\nLevy Archival Processing Laboratory at the Center for Jewish History (CJH) are
\nthe Grand Street Boy’s Association Records<\/a>, just one of the many archival collections
\nof the American Jewish Historical Society, one of the five partner institutions
\ncomprising CJH. The collection documents 20th<\/sup> century American
\nJewish history and New York City history, as they intersect in the activities of
\nthe once thriving club whose motto was “Good Fellowship,
\nBenevolence, Charity.”<\/p>\n
The origins
\nof the Grand Street Boys’ Association date back to 1916 when \u00a0a reunion \u00a0was held in Manhattan for men who had grown up
\non or near bustling Grand Street, a main thoroughfare in the Lower East Side. Grand
\nStreet in the early 1900s was the center of a large immigrant neighborhood and
\nwas home to many Eastern European (many of them Jewish), Italian, and Irish
\nimmigrants. The success of that 1916 reunion led to a second reunion in 1920
\nwhere it was decided that a permanent club should be formed. The Grand Street
\nBoys’ Association was incorporated in 1921 and they opened their first clubhouse
\nin 1924 in the former MacDougal Club, located at 106-108 West 55th Street in
\nMidtown Manhattan. The clubhouse had a gym, lounge, dining room, barbershop, library,
\nand an auditorium. <\/p>\n
Mirroring
\nthe demographic makeup of the Lower East Side in the early 1900s, original
\nmembers were primarily Jewish, but were also Irish and Italian, among other
\nethnicities. Open to all men (and eventually women) regardless of religion,
\nethnicity, or social class, the Grand Street Boys promoted welfare projects,
\nacts of fellowship and tolerance, scholarships, youth employment, war efforts,
\nand the elimination of discrimination in sports, among other projects. At
\nfirst, only men who grew in the vicinity of Grand Street were eligible to
\nenroll. This restriction was soon removed and the Association became the
\n“headquarters of those who really love New York.”<\/p>\n
As
\ndocumented in the extensive membership records from the collection (See Series
\n1, Subseries 4), membership spanned all sectors of social class and occupations.
\nAlongside governors, mayors, judges, senators, and famous entertainers were
\nbartenders, furriers, detectives, opera singers, restaurateurs, art therapists,
\numbrella salesmen, meter readers, and firemen. Well-known members included
\nIrving Berlin, Eddie Cantor, Irving Caesar, Fiorello La Guardia, Al Smith, John
\nLindsay, Robert F. Wagner Jr., Jonah J. Goldstein, Herbert H. Lehman, Nelson A.
\nRockefeller, and Cardinal Patrick Hayes.<\/p>\n
\nThe collection documents the activities of the 1. Boy \u00a0<\/p>\n 2. Irving Caesar 3. Golden 4. \u00a05. Grand <\/p>\n 6. Gramercy 7. Robert By Patricia Glowinski, Archivist\u00a0at the Center for Jewish History Processed in the Shelby White & Leon Levy Archival Processing Laboratory at the Center for Jewish History (CJH) are the Grand Street Boy’s Association Records, just one of the many archival collections of the American Jewish Historical Society, one of the five partner institutions comprising CJH. The collection documents 20th century American Jewish history and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[74,75,132,130,129,131],"class_list":["post-1258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post","tag-ajhs","tag-american-jewish-historical-society","tag-collections","tag-grand-street","tag-new-york","tag-processing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cjh.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAssociation, as well as the Grand Street Boys’ Foundation, its financial arm
\nestablished in 1945, and its Hobbycraft Program, a charitable program tasked
\nwith collecting and redistributing donated items to charitable and nonprofit
\norganizations. Materials include administrative records, financial records,
\ncorrespondence, minutes, membership records, newsletters, yearbooks, artifacts,
\nand photographs. The collection\u2019s strengths include the membership records, the
\nmeeting minutes, the Grand Street Boys\u2019 publications including the newsletter, Wuxtra<\/i>, and the yearbooks, and the
\nphotographs which capture the spirit and essence of the Grand Street Boys’
\nAssociation during its prime. Below are just a few photos that will (hopefully)
\ninspire researchers to come to the Lillian Goldman Reading Room <\/a>and use the
\ncollection!<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/01f992b74e04383f19130d52302df7bf\/tumblr_inline_op18ic6GCn1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nScouts with Jonah J. Goldstein, President of the Grand Street Boys\u2019 Association,
\nat the Grand Street Boys\u2019 clubhouse, circa 1960 (Photo credit: New York Times)<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/9116b0404d812e8aa6c170c59194ee95\/tumblr_inline_op183nEREa1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\n(third from left), songwriter and Grand Street Boy, at Colony Records in
\nManhattan for the publication of the Grand Street Boys\u2019 song, 1960<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/ee08bb60dd12daf2a5e2238f56981a6a\/tumblr_inline_op1806Y69t1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nwedding party at the clubhouse showing Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hershkowitz dancing
\nto Jack Snyder\u2019s accordion music, 1959 (Photo credit: Daily News)<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/0232e8b7206fa0ce4726ffde757fd5de\/tumblr_inline_op188sEPUt1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nJonah J. Goldstein presenting a Grand Street Boys\u2019 Association award to Mickey
\nMantle, 1953<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/aefbde411c2a2173992f484b0dccfa38\/tumblr_inline_op18buHGIe1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nStreet House London showing Sir Louis Sterling (former Lower East Sider and
\nlife member of the Grand Street Boys), 1941 (Photo credit: Sport & General
\nPress Agency, London)<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/f2b4158086cc6e3b54d8897961324336\/tumblr_inline_op18fzV2jY1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nBoys Club, known for its marching band, performing in the auditorium at the
\nclubhouse, circa 1960<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/5eeb6679058bdcdc6c95abc8291c792a\/tumblr_inline_op18h8dtxu1r0yq0k_540.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\nBriscoe (standing, 3rd <\/sup>from left), who became the first Jewish Lord
\nMayor of Dublin in 1956, at a dinner at the Grand Street Boys\u2019 clubhouse, with
\nAbe Stark (standing, 4th <\/sup>from left), Jonah J. Goldstein (standing, 3rd <\/sup>from right), and others, circa 1957<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"