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Theater, Yiddish

 Subject
Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings

Found in 29 Collections and/or Records:

Abraham Ellstein (1907-1963) Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-32
Abstract

This collection contains Hebrew, Yiddish and English sheet music compositions, programs, playbills, and reviews, with extensive files relating to the operas "The Golem" and "The Thief and the Hangman" and the musical "Great to Be Alive." There are also some photographs and correspondence.

Dates: undated, 1925-1965

Abraham Moshe Bernstein Collection

 Collection
Identifier: RG 36
Abstract

This collection contains papers of Abraham Moshe Bernstein, a renowned cantor, choir master, composer of Jewish liturgical and secular music, music teacher, musicologist, writer, and translator. The bulk of the materials consists of Bernstein’s liturgical compositions and arrangements in both published and manuscript form, as well as a substantial collection of manuscripts and published works by various composers and arrangers. The materials include Hasidic folk songs and melodies, religious songs, Jewish hymns, popular songs, children’s songs, operettas, liturgical pieces, and musical exercises for students; choral volumes and partbooks; unidentified and fragmented musical manuscripts; manuscripts of Bernstein’s own writings; personal correspondence; a photo of Bernstein on his deathbed; secular and religious songs, Sabbath hymns, Hasidic folk songs and melodies, assembled by Bernstein for the S. Ansky Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society in Vilna.

Dates: 1878-1936; Majority of material found within 1898-1931

Abraham Sutzkever-Szmerke Kaczerginski Historical Collection

 Collection
Identifier: RG 223.2
Abstract

The Abraham Sutzkever-Szmerke Kaczerginski Historical Collection contains letters, manuscripts, and historical documents which were saved by the Yiddish poets Avraham Sutzkever and Szmerke Kaczerginski in the Vilna Ghetto. Sutzkever, Kaczerginski, and other members of the Paper Brigade, conscripted Jewish workers who were forced to work under the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, saved thousands of books, manuscripts and documents at great risk to their lives by hiding them in various places in the Vilna Ghetto. After the war the surviving members recovered many of the hidden items. Sutzkever sent many of these rescued materials to the YIVO Institute in New York from the period 1947 to 1956. The collection consists of 8 series and includes correspondence of writers, intellectuals, communal leaders, rabbinical figures; manuscripts of Yiddish and Hebrew writers; theater documents; folklore materials; rabbinical responsa and writings; historical and legal documents; pinkasim and Jewish communal records.

Dates: 1680-1941

Abraham Sutzkever-Szmerke Kaczerginski Vilna Ghetto Collection

 Collection
Identifier: RG 223.1
Abstract

The bulk of the collection contains documents generated by the Judenrats of the Vilna ghetto during Nazi occupation. The Yiddish poets Abraham Sutzkever and Szmerke Kaczerginski, interned in the Vilna Ghetto before escaping to the forests as partisans, were instrumental in the removal of this collection from Vilna and its subsequent transfer to the YIVO Archives in New York. The collection is therefore named in their honor.

Dates: 1939 - 1950

Adler Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-890
Abstract

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Celia Adler and Lazar Freed, including theatrical materials such as scripts, programs and sheet music, correspondence, newspaper clippings, assorted publications, and photographs of many of the members of the Adler family and their friends from the Yiddish theater. These materials reflect the wide scope of the Adler acting family and their immense influence on Yiddish theater, Broadway and motion pictures.

Dates: 1893-1992; Majority of material found within 1920 - 1977

Ben Gailing (1898-1999) Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-607
Abstract

This collection contains the records of Ben Gailing (1898-1999), a New York and Boston-based Yiddish theater actor and radio host. Collection includes two Yiddish playscripts, "Yo a Mame, Nit a Mame" by Ben Gailing, and "Oy iz dos a Yingel" by Hershel Glick; Gailing’s book, Git a Shmeykhl; Yiddish sheet music; Yiddish theater programs; and photographs of Ben and Frieda Gailing and other actors and actresses from the Yiddish theater.

