Articles

Raphael Lemkin, an international lawyer, initiated the use of the term "genocide," and succeeded in persuading the United Nations to adopt the Genocide Convention in 1948. Documents include personal correspondence and artifacts; correspondence, documentation, clippings, and articles regarding the United Nations adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment on the Crime of Genocide treaty; and source material for the unfinished manuscript, History of Genocide. Collection also includes photographs, identity cards, articles, papers, essays, clippings, magazines, research materials, term papers, posters, United Nations materials, and microfilm.

Founded in 1969, the American Association for Ethiopian Jews (AAEJ) was instrumental in the international effort to promote recognition of the Beta Israel (known among non-Jewish Ethiopians as "Falashas") by Israeli authorities, and to assist Jewish emigration from Ethiopia to Israel. The extensive files of the AAEJ include case work files, research materials and Jewish artifacts collected in Ethiopia by AAEJ workers. In the wake of the successful evacuation of Ethiopian Jewry to Israel in 1993, the AAEJ decided to disband and voted to deposit its records at the American Jewish Historical Society. Included are correspondence, office files, photographs, slides, videotapes, audiocassettes and other materials which pertain to AAEJ's efforts to raise the consciousness of the American Jewish community about this unique Jewish subculture. The organization's papers supplement those of its founder, Graenum Berger, which are also held at the American Jewish Historical Society.

Century Productions produced the one-woman show, "Hannah Senesh: Portrait of a Woman Warrior," written and directed by David Schechter and starring Lori Wilner as Senesh. The script was based on the diaries and poems of the WWII Hungarian-Jewish paratrooper Hannah Senesh, with songs and music composed and arranged by Steven Lutvak with additional music by Schecter and Elizabeth Swados. “Hannah Senesh” ran at the Cherry Hill Theater in New York City from 1984-1985 and traveled throughout the U.S. and Israel until 1987.

Present Tense magazine, which was published by the American Jewish Committee from 1973-1990, published articles on Jewish affairs with an international bent. These papers contain the letters of the magazine’s editor, Murray Polner, photographs collected for publication, and subject files which consist primarily of article proofs and correspondence with contributing authors.

The American Jewish Alternatives to Zionism Collection consists of correspondence, articles, pamphlets, speeches, lectures, and reports issued by the organization lobbying its stance on Jewish anti-Zionism as a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict from 1959 to 1988.

This collection contains histories of the Asylum (1878-1939), Certificate of Incorporation (1878, 1900, 1926), Constitution and By-Laws (1894), Board of Directors Minutes (1921-1953), Annual Reports (1878-1958), Admission and Discharge Records (1899-1960), Women's Auxiliary Minutes (1922-1955), a statistical report (1957), papers re the Asylum's merger with the Jewish Child Care Association (1960), and various Alumni Society Publications and Scrapbooks (1912-1940).

This collection contains files relating to the history, mergers and functions of the Association, By-Laws (1960), Committees' records, President's reports (1949-1952), Executive Director's reports (1949-1952), Treasurer's reports (1945, 1948-1949), annual reports (1972, 1984-1990), and papers re various activities, including Childville, Edenwald, Foster Home Department (including material from the European Jewish Children's Aid Project), Friendly Home for Girls, Girls' Club Group Residence, Pleasantville, Psychiatric Clinic, Social Services Department, Sylvan Stix Workshop, and Vocational Services. Includes also statistical reports (1946-1970), and Studies on the Association (1949-1972), the Manual of Policies and Procedures (1972), and files on child care conferences, property sales, annual dinners, awards and ceremonies, the 75th anniversary celebration, the 150th anniversary celebration, Herman W. Block, the Child Care Alumni Council (1954-1964), the League to Aid Hebrew Infants (1948-1953), studies and papers by Association staff, memos, publications ("P.C.S. World," "Bulletin," "Our Children," "JCCA journal"), promotional material, photographs, and voluminous scrapbooks.

The collection contains the records of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), a militant Zionist organization with a stated goal to protect Jews from all forms of antisemitism. The materials document the origins of the JDL, the organization's mission statement and recruitment strategies and account for its most definitive actions. The collection also reflects the League's turbulent relationship with, and its criticism of the mainstream Jewish agencies, as well as examples of criticism of the League's controversial methods from various sources. The collection prominently covers the JDL's role as a pioneer of the American Soviet Jewry movement. Materials on the 1971 World Conference of Jewish Communities are also included. The documents include the Articles of the Organization, correspondence and press releases, membership and recruitment materials, newsletters, newspaper clippings and ephemera.

