Promissory notes

The Hebrew Free Loan Society of New York City (HLFS), also known as the Hebrew Gemilath Chassodim Association, was established in New York City in 1892 with the goal of providing interest-free loans to those in financial need who were not looking for alms and were able to secure financial endorsers who could support the loan recipient in case of hardship or default. HFLS institutional records range from 1892 to 2010, with the majority of non-loan records (annual reports, board minutes, correspondence, financial records, bills and receipts, printed matter, photographs, audio-visual records and unaccessed floppy discs) ranging from 1904-1998, though these records are incomplete. The majority of HFLS records relate to promissory notes from 1892-1998. Promissory notes are currently restricted.

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.