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.

This collection contains the minutes, correspondence and financial records of the I.L. Peretz Yiddish Writers’ Union from its founding in 1915 until 1973. Among the correspondence is a fair amount concerning the Fund for Jewish Refugee Writers, unions and union grievances, requests for aid from Jewish writers and activists in New York and abroad, and labor disputes and strikes.

The Irving J. Block Papers are a blend of personal papers and organizational records, documenting the evolution of the Brotherhood Synagogue (Congregation Beth Achim) in Manhattan and Block’s role as rabbi and his involvement in efforts outside of the congregation. The collection is primarily comprised of correspondence, sermons, minutes, notes, clippings, photographs, audiocassettes, and drafts of Rabbi Block’s memoir.

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.

The Jack D. Weiler and Family Papers are divided into two sub-groups: one containing most of JDW's personal records, including materials related to the Lenru Men's Club; JDW's philanthrophy in regards to the many organizations he worked with; items related to his work as part of the real estate firm, Swig, Weiler, and Arnow; and also includes a large number of photographs related to his meetings, dedications, campaigns, and building funds for Israel Bonds, UJA, and Federation. Last in this sub-group are books dedicated to JDW or Robert Arnow, and several small, pocket-sized booklets on subjects varying from toasts to Jewish law to care of the back.

The second sub-group is dedicated to the family of Jack D. Weiler and his wife, milliner designer Doris (née Person) Weiler, and their children, Joan and Alan. While the sub-group does contain many images and outings with Joan's husband and Jack's business partner, Robert Arnow and the children of Alan and Helene Weiler, this is primarily due to marriage into the Weiler family, and therefore the series relates more to the Weilers, with major evidence of Jack and Doris's grand- and in some cases, their great-grandchildren.

The sub-group also documents the family circles of Weiler and Person families, including the brothers and sisters of Jack and Doris, but primarily documents the family of Faivel and Chana Weiler. This sub-group contains correspondence, primarily between Jack and Doris and their children; general personal papers relating to the lives of Jack and Doris; and a large cache of family photos dating from the mid-1920s to the early 2000s.

A seperate series of Audio-Visual Materials rounds out the collection.

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.

An affiliate agency of the Jewish Welfare Federation in Detroit formerly called the Jewish Social Service Bureau (JSSB).

This collection consists predominantly of records of the Jewish Social Service Bureau and, to a much lesser extent, of records of the Jewish Family and Children's Service (JFCS). The bulk of the collection consists of records of individual cases which were processed by the JSSB. Additionally, there are administrative records which include the following: general correspondence, 1926-1963; minutes of staff and committee meetings, 1924-1958. Records of various institutions which at some point merged or were affiliated with the JSSB, such as the Resettlement Service, Jewish House of Shelter, Jewish Child Placement Bureau, Hebrew Orphan Home.

The collection contains the periodicals of, and relating to, many Jewish student organizations.

Joseph A. Rosen was an agronomist and official of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In the 1920s and 1930s he organized and coordinated relief activities for impoverished Jews in the Soviet Union. Joseph A. Rosen was a director of the American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation (Agro-Joint) that tried to develop Jewish settlements and assisted with organization of Jewish factories, cooperatives, schools, and health care facilities. All these subjects are covered in this collection. These are the papers of Joseph A. Rosen in his official capacity as a Director of the Agro-Joint. The collection contains agreements between Agro-Joint and the Soviet government, reports, and field observations of the agronomists and officials of the relief organizations, particularly of the Agro-Joint, technical reports and documentation necessary for development and financial sustainability of the Jewish settlements. Maps and landscape plans are also part of this collection.

Collection consists of correspondence, speeches, photographs, clippings, and memorabilia relating to Crestohl's activities as a lawyer and as a member of the House of Commons in the Parliament of Canada representing Montreal-Cartier, 1950-1963. It includes material relating to Canadian immigration policies, German rearmament, humane slaughtering, and citizen reactions to these issues; correspondence with members of the Israeli Parliament, and correspondence and speeches relating to his numerous activities in communal and Jewish affairs in general and Zionist organizations and The ORT in particular; and personal writings and memoirs in typescript and published material by and about Leon Crestohl.

The collection also contains correspondence in English and Yiddish between members of the Crestohl family, primarily his mother Rose (Weitzman) Crestohl, 1926-1941, and published and manuscript material, both original and copies, relating to the career of his father Hyman Meyer Crestohl, 1904-1921.

The collection documents the life and various interests of Leon Szalet (Chaim Jehudah Leon Chalette), an engineer/architect from Berlin, who immigrated to the United States via Shanghai. It holds the manuscript of his book Experiment 'E', which is based on his experiences in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, as well as correspondence and legal documents regarding the publication and reviews. Also included are letters Szalet sent to and received from his daughter in Sachsenhausen. Another important part of the collection consists of materials related to Leon Szalet's patented design of prefabricated steel-houses. His involvement in real estate in Berlin is documented as well. The collection also contains Szalet's correspondence as well as a few personal documents.

