Programs (documents)

The records of the American Jewish Historical Society, the oldest national ethnic historical organization in the United States, include correspondence of officers and staff as well as inter-office memos, multiple versions of the constitution and by-laws of the society, meeting minutes of administrative branches and committees, membership and financial records, reports, exhibit materials, records relating to the society’s library and archival holdings, press releases and newspaper clippings, and publications and newsletters created by the society. There are also materials from various programs, such as meetings and conferences, tours, lectures, awards and dinners, films, and educational programs.

This collection contains correspondence, reports, and other material relating to both Rabinoff's work with the Jewish Welfare Federations of Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Chicago; and as a field representative of the Jewish Welfare Board in Texas during the First World War. It also includes correspondence from the professional social work groups Rabinoff served in various capacities, most relating to the National Social Welfare Assembly of which he was the Assistant Director, and the National Conference of Jewish Communal Service of which he was the director of the New York Training Bureau; extensive material on the Australian Jewish Community, where he served as a Fulbright Lecturer in the Dept. of Social Studies of the University of Queensland in 1962, and as a consultant to the Australian National Red Cross; diaries, speeches, published material, reports, and general correspondence.

The collection documents the National Jewish Welfare Board's (JWB) evolution from an organization founded in 1917 to provide support for soldiers in times of war to an agency involved in all aspects of Jewish life both in the United States and abroad. In 1990 JWB recreated itself as the Jewish Community Centers Association of North America.

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.

This collection documents the time Rabbi Abraham Haselkorn spent stationed overseas during World War II. Photographs include those of comrades and soldiers, as well as refugees. Scenes include daily life as well as religious services.