Dates: undated, 1924-1975

David Pinski (1872-1959) Papers

 Collection — Consolidated Box P18, Folder: P-649
Identifier: P-649
Abstract

This collection consists of copies of the plays Mountain Climbers, and Better Not to be Born, by Yiddish playwright, editor and author David Pinski (1872-1959). Collection also includes some programs and a stock prospectus.

Dates: 1913-1934

Declaration about Jewish property found in the hands of non-Jews, 1941 November 10

 File — Box 11, Folder: 692
Scope and Contents

German, Lithuanian, and Polish. 1 printed page, with handwritten entries.

Dates: Other: 1941 November 10

Esther-Rachel Kaminska Theater Museum Collection

 Collection
Identifier: RG 8
Abstract

The collection contains play manuscripts, programs, playbills, posters, photographs, correspondence, agreements, scrapbooks, clippings, printed ephemera, and memorabilia relating to Yiddish theater primarily in the early twentieth century, especially the interwar period. Also included are items of printed ephemera related to Yiddish film, Hebrew theater, and a broad range of Jewish performers, including cantors, singers and dancers. Geographically, the materials originate predominantly in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe, including parts of the Russian Empire and, later, the Soviet Union; and, to a lesser extent, the United States, especially New York City. Also included are materials from Western Europe, Palestine (Eretz Israel), South America, and other regions around the world. Among the theater personalities represented in the collection with significant amounts of material are Herz Grossbard, David Herman, Joseph Winogradoff, Rudolf Zaslavsky, Zygmunt Turkow, Jonas Turkow, Moyshe Lipman, Ida Kaminska, and Esther Rachel Kaminska. The theater groups best represented include the Varshever Yidisher Kunst-Teater (VYKT; Warsaw Yiddish Art Theater), founded by Zygmunt Turkow and Ida Kaminska; the Vilna Troupe; Yung Teater / Nay Teater (Warsaw; Vilna), under the direction of Michael Weichert; the Moscow State Yiddish Theater (known by its Russian acronym "GOSET"); Maurice Schwartz's Yiddish Art Theatre, of New York; and the Hebrew theater "Habimah." A wide variety of other professional as well as amateur theater groups are represented with smaller amounts of material.

Dates: 1887 - 1942; Majority of material found within 1900 - 1939

Guide to the Records of the Yidisher Artistn Fareyn (Yiddish Actors' Union), 1909-1940

 Collection
Identifier: RG 26
Abstract

The Yidisher Artistn Fareyn, or Yiddish Actors' Union, advocated for actors' economic interests while striving to create a professionally run, artistically ambitious, Yiddish theatrical scene in Warsaw. From 1919-1938, its influence gradually increased until it included the majority of actors working in Poland, and collaborated with the most significant Polish Yiddish cultural figures and institutions, including E. R. Kaminska, YIVO, Literarishe Bleter, and the Landrat, or National Council of Class Trade Unions (Krajowa Rada Klasowych Związków Zawodowych). This collection contains records of annual conventions, Executive Committee meetings, correspondence with actors and theaters from Poland and around the world, and membership files on almost 600 actors.

Dates: 1909-1940; Majority of material found within 1920-1938

Jacob Fishman (1888-1962) Theater Collection

 Collection
Identifier: P-37
Abstract

This collection contains the prompt-books for numerous plays, both those originally written in Yiddish as well as Yiddish translations of well-known authors. There is also an original play by Boaz Young and notes for a study on female Jewish writers.

Dates: undated, 1898-1939

Jacob Lazarus Snitzer (1874-1947) Papers

 Collection
Identifier: P-36
Abstract

This collection contains handwritten and typed drafts of plays, a novel, and notes for plays and for a newspaper column by Yiddish writer Jacob Lazarus Snitzer (1874-1947). There is also correspondence and contracts relating to Snitzer's plays and five scrapbooks of newspaper articles.

