Subject Guide: New York History

Genia Silkes (RG 1187)

Genia was a teacher, historian, and member of the YIVO staff in New York. She taught in Yiddish schools in Warsaw before World War II, and during the Holocaust period worked in the schools of the Warsaw Ghetto and participated in the underground Oneg Shabat Archives. Her papers include eyewitness accounts of children collected by the Jewish Historical Commission in Lodz.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency, New York 1930s-1960s (RG 562) [Digitized]

Agency for the gathering and dissemination of Jewish news, servicing the Jewish and non-Jewish press of various countries. Originally established in 1914 as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau by Jacob Landau in The Hague. In 1919 it was reestablished in London by Landau and Meir Grossman as the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. JTA headquarters were moved to New York in 1922.

Jewish Occupational Council 1939-1965 (RG 460)

Established in 1939 in New York as a national advisory and coordinating agency for Jewish organizations and communities in the U.S. and Canada engaged in educational and vocational programs and job placement. Collection includes correspondence and memoranda with local Jewish vocational service agencies. Reports on occupational trends among the Jewish population. Publications issued by the U.S. Department of Labor and by Jewish vocational and counseling centers.

The New York Social Club 1885,1953-1954 (RG 955)

Organized in 1883 and incorporated in 1885 for benevolent, literary, dramatic, and musical purposes. Met in Chelsea Hall, New York in the 1960s. Collection includes certificate of incorporation, 1885, financial records, as well as gavels, seal, and pennant.

United States Territorial Collection 1890's-1970's (RG 117)

Collection includes materials on Jewish life in the United States arranged by name or by subject.

Baker, S. (2013). Fighting for life (New York Review Books classics).​

Benjamin, G. (1974). Race relations and the New York City Commission on Human Rights. Ithaca [N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

Ehrlich, E. (1985). A history of the Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation of Washington Heights : A German-Jewish community in New York City. New York City?: S.n.​

Glazer, N., & Moynihan, Daniel P. (1963). Beyond the melting pot; the Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews, Italians, and Irish of New York City (Publication of the Joint Center for Urban Studies). Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press.​

Gottesman, I. (1987). The Yiddish speaking community in New York City. New York]: [Smithsonian Institution].

Jaffe, S., Lautin, Jessica, & Museum of the City of New York. (2014). Capital of capital : Money, banking power in New York City 1784-2012 (Columbia studies in the history of U.S. capitalism).

LaGuardia Community College, & New York . Department of Cultural Affairs. (1997). Caring for others : A history of the New York City settlement house (LaGuardia and Wagner Archives calendar ; 1998). Long Island City, N.Y.: LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community College/CUNY.

Rubin, R. (1946). Yiddish folksongs in New York City. New York: New York Folklore Quarterly.​

The YIVO Institute stewards about 1,400 collections of landsmanshaftn records and receives more every year. Most of these records are from organizations that operated in New York City. About 600 different landsmanshaftn are represented in the Landsmanshaftn Collection (RG 123). Larger landsmanshaftn collections have their own call numbers. You can find a complete list of all landsmanshaftn collections at YIVO on the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York's website here.

Landsmanshaftn Collection (RG 123)

The collection contains fragmentary materials pertaining to over 600 landsmanshaftn. These mutual aid societies were established by immigrants usually, but not exclusively, from the same villages, towns and cities in Eastern Europe. Included are: charters, certificates of incorporation, constitutions, minutes, financial records, membership records, burial records, publications, clippings, and more.