Inventory to the Records of the Central Relief Committee, Volume I, 1914-1918

Inventory to the Records of the Central Relief Committee,
Volume I, 1914-1918

Dime Bank used to collect funds by the Central Relief Committee
Dime Bank used to collect funds by the Central Relief Committee


© Copyright 1986.  Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University Archives | Mendel Gottesman Library | 500 W. 185th St., New York, NY 10033 | Phone: (646) 592-4058 | Email: archives@yu.edu

Collection Overview

Creator: Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War
Title:Records of the Central Relief Committee, Volume I
Inclusive Dates:1914-1948
Bulk Dates:1914-1918
Size:57 linear feet
Number of Boxes: 108 manuscript boxes, one record carton, and one oversize document case
Abstract:Orthodox Jewish overseas relief organization affiliated with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Established in October, 1914 to help Jews suffering as a result of the outbreak of World War I. After the war, the Central Relief Committee shifted its attention from providing economic relief to Orthodox Jewry overseas to preserving its religious and cultural identity. CRC supported hundreds of yeshivot in Europe and Palestine through 1950, when its affiliation with the JDC ceased. The Federated Council of Israel Institutions succeeded the CRC.
Languages:Almost the entire collection is in English, with about five percent in other languages, including Yiddish, Hebrew, German, and French.
Call No:1963.099
Note: The organization's full title is the "Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering through the War." It is more commonly known as the "Central Relief Committee."

About This Guide

Written by Dr. Roger S. Kohn, Alizah Zinberg, and Barbara Martin.

Finding aid revised in December, 2007 to correct errata, refine series structure, and include materials identified during processing of Sections II & III of the collection.

Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, July 1999.

File converted from EAD 1.0 to EAD 2002, updated to current markup standards, and revised as noted above, December, 2007.

Encoding is in English.

Organizational History

Formation and Early Years

The Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering through the War, or, the Central Relief Committee (CRC), was established on October 4, 1914, three months after the outbreak of the First World War in Europe. The formation of the organization was a direct response to urgent pleas for help from Jews in Eastern Europe and Palestine.

At the outbreak of the war, the situation in Turkish-ruled Palestine was especially grave. The Jewish population of sixty thousand was cut off from the food, supplies, and remittances from abroad upon which they depended. On August 31, 1914, Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey, cabled Louis Marshall and Jacob Schiff of the American Jewish Committee with a request for fifty thousand dollars to be sent to Palestine immediately.

Rabbi Moses Sebulun Margolies (the "Ramaz"), President of the Agudat Harabanim and Rabbi of Congregation Kehillath Jeshurun in New York City, and Rabbi Dr. Philip Klein, Rabbi of the First Hungarian Congregation Oheb Zedek in New York, had also received telegrams from Eastern Europe and Palestine requesting aid. These calls for help, coupled with news reports of the desperate situation in the countries at war, moved the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations to action. At a conference of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations held on September 28, 1914, a decision was made to send telegrams to all Orthodox congregations in the United States, asking each to conduct an appeal for relief contributions on Yom Kippur Eve.

The officers of the CRC were elected on October 4, 1914, at a meeting of Orthodox leaders in the offices of the Yiddish daily newspaper, the Tageblatt. Leon Kamaiky, owner and publisher of the paper, was elected chairman; Harry Fischel, communal leader and philanthropist, treasurer; Morris Engelman, financial secretary; and Albert Lucas, executive secretary.

Louis Marshall strongly opposed the establishment of the CRC. In a letter to Albert Lucas, secretary of the CRC, dated October 14, 1914 (folder 2/5), Marshall stated:

I regret exceedingly that such an organization has at this time formed, especially when it was known that the American Jewish Committee was engaged in organizing a general committee, composed of Jewish national organizations, for the purpose of dealing effectively with the tremendous problem which confronts the Jews of America in respect to granting relief to the sufferers from the European war...I prophesy that the only effect will be, to minimize results, to destroy rather than to construct, and to fill with immeasurable disgust those who have hitherto sought, without publicity and in a quiet way, and without selfish purposes, to aid the cause of Judaism.

In keeping with his plan to organize a general relief committee, Marshall called fifty Jewish organizations to a conference on October 25, 1914 at Temple Emanu-El in New York where the American Jewish Relief Committee (AJRC) was formed. (Officers elected were: Louis Marshall, chairman; Cyrus L. Sulzberger, secretary; and Felix Warburg, treasurer.)

In order to avoid duplication of work by the CRC and the AJRC in the distribution of funds in the war-torn countries, representatives of the two committees formed the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) on November 27, 1914. Although the JDC was responsible for the overall distribution of funds to the Jewish war sufferers in Eastern Europe and Palestine, the CRC continued to send direct remittances to yeshivot, Talmud Torahs, rabbis and teachers in Eastern Europe and Palestine. The CRC enlisted the help of the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau, in arranging to send funds to Palestine and Aleppo, Syria.

At a meeting held on November 25, 1914 at the United Hebrew Charities, an agreement was reached between representatives of the AJRC and the CRC whereby the CRC would be in charge of collections from Orthodox congregations, as well as the issuing and selling of self-taxation stamps.

