Genealogical information and family trees on various families

The collection contains original autographs as well as photocopied correspondence by Rabbi Abraham Geiger. Also included are a family tree of the Geiger family and a photograph.

This collection contains account books for the money lending business of Abraham Hirsch Emrich (1814-1899) of Merchingen (today part of Ravenstein in Baden, Germany). It also contains account books of the general goods business of the Emmerich family.

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Abraham Klausner, including articles written by and about him, research materials for his articles and his memoir, correspondence, and Klausner’s personal and military records. These materials reflect his active involvement with Displaced Persons and the DP Camps in Postwar Germany as well as his sometimes complicated relationships with the Joint Distribution Committee and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA). The collection also contains issues of Fun Letstn Hurbn (From the Last Extermination).

The collection mainly pertains to Abraham Liebmann and his son Wilhelm, as well as on Abraham's grandson Siegfried and his great-grandson Albert, including their wives. It contains various documents, poetry and a large amount of correspondence from the 19th century. Prominent topics are related to the education, professional and military careers, politics, and marital lives of the family members. Also included are two restitution cases.

This collection contains papers of Abraham Moshe Bernstein, a renowned cantor, choir master, composer of Jewish liturgical and secular music, music teacher, musicologist, writer, and translator. The bulk of the materials consists of Bernstein’s liturgical compositions and arrangements in both published and manuscript form, as well as a substantial collection of manuscripts and published works by various composers and arrangers. The materials include Hasidic folk songs and melodies, religious songs, Jewish hymns, popular songs, children’s songs, operettas, liturgical pieces, and musical exercises for students; choral volumes and partbooks; unidentified and fragmented musical manuscripts; manuscripts of Bernstein’s own writings; personal correspondence; a photo of Bernstein on his deathbed; secular and religious songs, Sabbath hymns, Hasidic folk songs and melodies, assembled by Bernstein for the S. Ansky Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society in Vilna.

The collection contains materials pertaining to the life and work of Abraham Solomon (Salo) Weissman(n). Materials in this collection include official documents, correspondence, and photographs. Most of the materials pertain to everyday life in pre-war Germany, as well as the struggle to help people escape the country during the war.

Photocopy of the Record book of Abraham Selz of Niederstettin, Germany (and later of Baltimore, MD) contains records in Hebrew, Yiddish, and German regarding the circumcisions of over 450 boys in Niederstettin and its surrounding towns. Also includes one folder of background information on Abraham Selz.

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 Abraham Sutzkever-Szmerke Kaczerginski Historical Collection contains letters, manuscripts, and historical documents which were saved by the Yiddish poets Avraham Sutzkever and Szmerke Kaczerginski in the Vilna Ghetto. Sutzkever, Kaczerginski, and other members of the Paper Brigade, conscripted Jewish workers who were forced to work under the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, saved thousands of books, manuscripts and documents at great risk to their lives by hiding them in various places in the Vilna Ghetto. After the war the surviving members recovered many of the hidden items. Sutzkever sent many of these rescued materials to the YIVO Institute in New York from the period 1947 to 1956. The collection consists of 8 series and includes correspondence of writers, intellectuals, communal leaders, rabbinical figures; manuscripts of Yiddish and Hebrew writers; theater documents; folklore materials; rabbinical responsa and writings; historical and legal documents; pinkasim and Jewish communal records.

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 collection holds original documents pertaining to the personal, academic and professional life of Dr. Hermann Achtentuch. Also included are documents pertaining to his wife Paula née Kohn, and to their son, Herbert Achtentuch.

This collection consists of vital documents pertaining to Adalbert (Bob) Mayer and his mother Jeta (Harriet) Mayer of Berlin, documenting their immigration to the US, and some aspects of their post-World War II lives. Specifically there is a birth certificate for Adalbert Mäyer given in Schöneberg (1909); a law degree for Adalbert Mäyer, issued by Universität zu Köln (1933); World War II era immigration and naturalization documents for the Mayers including German passport, full of stamps, for Adalbert Mayer (1937-1946); a photocopy of Harriet Mayer's death certificate (1959); marriage certificates for Adalbert Mayer to Conne Conn (1969); birth certificate for Adalbert Mayer issued by Berlin registry office (1972); US passport for Adalbert Mayer (1985); death certificate for Adalbert Mayer (1992).

The John D. Schiff Collection contains both photographic prints and negatives of John D. and Trude Schiff’s photography careers. The subjects are predominantly portraits of artists and their works. Highlights include portraits of Ludwig Bemelmans and his Madeline illustrations, as well as photographic prints of Marcel Duchamp's Twine installation. and many other photographs of works of art.

Addenda to the Joseph Braunstein Collection hold the private and professional documents of Dr. Joseph Braunstein, a musicologist and amateur mountaineer from Vienna. The addenda cover Braunstein’s successful emigration to the United States, as well as his activism at “Alpenverein Donauland” in Austria during the 1920s and 1930s. They further document many of his travels abroad.

