Jacques Judah Lyons, hazzan, rabbi and community leader, was born in Surinam and emigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1800s. Minister of the New York Congregation Shearith Israel for 38 years, he gathered extensive materials on early Jewish history in the United States, Canada and the West Indies. His papers include manuscripts, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, notebooks, photographs, and a Sansom ship's log book. Contains material relating to Jews in North and South America generally and more specifically to Congregation Shearith Israel and the Jews in New York, the Touro Synagogue and cemetery and the Jews in Newport, Rhode Island, Philadelphia and the West Indies. Also contains material relating to Jews in the wars of the United States, correspondence of the Jews with George Washington and items relating to Haym Salomon. Collection consists of manuscript material and five notebooks and three scrapbooks of Lyons. Contains material not listed in calendar consisting of sermons by Lyons, a manuscript prayer book used in Surinam and a guide for religious ceremonies at Congregation Shearith Israel, as well as letters written during the Civil War period and correspondence relating to the personal life and career of Lyons.

The collection consists primarily of correspondence reflecting Calmenson’s involvement in numerous national and local Jewish organizations. The largest quantity of materials is in relation to his work with the United Palestine Appeal (1926-1945, primarily 1926-1929), and the Zionist Organization of America (1919-1952). Among the local St. Paul Jewish organizations, the largest quantity of materials relates to the Emergency Committee for Palestine (1942-1951), and the Zionist Organization of America, St. Paul Chapter (1918-1950). Among his correspondents are Harry S. Truman, H.V. Kaltenborn, and Emanuel Neumann. Among the topics dealt with are the 1929 riots in Palestine, the protest against the Passfield paper, and the establishment of a Jewish army after World War I. The collection also contains materials relating to Calmenson’s private activities, and miscellaneous writings and papers belonging to the Calmenson family.

The Jewish Chronicle is a weekly newspaper covering local, national and global news for the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and its vicinity. The collection contains information and photographs used by The Jewish Chronicle for coverage of the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union during the decades of 1960s and 1970s. The bulk of the materials originated from the Soviet Jewry movement organizations and other Jewish institutions in the United States and includes publications, press releases, correspondence and photographs related to Soviet Jews.

The Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans (JFSGNO) was a social service agency created in 1948 to establish and preserve the self-sufficiency of Jewish families. The collection focuses on the JFSGNO’s work to resettle Jews from the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s, often in cooperation with similar agencies, such as Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), United Service for New American, and United Jewish Fund. Also included are lists of the Displaced Persons who arrived from Eastern and Western Europe by ships to the port of New Orleans in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and materials on resettling of refugees from Southeast Asia in the 1970s-1980s. The documents include ship manifests, memos, agendas, correspondence, clippings, policy statements and procedures, statistics, congressional reports, programs and budgets.

Contains material collected by the Jewish Media Service (JMS) on Jewish films, film company catalogs, resources and information from and about various media centers. The majority of the Jewish Media Service records date from when the JMS operated independently from 1975 to 1987. Types of material found in the collection include articles, brochures, catalogs, correspondence, examination study guides, filmographies, film stills, newsletters, pamphlets, photographs, posters, publications, scripts, and slides.

The collection contains articles, constitution and by-laws, correspondence, flyers, membership lists, newsletters, officers and trustees lists, photographs, souvenir journals, and speeches. Of interest is a copy of a dinner dance program from 1925, policies regarding religious observance in the U.S. Post Office, and correspondence lobbying for support of Israel and Jewish causes.

The Jews in Shanghai Collection contains an assortment of original and photocopied documentation of Jews in Shanghai during the 1930s and 1940s. In addition it includes an abundance of personal narratives, newspaper clippings and scholarly articles on this subject as well as on the origins of the Jewish Community in Shanghai.

The papers of Reverend John Frederick Steinbruck, an ordained Lutheran minister and humanitarian activist, reflect his involvement in the American Soviet Jewry movement. The materials include news clippings, correspondence, photographs, pamphlets and a brief manuscript of memoirs.

The Joseph Hirsch Collection contains papers of the Hirsch family and other related families and documents gathered during genealogical research. There is correspondence concerning his research, as well as family trees and information about Schaffa, the town where Joseph Hirsch's fathers' family came from.

Contains the memoirs and scrapbooks of Bluestone, concerning his numerous communal activities, especially those in the Zionist movement. A description of the collection was published by Hyman B. Grinstein in Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, no. 35 (1939), and a detailed inventory was prepared by Harry Bluestone (n.d.).

