Under the employ of the New York Kehillah, detective Abraham Shoenfeld infiltrated and documented Jewish crime rings, prostitution houses and gambling establishments from 1912 to 1917. For the American Jewish Committee from 1938 to 1964, he investigated anti-Semitic organizations and individuals. He also authored a controversial book about the New York crime world, The Joy Peddler, and he was at work on other pieces of fiction and his memoirs. The bulk of his papers consist of investigative reports and research for the American Jewish Committee, his manuscripts, and his collection of anti-Semitic literature.

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.

The Adolf Leschnitzer Collection documents the life and professional activities of Adolf Leschnitzer, researcher, historian, and teacher. The collection includes brochures, booklets, clippings, correspondence, financial, vital, and immigration documents, minutes, notes, photographs, printed materials, and writings, by Adolf Leschnitzer as well as other authors. Additionally, there are materials dealing with other members of the Leschnitzer family, namely his wife, Maria Leschnitzer, née Bratz, her mother, Elly Bratz, née Michael, Adolf and Maria Leschnitzers' son, Michael Lesch, also known as Michael Leschnitzer, and Adolf and Albertt Frank.

The American Federation of Jews from Central Europe Collection consists of the Federation’s office files. This includes professional correspondence, by-laws, materials related to meetings and lectures, newspaper clippings, photographs, meeting minutes, reports, speeches, drafts, financial records, legal documents and forms, materials related to immigration and naturalization, newsletters and circulars, membership records, personnel files, restitution materials, oral history transcripts, and items of various related organizations and synagogues. There are also some personal documents sent to the AFJCE by members of the public.

The collection documents American Jewish Committee’s efforts to combat all forms of discrimination against the Jews in the United States. Additionally, there are materials pertaining to AJC’s work regarding other minority groups in the United States. The collection offers researchers a unique chance to see how and what was done prior to the changes in public opinion and civic and legal laws. The American Jewish Committee Records, Subject Files consists of materials created by executive offices, departments, local offices and chapters of the Committee concerning a variety of matters; foremost Jewish civil and religious rights, immigration, and the Holocaust.

The Anti-Semitic Literature Collection documents journalistic source materials (newspapers, newsletters, and illustrations) regarding views of anti-Semitism in the United States during the 20th-century. A few items from the 19th-century are included, particularly illustrations from Puck, Vanity Fair, and The Judge. Items are from various periodicals (i.e., The Dearborn Independent, Common Sense, The Crusader, The White American), organizations (i.e., American Nazi Party, the Christian Educational Association, and the White Party of America), and by many different authors (i.e., Father C.E. Coughlin, Benjamin Freedman, Otto H.F. Vollbehr). Additionally, this collection contains responses by American organizations to American and European anti-Semitism as well as documentation on the reaction of anti-Semitism in Canada.

Correspondence, clippings, reports, memos and other office papers

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 holds the papers of Bernhard Kolb, the business manager of the Jewish Community of Nuremberg. Among the material here are personal papers with some information on the Kolb family as well as a small amount of papers of Hans and Käte Bruck and some material on Jewish communities, especially that of Nuremberg. However, the collection is largely comprised of records from Theresienstadt and the offices of Der Stürmer, the Nazi newspaper. The collection includes official records such as lists, reports and announcements; correspondence; unpublished manuscripts; notes; and some photographs and drawings.

The Records of the Board of Delegates of American Israelites (1859-1878) documents the life cycle of the Board of Delegates, a Jewish civil rights organization located in New York City. The Board served in a two-fold function: acting as a central organization for American Jews and working on behalf of Jews abroad. To the latter end, the Delegates collaborated with the Committee of Deputies of British Jews and the French Alliance Israélite Universelle to provide for the relief and aid, civil, and religious rights of Jews throughout the Americas, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, particularly Romania, Ottoman Palestine including Jerusalem, and Morocco.

