16thstreet: Letter from General John Tyler to Bernard Judah, remembering Samual Judah’s generous support in the struggle for independence. 1824. From the collections of the American Jewish Historical Society. This image is featured in Contributors to the Cause, a traveling exhibition about the history of Jewish philanthropy in the United States presented by the Center for Jewish History and made possible by The David…
Sidney Franklin (11 July 1903 – 26 April 1976) -the first Jewish American to become a successful bullfighter From the Sidney Franklin Collection (Call number P-894) in the archives of the American Jewish Historical Society. There is an electronic finding aid for the collection here: http://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=635255 From the finding aid: “…In 1922, after a violent dispute with his father, Franklin ran away to Mexico…
This image is from the first Jewish queer zine – it is preserved in the Jewish Counter Culture collection (Call number I-504) in the archives of the American Jewish Historical Society here at the Center. This artifact will be part of a special display during an upcoming program presented by the American Jewish Historical Society on June 23rd: Changing Lives, Making History: CBST –…
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Take a minute to access one of the thousands of digitized Holocaust artifacts including over 300 oral histories and over 200 memoirs. Access.cjh.org A few selections:American Jewish Historical Society’s Photograph: Markers for graves of 80 victims found dead of Nazi brutality in the concentration camp at Ludwigslust http://access.cjh.org/210628 Leo Baeck Institute’s National Socialism Collection http://access.cjh.org/355965 Yeshiva University Museum’s Poster:…
By David P Rosenberg, M.P.A., Reference Services Research Coordinator, Center for Jewish History With the Armenian Genocide back in the news I looked into the Raphael Lemkin collection at the American Jewish Historical Society at the Center for Jewish History. Raphael Lemkin coined the term “genocide.” Some of his papers and research materials are held by the American Jewish Historical Society including many index…
by Miryam Gordon, Research Intern, Center for Jewish History Jewish life in general, and Jewish holidays in particular, places much emphasis on children. Kids are constantly encouraged to get involved in their religion and culture and learn more about it. Perhaps the best way to interact with children in order to encourage them to want to learn is through games. Throughout the archives of…
Adah Isaacs Menken. Photo: American Jewish Historical Society. She flew on fake horses above the stage, wore nude bodysuits so audiences would think she was naked, married four men (and divorced three)—and was surrounded by rumors of affairs with dozens of famous writers. Actress Adah Menken (1835-1868) was one of the first international celebrities, due more to her daring exploits and shrewd publicity than her…
Photo of the day: Louise Waterman Wise and Justine Wise (1920). From American Jewish Historical Society.
Photo of the day: The American Jewish Congress takes a chartered bus from New York to Washington for the March on Washington, 1963. From American Jewish Historical Society. View the planning pamphlet for Jewish participation in the march here.
by David P. Rosenberg, Senior Reference Librarian – Collections, Center for Jewish History Hanukkah Lamp. Galicia or Ukraine, ca. 1800. Silver: cast, filigree, engraved. The Max Stern Collection, Yeshiva University Museum. This lamp is of the Ba’al Shem Tov type, named after the founder of Hasidism, who, tradition tells us, owned a Hanukkah lamp of this type. This made it very popular in the…