Subject Guide: New York History

B'nai B'rith Leo Baeck Lodge No. 1531 (New York, N.Y.) Collection (AR 11917) [Digitized]

B’nai B’rith (Sons of the Covenant) is a Jewish fraternal benevolent society founded in New York in 1843. In the 1940s, recent German-Jewish émigrés voiced a desire to establish their own lodge of brethrens within the order of B’nai B’rith District No. 1 in New York.

Congregation Ohav Sholaum Collection (AR 25247) [Digitized]

This collection contains records of the German-Jewish Orthodox Congregation Ohav Sholaum of Washington Heights, New York, such as by-laws, correspondence of its long-time rabbi, Ralph Neuhaus, and documents relating to its charitable organization Gemiluth Chessed of Washington Heights. It also includes sheet music used by the congregation's choir.

Gabrielle Kaufmann Koppell Collection (AR 6182)

Gabriele Kaufmann-Koppel worked for a group called "Selbsthilfe juedischer Maedchen und Frauen aus Deutschland '' in London in the 1930s, which aimed to help girls and young women who had emigrated from Germany. In 1934, she accompanied the first Kindertransport to New York and supervised children who had to be temporarily housed in the Hirsch Home. 

National Council of Jewish Women Collection (AR 6301) [Digitized]

The National Council of Jewish Women was founded in 1893 by Hannah Greenebaum Solomon, making it the oldest Jewish women’s volunteer organization in America. The NCJW’s broad interests, active membership and cooperation with Jewish and non-Jewish organizations contributed to its position as a leader among women’s social reform agencies.

Edith Neumann Collection (AR 25262) [Digitized]

Neumann studied chemistry and physics at the University of Vienna and received her doctorate in 1927; the only woman at that time in the program. In 1948, after immigrating to the US, she worked as a bacteriologist at the Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn before accepting a position as microbiologist at Maimonides Hospital, where she remained for the next 20 years.

Carola S. Trier Collection (AR 25039) [Digitized]

Trier was a dancer, acrobat, and most notably a roller-skating contortionist. After a debilitating injury, she became close with Joseph and Clara Pilates, the founders of the Pilates method of exercise and strength training. Trier furthered her studies in this area by training at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and developing a system of exercises and stretching techniques for dancers, many of which are still in use.

Elisabeth Model Collection (AR 6306) [Digitized]

Elisabeth studied sculpture in Munich, Paris and Amsterdam. After immigrating to the US, Model began to design costume jewelry for Hattie Carnegie and other designers and later resumed work as a professional artist and teacher. Over the next fifty years she would receive numerous awards and prizes and her drawings and multimedia sculptures can be found in many private and museum collections. She was the co-founder and long-time vice-president of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors in New York. 

Hilda Levy Family Collection (AR 25141) [Digitized]

Hilda Levy was born on February 21, 1905 to the merchant Jakob Levy (1870-1957) and his wife Marie née Steinhardt (1872-1956). She married Victor Gottlieb in 1944, and the couple settled in New York City. Hilda Levy died in Manhasset, New York in 1995.

Reinheimer family collection (DM 338) [Digitized]

Two amateur films of the Reinheimer family in Washington Heights, depicting family life and religious services.

Ruth Worth Collection (AR 25024) [Digitized]

Ruth Worth was born Ruth Wertheimer in Halberstadt, Germany on April 10, 1915. In 1941, she immigrated to the United States. She settled in New York City and worked in the administrative offices of Hunter College. She died in 1997.

United Jewish Bowling League Collection (AR 6519) [Digitized]

Organizational papers including original rules (1941) as well as minutes, contracts, receipts, and competition results for a bowling league founded by German-Jewish refugees in New York City.

Bihler, L. (2018). Cities of refuge : German Jews in London and New York, 1935-1945.

Glanz, R. (1956). German Jews in New York City in the 19th century. New York.

Hebrew Free Loan Society of New York. (1977). Five years and eighty-five; the story of the Hebrew Free Loan Society of New York. New York.

Koegel, J. (2009). Music in German immigrant theater : New York City, 1840-1940 (Eastman studies in music). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.

Leitner, I., & Leitner, Irving A. (1985). Saving the fragments: From Auschwitz to New York. New York: New American Library.

Rischin, M. (1964). The promised city; New York's Jews 1870-1914. New York: Corinth Books.

Snyder, R. (2015). Crossing Broadway : Washington Heights and the promise of New York City.

Stern, M. (1976). New York's early Jews: Some myths and misconceptions. New York: Jewish Historical Society of New York.