The collection contains records of the Jewish community of Adelebsen, Germany, spanning the years 1832 to 1917. During this period Adelebsen, a small town in the vicinity of Göttingen, was at first located in the kingdom of Hanover. When the latter was annexed by the kingdom of Prussia in 1866 it became known as the province of Hanover; and in 1871 it became part of the German Empire. A small amount of material pertains to the Jewish community in Barterode, some members of which eventually joined the Adelebsen community. Approximately half of the collection comprises financial records covering the period from 1838 to 1917 (with gaps), including annual statements; account books; lists of taxes, donations, synagogue fines, and synagogue seat fees collected from members; lists of families with school-age children; and accounts of the Adelebsen Jewish charitable association. The remainder of the records comprise administrative correspondence and documents, with correspondents including the government offices in Adelebsen, Uslar, and Hildesheim; the rabbis who headed regional districts of Jewish communities ('Landrabbiner'); and community members, including Sally Blumenfeld, the long-time teacher heading the Jewish school. Noteworthy documents include a handwritten copy of the Hanoverian synagogue regulations issued by Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler in 1832, with later amendments; minutes of two meetings with Adler, one in 1836 at which he initiated the project to build a new synagogue; a regulation of 1841 governing the community's tax assessment; minutes of oath-taking by community officers and assessors in the Adelebsen municipal court; election materials; and files related to matters such as employment of the Jewish teacher, petition for exemption from the municipal poor tax, preparations for matzah baking, and purchase of a garden plot to expand the Jewish cemetery.

The Adler Family Collection contains papers of various members of the Adler family. Most of the collection consists of correspondence, but there are also folders with family papers such as wedding memorabilia, vaccination certificates, visiting cards, telegrams, a notebook, a family tree for one branch of the family and a clipping on Selig Adler.

The Adler Family Collection holds materials regarding the lives of Thekla (née Grünebaum) and Leopold Adler and their children Bennie, Rose, Irma, and Berthold. The papers document their lives in Hintersteinau, Germany, the deaths of Leopold and Irma Adler, and the emigration of the remaining family members to New York. Included in the collection is a large amount of their correspondence, in addition to various family papers, including official documents, school records, immigration documentation, documentation relating to the careers of family members, and genealogical and historical research. The collection also contains family photographs and a photo album.

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Celia Adler and Lazar Freed, including theatrical materials such as scripts, programs and sheet music, correspondence, newspaper clippings, assorted publications, and photographs of many of the members of the Adler family and their friends from the Yiddish theater. These materials reflect the wide scope of the Adler acting family and their immense influence on Yiddish theater, Broadway and motion pictures.

This collection is comprised of papers pertaining to Admiral Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss, his career, and his community and organizational activities. He belonged to such groups as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Temple Emanu-El in New York, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the Jewish Agricultural Society, and the Union of Hebrew Congregations.

His papers include extensive correspondence, organizational and institutional records, photographs, and publications which document his personal and public life as well as American Jewish issues that he was involved with such as relief efforts for Jewish refugees from Central Europe, interest and involvement in the Reform movement, and endeavors to combat anti-Semitism, especially as propagated by Father Charles E. Coughlin and Henry Ford.

The Adolf and Frieda Heilberg collection documents their lives and achievements. Most of the documents discuss Adolf Heilberg's 70th birthday and tributes on him. The publications of Frieda Heilberg concern topics like the textile industry and social and economic questions. In the personal documents of each person can be found birth certificates, master's and doctor's degrees and death certificates. Other documents include a Festschrift, speeches, articles, legal correspondence of Adolf Heilberg and a photo album.

The collection contains comprehensive unofficial transcripts for the proceedings of the trial State of Israel vs. Adolf Eichmann including the verdict and appeal sessions before the Supreme Court. Series II contains select documentary evidence. The vast majority of the transcripts are in German, a small amount are in French or English and some sessions are also available in Hebrew.

This collection contains material on Adolf and Albert Frank. Most of it is connected to Adolf Frank's career as a chemist and entrepreneur. The bulk of the material is business papers of various kinds, mostly minutes of meetings and correspondence. Notebooks and patent files can also be found. Prominent is material which shows Adolf Frank's role in the German wartime industry of World War I. Although most material is connected to Adolf Frank, information about Albert Frank is also included. Both are represented in personal papers that appear in the collection.

Manuscripts and research notes on Jewish history, including the emancipation of the Jews, nineteenth century emigration of German Jews to the United States, Jewish education, and the Jewish communities of Heidelberg, Goettingen, Frankfurt am Main, Magdeburg, and especially Cologne and vicinity, including manuscripts of eighteenth-century chroniclers.

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 Adolf Loebel Collection primarily documents the events of the Holocaust in Baden-Württemberg with an extensive amount of newspaper clippings. To a smaller extent it shows a few of the experiences of Adolf Loebel, head of the Jewish community in Heidelberg. In addition to the many newspaper clippings the collection contains circular letters and announcements, some correspondence, a list of Jews in Baden from 1940 and a few photographs.

This collection consists of materials related to Adolf Lorch’s efforts to support the emigration of family members and others from Germany between 1934 and the early 1950s. The bulk is made up of correspondence and affidavits. Also included are other family papers, business correspondence, a biographical sketch, and a photograph of Lorch.

This collection includes personal and official documents of the Adolf Schwersenz family, including his professional work as a cantor, mainly during his time in Berlin. It contains sheet music used by Adolf Schwersenz, as well as newspaper clippings and letters.

This collection mostly consists of personal correspondence, including communications from relatives and friends interned in concentration camps in France, Lublin, and Theresienstadt, and letters regarding the establishment of an agrarian training camp for Jews in Italy.