Administrative records

The materials in this collection constitute a semi-random sample of the pre-war archive that was transferred to the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic following the liquidation of the Vilnius Jewish Museum in 1949. The collection includes records of YIVO work and activities, financial records, correspondence, and publications; documents about pogroms in Ukraine, and Red Army and Soviet activity in Vilna and Bialystok; and a significant amount of records of socialist, communist, and Zionist political parties, as well as associated newspapers and one-time publications.

The Annual and Mid-Winter National Conventions Records document the proceedings and outcomes of the conventions and conferences attended by Hadassah’s National Board as well as by convention delegates from the various regions of Hadassah. The conventions in particular are where local and regional leaders meet with each other and the National Board and learn about Hadassah’s various projects and committees. This record group also includes annual reports from 1926-2001.

This collection contains the records of Ira H. Jolles’ activities with the Cahnman Foundation, a philanthropic organization which funded projects dedicated to the preservation and care of Jewish archives, architecture, and culture. It consists primarily of correspondence relating to funded projects, including their planning and scope. Also included are several years worth of Board of Director meeting minutes and select legal documents from the Estate of Gisella Levi Cahnman.

This record group contains materials related to the local units of Hadassah—groups, chapters, regions, and co-ops—as well as Junior Hadassah, a youth organization that functioned as a group within the Hadassah Chapter structure. The record group documents over one hundred years of Hadassah’s growth, and illuminates a century of American Jewish communal life, particularly that of Jewish women, across the United States. The record group reflects the formation, administration and activities of the individual groups, chapters, co-ops and regions, and contains information on local events and programs organized around fundraising, Zionism, Jewish heritage, religion and holidays celebration, the study of Hebrew and Yiddish, women's issues, fashion, health, technology and many other topics.

The City Athletic Club (CAC) was a New York City-based, Jewish, athletic, social, and gentleman's club, founded because Jews were rarely admitted to the established clubs at the time. Over the years, the CAC expanded its facilities, but its membership began dwindling in the 1990s, and the club closed in 2002. The City Athletic Club Records primarily consist of membership applications with supporting documents, but also contain a complete set of Board of Governors minutes, committee minutes, photographs, lantern slides, newsletters, printed matter, ephemera, and plaques.

This record group documents the creation, management, and use of the Hadassah Archives and provides valuable contextual information for researchers, current managers, and future managers of the Hadassah Archives. As an organization, Hadassah created active records of business that were housed in its Central Files department. In the 1950s, Hadassah began the process of creating an official archives, precipitated by a project to locate and compile sources for a biography of Hadassah founder, Henrietta Szold, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of her birth. This record group documents three specific periods of custodianship—the 1980s, 1996-2011, and 2015-2016—and the various archivists who managed and shaped the archives during those years. RG 23 includes born digital, digitized, and paper material.

This collection holds records pertaining to the Comité national de Secours aux refugies allemands victimes de l'anti-semitisme and documents the work of the organization. Included in this collection is correspondence, statistical reports, lists, announcements, and material on the founding of the organization.

This record group documents the work of the Hadassah national board through board and executive committee meeting minutes, board member subject files, correspondence and reports, as well as minutes and materials generated by Hadassah ad-hoc and non-Executive committees, from 1912-2012. This record group also includes files from milestone anniversaries of Hadassah and legal documents pertaining to its projects.

Subseries 1 contains documents from Michael Brenner, mainly regarding his professional work. The first folder contains newspaper articles about important events from Michael's childhood to his early university days, such as his Brit Milah and Bar Mitzvah and especially his participation in a competition on German history, organized by the Federal President: in 1981, he won the first prize in the „Deutscher Geschichtswettbewerb des Bundespräsidenten für Schülerinnen und Schüler“. (German History Competition of the Federal President for Pupils) with the topic, ‘Everyday Life under National Socialism’. His work comprised over 300 pages and was entitled “Persecution of Jews in the Third Reich - illustrated by everyday lives of former and present-day Weidner Jews”). In 1983, his work was published as a book. As a student, his book was awarded the Oldenburg Children's and Youth Book Prize (Oldenburger Kinder- und Jugendbuchpreis), which is documented by newspaper clippings. Michael Brenner studied at the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien in Heidelberg, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Columbia University in New York. Folder 55 of this series includes a letter of complaint to Chancellor Helmut Kohl in connection with the ‘Bitburg controversy’in 1985. After receiving his Ph.D. from Columbia University on Jewish Culture in the Weimar Republic, Michael Brenner began teaching in 1997 at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the American University. The content of folder 55-56 relate to his career and activities as a university professor mainly for the Chair of Jewish History and Culture at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. He authored nine books on Jewish history, and he edited and co-edited numerous books. Articles and reviews of his book publications can be found in folders 57-58. They contain articles in which, among others, the following of his books are discussed: After the Holocaust: The Reconstruction of Jewish Life in Post-War Germany, German-Jewish History in the Modern Era, The Renaissance of Jewish Culture in Weimar Germany, Prophets of the Past. Interpreters of Jewish History, A Brief History of the Jews, and In Search of Israel: The Story of an Idea. Folders 59-60 contain all his articles published in newspapers and magazines on the subject of German-Jewish history and culture before, during and after 1945, including interviews in which he appears as an expert. The next folder contains documents on events, conferences and forums that Michael Brenner organized or participated in as a guest. The last folder includes a collection of ephemera from events mainly organized by the Ludwig-Maximilian-University and other institutions.