The records chronicle the ideology behind the Reconstructionist movement, the founding and activities of the Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, and its growth and transformation from an ideology and movement into an established American Jewish denomination, Reconstructionist Judaism. The records also document two seminal figures in Reconstructionist Judaism, Mordecai Menahem Kaplan and Ira Eisenstein. Included in the collection are the administrative records of the Foundation (minutes, financial records, bylaws), publications produced by the Foundation including manuscript submissions for the influential publication The Reconstructionist, correspondence, sermons, prayer books produced by the Foundation, syllabi, sheet music, photographs, and speeches, among other material. In the correspondence are letters from Martin Buber, J. Edgar Hoover, and Albert Schweitzer.

Founded in 1970 as a constituent organization of the North American Jewish Students’ Appeal, the Jewish Student Press Service (JSPS) served as a provider of student-written feature articles and news distributor for the Jewish student and young adult publishers in North America and Israel. This collection documents the activities of the JSPS from its founding to 1987 and includes correspondence, meeting minutes, flyers, and unpublished articles. The majority of the collection is made up of mailing packets, later known as Jewish Press Features.

The collection documents the advocacy on behalf of the Soviet Jewry of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, a non-profit organization concerned with Jewish social justice and legislative activity in Washington, D.C.

The collection includes correspondence; poetry and manuscript drafts; official, educational and military documents; sermons; newspaper clippings; family trees; notes; and a few photographs.

This collection consists of Richard M. Sheirich’s materials pertaining to his research on Richard Beer-Hofmann’s private correspondence and works. In addition to the original papers, correspondence, notes, and photos of Richard Beer-Hofmann and his family that Richard M. Sheirich gathered, the collection contains Sheirich’s correspondence with Richard Beer-Hofmann’s daughter Miriam Beer-Hofmann Lens, his and other scholars’ works on Beer-Hofmann, several photocopies of the original Beer-Hofmann papers, and Sheirich’s notes.

This collection contains the documents of diplomat Richard Straus, his wife Elaine, and his son Alan in addition to documentation on his extended family members, especially including members of the Straus, Heimberger, and Niedermann families. The most prominent topics in the collection relate to Richard Straus's role as diplomat, family members' emigration and Holocaust experiences, and Alan Straus's early life, although material relating to family members' lives in Germany prior to the 1930s is also present. The collection includes extensive personal family correspondence and photographs; official, educational, and professional documents; family members' writings as well as articles about them; childhood and educational memorabilia; and documentation related to the deaths of family members.

The collection contains personal papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Robert Mednick. Serving as a worldwide managing partner in a prominent Chicago-based holding company Arthur Andersen LLP, Mednick used his professional connections in big business and in the United States and European governments to obtain exit visas for over twenty Soviet Jewish Refusenik families. The collection consists primarily of Mednick's correspondence with the Refuseniks, other Soviet Jewry movement activists, American and foreign government officials, and international business leaders, including American corporate moguls and philanthropists Armand Hammer and Guilford Glazer, and British historian Sir Martin Gilbert. Also included are reports on Mednick's trip to the Soviet Union, presentations on Soviet Jewry and his Congressional Testimony on Soviet interference with mail.

Robert Raphael Geis (1906-1972) was a rabbi, educator, and Jewish theologian. He identified strongly with German liberal Judaism, but his keen interest in Jewish studies brought him close to leaders of conservative Judaism as well. Before the Second World War Robert Raphael Geis worked as a rabbi for the youth and Religion teacher in Munich and Mannheim, and as a rabbi in Kassel, Germany. After the war he served as a rabbi in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany. In the early 1960s, Raphael Robert Geis became engaged in the dialog of Protestant and Jewish theologians. The Robert Raphael Geis collection consists mainly of correspondence and writings. There are only a few personal documents. The writings consist of newspaper articles, reviews of books on Jewish topics and sermons for major Jewish holidays. The correspondence has two main foci: the periods before and after the Second World War. The first period is characterized by letters written by various leading figures of Jewish communities in Germany and is concerned with employment opportunities for young rabbis, as well as insights into inner workings of congregations. A large amount of letters from this period also come from Robert Raphael Geis' students. The correspondence written after the war centers on theological matters and the workings of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der "Juden und Christen" (Working Group of "Jews and Christians").

This collection documents the life and activities of dancer and activist Ronya Schwaab. The collection contains material related to her activities advocating for Soviet Jews, lecturing on various topics, her trips abroad, and writing reviews for numerous books. It also includes correspondence with family, friends, and various officials in both the public and non-profit spheres of politics and business. The collection contains numerous photographs and certificates that further document her activities and accomplishments.

