The records of the American Jewish Historical Society, the oldest national ethnic historical organization in the United States, include correspondence of officers and staff as well as inter-office memos, multiple versions of the constitution and by-laws of the society, meeting minutes of administrative branches and committees, membership and financial records, reports, exhibit materials, records relating to the society’s library and archival holdings, press releases and newspaper clippings, and publications and newsletters created by the society. There are also materials from various programs, such as meetings and conferences, tours, lectures, awards and dinners, films, and educational programs.

The Annual and Mid-Winter National Conventions Records document the proceedings and outcomes of the conventions and conferences attended by Hadassah’s National Board as well as by convention delegates from the various regions of Hadassah. The conventions in particular are where local and regional leaders meet with each other and the National Board and learn about Hadassah’s various projects and committees. This record group also includes annual reports from 1926-2001.

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papers from his involvement with the American Jewish Congress and Jewish Information Bureau, published and unpublished writings, publications collected by Richards, articles about Richards and his activities, correspondence and articles from testimonial dinners in honor of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

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 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 Erna Katzenell collection consists of documents about Katzenell's life in hiding during the Second World War and her ultimate rescue. Amongst others, it includes documents about her rescuers, clippings, correspondence, photographs, and transcripts of interviews.

This record group includes documents created and maintained by the Office of the President, the Office of the Executive Director and the Chair of the Division Coordinators/Directors Committee. Prominent is the Henrietta Szold series, containing correspondence by and to Szold as well as printed materials written by and about her. The files in this record group were created by a national president or executive director, or for their use, or maintained in their office during their years in office. Included are correspondence, minutes, memos, publications, reports and subject files on topics with which these individuals were involved.

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 Papers of Graenum Berger (1908-1999) document Berger's involvement with Ethiopian Jewry and his efforts to bring about their rescue from Ethiopia through his organization, the American Association for Ethiopian Jews (AAEJ). The Papers also contain materials regarding Berger's other interests-his writings, his travels throughout the world, his community affiliations, his career as a Jewish social work executive, his commitment to Jewish causes, and his commitment to Israel. Also included are personal and biographical materials from his many long-term friendships and associations; correspondence, minutes, reports, clippings, manuscripts, research materials, journal articles, photographs, and publications.

The collection contains items collected by Julius Bisno from various Jewish leaders from the early 1800s through the 1980s. These materials include correspondence and autographed photographs from Jewish members of the United Nations, U.S. President's Cabinet, U.S. Governors, U.S. Senators, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Supreme Court, diplomats, philanthropists, and miscellaneous Jewish leaders and organizations.

Contains the minutes, resolutions, correspondence, news releases, and press clippings of the National Committee for the Maimonides Octocentennial. Items related to the Committee's activities in planning and promoting the octocentennial of the birth of Moses Maimonides throughout the United States, in synagogues, local institutions, universities, and the main event held in New York (April 14, 1935). Among the participants were Albert Einstein, Louis Finkelstein, Henry Solomon Hendricks, Leo Jung, Henry Pereira Mendes, Abba Hillel Silver, Solomon Marcus Stroock, James Joseph Walsh, and Harry Austryn Wolfson. Includes also roster of available speakers and participating organizations, as well as material (poems, plays, pamphlets, books, and articles) on the life and works of Moses Maimonides.

The Hadassah subject file record group is a collection of files of organizations, events, and genre subjects originally arranged alphabetically by Hadassah’s central filing department. These files served and serve as a ready reference source that represents both the direct and indirect involvement of Hadassah in both national and international affairs. This collection includes correspondence, clippings, newsletters, photographs, and other ephemeral documents.

The collection contains personal correspondence, manuscript and printed copies of articles and speeches, photographs, and newspaper clippings pertaining to the education and social welfare activities of Silver. A large part of the correspondence is between Silver and Maurice J. Karpf, Kurt Peiser and I.M. Rubinow concerning Silver's studies at the Training School for Jewish Social Work (1925-1934), and his early work in Cincinnati and Detroit Jewish welfare organizations (1930-1934). Subsequent correspondence pertains to Silver's work for the Israel Ministry of Social Welfare (1961-1966).

The Herta and Egon Wells Family Collection centers on the emigration of Herta (née Guttmann) and Egon Wells from Vienna to New York by way of Trinidad, with further documentation on their lives prior to and following emigration. Documents relating to the emigration experiences and attempts of other family members are also present. About half the collection consists of personal correspondence, but it additionally includes official documents, immigration and citizenship documentation, educational and professional documents, memorabilia, legal correspondence, a few family photographs, and newspaper clippings.

