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

in Manhattan. 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 The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Since its founding, the Carnegie Corporation has endowed or othe ...

, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

Past Presidents

* 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 * 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 typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

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 American Jewish Congress, the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and 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 wi ...

, 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) 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 "The New Colossus" is a sonnet by American poet Emma Lazarus (1849–1887). She wrote the poem in 1883 to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''). In 1903, the poem was cast ...

'' by Emma Lazarus, as well as very early American Jewish documents, including Judah Monis's

Hebrew grammar Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until ...

textbook (1735), the first American

siddur A siddur ( ''sīddūr'', ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, ''tef ...

for

Jewish holidays Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' (, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed by Jews throughout the Hebrew calendar.This article focuses on practices of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism. ...

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 (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, 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 Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, 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 City 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