Washington (D.C.)

This collection consists of the American Jewish Committee's project to document Jewish participation in the United States Armed Forces during World War I. The bulk of the material consists of questionnaires the AJC sent to servicemen to determine Jewish identity, which contain information on personal identification and details of military service. Responses to the questionnaire come from both Jews and non-Jews. In addition, the collection contains office papers concerning the project and a ledger of manuscripts documenting the distribution of records collected by the Office of Jewish War Records, as well as lists Jews who died or were given military honors.

This collection contains newspapers designated as Pre-1851 (I-531), Post-1850 (I-531A) and Miscellaneous (I-531B) Newspaper Collections. The newspapers are primarily from cities within the United States with some from world locales such as London, Grenada, Barbados, Curacao, Mexico, Montreal and Toronto. A few newspapers are from the Jewish press, though the greater majority of newspapers are not Jewish in origin but contain articles, references, advertisements, or other printed matter regarding Jews. The collection has a downloadable article index that can be used to pinpoint material in the first portion of the collection (Pre-1851) designated as I-531.

The records of the American Jewish Historical Society, the oldest national ethnic historical organization in the United States, include correspondence of officers and staff as well as inter-office memos, multiple versions of the constitution and by-laws of the society, meeting minutes of administrative branches and committees, membership and financial records, reports, exhibit materials, records relating to the society’s library and archival holdings, press releases and newspaper clippings, and publications and newsletters created by the society. There are also materials from various programs, such as meetings and conferences, tours, lectures, awards and dinners, films, and educational programs.

Contains records on the formation, purpose, and activities of the American Jewish League for Israel, as reflected in organizational documents (including minutes), event literature, publications (including the AJLI newsletter, AJLI Bulletin, later called the AJLI News Bulletin and other titles), scholarship material, financial information, membership appeals, correspondence, media coverage, and photographs.

The Annual and Mid-Winter National Conventions Records document the proceedings and outcomes of the conventions and conferences attended by Hadassah’s National Board as well as by convention delegates from the various regions of Hadassah. The conventions in particular are where local and regional leaders meet with each other and the National Board and learn about Hadassah’s various projects and committees. This record group also includes annual reports from 1926-2001.

This collection documents the personal and professional life of Bernhard Witkop. Even though the major focus of the collection is on Witkop himself, there is a lot of correspondence between him and other Jewish friends, as well as material about other Jewish families like Levy-Salomonsohn and Ehrlich. The collection is composed of official documents, family trees, correspondence and newspaper articles.

This collection contains personal papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activists Carol and Michael Bierman including background materials on Jews in the USSR, documents, and artifacts from demonstrations, rallies and cultural events of the movement, newsletters, pamphlets, and brochures. Also included are photographs and audio and video materials pertaining to Refuseniks, Prisoners of Conscience and Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union.

This collection pertains to the life of Doris Rauch (née Perlhefter), her uncle Norbert Troller, and fellow Holocaust survivors Oscar Bittner and Oscar Jellinek. It encompasses government documents and Rauch’s identification forms issued by the United States and Czechoslovakia, as well as her correspondence relating to family and Holocaust history in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Included are photographs of friends and family engaged in recreation or as posed portraits, the great majority in black and white. Authored by Norbert Troller himself are a memoir manuscript and family tree denoting those members killed during the Holocaust.

The collection documents the lives of the Fellman and Taranto families of Long Beach, New York, and Washington, D.C., particularly Rosalind Fellman; her father, Sidney Fellman, who was a dentist and the longtime president of the Yom Tov Hebrew Congregation; her mother, Suzanne Taranto Fellman; her grandparents, Harry and Pauline Fellman and Isaac and Alegra Taranto; and her uncles, Milton Fellman and Maurice Taranto. There is also information about the Yom Tov Hebrew Congregation, with which the Taranto family in particular was closely involved.

This collection contains the personal papers of Soviet Jewry Movement activists Harold and Judith S. Einhorn. Residents of Laverock, PA, husband and wife Harold and Judith S. Einhorn were among the pioneers of the grassroots Soviet Jewry movement. Harold Einhorn chaired the Temple Beth Tikvah Community Relations Committee and Judith S. Einhorn chaired the Soviet Jewry Committee at Congregation Adath Jeshurun.

This collection holds the papers of the lawyer and librarian Hugo Knoepfmacher. The main subject of the collection is his personal and professional life, although material concerning other members of the family is also present. The collection consists of official documents, notes, correspondence, manuscripts, some clippings, and a very small amount of published material.

Jews for Urban Justice was founded in Washington, D.C., 1966, to combat social problems directly connected with Jews. The collection includes organizational materials, minutes of meetings, newsletters, program materials, correspondence, and press clippings. Also included is material regarding a proposed history of the organization by Harold Goldberg.

The Leo and Anne Marie Grebler Family Collection records the Greblers’ personal and professional lives in Germany and the United States through correspondence, documents, family histories, writings, and photographs. Both the personal correspondence and photographs available in the collection demonstrate the Greblers close relationships with their extended family and friends, particularly Jacob (called Jascha) and Marianne (called Bertel) Marschak. A substantial quantity of information regarding the Grebler, Gerson and related families is also available. Writings by Leo Grebler elucidate his career as an economist and his special interest in real estate and housing finance.

The papers of Rabbi Leonard S. Cahan focus on the imprisonment of the American Soviet Jewry Movement activist for demonstrating on behalf of Soviet Jews in front of the Soviet embassy in Washington D.C. on May 1^st, 1985. Materials include memorandums, correspondence, clippings and brochures.

The Norman A. Sugarman papers consist of both library-bound volumes and unbound manuscripts of addresses, essays, outlines, and published articles written by Sugarman during his career as a tax attorney, an Assistant Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, and general champion for charitable organizations.

Founded in 1969, the American Association for Ethiopian Jews (AAEJ) was instrumental in the international effort to promote recognition of the Beta Israel (known among non-Jewish Ethiopians as "Falashas") by Israeli authorities, and to assist Jewish emigration from Ethiopia to Israel. The extensive files of the AAEJ include case work files, research materials and Jewish artifacts collected in Ethiopia by AAEJ workers. In the wake of the successful evacuation of Ethiopian Jewry to Israel in 1993, the AAEJ decided to disband and voted to deposit its records at the American Jewish Historical Society. Included are correspondence, office files, photographs, slides, videotapes, audiocassettes and other materials which pertain to AAEJ's efforts to raise the consciousness of the American Jewish community about this unique Jewish subculture. The organization's papers supplement those of its founder, Graenum Berger, which are also held at the American Jewish Historical Society.

Nita Sue Melnikoff Lowey (1937- ) worked in New York State government prior to winning the first election of her thirty-two year career as a Congressional representative from Westchester County's 17th, 18th, and 20th Districts from 1989-2021. Lowey served on several United States House committees including Education and Labor, Homeland Security, Merchant Marine and Fisheries, the Select Committees on Narcotics Abuse and Control, Budget Reform and Appropriations, and was the first woman to Chair the House Budget and Appropriations Committee. The collection documents world and local events and contains paper and electronic records, correspondence, memoranda, reports, press releases, and campaign materials.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was created to advance and disseminate knowledge about the Holocaust, to document and interpret Holocaust history, and to serve as the nation's permanent living memorial to the Holocaust. The collection includes newsletters, Days of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust publications and printed matter, photographs, press releases, conference material, teaching guides and curricula, and fundraising and membership material.