Bookkeeping records

The Baron de Hirsch Fund Records document the organization's involvement in the planning of agricultural communities across the United States and to some extent in South America; the founding and administrative dealings of agricultural and trade schools; the establishment of the Jewish Agricultural Society; and the business records of the Fund itself. In addition, the collection documents the protection offered to immigrants through port work, relief, temporary aid, promotion of suburban industrial enterprises and removal from urban centers through the Industrial Removal Office, land settlement, agricultural training, and trade and general education. In this respect, the collection is of major interest for Jewish genealogists as it documents a number of individual immigrants. In addition, the collection contains documentation on the administration and organization of the fund, documentation on Jewish farming colonies such as the Jewish Agricultural Society, Woodbine Colony and Agricultural School, and documentation on the Baron de Hirsch Trade School. In addition, the collection contains blueprints and photographs of facilities.

The Industrial Removal Office was created as part of the Jewish Agricultural Society to assimilate immigrants into American society, both economically and culturally. It worked to employ all Jewish immigrants. The collection contains administrative and financial records, immigrants' removal records, and correspondence. A database has been constructed to search for persons removed by the Industrial Removal Office.

The Yidisher lerer fareyn (Yiddish Teachers' Union) in Vilna was a professional association of secular Yiddish teachers, which supported the ideology of the TSYSHO school system. The union engaged in a wide range of activities in order to promote the interests of its member teachers. Its membership, although composed primarily of Yiddish teachers expanded gradually to include teachers from religious and Hebrew schools. Founded in 1915, the union lasted until c. 1940. The records of the Yiddish Teachers' Union reflect its activities from 1916-1940.