This record group includes documents created and maintained by the Office of the President, the Office of the Executive Director and the Chair of the Division Coordinators/Directors Committee. Prominent is the Henrietta Szold series, containing correspondence by and to Szold as well as printed materials written by and about her. The files in this record group were created by a national president or executive director, or for their use, or maintained in their office during their years in office. Included are correspondence, minutes, memos, publications, reports and subject files on topics with which these individuals were involved.

Hadassah Functions and Operations Records represent the bulk of aid and services provided to Hadassah's membership, from the 1920s to 2011. Materials found in the record group include correspondence, clippings, press releases, manuals and kits for chapters and members to implement programming and chapter structure, fundraising campaigns, scripts, study guides, programming for local and national meetings, biographical files, and training documentation. Departments documented in the record group include Public Affairs, Education, Women's Health, American Affairs, Zionist and International Affairs, Speakers Bureau, Fundraising, Program, Organization, Outreach and Tourism Departments. Materials related to the general administration of Hadassah are also in the record group; these materials include research and development of projects, archives department correspondence and other materials, Hadassah House administration, and strategic planning. The record group also documents Hadassah's efforts to expand membership outside of the United States, by the development of Hadassah International.

This collection documents the life and career of the historian and professor Gerard Caspary (1929-2008). The collection consists of memoir manuscripts, photographs, newsletters, and family histories, among other materials.

The Hadassah Archives documents the activities of Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America. Founded in 1912, the organization engaged hundreds of thousands of American Jewish women in the Zionist project. Materials include extensive records of its social welfare projects in Palestine and later Israel, such as Youth Aliyah and the Hadassah Medical Organization. Administrative records document the organization's governance, operations, and functions. The collection also includes the papers of Hadassah founder, Henrietta Szold, as well as the organization's national presidents, executive directors, and other important individuals. Additional materials also document Hadassah's organizational activity in the United States such as annual and midwinter conventions and the dozens of active local chapters from all over the United States. Hadassah maintained an active publishing schedule, and the records include hundreds of published newsletters, flyers, and magazines. Other materials include thousands of photographs, extensive audiovisual material, and hundreds of artifacts.

The Hadassah Medical Organization Records in the Hadassah Archives document Hadassah's work in providing health care resources in Palestine/Israel since 1918. The activities documented revolve around the development of the Hadassah Hospital; health centers; dental centers; occupational and rehabilitative services; medical, nursing, dental, and pharmacy schools; as well as numerous educative and preventive projects, especially those aimed at infant care. The documents also reflect the history of the Yishuv (Jewish settlement in Palestine) and the establishment of the State of Israel. The record group contains articles, clippings, correspondence, financial records, fundraising material, minutes, personal accounts, press releases, publicity material, reports, and statistical reports.

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.

The records of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, now known as HIAS, comprise much of the history of HIAS through the second half of the 20th century, primarily through the files created by leadership based in the New York headquarters. Since the 1880s HIAS has worked with immigrants and refugees to help them emigrate legally from their home countries to safe resettlement in the United States and elsewhere, and they continue this work today. The records focus on files of the Executive Directors, including James P. Rice, Gaynor I. Jacobson and Karl D. Zukerman, and other material created by executive staff and by the Board of Directors. Also of importance is the work of the HIAS United States Operations Department in the New York office, handling the everyday details of immigration documentation, migration issues and resettlement activities in connection with communities throughout the United States, and in coordination with HIAS staff in overseas offices and the other departments in New York and Washington, D.C. In addition, more than 1100 files of legacy photographs have been digitized as part of this project and made accessible online.

