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.

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 papers relate to Kadison's theatrical career and personal life. Art works: original stage designs for the Yiddish theater; drawings of stage characters; portraits of the Kadison family; miscellaneous drawings. Photographs of the Vilna Troupe including scenes of performances. Individual and group photographs of troupe members, including photographs of Luba Kadison and Joseph Buloff. Photographs of Leib Kadison and family. Programs of Vilna Troupe productions. Clippings, theater posters.

Correspondence with literary figures including Leibush Lehrer, H. Leivick, Jacob Lestschinsky, Mani Leib, Shmuel Niger, Abraham Reisen, Lamed Shapiro, Chaim Zhitlowsky. Manuscripts and holographs by H. Leivick, Mani Leib, Abraham Reisen, Chaim Zhitlowsky.

Manuscripts of Jaffe's poems, short stories, translations. Personal documents. Correspondence with organizations. General correspondence including Shlomo Bickel, Daniel Charney, Aaron Glanz-Leieles, H. Leivick, Shmuel Niger, Joseph Opatoshu, Abraham Sutzkever, Malka Heifetz Tussman. Family correspondence. Materials for the anthology of Hebrew poetry in Yiddish (published). Materials on the theme of motherhood in world poetry.

The National Committee for Labor Israel (NCLI) was an American fundraising organization closely associated with Israel’s federation of labor and trade unions (Histadrut). NCLI provided financial support for the Histadrut’s educational, health, and social programs in Israel through national and regional solicitation campaigns. Major donors included Labor Zionist organizations, American labor unions, and other Jewish community associations. Financial problems eventually led to the dissolution of NCLI, and the bulk of this collection documents its final decades of operation. A large portion of the records pertain to development projects in Israel during the 1960s -1970s.

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.

The papers relate to H. Novick's activities as an educator. Educational materials such as curricula, games, exams, clippings, plays, materials on holidays and other topics studied in Workmen's Circle Schools, Farband Labor Zionist Order Schools, and Camp Kindervelt. Photographs of Camp Kindervelt and of the Jewish Teacher's Seminary in New York.

The Marc Ratner Papers consist of materials pertaining to Marc Ratner's political activities as one of the leaders of the SERP (Sotsialisticheskaya Yevreyskaya Rabochaya Partiia, Jewish Socialist Workers' Party, Rus: Социалистическая еврейская рабочая партия) which was a left leaning Zionist revolutionary party. The collection consists of correspondence, circular letters, clippings, minutes of meetings, essays, manuscripts, political resolutions and statements. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence between party members, minutes of meetings and manuscripts.

The collection relates to the life of Jewish refugees, mostly of German and Austrian origin, in Shanghai primarily between the years 1939-1948. It covers many aspects of their experience, including political and cultural events, relief and charity activities, and self-help. The collection originated from the YIVO exhibition that was organized and displayed in 1947 in Shanghai and later in New York. The collection consists of manuscripts, minutes of meetings, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and printed materials.