The collection contains papers of Jerry Goodman, the founding director of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, the largest and most influential organization created by the American Jews to coordinate efforts on behalf of Soviet Jews, which survives today as NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia. The bulk of the collection covers the activities from the early 1970s through late 1980s. The collection includes some minutes of meetings, memoranda, correspondence, newsletters and publications of the NCSJ and its precursor, the American Jewish Committee on Soviet Jewry (AJCSJ, 1964-1971). Among other materials are some posters and considerable number of photographs on Refuseniks and of the ASJM events in New York and the US, audio recordings on compact cassettes and reel-to-reels re-mastered into CD format, and VHS tapes. The collection also contains non-paper objects like pins, pendants, bracelets devoted to prisoners of conscience in the USSR, as well as a t-shirt, a scarf and a shopping bag.

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.

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

Collection contains a typescript of memoirs (some sections in several drafts) covering the period until 1907, describing Lisan's youth in Russia, his journey to America, his early years in Philadelphia, and his travels throughout Pennsylvania. The memoirs also relate in some detail Lisan's Zionist activities in Russia and America, and his reaction to world Jewish events.

Materials include: correspondence covering the years 1902-1969 dealing with Lisan's Zionist activities, announcements (1909-1910) of the Maccabean Zionist Society in Philadelphia, receipts and a Land Certificate from the American Zion Commonwealth, and a share certificate from the Jewish Colonial Trust.

The Marianne Steinberg Ostrand Collection documents the education, emigration, and early professional life of the physician Marianne Steinberg Ostrand as well as the lives of members of her family, especially her husband, engineer Arnold Ostrand, and her mother and siblings, with much documentation of the emigration or attempted emigration from Germany of her family members. About half the collection is correspondence. In addition it contains many educational certificates, official documents, diaries, notebooks, notes, and a friendship album, travel memorabilia, and newspaper clippings and articles.

The Papers of Max J. Kohler (1871-1934) document his life's work as lawyer, historian, writer, researcher, and defender of Jewish and immigrant rights. Correspondents include many of Kohler's contemporaries in the field of history and immigration law including Cyrus Adler; William Taft; John Bassett Moore; Mortimer Schiff; David Hunter Miller; Baron and Baroness de Hirsch; the Straus Family including Oscar Straus; Luigi Luzzatti; Leon Huhner; and Julian Mack. Subjects include U.S. immigration law, American-Jewish history, Col. Alfred Dreyfus, Haym Salomon, Ellis Island, Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler, the publication God in Freedom, international treaties, and the Peace Conference of 1919.

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.

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.

The Mount Sinai Hospital Records document efforts to establish a Jewish hospital in New York City and the subsequent founding and growth of that hospital, the Jews' Hospital in New York, later renamed Mount Sinai Hospital. The Mount Sinai Hospital became one of the largest teaching hospitals in the United States. Included in the collection are annual reports, clippings, minutes, invitations, pamphlets, programs, publications. Of special note are two folders of compiled memos written by Mount Sinai Hospital staff while serving overseas during World War Two.

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.

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.

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.

The collection documents the National Jewish Welfare Board's (JWB) evolution from an organization founded in 1917 to provide support for soldiers in times of war to an agency involved in all aspects of Jewish life both in the United States and abroad. In 1990 JWB recreated itself as the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America.

Collection includes approximately 85,000 individual service files and 320,000 surrogate index cards collected by the BWR and the Greater New York War Records Committee on behalf of Jewish soldiers and sailors who served in World War II. The BWR also conducted surveys of Jewish doctors, dentists, farmers and refugees who served in the United States Armed Forces and compiled population studies for cities containing Jewish populations greater than 25,000, among them Trenton, N.J. and New York City. The individual service files typically provide a soldier's name, age, rank, serial number, service branch, home address, civilian occupation, next of kin, awards and casualties. These files contain supporting documentation culled from newspapers, telephone conversations, and correspondence exchanged among BWR staff and volunteers, service personnel and their families, and representatives of the United States Armed Forces.

The alphabetical master cards series serves as an abbreviated, annotated index for the more substantial individual service files of Jewish service personnel who won awards or suffered casualties during the war. The Bureau maintained correspondence files for permanent staff members including Salo Baron, Edward Burnstein, Louis Dublin, Elisha Friedman, Dr. Maurice Hexter, Rabbi Edward Israel, Samuel Kohs, Louis Kraft, Samuel Leff, Harry Lurie, Herbert Marks, Benjamin Rabinowitz, Philip Schiff, Selma Schnaper, Jerome Seidman, David Turtletaub, Frank Weil, Milton Weill, Arthur Weyne, and Joseph Zubin.

The Bureau also preserved correspondence with representatives of local war records committees, religious, and community service organizations including the United Service Organization, Jewish Community Centers, Hebrew Associations, and the National Refugee Service, as well as publishers, alumni associations, and military personnel from the offices of United States Army, Navy, and Quartermaster General's office.

It retained copies of published and printed materials including studies, lists, guides, forms, and cards. Among the vital records are charts depicting the BWR administrative hierarchy; personnel and staff records; lists of volunteers and field representatives employed throughout the United States; minutes of meetings; annual, quarterly, and special reports; budget materials; and policies and procedures implemented during the war records program.

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.