Agricultural colonies

This collection contains a statement of account and stock certificates issued to Charles Mayer, who was an investor in the American Society for Jewish Farm Settlements in Russia, Inc.

Collection contains copies of articles, cemetery plans, census records, and photographs relating to the Woodbine agricultural colony in Woodbine, N.J.

Joseph A. Rosen was an agronomist and official of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In the 1920s and 1930s he organized and coordinated relief activities for impoverished Jews in the Soviet Union. Joseph A. Rosen was a director of the American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation (Agro-Joint) that tried to develop Jewish settlements and assisted with organization of Jewish factories, cooperatives, schools, and health care facilities. All these subjects are covered in this collection. These are the papers of Joseph A. Rosen in his official capacity as a Director of the Agro-Joint. The collection contains agreements between Agro-Joint and the Soviet government, reports, and field observations of the agronomists and officials of the relief organizations, particularly of the Agro-Joint, technical reports and documentation necessary for development and financial sustainability of the Jewish settlements. Maps and landscape plans are also part of this collection.

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.

Collection contains the official minute book of the Executive Committee (Feb. 1932-Jan. 1934;, financial, membership and administrative records; correspondence; questionnaires circulated to interested individuals soliciting biographical data and opinions on preferred forms of farm organization; inquiries pertaining to land purchase and other information relating to the proposed colony; and a brief history of the Organization of Jewish Colonies in America by H. Goldkrantz.

Philip Cowen (1853-1943) was a Conservative Jew who grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Though he only studied for one year at the City College of New York, the literary-minded Cowen became the founder (with Rev. Dr. Frederic de Sola Mendes) and editor of the Conservative Jewish publication, the American Hebrew from its inception in 1879 until his resignation in 1906. In 1905, Cowen was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to the Ellis Island positions of Immigration Inspector on the Board of Special Inquiry, determining the fitness of émigrés to the United States, and later advanced to Inspector-In-Charge of the Division of Information for Employment and the Discharging and Information Division. In addition, Cowen was a member of the Young Men's Hebrew Association, was a founder of the The Judeans society, a secretary for B'nai B'rith, and published an autobiography entitled Memoirs of an American Jew (1932). Documents include writings and material on immigration, surveys of American leaders and intellectuals on Anti-Semitism, and background materials for articles written in the American Hebrew. The collection contains correspondence, articles, documents, official reports, telegrams, clippings, pamphlets, photographs, and handwritten notes.

Contains research and writing compiled by Rabbi H. David Rutman, primarily regarding the Jewish agriculture movement and New York Jewish agricultural colonies in the mid 1800s and early 1900s. Also includes Rutman's Master's dissertation for New York University, titled, "Ludwig Lewisohn: His Writing of Religious Interest." Agriculture material consists of copies of mortgages and listings of landowners from Sholam colony; and newsclippings and articles regarding the Jewish Agricultural Society, the beginnings of the agricultural movement in America, Ellenville colony, Sholam colony, and boardinghouses in the Catskills in the early years.

The Baron de Hirsch Fund Records document the organization's involvement in the planning of agricultural communities across the United States and to some extent in South America; the founding and administrative dealings of agricultural and trade schools; the establishment of the Jewish Agricultural Society; and the business records of the Fund itself. In addition, the collection documents the protection offered to immigrants through port work, relief, temporary aid, promotion of suburban industrial enterprises and removal from urban centers through the Industrial Removal Office, land settlement, agricultural training, and trade and general education. In this respect, the collection is of major interest for Jewish genealogists as it documents a number of individual immigrants. In addition, the collection contains documentation on the administration and organization of the fund, documentation on Jewish farming colonies such as the Jewish Agricultural Society, Woodbine Colony and Agricultural School, and documentation on the Baron de Hirsch Trade School. In addition, the collection contains blueprints and photographs of facilities.