The Lev Aizenberg Collection documents Lev Aizenberg’s professional activities as a lawyer in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. Collected here are materials pertaining to a large number of cases involving Jews of Kursk and Kursk Guberniya (Province) and their attempts to fight eviction orders and subsequent relocation back to the Pale of Settlement

Lucien Wolf (1857-1930) was a diplomat, foreign affairs expert, journalist, and historian. As the secretary of the Joint Foreign Committee of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anglo-Jewish Association (earlier the Conjoint Foreign Committee), Lucien Wolf took a leading role in the efforts of Western Jewry to aid persecuted Jews in Eastern Europe. He was also a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference (1919), where he helped to draft the minorities treaties guaranteeing the rights of Jews and other ethnic and religious minority groups. David Mowshowitch (1887-1957) was Lucien Wolf's secretary and aide at the Joint Foreign Committee for many years and continued to work for the Joint Foreign Committee until the 1950s. The collection consists of the papers of Lucien Wolf and David Mowshowitch, as well as fragmentary records of the Joint Foreign Committee. The material includes personal papers, correspondence, reports, memoranda, minutes of meetings, copies of articles, and press clippings. The documents pertain to the situation of persecuted Jews throughout the world, most notably the efforts of the Joint Foreign Committee of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anglo-Jewish Association to aid the Jews of Eastern Europe, and to the Peace Conference at Paris in 1919 and the minorities treaties. There is also material on Lucien Wolf's and David Mowshowitch's other activities, most importantly Lucien Wolf's career as a journalist and as a historian of the Jewish community in Britain.

This collection describes the work and lives of the composer, conductor, and accompanist Warner S. Bass and his wife, the singer Marion Corda Bass. Most prominent among the materials of this collection are the music scores created by Warner Bass; they include works he composed, arranged, orchestrated, transcribed, or performed. Other items include personal documents, correspondence, published sheet music, photographs, essays, notes, concert and recital programs, press releases, and clippings.

The Michaelson family papers include early family correspondence, documents, and ephemera; genealogical research conducted by Ms. Appleby, Anna's granddaughter; copies of New York City marriage certificates kept by Louis/Lewis B. Michaelson, Rabbi, between 1906-1907; and Anna Michaelson's copies of original birth records that she kept as midwife in the Lower East Side in New York City between 1892-1916. The collection is valuable for researchers interested in the Lower East Side between 1890-1920, Russian immigration to the United States, acculturation of immigrant families to America, midwives, the Jewish communities in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Trenton, New Jersey, the Boys Institute in the Lower East Side, and the National Committee for Relief of Sufferers by Russian Massacres. In addition, this collection is rich in genealogy material, for researchers interested in the Michaelson family, births in the Lower East Side between 1892-1916, and marriages in New York City between 1907-1909. The collection contains correspondence, a family tree, birth certificates, memo pads, marriage certificates, meeting minutes, photographs, and a prescription pad.

The family papers related to Michel Sleppin (spelling varies). Materials primarily consist of family letters and business dealings related to his post as a textile and wool dealer in Europe until 1906. Family photograph (ca. 1904) included. Some business records are Rabbinic transaction permits. The collection is in Russian, Yiddish, and English.

Mizrakh Yidisher Historisher Arkhiv Collection consists of diverse materials that pertain to pogroms in the period between 1918 and 1921 that took place mostly in Ukraine but also in Belarus, Poland, and Russia. There is a wide variety of topics that are covered in the collection including Ukrainian-Jewish relations during a short lived Ukrainian Republic, Ukrainian-Jewish political, communal, and governmental organizations, Ukrainian government and the role of politicians and military Commanders in pogroms, most notably Symon Petlyura and Ataman Grigoriev, pogroms and its aftermath, military occupation of Ukraine by the German, Polish, Bolshevik and General Denikin’s armies and its relationship to pogroms, Jewish self-defense and relief work. Also included here are materials pertaining to the trial of Sholom Schwarzbard who was tried in France for assassination of Symon Petlyura. The collection consists of of large amount of lists and eyewitness testimonies, correspondence, complaints and petitions, reports and resolutions, statements and proclamations, memoranda and circular letters, conference materials, statues and by-laws, clippings and bulletins, military orders, and photographs.

The papers of Molly Picon consist of extensive Yiddish and non-Yiddish plays, numerous radio and television scripts, programs and announcements for Picon's performances, and personal material such as correspondence and photographs. Also included is a large amount of musical material such as songbooks, handwritten lyrics, and sheet music, much of it in Yiddish.

Morris U. Schappes, self-taught historian of American Jewish History, author, teacher, and editor of Jewish Currents for 40 years, is also known as a victim of hearings conducted in 1941 by the Rapp-Coudert Committee, a New York legislative committee investigating Communist activities in the state educational system.

