Buffalo (N.Y.)

The Bernard Blum Family Collection consists of materials pertaining to the members of the Blum family and includes correspondence, printed materials, photographs, and vital and business documents.

This Collection contains correspondence relating to Diamond's legal and political career, during which he served as Corporation Counsel for the City of Buffalo, New York State Supreme Court Justice, and on the faculty of the University of Buffalo Law School; material on his activities in the mayoral, gubernatorial, and presidential political campaigns, 1928-1952, among which was the chairmanship of the Buffalo Volunteers for Stevenson, and on his extensive communal and philanthropic activities.

The material concerning his philanthropic activites is cprimarily concerned with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Buffalo Jewish Center, the United Jewish Fund of Buffalo, the United Jewish Appeal, the American Jewish League for Israel, the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, the American Fund for Israel Institutions, the American Friends of the Hebrew University, the State of Israel Bonds, the Independent Zionists of America, the American Zionist Council and the American Christian Palestine Committee.

Collection also includes materials from the Civic Affairs Committee of Erie County; the Children's Aid Society; the United War and Community Fund; the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People of Europe; anti-Nazi materials; material on civil rights and anti-discrimination legislation; the problem of church and education; speeches; general correspondence; newspaper clippings; and memorabilia.

Collection consists of legal documents, certificates, photographs, newspaper clippings, ephemera, and a scrapbook which document the lives of members of a German Jewish family in the midwest during late 19th and early 20th centuries. Also includes materials on Isaac Brown (1840-1901) and his children Hannah (1870-1950), Dora (1871-1938), and Mitchele (1880-1962).

Real estate lawyer, judge, newspaper editor, and philanthropist, Myer S. Isaacs was the eldest son of the second English-speaking Rabbi in the United States, the Rev. Dr. Samuel M. Isaacs (1804-1878). The Isaacs Family were founding members of the New York-based Jewish civil rights organization, the Board of Delegates of American Israelites (1859-1878), published the Jewish Messenger (1859-1902), and Myer was the first president of the Baron de Hirsch Fund. This Collection contains documents deriving from Myer and Samuel Issacs, and Myer's brothers Abram (1852 or 53-1920) and Isaac Isaacs (1845-1907). Information concerning Myer's children may also be found, including documents from his son Stanley (1882-1962), Manhattan borough President and New York City Councilman. Includes correspondence, clippings, commencement programs, invitations, souvenir and anniversary programs, election campaign materials, obituaries, funeral programs, and citizenship papers.

The Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA), formerly known as the American Association for Jewish Education, was founded in 1939. The Association promotes and supports Jewish education in communities throughout the United States and Canada by supplying studies of Jewish education, developing supplementary educational materials, and collaborating with Jewish organizations. This collection primarily contains the results of surveys and consequent reports, in addition to some correspondence, meeting minutes, and newsletters of the administration. Somewhat unrelated, the Jewish Media Services's files on films and filmmakers make up the last series of this collection, as JESNA took over some of the responsibilities of this organization in the early 1990s.

Shirley T. Joseph was a feminist Jewish activist involved in a number of advocacy groups and community organizations working locally (in Buffalo, New York), nationally, and internationally. She attended three of the United Nations’ World Conferences on Women (in 1980, 1985, and 1995), and the bulk of the collection documents these events in the records of various planning committees, personal correspondence, official UN documentation, collections of news clippings, and Joseph’s own notes, speeches, and articles.