The collection contains papers Abraham Silverstein, an American Soviet Jewry movement activist who co-founded and co-chaired the Academy of the Air for Jewish Studies, an agency that prepared educational shortwave radio programs for Jews in the Soviet Union. The materials include correspondence, memos, project descriptions and reports, news clippings, transcripts of lectures, research materials and 18 audiocassettes with recordings of the programs.

The bulk of the collection contains documents generated by the Judenrats of the Vilna ghetto during Nazi occupation. The Yiddish poets Abraham Sutzkever and Szmerke Kaczerginski, interned in the Vilna Ghetto before escaping to the forests as partisans, were instrumental in the removal of this collection from Vilna and its subsequent transfer to the YIVO Archives in New York. The collection is therefore named in their honor.

This is an artificial collection that contains digitized posters and ephemera selected from various collections in the Archives of the American Soviet Jewry Movement at the American Jewish Historical Society.

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papers from his involvement with the American Jewish Congress and Jewish Information Bureau, published and unpublished writings, publications collected by Richards, articles about Richards and his activities, correspondence and articles from testimonial dinners in honor of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.

The records of Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry (CASJ, after 1991 known as Chicago Action for Jews in the Former Soviet Union, CAJFSU), a grassroots volunteer organization dedicated to helping Soviet Jews emigrate from the Soviet Union and protecting the Refuseniks. CASJ was founded in the early 1970s as a result of the formation of the national organization, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, which included approximately 50 other local councils. The collection documents the CASJs activities from its inception until it closed in 2010. The collection also features materials related to the activities of CASJ’s umbrella organization, Union of Councils for Soviet Jews and its legal arm Soviet Jewry Legal Advocacy Center. The materials include correspondence, memoranda, case files, trip reports, publications, photographs, posters, audio, video, and three-dimensional artifacts.

The collection contains papers of a pioneer activist of the American Soviet Jewry Movement Rabbi David Hill. A New York City Rabbi and businessman Rabbi Hill served as the national president of National Council of Young Israel, member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and an officer of National Conference on Soviet Jewry. Starting 1971 he ran Operation Lifeline, an independently funded outreach program created by NCSJ Commission on Education and Culture to support Jewish life in the USSR and Former Soviet Union. David H. Hill Papers include materials from late 1950s to 2000 and the bulk of the collection represents the time period from 1963 to 1990. The documents include correspondence, memoranda, publications, news clippings, photographs with negatives, ephemera and a poster.

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.

Papers of Elaine Pittell cover the period from mid-1970’s to early 1990’s and document her and her husband’s Robert Pittell’s activities as the Chair of the Jewish Federation of South Broward’s Soviet Jewry Committee. The documents include correspondence, memos, minutes, publications, news clippings, audiocassettes, videocassette, disc negatives and pins.

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 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.

The General Jewish Council was an umbrella organization founded by the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith, and Jewish Labor Committee in order to coordinate their rights defense activities.

The bulk of the records in this collection date between from 1938-1944, the active years of the Council. Materials consist primarily of correspondence, minutes, memoranda, and reports.

Papers of the Soviet Jewry movement activist Grayce Perlbinder of Great Neck, NY reflect her activities as one of the leaders of the Long Island Committee for Soviet Jewry during the 1970s and early 1980s. The materials include speeches, notes, reports, a play script, information on trips to the USSR, correspondence, bulletins, memos, proposals, news clippings, newsletters and photographs.

The papers consist of correspondence and reports of Cecelia Razovsky (married name: Davidson), noted social worker specializing in immigration and resettlement of refugees. The collection includes information about her work with the National Council of Jewish Women in the 1920s, and with the National Refugee Service (and predecessor organizations) in the 1930s. Information is included about her work as a Resettlement Supervisor in the post-World War II Displaced Persons camps in Europe, and as a field worker in the southwestern U.S. for the United Service for New Americans in 1950. The collection contains reports and correspondence from her trips to South America, primarily Brazil, to explore possibilities of refugee settlement in 1937 and 1946; as a representative for United HIAS Service to aid in settling Egyptian and Hungarian refugees in 1957-1958; and as a pleasure trip and evaluation of the changes in the Jewish community of the country in 1963. Also included in the collection are many of Razovsky's articles, plays, and pamphlets.

