Bronx (New York, N.Y.)

The Alfred and Elisabeth Mayer Family largely centers on the emigration from Germany of the extended members of this family as well as documentation of Alfred and Elisabeth Mayer and information on the family's genealogy and individual experiences. The collection includes a large quantity of family correspondence; family trees; articles; official, military, and educational documents; some financial and legal documentation and correspondence; and photographs.

Contains a DVD, printed transcripts, and a CD of transcript files. Belle Kaminer was born in New York to immigrants Charlie and Anna Kleinberg. She describes her life growing up in a railroad flat on Forsythe Street, her later move to the Bronx, and the early years of her marriage to Ikey Kaminer.

Jennie Edelmuth married Aaron Bloom in 1932. Aaron was one of nine children of Dora and Moses Bloom. The bulk of this collection contains photographs of Aaron and his siblings Sara, Lena and Isadore and personal items of David and Aaron. Jennie and Aaron later divorced. The collection also encompasses photographs of the Edelmuth family and Jennie’s second husband William Gale and his extended family.

The Congregation B’nai Jacob Collection includes materials documenting the history of the congregation and includes bank statements, circulars, correspondence, documents, membership lists, minutes of Annual Meetings, journals containing information about the congregation’s cemetery, a prayer book, and rubber stamps.

This collection contains correspondence and documents related to the adoption by an American couple of a Jewish orphan from Nazi Germany.

Papers consist of copies of family photographs, a detailed genealogy research report, and two articles. The Halpern Research Report relates to the Halpern, Rothenberg, Klein, Cantor, and Lasker families. The articles, published in the Bronx County Historical Society Journal, are based on Carl Halpern's reminiciences of family members, growing up in the Bronx, and working as an office boy for the Hauserman Metal Manufacturing Company. The papers also include two oral histories, comprising a total of eight audiotapes that were conducted by Joel Halpern, Carl's son. The first, also recorded by Barbara Kirshenblat Gimblet, interviews Dr. Brusilov, from Long Beach, NY, who describes his life in eastern Poland prior to World War II. The second records Sam Alexander, also of Long Beach, NY, who participated in the Israeli War of Independence.

Collection contains bound records from the administrative activities of the Hebrew Infant Asylum, including annual reports, board meeting minutes, reports of the admitting physicians, and the admission and discharge records of children.

Contains the Bulletin of the Jewish Center of Williamsbridge from the 1940s to the 1970s and gift books bound with yearbooks of the Center bound inside. Also includes material regarding Doctor Rabbi Akiba Predmesky (d. 1998), who served the Jewish community and the Jewish Center of Williamsbridge for over fifty years.

The collection contains articles, constitution and by-laws, correspondence, flyers, membership lists, newsletters, officers and trustees lists, photographs, souvenir journals, and speeches. Of interest is a copy of a dinner dance program from 1925, policies regarding religious observance in the U.S. Post Office, and correspondence lobbying for support of Israel and Jewish causes.

The Bronx Bakers Mutual Aid Association was founded “by bakers and for bakers” in 1913. It provided financial support to sick or unemployed members, helped cover burial experiences for members who passed away, and held social events. The records primarily contain financial records, including dues books and ledgers of benefits paid, but also include minute books detailing the meetings that took place and the constitutions that established the rules and operations of the association.

The records of the National Council of Jewish Women, New York Section document the organization's community service, advocacy, and supportive administrative, fundraising, membership, and public relations activities from the Section's early years to the present. Included is a large amount of material from the National Organization in relation to the New York Section. This material is dated from 1896 to 1999 and consists of administrative, events, and advocacy matters. The New York Section's community services files include its work on aging, child care, consumer telephone referrals, counseling support, crime prevention, the disabled, domestic violence, early child education, feminism, homelessness, hunger, immigrants, Israel, Jewish education and promotion, literacy, probation, the sick, summer recreation for children and the elderly, and war relief. The Section's advocacy files consist of lobbying efforts for the rights of children, the disabled, the elderly, families, the homeless, immigrants, Israel, and women. The collection is primarily in English, with some Hebrew, Yiddish, German, Greek, Spanish, Chinese, and Italian. Among the types of material are audio tapes, blueprints, correspondence, minutes, photographs, publications, scrapbooks, and scripts.

This collection contains the personal documents of Siegfried and Ruth Kummer Bodenheimer, dating mostly from before the couple was married in 1946. It holds vital documents, family photographs, postcards, secondary school documents, and materials related to Siegfried’s service in the United States Army during World War II.