Jews -- United States

This collection is comprised of correspondence and financial documents from and to the Central Committee Knesseth Israel Charity of Rabbi Maier Baal Haness from 1924 through 1950. The charity was a Jewish charity formed in 1924 in both Israel and the state of New York with the purpose of collecting contributions to help the state of Israel and American Jews. The collection contains charity donation records from 1924 through 1950.

The Harry R. Rosen Community Building Consultants Records consist of photographs, research, and administrative documentation by and for the dozens of Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) in the United States, Canada, and Israel that Harry R. Rosen and his firm helped develop from the 1970s to the early 2000s.

Harry Sebee Linfield (1889-1978), rabbi and statistician, collected statistics of Jewish life in America for the Bureau of Jewish Social Research and the United States Bureau of the Census. The majority of the collection contains his research data, correspondence, and other personal papers.

This collection contains program catalogs for the years 1977-1996 and event publicity brochures and fliers for 1981, 1988-1996.

Collection includes approximately 85,000 individual service files and 320,000 surrogate index cards collected by the BWR and the Greater New York War Records Committee on behalf of Jewish soldiers and sailors who served in World War II. The BWR also conducted surveys of Jewish doctors, dentists, farmers and refugees who served in the United States Armed Forces and compiled population studies for cities containing Jewish populations greater than 25,000, among them Trenton, N.J. and New York City. The individual service files typically provide a soldier's name, age, rank, serial number, service branch, home address, civilian occupation, next of kin, awards and casualties. These files contain supporting documentation culled from newspapers, telephone conversations, and correspondence exchanged among BWR staff and volunteers, service personnel and their families, and representatives of the United States Armed Forces.

The alphabetical master cards series serves as an abbreviated, annotated index for the more substantial individual service files of Jewish service personnel who won awards or suffered casualties during the war. The Bureau maintained correspondence files for permanent staff members including Salo Baron, Edward Burnstein, Louis Dublin, Elisha Friedman, Dr. Maurice Hexter, Rabbi Edward Israel, Samuel Kohs, Louis Kraft, Samuel Leff, Harry Lurie, Herbert Marks, Benjamin Rabinowitz, Philip Schiff, Selma Schnaper, Jerome Seidman, David Turtletaub, Frank Weil, Milton Weill, Arthur Weyne, and Joseph Zubin.

The Bureau also preserved correspondence with representatives of local war records committees, religious, and community service organizations including the United Service Organization, Jewish Community Centers, Hebrew Associations, and the National Refugee Service, as well as publishers, alumni associations, and military personnel from the offices of United States Army, Navy, and Quartermaster General's office.

It retained copies of published and printed materials including studies, lists, guides, forms, and cards. Among the vital records are charts depicting the BWR administrative hierarchy; personnel and staff records; lists of volunteers and field representatives employed throughout the United States; minutes of meetings; annual, quarterly, and special reports; budget materials; and policies and procedures implemented during the war records program.

University professor, historian, and scholar Oscar I. Janowsky sought to understand Jewish culture and human rights in light of modern anti-Semitism, imperialism, and pluralistic states. Throughout his robust career he was a professor of history at the City College of New York, he also served as an advisor to League of Nations High Commissioner James G. McDonald, directed and authored major studies in the fields of Jewish community centers and education. The papers in this collection include his correspondence with colleagues and friends, research notes and article drafts, and his unpublished memoirs.

This collection consists of general reference files from the New York City headquarters of the American Jewish Committee (AJC). Materials originated in various AJC departments and were maintained by a Central Records office until 1962, when records retention policy was decentralized. Document types include correspondence, memoranda, reports, clippings, and published materials concerning individuals, businesses, government agencies, and other organizations related to the work of the AJC.

This collection documents the life and extended family of Richard F. Koch (1920 -). Much of the material relates to his mother, Stella Dreyfus Koch (1878-1962), and her family. Both the Dreyfus and Koch families were descended from German-Jewish immigrants that arrived in New Orleans in the mid 19th century. The bulk of the collection consists of personal correspondence, but the collection includes scrapbooks, educational materials, military materials, clippings, poems and songs, printed ephemera, and photographs. Highlights include a set of about a dozen handwritten German poems from the 1830s, and diaries and letters written during Fred Dreyfus's US army service in World War One.

This collection is comprised of materials related to the Brooklyn-born, gay, Jewish bullfighter, Sidney Franklin (1903-1976), who is also known for his close friendship with Ernest Hemingway. The bulk of the collection are photographs of Franklin performing in the bullring, or posing with Spanish and Latin American matadors or famous Americans such as Franklin Roosevelt, Jr., Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., Paulette Goddard, Jack Dempsey and Eddie Cantor. There are also audio recordings of Franklin, a film proposal, clippings and a copy of Franklin’s autobiography.

The Solender Family Papers document the professional achievements and to a lesser extent, the personal lives, of the members of the Solender family. The Solender family has been influential in the field of Jewish Communal Services since the 1930s. Family members that are most prominently represented in the collection include Samuel Solender (1890-1961), his son Sanford Solender (1914-2003), and his grandson Stephen Solender (1938- ).

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.

The collection contains correspondence, personal, and business papers of the following members of the Touro family: Abraham (1777/78-1822), Judah (1775-1854), and Rebecca (1779-1833) Touro of Newport, Rhode Island. Documents include an insurance policy, correspondence, and wills.