Emma B. Mandl (December 16, 1842 – July 31, 1928) was a Bohemian-born American social reformer, clubwoman, and community leader based in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Early life and education

Emma Adler was born in

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, the daughter of Jonas Adler and Charlotte Goldscheider Adler. The Adler family immigrated to the United States in 1858.

Career

Emma B. Mandl organized many charities focused on Jewish women and children in Chicago. She was a founder and president of the Baron Hirsch Woman's Club (North Side Ladies' Aid Society) for fourteen years. From that position, she founded or helped to found the Home for Jewish Friendless and Working Girls, the Chicago-Winfield Tuberculosis Sanitarium, the Ruth Club for Working Girls, the Grandmothers Music and Reading Circle, the Home for Convalescent Men and Boys, and the Jewish Home Finding Society for Children, all in Chicago. She was an officer of the Home for Jewish Orphans and the Illinois First District Federation of Women's Clubs. She was a member of the Chicago Association of Jewish Women, and of the Sarah Greenbaum Lodge, Deborah Verein. Sandra K. Bornstein
"Emma B. Mandl"
''Jewish Women's Archive'' (2009). Beyond charitable activities, she was a probation officer for the Juvenile Court of Chicago, and a director of the Bureau of Personal Service.

Personal life

Emma Adler married Bernhard Mandl in 1865 in Chicago. They had two children, Sydney and Etta. She died in 1928, aged 85. At her funeral,

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...

Henry Horner Henry Horner (November 30, 1878 – October 6, 1940) was an American politician. Horner served as the 28th Governor of Illinois, serving from January 1933 until his death in October 1940. Horner was noted as the first Jewish governor of Illinois. ...

, and

Julius Rosenwald Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions i ...

were named among her honorary pallbearers."Emma Mandl, Welfare Worker, Dies in Chicago"
''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'' (August 2, 1928). Many of the organizations begun with Mandl's efforts became part of United Hebrew Charities, and eventually came under the oversight of the

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago The Jewish United Fund of Chicago (JUF) is the central philanthropic address of Chicago's Jewish community and one of the largest not-for-profit social welfare institutions in Illinois. JUF provides critical resources that bring food, refuge, he ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandl, Emma B. 1842 births 1928 deaths People from Plzeň History of women in Illinois Jews from Illinois Emigrants from the Austrian Empire to the United States Clubwomen American people of Czech-Jewish descent