Antisemitism -- United States

Under the employ of the New York Kehillah, detective Abraham Shoenfeld infiltrated and documented Jewish crime rings, prostitution houses and gambling establishments from 1912 to 1917. For the American Jewish Committee from 1938 to 1964, he investigated anti-Semitic organizations and individuals. He also authored a controversial book about the New York crime world, The Joy Peddler, and he was at work on other pieces of fiction and his memoirs. The bulk of his papers consist of investigative reports and research for the American Jewish Committee, his manuscripts, and his collection of anti-Semitic literature.

The records consist of documentation of the Anti-Defamation League efforts to track and counter activities of the John Birch Society from its founding in 1958 through the mid-1970s. The material was organized by the ADL New England regional office and consists of correspondence, including copies of internal JBS material, memoranda, a large volume of newspaper clippings, as well as pamphlets, publications and reports.

The Anti-Semitic Literature Collection documents journalistic source materials (newspapers, newsletters, and illustrations) regarding views of anti-Semitism in the United States during the 20th-century. A few items from the 19th-century are included, particularly illustrations from Puck, Vanity Fair, and The Judge. Items are from various periodicals (i.e., The Dearborn Independent, Common Sense, The Crusader, The White American), organizations (i.e., American Nazi Party, the Christian Educational Association, and the White Party of America), and by many different authors (i.e., Father C.E. Coughlin, Benjamin Freedman, Otto H.F. Vollbehr). Additionally, this collection contains responses by American organizations to American and European anti-Semitism as well as documentation on the reaction of anti-Semitism in Canada.

This collection consists of letters written to Schwager by Americans and non-Americans on a variety of topics pertaining to Jews. The majority of the letters are from members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate, and American governors, expressing their views on Jews, anti-Semitism, and Palestine as a Jewish homeland. Also included are letters on this topic from Thomas Edison, Charles Curtis, and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Other letters concern the First Solotwiner Sick and Benevolent Society, the proposed formation by Schwager of a cloak-maker's union, and other topics of general Jewish interest.

This collection contains the correspondence of the Anti-Nazi Boycott Committee of the Jewish War Veterans appealing for support against Nazi activities in the United States, 1933, and to assist Nazi sufferers in Europe, as well as other correspondence and printed material describing the purpose, history, and activities of the national organization and local chapters. Included is a scrapbook (1924-1930) containing newspaper clippings in English and Yiddish relating to protests against the massacres of the Jews in Romania and the riots in Palestine in 1929, as well as appeals for financial and political support on behalf of Palestine Jewry. A large portion of this collection consists of photographs depicting the work of the organization.

Collection contains materials pertaining to the development of the Committee. Members of the Executive Committee included Arthur S. Meyer, A.K. Cohen, Horace M. Kallen and C.J. Austrian.

This collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, and minutes of meetings. The minutes contain recommendations pertaining to legislation on discrimination, and reflect the political and social conditions of Jews in the U.S in the 1940s.

The Eric Breindel Papers (1955-1998) provides a glimpse into the life and untimely passing of New York Post editor and columnist Eric Breindel. The bulk of this collection documents the many awards and honors he received for his contributions to the Jewish community, and the community at large. The collection also includes many photographs of Breindel with friends, colleagues, and notable individuals. Some samples of his writing and research can also be found in the collection. Other interesting material documents the grief of his early death and the sentiments expressed by many about his loss.

The General Jewish Council was an umbrella organization founded by the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith, and Jewish Labor Committee in order to coordinate their rights defense activities.

The bulk of the records in this collection date between from 1938-1944, the active years of the Council. Materials consist primarily of correspondence, minutes, memoranda, and reports.

The collection consists primarily of the author's unpublished manuscripts and songs (set to music); printed texts of plays, short stories, essays and other literary works; material relating to several organized attempts to ban The merchant of Venice from the NYC public school curriculum; personal documents and correspondence; newspaper clippings; and other material utilized as sources for his writings. The correspondence is primarily with publishers and Emanuel Neumann and relating to Zionism in general.

It also contains a detailed record, consisting of letters, a dated handwritten account, and news clippings, of the 1927 Zionist Convention in Atlantic City, centering on an internal schism as to the competence of the Lipsky administration, as well as some follow-up material in 1928. Prominent in these papers is correspondence with Louis D. Brandeis; also represented are Henrietta Szold and Chaim Weizmann.

Contains the draft of a letter to Andrew Johnson plus Johnson's reply regarding an alleged anti-Jewish statement that he made.