In the U.S., the Delegates were partially responsible for the appointment of the first Jewish Military Chaplain and surveyed member synagogues concerning the history and size of their congregation, the first organization to systematically record this type of information in the States. The Delegates merged with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) in 1878 and dissolved in 1925. Correspondents include Adolph Crémieux, Sir Moses Montefiore, Benjamin Franklin Peixotto, Isaacs S. Myer, the Rev. Dr. Arnold Fischel, and Maj. General Benjamin Butler. Documents include correspondence, minutes, committee reports, memorials, announcements, surveys, some printed material including clippings, and a 1932 Rabbinical thesis on the Delegates by Allan Tarshish.

This collection includes historical and genealogical information about the Weil family. Also included is correspondence regarding Bruno Weil's restitution case as well as the organization of Nazi persecution victims. World War I diaries and manuscripts of books written by Weil are also part of the collection.

The bulk of the collection consists of original and published writings by and about the historian and journalist C.C. Aronsfeld, touching on many aspects of German-Jewish relations.

The collection contains bylaws, circulars, guiding principles, lectures, minutes, newspaper articles, and proclamations pertaining to the German representative organization “Centralverein”.

Circulars, pamphlets, clippings, reports concerning the Centralverein deutscher Staatsbuerger Juedischen Glaubens, and Eugen Fuchs, its cofounder.

This collection mostly consists of newspaper clippings, articles and other documentation on Jews in Europe and in Palestine, as well as on Zionism and Jewish history. In addition, a small amount of biographical information on Conrad Cohn is present.

The collection consists of research materials collected by Daniel Horn on anti-Semitism, ritual murder cases, etc. in Austria and specifically in Vienna, as well as on Zionism. The materials include Horn’s notes, excerpts from various publications, many manuscripts and a large amount of clippings, all either in original form or in photocopies.

Various decrees issued by rulers before emancipation to the Jewish communities of the towns and provinces of Alsace, Augsburg, Austria, Baden, Bamberg, Berlin, Bohemia, Brandenburg, Braunschweig, Breslau, Cassel, Cologne, Dresden, Eisenach, Frankfurt am Main, Hanau, Hanover, Helmstaedt, Hessen, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Nassau, Nuremberg, Palatinate, Potsdam, Prussia, Rawicz, Rheinfels, Saxony, Schleswig, Schwerin, Vienna, Weinheim, Wolfenbuettel, and Wuerzburg. The decrees concern many aspects of life, including economic activity and taxation, settlement rights, and the regulation of the internal life of the Jewish communities.

Various articles, excerpts, maps, and books related to the Jewish community in Posen/Poznan, collected by Edward Luft.

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.

Emigration 1864-1952: This collection - encompassing about 90 years - contains papers about the situation and persecution of Jews in Eastern European countries (Russia, Poland, Roumania, Bulgaria, Lithuania). Papers describe the activities of various relief organizations. There are more than 170 papers (ca.900 pages), about half of them written in German, about 30 each in French or English, over 20 in Yiddish and some in Polish. A printed appeal of the Reichsausschuss fuer Russisch-Juedische Fluechtlingshilfe, Berlin (1929) carries among others the signatures of Leo Baeck and ALbert Einstein. (VI, 16).

The Eric Lind collection documents his involvement with numismatics and philately and his interests in the Holocaust and the fate of the Jews during World War II. Materials collected here cover topics such as Anti-Semitism, Holocaust, Nazis and Neo-Nazis, forgeries during WW II, stamps and currency, and the era of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The collection consists of printed materials, artifacts, paper money and coins, stamps, post cards, envelopes, correspondence, documents, and photographs.

The life of Ernst Hamburger was extraordinarily rich and varied; regrettably, his literary estate does not completely document it. In his flight from Nazi Germany, Hamburger had to leave all his papers behind. With a few exceptions, the same was the case in 1940. It appears he made it a practice to periodically weed his papers. At his request, a friend went through his papers after his death and destroyed two cartons full of personal and confidential material. Consequently, the remaining matter is only a fragment of a much larger life’s work.

