American Jewish Historical Society
{{Short description|Non-profit organization in the USA}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}
{{infobox museum
| name = American Jewish Historical Society
| image = AJHS logo horizontal.png
| alt = American Jewish Historical Society logo
| map_type = United States Manhattan
| map_size = 150
| map_caption = Location within New York City
| coordinates = {{coord|40.738047|-73.993821|region:US-NY|display=inline,title}}
| established = 1892
| location = 15 West 16th Street
Manhattan, New York U.S. 10011
| visitors =
| director = Gemma R. Birnbaum
| publictransit = Subway: 14th Street – Union Square
| website = {{official URL}}
}}
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.{{cite book|title=American Jewish Historical Society: Organized at New York, June 7th, 1892|date=1892|publisher=American Jewish Historical Society|location=Washington City, U.S.A.|hdl=2027/inu.30000093657793|oclc=691194237}}{{cite book|title=American Jewish Historical Society: Report of Organization. Abstract from the Minutes, 1892|date=1892|publisher=American Jewish Historical Society|location=Baltimore, MD|hdl=2027/uc1.$b31191|oclc=262540372}}{{cite book|title=The Executive Documents of the House of Representatives: For the Third Session of the Fifty-Third Congress, 1894–95: in Thirty-Five Volumes|date=1895|publisher=G.P.O.|location=Washington|page=1571|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4IE3AQAAIAAJ&q=%22American+Jewish+Historical+Society%22+1892&pg=PA1571|access-date=22 November 2015|chapter=Education Report, 1893–94. IX. History, Biography, and Genealogy: American Jewish Historical Society. Washington, D.C.|oclc=50617458}}{{cite book|last1=Queen|first1=Edward L.|last2=Prothero|first2=Stephen R.|last3=Shattuck|first3=Gardiner H.|title=Encyclopedia of American Religious History|date=2009|publisher=Facts On File|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-1-4381-0995-4|page=Volume 1|edition=3rd|oclc=370721276}}
History
File:Center for Jewish History NYC.jpg on 16th Street]]
The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) 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. AJHS is located at the Center for Jewish History in Manhattan.{{cite book|last1=Sarna|first1=Jonathan D.|title=American Judaism: A History|date=2004|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, CT|isbn=978-0-300-10197-3|url=https://archive.org/details/americanjudaismh00sarn|access-date=22 November 2015|oclc=52509494|url-access=registration}}
AJHS serves public educational and interpretive functions by publishing a journal, a newsletter, monographs and reference works; organizing and curating exhibits; and developing resources and curricula 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.{{cite news|last1=Roberts|first1=Sam|title=City Groups Get Bloomberg Gift of $20 Million|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/06/nyregion/city-groups-get-bloomberg-gift-of-20-million.html|access-date=22 November 2015|newspaper=The New York Times|date=6 July 2005}}
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Past Presidents
{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}
- 1892–1898: Oscar S. Straus
- 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
- 1958–1961: Bertram Korn
- 1961–1964: Abram Kanof, MD
- 1964–1967: Leon J. Obermayer{{cite news|title=Philadelphia Lawyer Heads Jewish Historical Society|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/17/philadelphia-lawyer-heads-jewish-historical-society.html|access-date=22 November 2015|work=The New York Times|agency=The Associated Press|date=17 March 1964}}
- 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
{{div col end}}
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{{cite web|url=http://www.ajhs.org/publications|title=Heritage: Magazine of the American Jewish Historical Society|work=American Jewish Historical Society}}
- American Jewish History{{cite web|url=http://www.ajhs.org/publications|title=America Jewish History|work=American Jewish Historical Society}}
- Jews in Sports Online{{cite web|title=Jews In Sports Online|url=http://www.jewsinsports.org/|website=Jews in Sports|access-date=November 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209001714/http://www.jewsinsports.org/|archive-date=February 9, 2010|url-status=dead}}
Collections
The American Jewish Historical Society has some 40 million items in its archives,Jennifer Schuessler, [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/arts/jewish-center-faces-backlash-after-canceling-play-criticized-as-anti-israel.html Jewish Center Faces Backlash After Canceling Play Criticized as Anti-Israel], New York Times (October 11, 2016). including manuscripts, printed material, photographs, audio files, film files, digital material, and objects.[http://www.ajhs.org/donate-collection Donations of Materials to AJHS Collections], American Jewish Historical Society. 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 American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, and the Hebrew Benevolent Society,[https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/29/archives/manuscripts-showing-jews-role-in-us-history-are-documented.html 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) from 1954 to 2000; United Jewish Appeal-Federation of New York and predecessor organizations from 1909 to 2004; and the American Soviet Jewry Movement.[http://www.ajhs.org/special-holdings 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's Hebrew grammar textbook (1735), the first American siddur for Jewish holidays 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, 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, and became part of the American Jewish Historical Society in 2001.{{cite web|title=Mel Wacks papers regarding Gerta Ries Wiener and the Jewish-American Hall of Fame, 1970–1996|work=Archives of American Art|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Archives|url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/mel-wacks-papers-regarding-gerta-ries-wiener-and-jewishamerican-hall-fame-13610|access-date=31 October 2011}}
Exhibitions
- 2014: "October 7, 1944," multimedia exhibition created by choreographer Jonah Bokaer.{{cite news|last1=Milzoff|first1=Rebecca|title=Dance; The Quiet Bravery of a Doomed Revolt: Jonah Bokaer's 'October 7, 1944' at Center for Jewish History|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/arts/dance/jonah-bokaers-october-7-1944-at-center-for-jewish-history.html|access-date=22 November 2015|work=The New York Times|date=14 November 2014}}
= Online exhibitions & collections =
- Jewish Museum in Cyberspace{{Cite web|url=http://www.amuseum.org/|title=Welcome to The Jewish Museum in Cyberspace|website=www.amuseum.org|access-date=October 18, 2020}}
- Jewish-American Hall of Fame{{Cite web|url=http://www.amuseum.org/jahf/|title=Jewish-American Hall of Fame|website=www.amuseum.org|access-date=October 18, 2020}}
- Jews in Sport Online{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewsinsports.org/|date=February 9, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100209001714/http://www.jewsinsports.org/|access-date=October 18, 2020|archive-date=February 9, 2010|title=Welcome to Jews in Sports Online }}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Kaplan, Elisabeth. 2000. "[http://americanarchivist.org/doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.63.1.h554377531233l05 We Are What We Collect, We Collect What We Are: Archives and the Construction of Identity.]" The American Archivist. 63, no. 1: 126–151. {{ISSN|0360-9081}} {{doi|10.17723/aarc.63.1.h554377531233l05}} {{OCLC|5895731036}}
External links
- {{Commonscatinline}}
- {{official website}}
- [http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=1704444 American Jewish Historical Society Records] at the American Jewish Historical Society
{{Historical societies in New York City|state=expanded}}
{{Jews and Judaism|state=expanded}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1892 establishments in New York City
Category:Jewish-American history
Category:Jews and Judaism in Manhattan
Category:Organizations established in 1892
Category:Jewish studies research institutes
Category:Archives in the United States
Category:Jewish history organizations