Contains correspondence, mostly of a personal nature, from Mayer Sulzberger, Louis Marshall, Herbert Quick, Thomas W. Page, and Louis D. Brandeis. Also included is correspondence between Nathan Straus and Mayer Sulzberger regarding Friedenwald's candidacy for the House of Representatives in 1912, as well as correspondence with the American Jewish Historical Society regarding a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Contains letters and articles in manuscript to Leeser pertaining to: his work as editor of The Occident, his translation of the Bible and his other literary works; discussions concerning Jewish law, the Reform movement in the United States and in Curaçao; Reform and Orthodox Judaism in Albany, N.Y., Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson's anti-Semitic comments in the United States Congress; the founding of a synagogue in San Francisco; the condition of Jews and Jewish education in America and in England; equal rights for Jews in Massachusetts and North Carolina; the controversy over the Touro Monument; slavery and the Civil War; and converts to Judaism. Also includes information on Israel Joseph Benjamin's trip in the U.S., 1859-1862; Isaac Mayer Wise; Sabato Morais; a manuscript guidebook on Jewish ritual slaughter written by Moses Julian in Barbados in 1820; Moses Montefiore's report on his mission to Rome on behalf of the Edgardo Mortara affair; articles discussing Christian theology; the Jews in Cochin, India and in China; a Latin preface to Leeser's Hebrew Bible; a Portuguese prayer against the evil eye; and poems on topics of Jewish interest.

The collection contains correspondence, documents, and newspaper clippings relating to the life and activities of Obermayer in local and national Jewish organizations. Includes: correspondence and other materials concerning the Board of Public Education of Philadelphia on which he served as member and then president 1955-1961 (of special interest are the papers pertaining to communism in the schools, educational television, and the problems of minority students); the American Jewish Historical Society of which he served as a member, president and chairman of the Exec. Council (of special interest is the material pertaining to the litigation over the Society's move to Waltham); the Symphony Club (1959-1966); the Penn. Advisory Committee, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1958-1960); the Penn. Alcoholic Beverage Study (1961-1967); the Heart Association of Southeastern Penn. (1964-1965); the National Committee on Employment of Youth (1965-1968); the American Bar Association Special Committee on Investigation, Solicitation and Handling of Personal Injury Claims (1957-1959); the Committee on Legal Ethics and Grievances (1961-1969); the Penn. Prison Society (1964-1969); the Phila. YM & YWHA (1925-1940, 1967-1968); the Hebrew Sunday School Society (1919-1970); the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, with special reference to Edmond Cahn's opposition to the establishment of Reform Jewish day schools (1964-1965); the Hebrew Union College (1964-1968); B'nai B'rith (1957-1967) and the Philadelphia Bar Assoc. (1937-1977).

Collection includes family genealogical research conducted by Etta Levine; Levine-Levitansky family correspondence, writings, and photographs.

This collection contains a letter on company stationery concerning "Mr. Buckey, the Jew" and his claims for damages. The collection is digitized and available in the Center's shared digital asset and preservation management system, please see https://digipres.cjh.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE10803745.

Milton Weill was known for his work in philanthropic Jewish organizations. Among the many presidential, vice-presidential, and board member positions he held, he was President of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies (1951-1954), Vice-President of the National Jewish Welfare Board, and a board member of the United Jewish Appeal and the American Jewish Committee. He was also the Director of the United Services Organizations, Overseer of Brandeis University's Graduate School of Social Welfare and Honorary Vice President and board member of the 92nd Street Y in New York. Prior to the 92nd Street Y, he was a board member of the 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association and was Honorary Chairman of the Board of Associated Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Assocations of New York. The Milton J. Weill Art Gallery is located at the 92nd Street Y. Mr. Weill graduated from Columbia University and served in France during World War I. The papers include correspondence, telegrams, postcards, maps, artifacts, posters, photographs, lectures, sketch typescripts, and scrapbooks from World War I, his tenure at the Jewish Welfare Board, and personal correspondence.

This collection consists of the papers of Nathan Perlmutter, a lawyer, lecturer, author, political activist, and a long-time leader of the American Jewish community. It contains certificates, newspaper clippings, correspondence — including numerous condolence cards and letters sent to his family after his death — manuscripts and drafts of Perlmutter’s writings, obituaries, printed materials, programs, and subject files relating to topics he was interested in and that he wrote about.

