Information Bureau, published and unpublished writings, publications collected by Richards, articles about Richards and his activities, correspondence and articles from testimonial dinners in honor of Richards, and photographs. Significant correspondents include Joseph Barondess, Louis D. Brandeis, Vladimir Jabotinsky, J.L. Magnes, Louis Marshall, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jacob H. Schiff, Philip Slomovitz, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Morris Winchovsky, and Stephen S. Wise.

Bernhard Kahn dedicated 50 years of his life to welfare activities in order to help distressed Jews. Among others he worked for the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Comittee and the American Joint Reconstruction Foundation .The collection contains personal as well as professional correspondence, articles on Bernhard Kahn’s work and biography, lectures and speeches by him and a number of official documents such as letters of consignment, citizenship papers and educational and professional certificates.

This collection documents primarily the life and work of Henny Brenner as an eyewitness to the Nazi persecution in Dresden and the publication of her autobiographical book. Also included are documents about Henny Brenner´s husband Hermann and his involvement in the Jewish community of Weiden; materials about the professional activities of their son, the historian Michael Brenner; and documents pertaining to other family members and friends.

This collection contains materials collected by David Trotsky relating to the Jewish community of Belgium in the inter-war period. Materials include printed documents, posters, reports, meeting minutes, and newspaper clippings, mainly pertaining to the Jews of Brussels and Antwerp.

The David Waksberg Papers are comprised of materials generated while Waksberg served in a variety of leadership roles in the American Soviet Jewry Movement in the 1980s and early 1990s: Executive Director of the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews (BACSJ); National Vice-President of Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ); member of the UCSJ Board of Directors; Director of the Center for Jewish Renewal; Director of Development and Communication of UCSJ; a founder of the Russian-American Bureau on Human Rights in Moscow. The materials primarily consist of correspondence, reports, grant proposals, notes, clippings, newsletters and photographs.

This collection of posters includes approximately 1,000 rare or unique items pertaining to over 100 displaced persons (DP) camps and centers in Germany, Austria, and Italy, dating primarily from 1946 to 1952. Comprised of approximately 60% handpainted and 40% printed items, it includes posters produced by diverse Jewish groups within individual camps, such as administrative and cultural committees, sports clubs, Zionist and religious groups, and landsmanshaftn; as well as organizations active throughout the camps, including the Jewish central committees in the respective countries, the World ORT Union, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish National Fund, and the Jewish Agency. A small number of items also document activities of the revived Jewish communities in the city centers of Munich and Vienna. Many of the posters use not only language but also color, graphic design, and pictorial and figurative elements to engage their audience with calls to entertainment, lectures, protests, and commemorations.

The Elias Tcherikower Collection documents the professional and personal life of Elias Tcherikower, a scholar, communal activist, and one of the founders of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and to a smaller extent personal life of his wife, Riva Tcherikower, née Teplitski. Collected here are Tcherikower’s writings, professional and personal correspondence, photographs, manuscripts by other scholars, research materials, printed materials, financial documents, conference and exhibit materials, minutes of meetings, bibliographic materials and personal materials of Riva Tcherikower, née Teplitski, and Chaim Tcherikower.

This collection primarily contains materials relating to Emery I. Gondor's varied career as an illustrator, creator of puzzles, photographer, and writer. It also includes some personal documents and vital records, as well as materials relating to Emery Gondor's brother, artist Bertalan Gondor. It is closely related to the collection AR 25085 (Papers of Emery and Bertalan Gondor).

This collection consists of buttons, a keychain, and a sticker advocating support for Holocaust survivors, human rights issues, Israel, and Soviet Jews. Organizations represented include Boston Mobilization for Soviet Jewry, Coalition to Free Soviet Jews, Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, Jewish Students Network, National Conference on Soviet Jewry, Student Zionist Council, and Young Judaea.

The collection contains documentation of the Erna Weingold Kleinermann family, including vital records, identity cards and passports, school certificates, and correspondence.

This collection of mainly anti-Semitic material was compiled by a Jewish librarian of German descent who infiltrated the pro-Nazi community developing in New York City in the years leading up to World War II. The bulk of the collection consists of publications and printed matter, with the notable exception of narrative reports that describe first-hand experiences and observations of Nazi-affiliated events. Document types include advertisements, event announcements, books, clippings, correspondence, magazines and newspapers, travel guides, political memorabilia, and other print ephemera.

Hadassah Functions and Operations Records represent the bulk of aid and services provided to Hadassah's membership, from the 1920s to 2011. Materials found in the record group include correspondence, clippings, press releases, manuals and kits for chapters and members to implement programming and chapter structure, fundraising campaigns, scripts, study guides, programming for local and national meetings, biographical files, and training documentation. Departments documented in the record group include Public Affairs, Education, Women's Health, American Affairs, Zionist and International Affairs, Speakers Bureau, Fundraising, Program, Organization, Outreach and Tourism Departments. Materials related to the general administration of Hadassah are also in the record group; these materials include research and development of projects, archives department correspondence and other materials, Hadassah House administration, and strategic planning. The record group also documents Hadassah's efforts to expand membership outside of the United States, by the development of Hadassah International.