Dates: undated, 1909-1946

Jacob Mestel Papers

 Collection
Identifier: RG 280
Abstract

The collection of Jacob Mestel consists of the general, professional and personal correspondence of Jacob Mestel, manuscripts of plays by other authors, manuscripts of poetry, essays and plays by Jacob Mestel, translations of plays into Yiddish, production material, clippings, theater programs, personal documents, and theater photographs.

Dates: 1910-1958

Jewish Theater Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 2371
Abstract

This collection contains posters, programs, and newspaper reviews for performances of Jewish theater in cities in Germany, Austria, and Lithuania, including theater produced by and about displaced persons in post-World War II Germany.

Dates: 1916-1950

Kadimah Group of Hadassah (Brooklyn, N.Y.) Gilbert and Sullivan in Yiddish Musicals Collection

 Collection
Identifier: I-570
Abstract

Photographs, mementos, and album recordings of the Kadimah Group of Hadassah, Central Chapter, Brooklyn Region, documenting their performances in Yiddish of Gilbert and Sullivan’s musicals, Pirates of Penzance and H.M.S. Pinafore.

Dates: 1948-1955; Majority of material found within 1950 - 1952

Mark Schweid (1891-1969) Papers

 Collection — Box CB-P10, Folder: P-430
Identifier: P-340
Abstract

This collection consists of typescripts and manuscripts of Yiddish radio plays written by Yiddish actor and director Mark Schweid (1891-1969). Also includes There are also four items of ephemera related to the Bronx Art Theatre.

Dates: undated, 1930-1936

Papers of Abraham Goldfaden (1840-1908)

 Collection
Identifier: RG 219
Abstract

This collection contains manuscripts of some of the earliest Yiddish plays, correspondence between playwright, poet, and director Abraham Goldfaden, the father of Yiddish theater, and various actors and writers, as well as some family correspondence, newspaper clippings on Goldfaden and his impact on Yiddish theater, articles by Goldfaden on a variety of topics, and various other theater materials, such as title pages of plays, programs and song sheets. The collection illustrates Goldfaden’s great and ongoing influence on Yiddish theater.

Dates: 1872-1956

Papers of David Pinski (1872-1959)

 Collection
Identifier: RG 204
Abstract

This collection contains documents relating to David Pinski’s role as a Yiddish writer, playwright, essayist, translator, editor, literary critic, and author of novels, plays, short stories, essays, and poems. There is personal and professional correspondence, manuscripts of novels, plays, poems, essays, and articles, translations of Pinski’s works into English and Russian, lectures made on various occasions, personal documents and photographs, programs, notes, and newspaper clippings. These materials demonstrate Pinski’s important role in Yiddish drama and literature, Jewish community life and Yiddish cultural institutions.

Dates: 1880-1952, 2005-2011

Papers of Jennings Yehudah Tofel (1891-1959)

 Collection
Identifier: RG 487
Abstract

This collection contains correspondence between painter, poet, and essayist Jennings Yehudah Tofel and various artists and writers, as well as family correspondence, diaries, journals, manuscripts relating to Tofel’s artistic career, newspaper clippings on Tofel and his art, and manuscripts of Tofel’s essays, poems, dramas, and autobiographical works. The collection illustrates Tofel’s wide range of artistic and literary activities and his role in American modern art.

Dates: 1912-1960

Papers of Joseph Buloff and Luba Kadison

 Collection
Identifier: RG 1146
Abstract

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Joseph Buloff and Luba Kadison, leading actors of the Vilna Troupe and of the Yiddish and English stage, both in the United States and internationally. Most of the information concerns their theatrical careers, including play manuscripts, drawings and photographs of plays and actors, reviews, flyers, and musical scores. There is also some personal biographical information about Buloff, including his memoirs and audio cassettes of interviews. These materials show the importance and influence of Buloff and Kadison for Yiddish and English theater for over sixty years.

