The bulk of this collection consists of materials docmenting the research of Alexander Altmann on German and German-Jewish history, particularly the philosophy of Moses Mendelssohn.

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 consists almost entirely of newspaper clippings of Arno Herzberg’s articles. The articles deal with the Jewish situation in Germany in the 1930s, Israel and her problems with the outside world, Jewish holidays, and a small amount of articles dealing with economic issues, such as taxes. Other materials include a small amount of correspondence, manuscripts (all the manuscripts are photocopies lacking any annotations or remarks), and a memoir depicting the Hess family members between 1930 and the 1940s, including their imprisonment in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

This collection contains the personal papers of Arnold Stein (1890-1974) and Werner A. Stein (1925-2017), a Jewish German-born father and son who fled Berlin, Germany in 1939 with their immediate family, Arnold’s wife Gertrude and daughter Marianne. The family settled in Kew Gardens, Queens, New York, where Arnold opened a printing business.

The collection includes correspondence and documentation of Arnold’s printing business in Berlin; his World War I German army service; his marriage with Gertrude Rosenthal; and the family’s emigration from Germany. Also documented are Werner’s schooling; United States army service; longtime involvement with the German-Jewish newspaper Aufbau; marriage to Helga Marcus and their lives in Great Neck, New York with their two daughters, Susan and Barbara. The collection also includes documentation on Stein, Rosenthal and Marcus genealogy and family history.

This is the collection of Arthur A. Goren, a historian and professor of American Jewish history at the Hebrew University and Columbia University. This collection consists of his research material and professional files from his academic pursuits and career as a professor, primarily at Columbia University. Included in the collection are copies of articles and photocopies of archival material used for research, drafts of speeches and manuscripts, handwritten and typed research notes, correspondence, clippings, photographs, and teaching and course material such as syllabi, readings, notes, and bibliographies.

This collection documents the professional activities and personal life of Arthur Waskow, a Jewish Renewal rabbi and political activist. The collection includes such printed materials as brochures, booklets, clippings, correspondence, financial documents, photographs, and Waskow's writings. Materials in the collection reflect various aspects of Arthur Waskow’s personal and professional life, including teaching, involvement in the human and civil rights movements, and the peace process in the Middle East.

This collection contains materials relating to Edith and Herbert Feist and family. It includes personal papers from Edith and Herbert, such as courtship correspondence in the early 1930s. Herbert Feist's professional materials relate to his work in Germany as a sketch artist, as well as to his businesses in the United States, primarily his art gallery. The collection also includes materials about the Feist's relatives, particularly Herbert's maternal grandfather Max Herschel. A leader in the Jewish community of Bonn, Herschel's papers here include manuscript and printed poems and translations (religious and secular). Photographs and genealogical research are also found in this collection.

The Emil Schorsch Collections documents professional activities of Emil Schorsch, a Rabbi and a communal leader, after his emigration from Germany in 1939. The collection includes brochures, booklets, clippings, correspondence, notes, immigration documents, printed materials, and writings.

The Eric Zielenziger Collection includes materials dealing with various members of the Zielenziger family. The bulk of the collection consists of Ruth Zielenziger’s teaching materials. Materials dealing with other members of the family include vital and school documents, certificates, financial documents, some family correspondence, genealogical tables, and a large number of Kurt Zielenziger’s manuscripts.

The Ernst Heumann Family Collection documents three generations of this family, including members of the Messer, van Gelder, Oppenheim, Haas, and related families. Much of the collection centers on how the businessman Ernst Heumann and his wife Hedi née Messer established themselves in the United States and built their family, although documentation on their early lives in Germany and their emigration is also present. Although the bulk of the collection consists of the family's extensive personal correspondence, official and personal documents are also a central part of the collection. The collection contains correspondence; official documents; educational documents; family writing including poems, essays and short stories; travel memorabilia; some immigration papers; legal documents; Ernst Heumann's business correspondence and papers; family trees; and other documentation.

This collection consists of a "Lenel family archive" created by Fritz Victor Lenel. In addition to materials common in genealogical collections, such as genealogical tables and photocopies of archival documents, this collection includes original material relating to Lenel's ancestors, many of whom were prominent members of the Mannheim Jewish community, and very thorough research notes and correspondence with distant relatives.

The Gustav Beck Collection includes materials documenting Gustav Beck's genealogical efforts, personal correspondence, documents, memoirs, and a large amount of photo albums.

The collection documents the work of Henry Besso and reflects various aspects of his professional life, personal research and writings in the field of Sephardic culture, Spanish language and linguistics, and Sephardic and Spanish history. Collection also documents Besso's involvement with Sephardic organizations and communities. Collection includes audio materials, brochures, booklets, clippings, conference procedures, correspondence, government publications, minutes, notes, photographs, printed matter, reports, speeches, and writings and translations by Henry Besso and others.

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 collection documents the trip to the Soviet Union that Dr. Irwin H. Krasna, a pediatric surgeon, and his twin brother, Dr. Alvin I. Krasna, a Professor of Biochemistry at Columbia University, took in September-October 1971, traveling under the auspices of Arye Kroll, a prominent Israeli Zionist and representative of Lishkat Hakesher (commonly known as Nativ), the Israeli liaison Bureau that carried out clandestine activities to establish contact with Jews in Eastern Europe during the Cold War to encourage them to immigrate to Israel. Materials include a manuscript, an audiocassette and photographs.

