In the 1960s, the American Jewish Historical Society microfilmed the "Jewish" incorporation records in New York County for the period from 1848-1920. Dr. Nathan M. Kaganoff, librarian of the AJHS at the time, made selection by examining the original records at the New York County Clerk's Office. The AJHS then indexed these microfilmed documents, by first word as well as by town name, on approximately 10,000 cards. These selected incorporation papers at the AJHS comprise the collection New York (County) Hall of Records selected incorporation papers (I-154).
New York (County) Hall of Records selected incorporation papers (I-154)
This collection is microfilm of the bound photocopies of incorporation papers for all Jewish or Jewish-related organizations incorporated in New York City, 1848-1920. This includes fraternal societies, political clubs, professional associations, synagogues, landsmanshaftn, benevolent organizations, and social clubs. The collection has been indexed by name of the organization and, in some cases, by the European town from which the incorporators came, or by general type of organizations.
Each certificate of incorporation includes the name of the organization, the purposes or objects for which it was formed, the principal office or territory of principal operation, the names and addresses of the initial directors or trustees or officers, and the names of the incorporators.
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Lillian Goldman Reading Room
Ackman and Ziff Family Genealogy Institute
Associates of Orthodox Jewish Teachers of the New York City Public Schools Collection (I-305)
This collection contains AOJT newsletters as well as publicity and membership information. Formerly called the Association of Orthodox Jewish Teachers of the New York Board of Education.
Congregation Kahal Adath Yeshurun with Anshe Lubitz [Eldridge Street Synagogue] (New York, N.Y.) (I-10)
Minute-books, records, ledgers, and miscellaneous material relating to activities of the Congregation, 1873(?)-1933.
Graduate School for Jewish Social Work (New York, N.Y.) Records (I-7) [Photos digitized]
The bulk of the collection consists of records of the Lower East Side documentation project undertaken as a school-wide project in 1932. This project set out to document Jewish life on the Lower East Side of New York. Between 1932 and 1934, over 300 photographs were taken of the Lower East Side.
Hebrew Benevolent Society of the City of New York collection (I-258)
Consists of the Society's constitution and a financial statement (1862) containing reference to money spent on a new building for an orphan asylum, and a receipt for an appropriation by the City Council of New York for the erection of the asylum by the Society.
Hebrew Orphan Asylum of the City of New York records (I-42)
Hebrew Orphan Asylum was founded in 1822 as the Hebrew Benevolent Society. It underwent various changes of name until 1906 when it merged into The Jewish Child Care Association of New York in 1940. The collection includes extensive administrative records including financial statements, property records, Board, Committee, and Executive minutes, donation books, publications, and state and government correspondence and reports. Admission and discharge records digitized.
The collection includes conventional proceedings, speeches, annual reports, informational pamphlets, and other public documents of the organized Jewish Community of New York City, formed in 1908 and incorporated in 1914.
New York Board of Rabbis Records (I-506)
The New York Board of Rabbis is a cross-denominational Jewish organization for rabbis that seeks to foster fellowship, provide educational enrichment, and rise above theological differences to strengthen and defend the Jewish community advancing its educational, religious, and social values. The collection documents the governance of the Board and its activities in serving the Jewish community of New York and at large.
New York City Committee on Jewish Affairs records undated (I-190)
Contains minutes of meetings (1960-1961), correspondence and reports pertaining to its activities. Among the latter were matters pertaining to open enrollment in the public schools, Black-Jewish relations, Sabbath legislation and kosher slaughtering.
New York City Street Maps Collection (I-483)
16 street maps that were originally part of the Atlas of the City of New York and other sources. Maps include street blocks for the Lower East Side (Wards 7, 11, 13 and Section 1 and 2) and the Upper West Side (Ward 22 and Sections 4 and 7).
Records of the Grand Street Boys Association (I-312)
The Association began in 1916 as a reunion of men who had grown up on or near Grand Street (Lower East Side) and grew into an active club, open to all men (and eventually women) regardless of religion, ethnicity, or social class. It promoted welfare projects, acts of fellowship and tolerance, scholarships, youth employment, war efforts, and the elimination of discrimination in sports, among other projects. The collection documents the activities of the Association, as well as the Grand Street Boys' Foundation, its financial arm established in 1945, and its Hobbycraft Program, a charitable program tasked with collecting and redistributing donated items to charitable and nonprofit organizations.
Records of the National Council of Jewish Women, New York Section (I-469)
The Records document the organization's community service, advocacy, and supportive administrative, fundraising, membership, and public relations activities from the Section's early years to the present. Included is a large amount of material from the National Organization in relation to the New York Section. This material is dated from 1896 to 1999 and consists of administrative, events, and advocacy matters.
Russ & Daughters Business and Family Records (I-605)
Russ & Daughters was founded in 1914 by Joel Russ as a family-owned fish and appetizing business located on the Lower East Side. The business may be the first in New York (or the United States) to include “and daughters,”—Hattie, Ida, and Anne—in their business name. The collection contains a snapshot of the Russ business and family including some correspondence, a mortgage and business ledger, partnership agreements, apartment leases, advertising and branding, articles, photographs, and ephemera.
United Jewish Appeal--Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York (I-433) [Collection is off-site, requests need 2+ week advance]
UJA-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York is the organization that resulted from the mergers of various New York federations with the New York office of UJA. UJA-Federation and its predecessor organizations have been a central force for communal planning and philanthropy in the New York Jewish community since 1917, and in overseas Jewish communities since 1939.
The Art of the Jewish Family: A History of Women in Early New York in Five Objects / Laura Arnold Leibman.
Cultures of Opposition: Jewish immigrant workers, New York City, 1881-1905 / Hadassa Kosak. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000.
Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City / Jonathan Soffer. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
Jewish New York: The Remarkable Story of a City and a People / Deborah Dash Moore, Jeffrey S. Gurock, Annie Polland, Howard B. Rock, & Daniel Soyer; with a visual essay by Diana L. Linden. New York: New York University Press, [2017
The Jewish west side of New York City, 1920-1970 / Bellingham, Wash.: Western Washington University, 1986.
Louis I. Kahn's Jewish Architecture: Mikveh Israel and the Midcentury American Synagogue / Susan G. Solomon. Waltham, Mass: Brandeis University Press; Hanover N.H.: University Press of New England, 2009.
Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941 / Ronald H. Bayor. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988.
New York's Yiddish Theater: From the Bowery to Broadway / ed. Edna Nahshon. New York: Columbia University Press in association with the Museum of the City of New York, 2016.
An Orphan in New York City: Life with a Thousand Brothers & Sisters / Seymour Siegel with Laura Edwards. Philadelphia, Pa.: Xlibris, 2001.
Oscar Israelowitz's Guide to Jewish New York City / Oscar Israelowitz. Brooklyn: O. Israelowitz, 1983.
