Audiovisual materials

The records of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, now known as HIAS, comprise much of the history of HIAS through the second half of the 20th century, primarily through the files created by leadership based in the New York headquarters. Since the 1880s HIAS has worked with immigrants and refugees to help them emigrate legally from their home countries to safe resettlement in the United States and elsewhere, and they continue this work today. The records focus on files of the Executive Directors, including James P. Rice, Gaynor I. Jacobson and Karl D. Zukerman, and other material created by executive staff and by the Board of Directors. Also of importance is the work of the HIAS United States Operations Department in the New York office, handling the everyday details of immigration documentation, migration issues and resettlement activities in connection with communities throughout the United States, and in coordination with HIAS staff in overseas offices and the other departments in New York and Washington, D.C. In addition, more than 1100 files of legacy photographs have been digitized as part of this project and made accessible online.

The Papers of Ina Golub document the creative career of this New Jersey-based artist, who primarily made fiber-based works with Jewish themes. She created custom-designed fiber art, including tapestries, Jewish ceremonial objects, and textiles with secular content, for synagogues, museums, and private collectors. The papers include commission records (business records, sketches, correspondence), photographs, slides, and digital images of her works, and materials concerning her career retrospective at the Yeshiva University Museum in 1996 as well as other exhibitions of her work.

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.

The Ruth Gay Collection consists of Ruth Gay’s research material for her book The Jews of Germany: A Historical Portrait and includes numerous copies of the documents from the 1930s, photographs and illustrations used in the book and audio tapes with 11 interviews with German Jews living in Israel.