The bulk of this collection consists of genealogical research materials about George Vladar's maternal side, the Jewish families Biheller from Cieszyn (Teschen), Poland and Perl/ Tugenthat from Bielsko-Biala (Poland), and on his paternal side, the non-Jewish Hungarian family Vladar and the non- Jewish Austrian Family Bittermann (various spellings) and Muehler (various spellings). The collection consists of numerous family trees, birth and death certificates, school reports, and a correspondence of Vladar's Grandparents Joseph Biheller and Marie, née Perl.

The Gertrude S. Goldhaber Collection, which forms part of the larger Maurice and Gertrude Goldhaber Collection, consists of mainly professional papers of nuclear physicist Dr. Gertrude Scharff Goldhaber. The collection is comprised of professional correspondence, research files, materials related to conferences and lectures, clippings and article reprints, research notes, transparencies, photographs, glass slides, manuscripts and publications, and materials related to various organizations with which Dr. Goldhaber was involved. There are also some personal documents, including correspondence, calendars and diaries, and educational records.

The Gustav Beck Collection includes materials documenting Gustav Beck's genealogical efforts, personal correspondence, documents, memoirs, and a large amount of photo albums.

Papers of Hans Kohn (1891-1971), historian and lawyer, who was active in Zionist organizations. He published extensively on questions of nationalism and related topics. The collection consists of documents relating to Hans Kohn's professional experience, materials relating to his political activities, correspondence, diaries, materials relating to his experience in World War I and as a prisoner of war, personal documents, photos, clippings.

See "Related Materials" notes for links to every digitized Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) collection in the YIVO Archives.

The Herbert Strauss Collection documents the life and professional activities of Herbert Strauss, writer, historian, and teacher. The collection includes correspondence, court procedures, documents, lists, manuscripts and lectures, notes, photographs, printed materials, and a small amount of teaching materials. Materials constituting the collection reflect various aspects of Herbert Strauss’ personal life, teaching, research and writings in the fields of German-Jewish history and relations, Anti-Semitism, and assimilation. The collection includes both, personal and professional materials related to Herbert Strauss, with personal being by far the smaller.

This collection contains the papers of the journalist, author, translator, and diplomat Herman Bernstein. It documents his work on behalf of Eastern European and Russian Jews and holds correspondence, memos, writings and translations by Herman Bernstein, writings by others, contracts, clippings, printed matter, and photographs.

This collection contains the institutional records of the Houston Action for Soviet Jewry, mainly news clippings, correspondence, files about refuseniks, and various materials and programs for events which Houston Action for Soviet Jewry sponsored or was involved with. There are also some materials from other organizations set up to aid Soviet Jewry, including the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews, the Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. Many of these materials concern the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as in the 1990s, soon after the end of the Soviet Union.

The Howard Lenhoff Papers were generated and accumulated by Howard Lenhoff starting with his involvement with the American Association for Ethiopian Jews (AAEJ) in 1974 and running up until his final preparations for his book, Black Jews, Jews and Other Heroes: How Grassroots Activism Led to the Rescue of the Ethiopian Jews (2007). In addition to chronicling Lenhoff’s participation in AAEJ, the collection documents AAEJ’s relationships with other activists and organizations; Israeli government officials’ responses to AAEJ pressure; requests for help and stories of trauma from the Ethiopian Jews; AAEJ’s extensive publicity efforts; and American Jewish press coverage of the struggles of Ethiopian Jewry. The materials include correspondence, clippings, notes, drafts, photographs, audiocassettes and posters.

This collection holds the papers of the lawyer and librarian Hugo Knoepfmacher. The main subject of the collection is his personal and professional life, although material concerning other members of the family is also present. The collection consists of official documents, notes, correspondence, manuscripts, some clippings, and a very small amount of published material.

Isaac Leib Goldberg Collection documents Isaac Goldberg’s active participation in the international Zionist movement. It also sheds light on his professional activities as a lawyer in the Russian Empire. The collection consists of circular letters, official documents, correspondence, court documents and Power of Attorney, leaflets, announcements, reports, minutes of meetings, financial reports and tables, balance sheets and Annual Reports, lists, and memoranda.

This collection documents the academic, professional and private life of Jacob Barosin (1906-2001), a painter and artist of Russian-Jewish descent. Barosin was raised in Berlin, but he fled to France in 1933 and in 1943 survived a stint in the Gurs concentration camp. The collection primarily contains correspondence, ephemera, manuscripts, official documents, personal papers, and photographs.