Correspondence on various topics, including emigration to the United States and Cuba; relocation in academic jobs; denazification and conditions in Germany after the war; and Kantorowicz's scholarship. Unpublished manuscripts, and offprints of articles and reviews by Kantorowicz, largely on medieval cultural history; a brief biography of him by Ralph Giesey. Manuscripts, correspondence, legal briefs, clippings, and other material on the loyalty-oath controversy; material on Kantorowicz's tenure at the University of Frankfurt, and on his dismissal. Manuscripts, correspondence, and other papers of family members; an art history essay by Gertrude Kantorowicz and a pamphlet of poetry from Theresienstadt; genealogies; and a manuscript on Simon Kaliphari of Posen; manuscript by Kaete Ledermann, A Memorial of Angi ("Esther") Kantorowicz, c. 1904-1944, 1954, including transcript compiled by Guenther Roth. Photos of Kantorowicz and of family members. Papers of Richard Kandt (1867-1918), an African explorer and, from 1908-1914, administrator of Ruanda: poems, letters, maps, and obituaries. Addenda: Original lectures by Kantorowicz. Photocopies for reader service.

This collection contains the genealogical research of Ernst Oppenheim, and includes his investigations into the Oppenheim, Pasch, Breit, Altschul, Sirkis and Jaffe families. Included are his extensive correspondence, family trees and copies of original documentation, as well as interview transcripts and notes.

The Erwin Lichtenstein Collection documents the work of Erwin Lichtenstein as an author. The bulk of the archival collection is in reference to his book Die Juden der Freien Stadt Danzig unter der Herrschaft des Nationalsozialismus 1933-1945. The correspondence with Sam Echt, Werner Feilchenfeld, Ernst Loops and others reflect the response to Erwin Lichtenstein's publication. Noteworthy with regard to the book is the correspondence between Günter Grass and Erwin Lichtenstein. Although the bulk of the documents consists of correspondence, the collection also includes newspaper articles and book reviews, corrections and changes and the original manuscript of the aforementioned book.

This collection holds the personal documents and written works of Eva Dukes, an Austrian Jew who escaped Nazi persecution and immigrated to the United States. In her later years, Eva wrote extensively about her early life in Austria, her family, and her experiences facing the rise of Naziism in Europe. Along with her writings, this collection includes photographs, official documents, correspondence, restitution papers, and other materials pertaining to the life of Eva Dukes.

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.

"Mein Weg von Karlsruhe ueber Heidelberg nach Haifa" is the memoir of Frieda Hirsch (née Goldberg) (1890- ). She describes the history of her parents, her upbringing in Karlsruhe as daughter of a well-to-do Jewish-orthodox family, her education at a humanistic high school (Gymnasium), her university studies (medicine) in Heidelberg, Karlsruhe and Breslau (1908-1913), and life during World War I in Karlsruhe and Heidelberg. She married Albert Hirsch (1887-1954) in 1915, a medical student and member of the Zionist student organization "Verein Juedischer Studenten" and settled in Heidelberg, where Albert worked as a pediatrician. Frieda Hirsch tells about life in Heidelberg, the births and upbringing of her children, various friendships (among others with Georg Hermann, Frieda Reichmann, Erich Fromm, and Eugen Taeubler), Zionist activities of her husband, and first anti-Semitic persecutions in Heidelberg in 1933. She gives detailed testimony of her emigration from Heidelberg via Salzburg and Triest to Haifa, where the family settled, of the difficult first years in Palestine with her husband opening a new medical office, and describes her experiences during World War II in Haifa, the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 and moving to Kiryat Ono after her husband's death in 1954.

The second text, an attachment of Hirsch's memoir, contains a genealogical table and a detailed history of Frieda Hirsch's (née Goldberg) and Albert Hirsch's families.

Original correspondence consists of one letter each to Peter Pringsheim (1912); Joseph Koeth (1928); and A. Sommerfeld; as well as six letters to Ernst Stern (1907-1908). A handwritten 1933 letter from Fritz Haber to Chaim Weizmann in Mannern, Switzerland (6 pages) is available as a photocopy only. Also included is a typescript by Hans Schaeffer on Jews in Breslau (photocopy), Die soziale, politische und religioese Stellung der juedischen Familien in Breslau um die Jahrhundertwende 1900. The typescript is part of a letter by Hans Schaeffer to Johannes Jaenicke, also in the collection.