This collection mostly documents the professional career of Rabbi Joseph Perles, one of the first rabbis of the Conservative Judaism movement. As a rabbi, he strengthened and organized the Jewish community of Munich during his posting there from 1871-1894. The collection focuses on his religious writings, as well as his writings on Biblical archaeology, rabbinical philology, and folklore. A number of his sermons are included. There is a large body of correspondence from fellow rabbis and academic peers across Europe. Papers from the Jewish Theological Seminary in Breslau include a statute of the year 1854, a yearly report from 1875, and correspondence concerning nomination of directors for the seminary in 1875 and 1879.

This collection records the professional life and scholarship of Rabbi Joshua O. Haberman (1919-2017). A refugee who escaped Austria after the Nazi Anschluss in 1938, Rabbi Haberman had a distinguished career as both a champion of theological education and spiritual leader throughout the United States. Rabbi Haberman’s life work is well-documented through the items in this collection that include correspondence, handwritten notes and notebooks, philosophical research, conference lectures, and drafts of his later-published materials.

This collection encompasses the life and work of married Hungarian sociologists Judith Marcus and Zoltán Tarr, and their contributions to the work of the German sociologist Werner J. Cahnman after his death in 1980. The bulk of the material primarily dates after the Tarr's emigration to the United States around 1960. It is comprised of their own research material, in subject areas such as the Frankfurt School of Social Research, as well as primary source material from the estate of Cahnman. The Cahnman material was used to publish some of his unpublished books and also for use in their unfinished Cahnman biography project.

This collection primarily contains professional material by and about economists Julius and Edith Hirsch. The materials by and about Julius Hirsch include printed material, correspondence, manuscript and published writings, and memos prepared for the Office of Price Administration. Edith Hirsch materials include some published economics materials and a narrative family history centered on her maternal grandparents, Rudolph Bernheim (1848-1941) and Sara Bernheim née Levy (1853-1934) of Hechingen, Germany. The collection also contains material of wider German-Jewish interest donated by Edith Hirsch.

The Kalischer Family Collection contains genealogical research and a few family papers. Included in the collection are genealogical tables, related articles, a small amount of correspondence, and photographs.

This collection documents the education, immigration, and professional life of the physician Karl Rubner (born 1906), covering his early life in the Bukovina (part of Austro-Hungary), his studies in Vienna and Paris, and his later career in New York City. Materials include school and university records, vital records, correspondence, identification papers, articles, licenses to practice medicine, and photographs.

This collection documents the personal life and professional career of art director, editor, and photographer Kurt Safranski (1890-1964), who co-founded the photo agency Black Star in 1935. The collection also includes information about the career and life of Kurt’s daughter, Tina Fredericks-Koch, née Safranski (1922-2015), who worked as an art director for magazines and in real estate.

This collection documents the life and work of Kurt Schwerin. Kurt Schwerin immigrated to the United States in 1938 where he became a librarian and professor of law. Contained are several of his writings, research notes and other papers mainly related to his attempts to organize the immigration of his family, to settle down in the United States and regarding to his function as board member and head of the Chicago Chapter of the Leo Baeck Institute.

This collection contains correspondence, documents, and newspaper clippings relating to the life and activities of Frankel in the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, as well as in other social welfare Jewish organizations. Includes biographic and bibliographic data; manuscript and printed copies of his writings; speeches on the subjects of health, insurance and Jewish affairs; and miscellaneous personal correspondence, particularly especially with Milton Rosenau.

The Lee Sommer Collection primarily consists of photographic material of the Lee Sommer family. In addition it contains a small amount of family correspondence, memorial albums, and articles about Hermann Schuelein.

The Leo Baeck Family Collection documents the lives and influential events of members of the Baeck and Berlak families, specifically Leo Baeck, Ruth and Hermann Berlak, and Marianne and A. Stanley Dreyfus. Most prominent is the documentation on Leo Baeck's life; other salient themes include the World War I experience of Hermann Berlak and the Dreyfuses' involvement in preserving the memory of Leo Baeck's life and teachings. The collection includes extensive correspondence; a large accumulation of articles, especially those focused on Leo Baeck; a smaller amount of personal papers, manuscripts, drafts and notes; and a few photographs and slides.

The Leo Wolff Collection consists of personal documents of Leo Wolff and of papers pertaining to the organizations and communities in which he was engaged. Prominent topics are his work for Jewish communities in Germany and the negative influence of Zionism. The documents include biographical articles, family history articles, newspaper issues and clippings, minutes, correspondence, newsletters, notes, and by-laws.

