Genealogies (histories)

This collection contains the records of the Society for the History of Czechoslovak Jews, an organization founded in 1961, in New York City, by members of the Joseph Popper unit of B’nai B’rith, to foster and disseminate knowledge about the history and culture of Jews in the Czech and Slovak lands. Along with the Joseph Popper unit and, later, the Holocaust Survivors of Slovakia, the society sponsored an annual memorial service held in New York City to honor Czechoslovak Jews who perished in the Holocaust. A majority of the records are from the tenure of Rabbi Norman Patz as president (1994-2008). The materials primarily comprise correspondence, and items related to the annual memorial service, including texts of addresses, and yizkor memorial booklets. Also included are meeting minutes, letters to the membership, financial reports, writings, speeches, obituaries, clippings, photographs, and printed ephemera. The society's correspondence reflects its participation in cultural events related to Czech and Slovak Jewish history, as well as its relationship to the Jewish communities in the Czech Republic and, to a lesser extent, Slovakia; some correspondence with members contains genealogical information.

Contains material relating to Solomon A. Cohen in particular, and the Cohen family in general. The former consists of the Confederate passport of Solomon A. Cohen (1863); a letter from James Sloan to Gov. Zebulon B. Vance (1863); a letter of introduction of S.A. Cohen to George Eustis, Secretary of Legation of the Confederate Embassy in Paris (1864); three documents signed by William H. Seward, Secretary of State, and President Andrew Johnson granting Cohen an official pardon. The latter consists of the citizenship papers of Aaron N. Cohen (1841) and David Elias (1848); a letter from S. Elias Price (1913) contains a genealogy of the Cohen family. In addition, the collection contains Confederate Bonds and other personal items.

This collection documents three generations of German-Jewish dentists: Josef Wilhelm Sachs (1816-1879), Wilhelm Sachs (1849-1929), and Hans J. Sachs (1881-1974). It primarily contains vital, education, and professional documents, such as marriage and birth records, diplomas, handwritten account books, letters of reference, and printed material about dentistry. It also includes printed material about Hans Sachs's renowned poster collection.

This collection contains correspondence, family keepsakes, legal records and other papers of the John Peters family, descended from the Pinkus family of Upper Silesia. The family was notable for its large textile factory in Neustadt, Germany (now Prudnik, Poland) and involvement in local culture, politics, and civil life. "Aryanization" forced Hans Hubert Pinkus, John’s father, to emigrate and take his family to the UK in 1939. The John Peters (Pinkus) Family Papers document the lives and the relationships of these men and their families in the decades after WWII, including legal applications for restitution.

Joseph Eaton (born Josef Wechsler) was an American sociologist at the University of Pittsburgh and a German-Jewish immigrant who arrived in the United States as a child in 1934. The collection primarily comprises correspondence, writings, clippings, ephemera, and photocopied archival materials related to Eaton's genealogical research in the Bavarian localities of Schwabach, Nuremberg, Fürth, and Theilheim (Waigolshausen), including materials pertaining to the history of the Jewish communities in those localities, as well as specifically to Eaton's own immediate family and his ancestors of the Wechsler, Rosenbaum, and Goldschmidt families. Included are materials related to Eaton's travels to those localities in the context of programs hosting former Jewish residents and commemorating the Holocaust and the German-Jewish communities that were destroyed. A small portion of the collection pertains to Eaton's scholarly interest in the experiences of Jewish communists in East German society, including transcripts and/or audio files of two interviews he conducted with Hermann Axen, a Jewish concentration camp survivor who from the 1970s until 1989 was a member of the Politburo of the ruling Socialist Unity Party.

The collection traces the history of the Kaiser family and the lives of its members over the course of the 20th century through correspondence, documents, writings, family history information, and photographs.

The collection contains a family member-written biographical and narrative genealogy of the Loewentheil and Brevda families entitled, An American Dream: The Story of the Loewentheils and the Brevdas in America, documenting the family slightly before their arrival in America prior to 1906 to approximately to 2003. The text is 125 pages long and includes family historical narrative and color photograph pages. The author is Stephen Loewentheil. Photograph pages include family members, death certificates, transcripts, correspondence, and ephemera. The narrative weaves the Loewentheil's and Brevda's family history from the viewpoint of an immigrant family in America.

Lt. Col. Rachel Diane (Rae) Landy was a nursing pioneer in the development of health services in Palestine under the auspices of Hadassah from 1913-1915, and served as a U.S. Army nurse in World War I through World War II. The collection documents hospital care in Palestine and the history of Hadassah; career women in the early 20th century, particularly military personnel and profession innovators; and the Cleveland, Ohio Jewish community, school system, and George Crile U.S. Army Hospital. Documents include correspondence, reminiscences, legal documents, newspaper and magazine clippings, and photographs.

Real estate lawyer, judge, newspaper editor, and philanthropist, Myer S. Isaacs was the eldest son of the second English-speaking Rabbi in the United States, the Rev. Dr. Samuel M. Isaacs (1804-1878). The Isaacs Family were founding members of the New York-based Jewish civil rights organization, the Board of Delegates of American Israelites (1859-1878), published the Jewish Messenger (1859-1902), and Myer was the first president of the Baron de Hirsch Fund. This Collection contains documents deriving from Myer and Samuel Issacs, and Myer's brothers Abram (1852 or 53-1920) and Isaac Isaacs (1845-1907). Information concerning Myer's children may also be found, including documents from his son Stanley (1882-1962), Manhattan borough President and New York City Councilman. Includes correspondence, clippings, commencement programs, invitations, souvenir and anniversary programs, election campaign materials, obituaries, funeral programs, and citizenship papers.

This collection contains eulogies for Curtis L. Hereld (1923-2005), and genealogical tables and other family information for Peter Hereld, Curtis Hereld, and the Steinberg family.

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 collection contains genealogical research materials compiled by Senta K. Simon on the Bachmann, Beihoff, Ettisch, Fechheimer, Fleischmann, Freudenthal, Friedeberg, Friedmann, Kahn, Katz, Pretzfelder, Reichmannsdörfer, Rosenbaum, Rosenthal, Schloss, and Simon families, as well as locations with which they were associated, primarily in Franconia and Thuringia. Materials include correspondence, research files, work sheets and lists, and a small quantity of primary sources.

The Stanton Family Collection contains documents, correspondence, and photographs representing several centuries of Henry Stanton’s German-Jewish ancestors from the Sobernheim, Hinrichsen, Bütow, Bendix, Reiche, Abraham, Goldschmidt, Bleichröder, and Mond families. Family histories by Stanton based upon these materials are also included.

Contains genealogical materials, correspondence, photographs, oral histories, and other information documenting the history and activities of the Warshaw family.