The other day while procrastinating and scrolling through my Facebook feed, I came across two friends raising money for charities for their birthdays and three fellow students promoting the non-profits they’re interning at. In the day and age of social media campaigns, hashtags, and endless GoFundMe’s, giving has become a lot more personal. Jewish giving in America finds its roots in the landsmannschaften and…
Purim Association financial record of money raised in charity balls. 1901. 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 Berg Foundation.
List of donors to the Association for Free Distribution of Matsot to the Poor. 1850s. 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 Berg Foundation.
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 Berg…
Boy in boxing gloves at Hebrew Orphan Asylum. Inscription reads: “Red ‘Champ’ Lipschitz.” 1935. Records of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of New York (I-42). American Jewish Historical Society. For more, visit the Center for Jewish History’s Flickr photostream.Click here to connect with the Center for Jewish History on Facebook.
by Sarah Ponichtera, Processing Archivist, Center for Jewish History The landsmanshaftn collections of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research here at the Center illuminate the complex role of philanthropy in immigrant Jewish culture. Although the majority of the records concern apparently mundane affairs of collecting dues and reserving graves, buying Israel bonds and making dinner reservations for meetings, their constitutions reveal a wide array…
