United States -- History

Collection contains primarily the papers created during the administration of Philip Slomovitz (president of the Association, 1945-1954), including: printed copies of the by-laws, typescripts of the minutes of meetings (1945-47), membership bulletins, press releases, general correspondence relating to the activities of the Association (dealing in part with unethical advertising practices of newspapers, 1951-1961), correspondence and reports of meetings with spokesmen for national Jewish organizations (1945-46), and correspondence concerning conventions of the Association (in 1949, commemorating the centennial of the Anglo-Jewish Press in America, containing correspondence with President Truman; in 1953, marking the 300th anniversary of the settlement of the Jews in America).

Guides to archives and special collections in the USA, Europe and Israel that were sent to and/or collected by LBI archivists over the years.

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.

Contains newspaper clippings of Jewish interest from years 1840-1895, primarily from Philadelphia and New York newspapers. Clippings deal extensively with social and domestic affairs in Philadelphia and New York, the persecution of Jews in Russia and Roumania and relief efforts on their behalf by American Jewry and Baron Moritz de Hirsch, religious and cultural efforts and trends, noted Jewish personalities, the history of the Jewish communities in Philadelphia, New York, and elsewhere. Volume 12 contains clippings pertaining to the Philadelphia Board of Governors of the Poor, of which Moss was a member from 1882-1884.

This collection contains correspondence, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, press releases, writings, clippings, brochures, fliers, and posters from the era of the Spanish Civil War, and later, documenting American and international fund-raising for humanitarian relief of Republican Spain; American and international public opinion about the war; the participation of Jews in the International Brigades; and reminiscences and commemorations of the war and, particularly, of the International Brigades, in later years. A portion of the material on relief work pertains to trade union activities, as documented in papers of Charles S. Zimmerman, of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, in his capacity as leader of Trade Union Relief for Spain, in New York City. Other organizations represented include the Medical Bureau and North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy; the Spanish Information Bureau in New York; the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade; and the Israeli branch of the association of volunteers in the International Brigades. There are also autobiographical manuscripts by Benjamin Lubelski and Sigmund Stein, who participated in the International Brigades; and contemporary publications in a variety of languages, including publications of the anarchist-leaning Spanish trade union confederations CNT-FAI.