The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish history and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American Jewish history.

History

The American Jewish Historical Society is the oldest national ethnic historical organization in the United States. The Society's library, archives, photograph, and art and artifacts collections document the American Jewish experience. They are housed in the

Center for Jewish History The Center for Jewish History is a partnership of five Jewish history, scholarship, and art organizations in New York City: American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute New York, Yeshiva University Museu ...

in Manhattan. The society has administrative offices in both

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and in Boston, Massachusetts. It has served as a public educational and interpretive function by publishing a journal, a newsletter, monographs and reference works on the American Jewish experience. In 2007, it was among over 530 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Past Presidents

* 1892–1898:

Oscar S. Straus Oscar Solomon Straus (December 23, 1850 – May 3, 1926) was an American politician and diplomat. He served as United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1906 to 1909, making him the first Jewish United ...

* 1899–1921: Cyrus Adler * 1921–1948: A.S.W. Rosenbach * 1948–1952: Lee M. Friedman * 1952–1954: Salo W. Baron * 1954–1955: David de Sola Pool * 1955–1958:

Jacob Rader Marcus Jacob Rader Marcus (March 5, 1896 –14 November 1995) was a scholar of Jewish history and a Reform rabbi. Biography Born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, United States into a traditional Jewish family and raised in Homestead, Pennsylvania ...

* 1958–1961:

Bertram Korn Bertram Wallace Korn, Sr. (6 October 1918 – 1979) was an American historian and rabbi, who served in the United States Navy Chaplain Corps during World War II. Serving with the US Naval Reserve after the war, in 1975, he was promoted to Rear Ad ...

* 1961–1964: Abram Kanof, MD * 1964–1967: Leon J. Obermayer * 1967–1969: Philip D. Sang * 1969–1972: Abram Vossen Goodman * 1972–1975: Abraham J. Karp * 1975–1976: Maurice Jacobs * 1976–1979: David R. Pokross * 1979–1982: Saul Viener * 1982–1985: Ruth B. Fein * 1985–1988: Morris Soble * 1988–1990: Phil David Fine * 1990–1993: Ronald C. Curhan * 1993–1998: Justin Wyner * 1998–2003: Kenneth J. Bialkin * 2003–2007: Sidney Lapidus * 2007–2010: Daniel R. Kaplan * 2011–2014: Paul B. Warhit * 2014–2020: Bernard J. Michael * 2020-present: Felicia Herman

Publishing

The Society publishes books, a genealogy program, museums tours, academic assistance and other related educational activities. Additionally, the American Jewish Historical Society publishes the following publications: *''Heritage,'' a bi-yearly newsletter * ''American Jewish History'' * ''Jews in Sports Online''

Collections

The American Jewish Historical Society has some 40 million items in its archives,Jennifer Schuessler
Jewish Center Faces Backlash After Canceling Play Criticized as Anti-Israel
''New York Times'' (October 11, 2016). including

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced i ...

s, printed material, photographs, audio files, film files, digital material, and objects. Important elements of the Society's collection include hundreds of historical manuscripts and other records of American Jewish groups, including the papers of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, the

Synagogue Council of America The Synagogue Council of America was an American Jewish organization of synagogue and rabbinical associations, founded in 1926. The Council was the umbrella body bridging the three primary religious movements within Judaism in the United States. I ...

, the American Jewish Congress, the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish o ...

, and the Hebrew Benevolent Society,Manuscripts Showing Jews' Role In U.S. History Are Documented
''New York Times'' (March 29, 1971). as well as the papers of HIAS (formerly the

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society HIAS (founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) is a Jewish American nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees. It was originally established in 1881 to aid Jewish refugees. In 1975, the State Departmen ...

) from 1954 to 2000; United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York and predecessor organizations from 1909 to 2004; and the American Soviet Jewry Movement.Special Holdings
American Jewish Historical Society. The Society holds the original manuscript of " The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, as well as very early American Jewish documents, including

Judah Monis Judah Monis (February 4, 1683April 25, 1764) was North America's first college instructor of the Hebrew language, teaching at Harvard College from 1722 to 1760, and authored the first Hebrew textbook published in North America. Monis was also the ...

's Hebrew grammar textbook (1735), the first American siddur for

Jewish holidays Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainst ...

printed in English (1761), and the first Hebrew‐English prayerbook published in the United States (1826). The Society also holds documents from American Jewish Patriots of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, including the marriage contract of Haym Salomon (1777). The Society's Loeb Portrait Database of American Jewish Portraits is a repository of more than 400 portraits of pre-1865 American Jews. The Society also maintains the Jewish-American Hall of Fame, which was founded in 1969 at the Judah L. Magnes Museum in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, and became part of the American Jewish Historical Society in 2001.

Exhibitions

* 2014: "October 7, 1944," multimedia exhibition created by choreographer Jonah Bokaer.

Online exhibitions & collections

* Jewish Museum in Cyberspace * Jewish-American Hall of Fame * Jews in Sport Online

References

External links

* *
American Jewish Historical Society Records
at the American Jewish Historical Society {{Authority control 1892 establishments in New York (state) Jewish-American history Jews and Judaism in Manhattan Organizations established in 1892 Jewish studies research institutes Jewish organizations Archives in the United States Jewish history organizations Non-profit organizations based in New York City Historical societies in New York City