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 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 collection documents the activism of Dr. Jack Minker, a leading authority in artificial intelligence, on behalf of foreign scientists whose human rights and scientific freedom were violated. The bulk of the collection focuses on Soviet Jewish Refuseniks, such as cyberneticist Alexander Lerner, mathematicians Victor Brailovsky and Anatoly Sharansky, and a dissident human rights activist, nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov. The documents include manuscripts, correspondence, memos, notes, publications, news clippings, and photographs.

The collection contains papers of Joel Sandberg and Adele Sandberg, among the co-founders of the South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry. It covers the period from the mid-1970's to the early 1990's and documents the Sandbergs' activities as leaders of the South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry, as well as their individual efforts in the American Soviet Jewry movement. The documents include correspondence, memos, minutes, news clippings and photos.

Kathleen M. Hyman of La Grange Park, IL is a former Soviet Jewry movement activist, who was involved with Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry, grass-roots non-profit organization that has advocated for Jews in the U.S.S.R. In 1976 Mrs. Hyman traveled to U.S.S.R., where she established contacts with prominent Soviet Jewish Refuseniks. She has been involved with the West Suburban Synagogue in Oak Park and their adopted village Penza in the Former Soviet Union and has been a liaison between her synagogue, Congregation Beth Shalom, Naperville, IL and the remnants of the Jewish community in Jekabpils, Latvia. The collection contains Mrs. Hyman’s correspondence with Refuseniks, memos, notes, and clippings related to the Soviet Jewry movement.

The collection contains papers of Laurel Gould and her lawyer husband Alan J. Gould, activists of the American Soviet Jewry Movement involved with the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews in Washington D. C. area and in the San Fracisco Bay area, Northern California Lawyers Committee for Soviet Jews and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. The bulk of the collection covers the decade of 1970 through 1980. The materials include correspondence, memoranda, individual files on Soviet Jewish Refuseniks, documentation of special projects, events and visits to USSR, publications, legal materials pertinent to the Soviet Jewry, photographs, slides and audio recordings of conversations and interviews with the Soviet Jews.

The collection contains papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Linda Rutta. The materials focus on her activism as an undergraduate student at City College of New York, and her relations with the family of the Soviet Jewish Refusenik, Victor Ozar. The collection includes materials from the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), such as a Soviet Jewry fact sheet, college campus action outline, and correspondence with SSSJ regarding Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience. Also included is Rutta's correspondence with the Ozar family.

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.

Papers of Margery Sanford cover the period from the early 1970s to the late 1980s and document her activities as the Documentation Committee chairperson of South Florida Conference on Soviet Jewry, as well as her individual efforts in the American Soviet Jewry Movement. The documents include correspondence, notes, memos, minutes, publications, news clippings, photographs, stickers and a flag.

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.

Papers of Morey Schapira reflect the work of the prominent activist of the American Soviet Jewry movement in the years 1965-1993. The collection includes details on Mr. Schapira’s leadership role with organizations Action for Soviet Jewry, the Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry, the New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. The collection contains files on many other groups, individuals and topics.

The papers of Mort Yadin reflect his work on behalf of Soviet Jews as a member of the Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry and the B’Nai Israel Soviet Jewry Committee. Included are transcripts of Yadin's phone conversations with Jews in the USSR, his correspondence with and on behalf of Soviet Jewish Refuseniks and Prisoners of Conscience. The collection also contains news clippings covering Yadin's activism, materials on events and projects, postal receipts, notes, memos, articles, brochures and photographs.

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.

Pamela B. Cohen Papers document activities of the prominent activist of the American Soviet Jewry Movement. Pamela B. Cohen began her activity through the independent grass roots council, Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry (CASJ) and in 1978, served with Marillyn Tallman as co-chair until 1986, when she became the national president of the Washington-based Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (UCSJ). She served in that capacity for 10 years. The Pamela B. Cohen papers include materials from the late 1960s through 2009, and the bulk of the collection is dated 1970s-1980s. The documents include correspondence, notes, memoranda, publications, news clippings, photographs, ephemera, audio and video recordings and 3-D objects.

The Grigori Gurevitch Papers consist of materials pertaining to his involvement with the revolutionary movement in the Russian Empire and abroad. The bulk of the collection consists of Gurevitch’s manuscripts on politics, history of Kiev, anti-Semitism, Russian political immigrants, and Jewish revolutionaries, notes, and drafts and also includes correspondence, small amount of clippings, receipts, two petitions, and a photograph