Collection contains bound records from the administrative activities of the Hebrew Infant Asylum, including annual reports, board meeting minutes, reports of the admitting physicians, and the admission and discharge records of children.

This collection contains records of the HIAS-ICA Emigration Association HICEM, an organization that supported the emigration of European Jews. It was created in 1927 by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the Jewish Colonization Association (ICA), and Emig-Direkt. Materials include minutes, correspondence, administrative records, and reports on the situation of Jews in various parts of Europe.

The Jewish National Fund records reflect the non-profit organization’s afforestation efforts in Israel in funding partnership with Hadassah. Included in this collection are personnel records, membership lists, and convention summaries, as well as correspondence, project documentation, and publications such as press releases, and magazines.

This collection documents the history and some of the activities of the Kartell-Convent deutscher Studenten jüdischen Glaubens and its American successor organizations. Among the records are financial papers, organizational correspondence, published and unpublished essays and articles, photographs, autograph books, meeting minutes and reports and publications.

This collection includes various material concerning the Jewish Community in Leipzig. It contains administrative files and correspondence from the Third Reich as well as lists of deportations. It also contains speeches and essays about Jewish life in Leipzig.

The Leo Hershkowitz Collection of Court Records consists of affidavits, complaints and various orders that were filed in New York City between 1835 and 1910 presumably by Jews based on name or company of those involved in lawsuits. This includes cases of divorce, naturalization, business and estate disputes, and petitions for guardianship, among a variety of other lawsuits.

The Leon Kronish Papers incorporate the personal and professional papers of Rabbi Leon Kronish with the organizational records of Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach, Florida, where he served as spiritual leader for over fifty years. Included are sermons, correspondence, memorandums, newsletters, worship service manuals, programs, pamphlets, greeting cards, administrative records, financial records, notes, clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, and sound recordings.

This collection documents the genealogical origins of Arthur Levi (1919-2018) and his wife, Kitty Pappenheim Levi (1925-2022).

Lights in Action (LIA) was a network of students dedicated to inspiring Jewish pride and unity among college students. LIA student activists designed, created, and distributed Jewish/Zionist literature that reached approximately 100,000 students on over 120 campuses. In addition, LIA designed and coordinated national student projects like Shabbat Leumit, a guide to lead students across North America through the rituals during Shabbat. LIA also hosted and sponsored national conferences, summer programs in Israel, leadership training, and seminars on a variety of topics of interest to Jewish students. The records include Lights in Action publications and printed matter, administrative records, photographs and slides, audiovisual material, sound recordings, and born digital material.

The MACHAL, the acronym for “mitnadvei hutz laAretz” ("Volunteers from Abroad"), consisted of about 3500 men and women from over 40 countries from a variety of social and religious backgrounds who volunteered to fight for the establishment of Israel. This collection is unique in that it deals specifically with the experience of MACHAL and Aliyah Bet volunteers from Canada and the United States and others living in the United States. The collections consists of files on 500 volunteers, over 2000 original and reproduction photographs, numerous audio-visual material, books, manuscripts, and memoirs.

The Meyer Greenberg Papers document the activities of the B'nai B'rith Hillel at the University of Maryland-College Park during Meyer Greenberg's time as Director, 1945-1977. This collection contains correspondence with officials of B'nai Brith Hillel, other Jewish organizations and individuals, the administration of the University of Maryland; minutes of the Student Executive Council, Building Corporation and Community Board of the Hillel Chapter at the University of Maryland; program and financial reports; publications; tape recordings of symposia and photographs and newspaper clippings relating to the activities at Hillel. This collection also contains papers related to Meyer Greenberg's directorships of the Hillels at Yale University and Queens College from 1944-1945.

The New York Board of Rabbis is a cross-denominational Jewish organization for rabbis that seeks to foster fellowship, provide educational enrichment, and rise above theological differences to strengthen and defend the Jewish community advancing its’ educational, religious, and social values. The collection documents the governance of the Board and its activities in serving the Jewish community of New York and at large.

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.

This collection documents the lives of Saul Pepper (1910-1979) and his wife Dora née Eisen Pepper (1918-1987); it focuses on restitution, with extensive compensatory financial documents.