Jews

The collection contains a comprehensive or nearly comprehensive collection of the newsletter sent regularly to former members of the Bar Kochba and Theodor Herzl academic associations of Prague which existed in the first part of the 20th century. Numerous prominent writers, scientists, lawyers, doctors, and other men and women of note stemming from German-speaking families of Bohemia published historical, political, and scientific essays, articles, and letters in the pages of the internationally-distributed newsletter. The newsletters in this collection were mailed to Robert Weltsch, a member and frequent contributor.

The Records of the Board of Delegates of American Israelites (1859-1878) documents the life cycle of the Board of Delegates, a Jewish civil rights organization located in New York City. The Board served in a two-fold function: acting as a central organization for American Jews and working on behalf of Jews abroad. To the latter end, the Delegates collaborated with the Committee of Deputies of British Jews and the French Alliance Israélite Universelle to provide for the relief and aid, civil, and religious rights of Jews throughout the Americas, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, particularly Romania, Ottoman Palestine including Jerusalem, and Morocco.

In the U.S., the Delegates were partially responsible for the appointment of the first Jewish Military Chaplain and surveyed member synagogues concerning the history and size of their congregation, the first organization to systematically record this type of information in the States. The Delegates merged with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) in 1878 and dissolved in 1925. Correspondents include Adolph Crémieux, Sir Moses Montefiore, Benjamin Franklin Peixotto, Isaacs S. Myer, the Rev. Dr. Arnold Fischel, and Maj. General Benjamin Butler. Documents include correspondence, minutes, committee reports, memorials, announcements, surveys, some printed material including clippings, and a 1932 Rabbinical thesis on the Delegates by Allan Tarshish.

The collection contains Dutch and Portuguese documents pertaining to the Jewish community and dealing especially with Congregation Mikve Israel and Neve Salom, the David Aboab controversy, and the communal reorganizations of 1750-51. Four rolls of microfilmed documentary and printed materials are present in the collection

The collection contains various documents pertaining to Fritz Frank, most of them manuscripts written by him, and comprises 16 folders.

This collection contains a variety of materials representing the pre-World War II German existence of Ilse Baum's family, including postcards, vital documents and photographs. Specifically there are German and US vital and military documents for Ilse's parents Erich and Grete (née Dublon) Baum (circa 1914-1978); Ilse's Poesie friendship book created on the occasion of her emigration from Germany, with entries by family and friends, accompanied by Ilse's later notes about the wartime fate of several friends (entries dated 1938-1945); seven postcards, mostly to/from Erich Baum during his WWI service and featuring pictures of him and his unit (1916-1923); fifteen photographs of Ilse Baum's extended family (circa 1900-circa 1940); three photographs of David Dublon's grave (circa 1930-circa 1960); documents pertaining to David Dublom, Grete Baum's father: a program for his silver jubilee celebration, an obituary, a death certificate, and correspondence regarding his grave at the Jewish cemetery in Bonn (1913-1956).

This small collection holds name lists of Jewish residents in Weimar, 1879-1941, as well as reports from survivors of the Holocaust in Weimar. Also included is correspondence, describing these reports’ provenance.

The Papers of Max J. Kohler (1871-1934) document his life's work as lawyer, historian, writer, researcher, and defender of Jewish and immigrant rights. Correspondents include many of Kohler's contemporaries in the field of history and immigration law including Cyrus Adler; William Taft; John Bassett Moore; Mortimer Schiff; David Hunter Miller; Baron and Baroness de Hirsch; the Straus Family including Oscar Straus; Luigi Luzzatti; Leon Huhner; and Julian Mack. Subjects include U.S. immigration law, American-Jewish history, Col. Alfred Dreyfus, Haym Salomon, Ellis Island, Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler, the publication God in Freedom, international treaties, and the Peace Conference of 1919.

The Reiss Family Collection deals with the lives of two brothers, Moritz and David Reiss, sons of Josef.

This Collection documents the lifespan (1926-1982, 1990-1992, 1994) and activities of the joint Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Jewish communities' efforts in coordinating Jewish life and activities in America. The collection contains correspondence, photographs, and ephemera including photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr., Edward Kennedy, and Presidents Eisenhower, Truman, and Johnson, along with Eleanor Roosevelt. Of particular interest is correspondence and photographs documenting the removal, reconsecration, or burial of ritual Synagogue items for repatriation from Europe to the U.S. and South America after WWII; also contains information on damaged synagogues in France.