Minorities

Collection contains the surviving briefs (cases and points) of the City Court (until 1883, the Marine Court) of the City of New York, a statutory court of inferior civil jurisdiction within the County of New York and with limited maritime jurisdiction. The briefs were randomly selected from archives which were subsequently destroyed and represent primarily 1872-1881, 1884-1901, and 1904-1907, with some examples 1860-1871 and 1882. A sampling suggests that Jews were involved in 20-30 percent of these cases.

Raphael Lemkin, an international lawyer, initiated the use of the term "genocide," and succeeded in persuading the United Nations to adopt the Genocide Convention in 1948. Documents include personal correspondence and artifacts; correspondence, documentation, clippings, and articles regarding the United Nations adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment on the Crime of Genocide treaty; and source material for the unfinished manuscript, History of Genocide. Collection also includes photographs, identity cards, articles, papers, essays, clippings, magazines, research materials, term papers, posters, United Nations materials, and microfilm.