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.

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.

Typescripts and correspondence by Schönberg; 2 scrapbooks, one containing concert programs and reviews of Schönberg's works (1921-1948), the other containing articles by Schönberg, mostly on music and culture (1920-1938).

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.).

Joseph Roth was one of the most prominent Austrian writers of the first half of the 20th century. Particularly his novels and newspaper essays gained him the respect of contemporary critics. Joseph Roth's papers at the Leo Baeck Institute Archives consist of handwritten and typewritten manuscripts of novels, novellas, short stories, and essays, including mostly complete manuscripts of his works Die Hundert Tage (The Ballad of the Hundred Days), Büste des Kaisers (The Bust of the Emperor), and his 'Trozki' novel Der stumme Prophet (The Silent Prophet). Joseph Roth's journalistic work is also well represented. There are a few personal items and over one hundred photographs of Joseph Roth and his wife Friederike. The Joseph Roth collection also contains correspondence with family and publishers, clippings about Joseph Roth, and reviews of his work. The addenda mostly consist of invitations to conferences and exhibitions, and scholarly articles on Joseph Roth's work and life.

The Joseph Shubow Collection documents the life and professional activities of Joseph Shubow, military Chaplain, leader of the Congregation B’nai Moshe, Boston, MA and a prominent American Zionist leader. The collection includes correspondence, documents, lists, writings, speeches and sermons notes, photographs, and printed materials. Materials constituting the collection reflect various aspects of Joseph Shubow’s personal and professional life, religious leadership and writings in the fields of Judaism and Jewish history.

The Julius and Elisabeth Hirsch Collection holds the papers of this couple, with much of the collection consisting of family correspondence. Prominent subjects include the immigration of family members and genealogy of the family. In addition to extensive correspondence and family trees the collection includes notebooks, essays and articles, newspaper clippings, photographs, early drafts of Julius Hirsch's family memoir, and research notes.

The Leo Breslauer Collection documents the professional career of Rabbi Leo Breslauer, and to a smaller extent, his personal life, especially in relation to his and his family’s departure from Germany. Prominent topics include his rabbinical work at congregations in Fürth, Germany and in New York City, his writings, and his thoughts on Zionism.

This collection contains a wide variety of documents and papers pertaining to the family of Ernst Mathias, including several documents pertaining to his ancestors, some of whom were physicians, and others who were manufacturers who served the Prussian court in the 19th century.

The collection consists of various materials pertaining to Max Meir Spangenthal.

The Milton Steinberg (1903-1950) Papers documents the personal and intellectual life of the American author, philosopher, rabbi, teacher, and theologian. The collection contains correspondence, writings, photographs, audio recordings, and memorabilia. In addition to numerous articles, he authored several books including, The Making of the Modern Jew (1934), As A Driven Leaf (1939), A Partisan Guide to the Jewish Problem (1945), Basic Judaism (1947), A Believing Jew (1951), Anatomy of Faith (1960), and A Prophet’s Wife (2010). In a professional career that lasted a little over twenty years, he served as rabbi at three synagogues, primarily at the Park Avenue Synagogue. In addition, he was active in the community at large, and worked with many Jewish community and civic organizations. As a disciple of Mordecai Kaplan, he and others helped to establish the Reconstructionist movement of American Jewry.

This collection consists of the papers of Nathan Perlmutter, a lawyer, lecturer, author, political activist, and a long-time leader of the American Jewish community. It contains certificates, newspaper clippings, correspondence — including numerous condolence cards and letters sent to his family after his death — manuscripts and drafts of Perlmutter’s writings, obituaries, printed materials, programs, and subject files relating to topics he was interested in and that he wrote about.

From its inception in 1961, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture (later known as the Foundation for Jewish Culture) supported Jewish scholarship, art, and community services. The collection primarily covers the period between 1959, when the original study proposing the creation of the NFJC was conducted by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) and 2015, when the Foundation ceased operations. The materials document organization’s support for Jewish scholarship, art, culture, and its work in strengthening the relationships between cultural institutions and local Jewish communities. The collection also documents the organization’s shift in the 1980s from scholarship to more involvement in Jewish arts and culture.

This collection contains material relating to Norman Salit's activities with various organizations, including the Synagogue Council of America, the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the Wartime Emergency Commission for Conservative Judaism, the Boy Scouts of America, the Jewish Education Committee, the American Child Guidance Foundation, Religion in American Life, the Valley Forge Foundation, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and the National Community Relations Advisory Council. There are also speeches, writings, sermons, items related to Sharit's legal work and Zionist activities, as well as some letters from Mordecai Kaplan.

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Abraham Liessin, including correspondence with many important literary figures, manuscripts of essays and poems by Liessin from Di Tsukunft(The Future) and from his published works, clippings, receipts, invitations, and other materials relating to Liessin’s family. This collection shows how Di Tsukunft became one of the leading Yiddish literary journsl during hte 25 years of Liessin's editorship.