Consists primarily of mimeographed copies of thirteen travel diaries prepared by Nettie Kosminsky and her sister Myrtle Cassett in the course of their travels around the world. They are personal in nature and contain anecdotal material on each place visited. Also contains photocopied typescripts of speeches regarding slavery delivered by Meyer Friede in the Missouri legislature (1860), and a reply to an anti-Semitic statement made by another legislator (1861).

The collection consists mainly of minutes, surveys, reports, photographs, and correspondence of both JWB personnel and U.S. military chaplains, directed toward or concerned with the Jewish men in the Armed Forces.

The material in this collection covers such topics as: holiday arrangements (primarily the High Holy Days and Passover), food needs, religious services, furloughs, prayerbooks; budgeting and staffing; registration and marking of Jewish graves; anti-Semitism in the military; the general problems of Kashruth; communication between the men and their families; and general recreation and entertainment.

Starting in June 1922, journalist Norman Hapgood wrote a number of articles exposing the anti-Semitic propaganda of Henry Ford. These articles were later compiled by Brandeis student Daniel E. Miranda, who realized the scarcity of the articles. This collection contains those articles and a forward describing them.

Books, manuscripts, pamphlets, legal documents, correspondence, photographs, relating to Klein's life and career. Materials relate mainly to Klein's antisemitic and anti-Zionist activity and include: lawsuits against individuals and reprints of antisemitic articles from the Dearborn Independent, 1920s; reprints of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion; copies of H.K. Klein's Weekly News.

Contains the 1969, and 1971-1973 issues of The South End, the Wayne State University student paper. Also includes: correspondence, public statements, petitions, and a tape-recording relating to controversies generated by the printing of alleged anti-Zionist/anti-Semitic articles in the newspaper. The correspondence consists for the most part of an exchange of letters between university officials, Jewish community leaders and Leonard N. Simons, a Detroit advertising executive, during the 1969 controversy; and correspondence with Philip Slomovitz, editor of the Detroit Jewish news, in 1972-73. The tape recording is of a February 2, 1969 interview with John Watson, editor of the South End.

This collection contains annual reports, board minutes, case studies, correspondence, newsletters, survey reports, and other items.

This collection consists of correspondence, pamphlets, reprints of newspaper articles and other ephemera, as well as financial statements, of a controversial organization formed in January 1939 for the purpose of combatting anti-Semitism.

The collection includes materials pertaining to the Jewish Defense Organization, a radical Zionist Jewish organization devoted to protecting Jews from their enemies, imaginary and real, using all means possible. Collection consists of correspondence, financial documents, legal documents, such as depositions, subpoenas, transcripts, and a large amount of printed materials. The bulk of the materials consist of a variety of printed materials and materials pertaining to a number of legal cases against various members of the Jewish Defense Organization and the organization itself.

The Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity, active between 1904 and 1970 with a predominantly Jewish membership, was established in New York City and eventually opened at least 48 chapters on college campuses across the U.S. and one in Canada. The bulk of the records in this collection were generated, received and collected by the national fraternity officers between 1912 and the late 1950s. Topics represented include black-Jewish relations, military service in WWI and WWII, educational, housing and occupational discrimination, and WWII refugee aid. Materials consist of correspondence, reports, minutes, clippings, serial publications, photographs, pins, financial records, floor plans, manuals, and directories.

The Robert Rifkind Papers document the Jewish philanthropic and lobbying activities of Robert Singer Rifkind. Robert Rifkind was born in New York City in 1936 and became a partner at the law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore in 1971. He served on the boards of many Jewish philanthropic and activist organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies. The collection includes correspondence, photographs and publications from Rifkind’s involvement in these and other organizations, primarily dating from the 1980s to the 2010s.

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Shad Polier, including legal files from cases with which Polier was involved, particularly those concerning adoptions and civil liberties, articles and speeches by Polier, correspondence, and materials from several of the organizations with which Polier was affiliated, including the American Jewish Congress, the World Jewish Congress and the NAACP. These materials reflect his widespread participation with the civil liberties movement, equal rights and anti-discrimination law.

Collection ontains the following manuscript and printed material pertaining to Spiegelberg: 1) biographical material written by his wife, Flora Langerman Spiegelberg, which appeared in The cyclopedia of American biography; 2) letters written to Spiegelberg by Louis Sulzbacher about a tax payment (1883), Solomon Bibo, on personal matters (1896), and Simon Bibo, regarding a protest of an anti-Semitic nature involving the Mexican population (1896); 3) printed and manuscript appeals and receipts for funds from various Jewish institutions in Palestine (1906?). Also includes a photo of the Chief Rabbi of Egypt taken at that time.