This collection is comprised of materials related to the Rapp-Coudert proceedings and Schappes' subsequent imprisonment, and of materials generated in the following decades. Topics represented include academic freedom, Communism in the U.S., the roles of Jews in U.S. history, and Emma Lazarus. The formats primarily present in the collection are research notes, manuscripts, clippings, and correspondence.

The collection consists of the general, personal and professional correspondence of Moses Kligsberg, manuscripts for published and unpublished works, project proposals and outlines, research materials, printed matter and other records relating to Moses Kligsberg's involvement with the Bund and with Jewish refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe, to his functions at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and to his scholarly interests. Included are Moses Kligsberg's manuscripts on the subjects of Jewish sociology, psychology, youth, and political matters. The collection contains a great deal of YIVO administrative and publicity materials, among others editorial records of the Yedies fun yivo (YIVO News) and YIVO radio programs; materials on the Bund; records of the United Jewish Survivors of Nazi Persecution. Besides the personal documents and both personal and organizational correspondence, the collection also includes original musical compositions, acetate recordings, magnetic reels, and photographs.

Documents of the aid society from Moyzr, Belarus.

The Music (Vilna Archives) collection comprises the music manuscripts of the Esther Rachel Kaminska Museum. This includes the instrument parts of various operettas, folk songs, and musical plays.

The Esther Rachel Kaminska Museum was established after the death of the artist in 1928 by her son-in-law Sigmund Turkow, and her daughter,Ida Kaminsky. Originally housed in the apartment of the deceasd in Warsaw, the Museum was transferred to the YIVO Institute in Vilna in 1927. In addition to the archives of the Kaminsky family, the Museum was augmented by music accessions of producer-playwright Nokhem Lipovsky, producer-director Elieser and Zina Rappel, and later by Norbert Glimer, M.L. Genfer, and others.

This collection contains the records of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, the largest and most influential American Jewish organization created to coordinate efforts on behalf of Soviet Jewry; the NCSJ containes its work today, under the name, the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry (NCSEJ).

The bulk of the collection covers the NCSJ's activities from the early 1970s, through late 1980s. It includes meetings minutes, memoranda, correspondence, newsletters and publications of the NCSJ and its precursor organizations (primarily the American Jewish Committee on Soviet Jewry, 1964-1971), and the individual files maintained on Refusenik, prisoners of conscience, and Jewish émigrés.

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The collection also includes a considerable number of reports from the visits to the USSR by Soviet Jewry Movement activists and other. A significant part of the collection is represented by the audio recordings that include 13-minute programs on the WEVD Radio dedicated to Soviet Jewry topics and recordings of phone conversations with Refuseniks. There is also a considerable number of photographs, posters and publications, several film strips and VHS tapes.

The papers of Nison Lofman, which primarily contain family photographs, letters, and legal documents that trace Lofman’s life in Poland and New York City, as well as the life of his son Jacob Lofman as a photographer in New York City. Nison Lofman served as a Rabbi and religious instructor at various New York City educational institutions, including the Workmen’s Circle Shul in Brownsville and the Convalescent Home of Washington Heights. The collection houses two copies of the ketuba that sanctified Nison Lofman’s marriage to Rachel Lofman in 1902 or 1903. Languages of family correspondence, captions on family photographs, and legal documents include English, German, Polish, French, Yiddish, and Russian.

This collection consists of photographs and negatives of World ORT conferences and congresses, various individuals connected with ORT, and ORT vocational programs and activities, including in Displaced Person’s camps, in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Cuba, and North and South America.

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Abbo Ostrowsky, including correspondence with many important figures from the art world, several of whom had been students of Ostrowsky at the Educational Alliance Art School. There is also information about Ostrowsky’s career as an artist, including some original artwork, exhibition catalogues, and photographs. These materials show Ostrowsky’s significant influence on modern Jewish art and on the success of the Educational Alliance as an institution.

This collection contains correspondence between Abraham Cahan and many important literary and political figures, as well as Yiddish manuscripts sent to Cahan for consideration in the Forward and notes and drafts of Cahan’s own writings. There are also several articles written about Cahan, before and after his death. These materials serve to illustrate both Cahan’s importance in the literary and publishing fields as well as his involvement in the American socialist and labor movements.

Abraham Charasch Collection documents Abraham Charasch’s involvement with various Jewish political parties and Jewish student organizations in the Russian Empire and abroad prior to the October Revolution of 1917. Most materials collected here deal with the Union of Eastern Jewish Student Organizations in Western Europe and Zionist Socialist Worker’s Party. Included here is correspondence, by-laws, reports, resolutions, minutes of meetings, declarations, circular letters, lists of delegates to student conferences, memoranda, manuscripts, bibliographies, and applications sent to the Swiss Central Committee for the Return of Political Immigrants.