The collection contains correspondence, documents, and newspaper clippings relating to the life and activities of Obermayer in local and national Jewish organizations. Includes: correspondence and other materials concerning the Board of Public Education of Philadelphia on which he served as member and then president 1955-1961 (of special interest are the papers pertaining to communism in the schools, educational television, and the problems of minority students); the American Jewish Historical Society of which he served as a member, president and chairman of the Exec. Council (of special interest is the material pertaining to the litigation over the Society's move to Waltham); the Symphony Club (1959-1966); the Penn. Advisory Committee, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1958-1960); the Penn. Alcoholic Beverage Study (1961-1967); the Heart Association of Southeastern Penn. (1964-1965); the National Committee on Employment of Youth (1965-1968); the American Bar Association Special Committee on Investigation, Solicitation and Handling of Personal Injury Claims (1957-1959); the Committee on Legal Ethics and Grievances (1961-1969); the Penn. Prison Society (1964-1969); the Phila. YM & YWHA (1925-1940, 1967-1968); the Hebrew Sunday School Society (1919-1970); the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, with special reference to Edmond Cahn's opposition to the establishment of Reform Jewish day schools (1964-1965); the Hebrew Union College (1964-1968); B'nai B'rith (1957-1967) and the Philadelphia Bar Assoc. (1937-1977).

The Levi Family Collection primarily tells the story of Eric Levi and his family from Ellwangen, Germany, especially focusing on his loss of schooling in Ellwangen and later service in the United States Army during World War II. The collection also includes information on the family of Inge Levi (née Thalheimer), the Thalheimer family of Bensheim. The collection includes many photographs, official documents, newspaper clippings, military records, articles about Eric Levi as well as the Thalheimer family, some correspondence, a scrapbook, and other documentation.

This collection documents the genealogical origins of Arthur Levi (1919-2018) and his wife, Kitty Pappenheim Levi (1925-2022).

The Lilli Liegner Collection centers on the work of this social worker and her role within the Jüdischer Frauenbund in Breslau. A smaller amount of material relates to the history and individual members of the Liegner and Rawicz families. Included in this collection are reports, correspondence, organizational papers and newspaper clippings on the Jüdischer Frauenbund of Breslau. In addition, the collection contains personal and official papers of family members along with a family tree and personal correspondence.

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.

The Lipsky Family Papers reflect the professional and personal activities of Eleazar Lipsky (1911-1993), his father, Zionist leader Louis Lipsky (1876-1963), and his mother, Charlotte Lipsky (1879-1959), as well as other family members. Eleazar Lipsky was a lawyer, novelist, Zionist and the head of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in the early 1960s. While working on a multi-part family novel, Eleazar Lipsky gathered and arranged much of the family material in this collection. In addition to family history, the collection contains information on the American Zionist movement, Bernard Richards’s role in the Committee of Jewish Delegations at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, and various legal battles involving such parties as the Jewish Week, the American Examiner, Doubleday, Philip Hochstein and Lillie Shultz. The materials include correspondence, an unfinished manuscript, legal transcripts, clippings, speeches, research materials, financial documents, miscellaneous writings and a few photographs.

This collection centers on the lives of Liselotte Sperber and her family members. The collection documents her early life and the major experiences that would shape it as well as the lives or significant life events of several family members, including her sister, parents, in-laws and daughter. The collection contains prolific correspondence, official and educational documents, childhood writings, copies of articles and newspaper clippings, and a few photographs.

This collection contains writings, minutes, financial records, correspondence, printed materials, newspaper clippings, and photographs relating to Broido's employment, investments, and Jewish and non-Jewish communal activities. It includes material regarding the department store, Gimbel Bros. (1934-1966), where he was associated with Bernard Gimbel, and where he served as Executive Vice President and as Chairman of the Advisory Committee (1953-1961); Temple Emanu-El (1957-1970), where he served as trustee and opposed secession from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations; the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (1944-1976), serving as President from 1965-1975, and where he was involved in the investigation of the Charles Jordan murder in Prague (1967); the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (1953-1972) where he served as trustee and played an active role in financial matters and relations with the Hebrew Union College; the United Jewish Appeal (1941-1972) where he served as President (1951-1952), trustee and member of the Board of Directors; the New York City Community College (1956-1972) where he served as trustee; and the Department of Commerce and Industrial Development of the City of New York (1961-1971) where he served as Commissioner (1961-1966).