Subject Guide: American West

Creating American Jews: Historical Conversations about Identity / Edited by Karen S. Mittelman. Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life. Philadelphia: [Waltham, Mass.]: [Hanover, NH]: National Museum of American Jewish History; in Association with Brandeis University Press ; Distributed by University Press of New England, 1998. [Chapter: “Pioneering: Jewish men and women of the American West.”]

Jewish Life in the American West: Perspectives on Migration, Settlement, and Community / Edited by Ava F. Kahn. Los Angeles: Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Association with University of Washington Press, Seattle, 2002.

Jewish Women Pioneering the Frontier Trail: A History in the American West / Jeanne E. Abrams. New York: New York University Press, 2006.

Jews of the Pacific Coast: Reinventing Community on America's Edge / Ellen Eisenberg, Ava F. Kahn, and William Toll. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2009.

Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-century America / Shari Rabin. North American Religions. 2017.

A Perfect Fit: The Garment Industry and American Jewry, 1860-1960 / New York: Yeshiva University Museum, 2005. [Section 1: 1860 America: An Expanding Nation Section 6: West Coast Fashion]

Native Americans: The New Indian Resistance / by William Meyer ('yonv'ut'-sisla). 1st ed. Little New World Paperbacks ; LNW-27. 1971. 

Sephardic Jews in the West Coast States: An Anthology / William M. Kramer, Editor. 1st ed. Western States Jewish History; v. 28, No. 3. Los Angeles: Published for the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles by the Western States Jewish History Association, 1996.

We Lived There Too; in Their Own Words and Pictures - Pioneer Jews and the Westward Movement of America, 1630-1930 / by Kenneth Libo [and] Irving Howe. 1st Ed., 4th Printing. ed. New York: St. Martin's/Marek, 1984. 

Dr. Charles David Spivak: A Jewish Immigrant and the American Tuberculosis Movement / Jeanne E. Abrams. Timberline Books. Boulder, Colo.: University Press of Colorado, 2009. [related materials under Archives Highlight tab]

From Charcoal to Banking: The I.E. Solomons of Arizona / by Elizabeth L. Ramenofsky. Great West and Indian Series 47. Tucson, Ariz.: Westernlore Press, 1984.

Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West: With Colonel Fremont's Last Expedition across the Rocky Mountains, including Three Months' Residence in Utah, and a Perilous Trip across the Great American Desert to the Pacific / by Solomon Nunes Carvalho ; Introduction by Ava F. Kahn. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. [Originally published 1858.]

A Journey to Alaska in the Year 1868: Being a Diary of the Late Emil Teichmann / Edited with an Introd. by His Son Oskar. With a Foreword by Ernest Gruening. New York: Argosy-Antiquarian, 1963.

Kaddish for a Cowboy / Roger Burford-Mason. Vol. 40, no. 2 (150), Summer 1993.

Letters Written by Henry Lesinsky to His Son. / New York, 1924. [Autobiographical letters about childhood in Europe and travels and life in Australia, England, New York, California, New Mexico, and Arizona, while chiefly engaged in mining operations.]

Lady at the O.K. Corral: The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp / Ann Kirschner. 1st ed. 2013. 

Levi Strauss: The Man Who Gave Blue Jeans to the World / Lynn Downey. 2016.

Some part of who you are: A narrative family history. Volume I and II.  [Digitized and available online]

Stories Untold, Jewish Pioneer Women, 1850-1910: The Art of Andrea Kalinowski / Andrea Kalinowski. 2002.

A Woman's Trip to Alaska: Being an Account of a Voyage through the Inland Seas of the Sitkan Archipelago in 1890. / By Septima M. Collis (Mrs. General C.H.T. Collis), Illustrated by American Bank Note Co. New York. New York: Cassell Publishing Company 104 & 106 Fourth Avenue, 1890.

 A World of Difference: Emma Wolf, a Jewish-American Writer on the American Frontier / Mandel, Dena Toni Cooper., Schuldiner, Michael Joseph, and University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2008.

Arizona

Cholent & Chorizo / by Abraham S. Chanin. Tucson, Ariz.: Midbar Press, 1995.

California

California, Earthquakes and Jews / Edited by William M. Kramer. Los Angeles: Woodland Hills, CA: Western States Jewish History ; Distributed by I. Nathan Pub., 1995.

Cosmopolitans: A Social and Cultural History of the Jews of the San Francisco Bay Area / Fred Rosenbaum. S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.

Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush: A Documentary History, 1849-1880 / Edited with an Introduction by Ava F. Kahn. American Jewish Civilization Series. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2002.

Jews in the Los Angeles Mosaic / Edited by Karen S. Wilson. S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies. 2013.

On the Cosmopolitan Frontier: Jews and Social Networks in Nineteenth-Century Los Angeles. / Wilson, Karen Sue., Aron, Stephen A., Lamoreaux, Naomi R, and University of California, Los Angeles. 2011.

Western Jewry: An Account of the Achievements of the Jews and Judaism in California including Eulogies and Biographies. / "The Jews in California" by Martin A. Meyer, Ph. D. San Francisco: Emanu-el, 1916.

[For more resources on Jews in Film and Hollywood, please view the Film & Television research guide]

Colorado

The Centennial History of the Jews of Colorado: 1859-1959 / West in American History No. 1. Denver: Hirschfeld Press, 1960.

Chai from Colorado / Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado. [serial]

The Cotopaxi Papers. 2015.

The Jewish Colony at Cotopaxi / Roberts, Dorothy. Colorado, 1941.

Jewish Denver: 1859-1940 / Jeanne E. Abrams. Images of America. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2007.

Shalom on the Range: A Roundup of Recipes and Jewish Traditions from Colorado Kitchens / Denver, Colo.: Friends of Shalom Park, 1997.

Montana

Golden Opportunities: A Biographical History of Montana's Jewish Communities / by Julie L. Coleman. 1st ed. Billings, Mont.: Helena: Helena, Mont.: J.L. Coleman; SkyHouse Publishers; Distributed by Falcon Press, 1994.

Nevada

Jews in Nevada: A History / John P. Marschall. Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in Nevada History. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2008.

New Mexico

“Jewish Emigrant Becomes Pueblo's First and Only Non-Indian Governor” / by Gordon Bronitsky; Illus. by Shirley Lynn. Santa Fe]: New Mexico Magazine, 1990.

Jewish Pioneers of New Mexico / Foreword by Thomas E. Chávez; Main Text Compiled & Edited by Tomas Jaehn; with an Afterword by Henry J. Tobias. Santa Fe, N.M.: Museum of New Mexico Press, 2003.

Juggling Identities: Identity and Authenticity among the Crypto-Jews / Seth D. Kunin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009.

New Mexico's Crypto-Jews: Image and Memory / Photographs by Cary Herz; Introduction by Ori Z. Soltes; Afterword by Mona Hernandez. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007.

To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico / Stanley M. Hordes. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.

Oregon

Embracing a Western Identity: Jewish Oregonians, 1849-1950 / Ellen Eisenberg. 2015.

The Jewish Oregon Story, 1950-2010 / Ellen Eisenberg. 2016.

Vida Sefardi: A Century of Sephardic Life in Portland / Presenting Sponsors: Barry and Susan Menashe, Michael Menashe, Ruth Menashe; [published: Congregation Ahavath Achim and Oregon Jewish Museum]. 2014.

Texas

The Chosen Folks: Jews on the Frontiers of Texas / Bryan Edward Stone. 1st ed. Jewish History, Life, and Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010.

Pioneer Jewish Texans: Their Impact on Texas and American History for Four Hundred Years, 1590-1990 / by Natalie Ornish. 1st ed. Dallas, Tex.: Texas Heritage Press, 1989.

West of center: Jews on the real and imagined frontiers of Texas / Stone, Bryan Edward, Abzug, Robert H, and University of Texas at Austin. 2003.

Utah

A Homeland in the West: Utah Jews Remember / [edited and Compiled By] Eileen Hallet Stone. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2001.

Back to the Soil: The Jewish Farmers of Clarion, Utah, and Their World / by Robert Alan Goldberg; Foreword by Charles S. Peterson. Utah Centennial Series v. 2. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1986.

Washington

Jewish Enterprise in the American West: Washington, 1853-1909 / Eulenberg, Julia Niebuhr, Kieval, Hillel J, and University of Washington.1996.

Family of Strangers: Building a Jewish Community in Washington State / Molly Cone, Howard Droker, and Jacqueline Williams. Seattle: Washington State Jewish Historical Society, 2003.

Wyoming

The Jews of Wyoming: Fringe of the Diaspora / Photographs and Interviews by Penny Diane Wolin; Introduction by Harriet Rochlin. 1st Ed., Limited ed. Cheyenne, Wyo.: Crazy Woman Creek Press, 2000.