Dates: 1910-1996

Papers of Ludwig Satz (1891-1944)

 Collection
Identifier: P-844
Abstract

This collection contains materials relating to the musical and theatrical career of Ludwig Satz and includes sheet music, concert programs, a play script, and publicity notices. There are also paintings, printing plates, a walking cane, and a plaster head cast in the Museum collections.

Dates: 1916-1955, 1970, undated

Papers of Michal Weichert

 Collection
Identifier: RG 532
Abstract

This collection contains articles by Michal Weichert, parts of his memoir, and testimonies submitted on his behalf during his trials following WWII. The articles and manuscripts of his memoir illustrate aspects of his life before WWII, where he was an active and important director in the Yiddish theater in Poland. The testimonies and court materials shed light on his struggles to clear himself from charges that he collaborated with the Nazi authorities during the Holocaust in the course of his work distributing aid to Jewish refugees.

Dates: 1940-1967

Papers of Peretz Hirschbein

 Collection
Identifier: RG 833
Abstract

This collection contains manuscripts of plays, articles and other writings, correspondence, memoirs, photographs, theater programs, and personal materials of Yiddish playwright, novelist, journalist, travel writer, and theater director Peretz Hirschbein. The collection helps to illustrate Hirschbein’s importance and lasting impact upon the revival of Yiddish theater and literature in the early twentieth century.

Dates: 1900-1971

Records of the Federal Theatre, Radio Division (New York, N.Y.)

 Collection — Consolidated Box I8, Folder: Collection I-478
Identifier: I-478
Abstract

This collection consist of press releases and program schedules relating to Federal Theatre's first Yiddish series entitled "Clinton Street" and a presentation of Dr. Joseph Goldberger's discovery of a cure for Pellagra. The Radio Division was a project of the Work Progress Administration.

Dates: undated, 1938

Records of the Friends of Ida Kaminska Theatre Foundation, Inc.

 Collection
Identifier: I-122
Abstract

The Friends of Ida Kaminska Foundation, Inc. was formed in 1969, shortly after the world-renowned Yiddish actress, Ida Kaminska, immigrated to the United States. The purpose of the foundation was to establish, fund, and promote the Ida Kaminska Theatre in New York. Though the foundation managed to put together one theatrical production, financial difficulties forced the foundation to stop its activities in 1973.

Dates: 1968-1975

Records of the Hebrew Actors’ Union

 Collection
Identifier: RG 1843
Abstract

This collection contains the administrative records of the Hebrew Actors’ Union (HAU), the professional union of Yiddish theater performers, which was based in New York City. Materials include correspondence, membership materials, financial records and members’ dues information, meeting minutes, and a great deal of sheet music and play scripts of performances from the Yiddish theater. A majority of these performances were in New York City, but there are also materials from Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, and Montreal, as well as various locations in Israel and South America.

Dates: 1874-1986; Majority of material found within 1920-1970

Records of the Yidisher Teater Gezelshaft in Detroit

 Collection
Identifier: RG 1369
Abstract

This collection contains the records of the Yidisher Teater Gezelshaft in Detroit, a theater guild which aimed to put on Yiddish plays of the highest artistic caliber for the Jewish community of Detroit. It contains correspondence, meeting minutes, financial reports, programs, mailings, and membership materials.

Dates: 1935-1943; Majority of material found within 1942-1943

Solomon Mejzach papers

 Collection — Consolidated Box P19, Folder: P-652
Identifier: P-652
Abstract

Bound volume containing manuscript version of the play "Parthenia and the Hero of the Wilderness" adapted from a story by Friedrich Halms. Text in Yiddish. (Note: This material was copyrighted by the author in 1900.).

Dates: 1900

Theater and Film Poster Collection of Abram Kanof

 Collection
Identifier: P-978
Abstract

This collection contains 331 Yiddish theater and film posters, mainly from the first half of the twentieth century, from North and South America.

Dates: 1899-1970; Majority of material found within 1915 - 1940