This collection documents the personal and professional lives of Hans Rosenberg (1908-1982) and his wife Ernestine née Rosner Rosenberg (1912-1962), from their childhoods and early medical careers in Vienna to their final years in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The collection also includes items from associates and friends, along with extended and immediate relatives, most notably Hans Rosenberg’s sister Madeleine née Rosenberg Buchsbaum (1911-2014).

The Rudolf Joseph Collection consists mainly of documents pertaining to his architectural work and research in Germany, France and the United States.

The Ruth R. Dresner Collection comprises research material and writings about the well-known Jewish social worker Bertha Pappenheim. It includes copies of articles, offprints and clippings on her in addition to a dissertation on her work and some correspondence concerning the accumulation of research on her life and work. Material on the German stamp issued in her honor and some photographs are also present.

This collection contains the papers of Sallyann Amdur Sack, “The Godmother” of Jewish Genealogy. In 1980, Sack founded the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington (JGSGW); in 1984, she organized the First International Seminar on Jewish Genealogy in Jerusalem, Israel; and in 1985, she co-founded AVOTAYNU: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy, known as “The Voice” of Jewish Genealogy research. These papers chronicle Dr. Sack’s groundbreaking work, which ranges from the early 1980s through 2007. The collection contains correspondence, conference and seminar materials, planning and research papers, as well as photographs and audio/visual material.

The collection contains primarily clippings and other published materials (some photocopies) pertaining to Samson Schames’s exhibitions. Also included are photographs of Samson Schames (some with Edith or family members) as well as other personal documents.

The Samton Family Collection documents the lives of members of the Samton (Szamatolski) and Fiegel families. It includes material on the education and professional work of Henry Samton, the Adolph Fiegel paper factory, the last days and estate of Emil Fiegel, the genealogy of the Fiegel and Scharff branches of the family, and other topics. The collection includes personal, legal, and professional correspondence; official documents; a small amount of photographs; personal papers; a cookbook; a few newspaper clippings; family trees and genealogical research; and some financial documentation.

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 Shloyme Rosenberg Collection contains manuscripts and newspaper columns written by Rosenberg. Also included are some personal materials such as correspondence, certificates, and international documentation. Newspaper columns comprise the majority of the collection and are written under a variety of pseudonyms, including S.R. Berg, A. Prashker, I. Prashker, S. Prashker, Reb Shloyme, and Shrage. The manuscript and newspaper and journal publications series are divided into works written under Shloyme Rosenberg's own name and works written under any of his pseudonyms. A majority of the material is written in Yiddish, with some manuscripts translated into English and some articles in Hebrew. Yiddish titles have been transliterated and are arranged according to transliterated title.

The Si Frumkin Papers include Mr. Frumkin’s articles on the subject of the Holocaust, Israel, the Soviet Union and Soviet Jews from the mid- and the late 1980’s, and a video interview with him and video recordings of several television programs related to the topic of the Soviet Jewry. The documents include articles, news clippings and video recordings.

The Siegfried Altmann Collection contains primarily his correspondence with various luminaries and other personalities, the International Red Cross, as well as materials pertaining to the Jewish Institute for the Blind in Hohe Warte, Vienna. Documents consist of a guestbook, a manuscript, articles, an obituary, autographs, and correspondence.

Primarily correspondence with members of Congress and government officials concerning anti-Semitism in the United States and abroad. Also includes correspondence with prominent American Jews, including Benjamin F. Peixotto, Jacob Henry Schiff, Oscar Solomon Straus, and Leo N. Levi; , and manuscript copies of speeches and articles, published in revised form in Selected addresses and papers (Cincinnati : Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1926).

The Springfield Jewish Federation is a charitable organization supporting educational and social service programs for both the local and world-wide Jewish community. The Federation was founded on May 6, 1941, to aid in the resettlement of Jews fleeing the war in Europe. Assisting Jews in need has remained an important part of Federation activities. The organization took an active part in the American Soviet Jewry movement by coordinating fund raising, community-wide programming, social services and educational activities to help Jews emigrate from the U.S.S.R. and to resettle them in Springfield, IL. The Federation arranged housing, health care, coordinated schools and jobs placement and provided a general orientation to American life for the newly arrived Soviet Jewish immigrants.

This collection includes documents related to the activities of Barbara Staudacher and Heinz Högerle pertaining to the former Jewish community in the village of Rexingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.