On August 8, 1915, a group of secular, Yiddish-speaking socialists formed a third committee, the People's Relief Committee (PRC), whose officers were Meyer London, chairman, and Isaac Goldberg, treasurer. The JDC accepted the PRC as its third constituent member and limited the organization's activities to house to house collections from the non-Orthodox Jewish community.

Activities During WWI

The CRC followed the example set by the AJRC of organizing local committees in every city with a sizeable Jewish population and informing members of the conditions in Europe. In addition, the CRC, aided by the ingenuity of its treasurer, Morris Engelman, devised its own fundraising methods. Among the innovations were: war stamps; certificates; dime banks; cross-country fundraising tours; Jewish Relief Day, proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson on January 27, 1916; proclamation certificates; and a concert tour by Cantor Josef (Yossele) Rosenblatt.

The self-taxation War Relief Stamps, introduced October 14, 1914, were issued in denominations of one, five, ten, and twenty-five cents. These were sold throughout the country to communal organizations and businesses which would, in turn, sell the stamps to individuals. School children contributed a small amount each week in order to buy stamps; workers affixed stamps to their pay envelopes; and rabbinical organizations placed two twenty-five-cent stamps on each marriage certificate they issued.

Dime Savings Banks, also called "pocket banks" because of their conveniently small size, were, like the War Stamps, designed to encourage contributions of even the smallest sums. Housewives would be reminded, through CRC advertisements in the Jewish press, to drop a coin in their banks at the end of each week.

In the summer of 1915, Rabbi Bernard Drachman joined Morris Engelman on a five-week cross-country fundraising tour, the first of its kind in the history of fundraising. In each city visited by Drachman and Engelman, appeals were made for contributions to the war relief effort and local relief committees were established.

Albert Lucas and Rabbi Harris (Hirsch) Masliansky of the Educational Alliance in New York embarked on a second cross-country fundraising campaign in March 1916. The success of this six-week tour is reflected in a telegram from Lucas in St. Louis, Missouri to the CRC office in New York, dated March 23, 1916 (folder 26/6):

Mass meeting tonight BNAI EMUNO SYNAGOGUE carried by Masliansky Rabbi and whole audience wept like children... after thousand certificates sold Abramowitz laid watch and chain on altar others followed and young woman at request her sweetheart took off engagement ring...

Early in 1916, CRC Treasurer Harry Fischel communicated with State Senator James E. Martine of New Jersey. The Senator was requested to introduce a resolution expressing sympathy with the nine million Jews of Eastern Europe suffering from the war, and to ask President Woodrow Wilson to designate a special Jewish War Relief Day. President Wilson approved the resolution and proclaimed January 27 National Jewish Relief Day. CRC printed 346,000 reproductions of Wilson's proclamation and issued them in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty-five, fifty and one hundred dollars. Copies of the certificates were printed in almost every newspaper across the country. Two million dollars were raised on Jewish Relief Day, making the drive the most successful fundraising effort ever conducted by an American Jewish organization.

The success of Jewish Relief Day was due in part to the efforts of the Women's Proclamation Day Committee, chaired by Mrs. Rose Elkeles. The purpose of the committee was to unite the Jewish women of America, regardless of affiliation, in the war relief effort.

In conjunction with the JDC's campaign to raise ten million dollars in 1917, the CRC arranged a concert-tour by cantor Josef (Yossele) Rosenblatt. Over four thousand people attended the first concert at the Hippodrome in New York City on May 6, making it the largest assembly of Jews ever held in the United States. The concert raised more than one hundred thousand dollars for the JDC.

The success of the CRC in its fundraising campaigns rested in grass-roots tactics and appeals to the largest segment of American Jews, the immigrants.

By 1916, the contribution of the CRC to the war relief effort had come to be recognized by at least one of the leaders of the AJRC - Jacob Schiff. In a letter to Albert Lucas, dated May 19, 1916 (folder 4/7), Schiff wrote:

... I am sure you are applying vastly more time and effort to the work of the relief of our suffering coreligionists than I have had the opportunity to do, and for one I am very grateful to you and others for the self-sacrificing and intelligent labor of love you and they are doing.

This praise serves as a marked contrast to Louis Marshall's earlier criticism of the CRC.

Inter-War Period and Beyond

After the conclusion of World War I, the CRC began to focus its activities on the rehabilitation and reconstruction of religious institutions in the Jewish communities destroyed by the war in Eastern Europe and Palestine. The history of the organization during the next decades is dealt with in greater detail in the Records of the Central Relief Committee, Volume II, 1919-1958. Some of the highlights of the major events in the later history of the CRC are described below.

Early in 1921, the CRC discontinued most of its contributions to the JDC for general educational and cultural institutions abroad. A Committee for Cultural Affairs, representing the three constituent committees of the JDC, was established under the leadership of Dr. Cyrus Adler. According to a letter from Abraham Horowitz, secretary of the CRC, to Rabbi David Miller of Oakland, California, the Committee was established at this time to ensure that yeshivot as well as cultural institutions received aid. Each constituent committee was allocated a certain percentage of funds, to be distributed among the institutions of its choice. The CRC obtained almost seventy per cent of the funds of the Cultural Committee.

The collapse of the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929 and the Depression that followed greatly reduced the income and work of the CRC. The rise of anti-Semitism in Poland in the 1930's and the Holocaust significantly affected the functioning of the CRC as well in the ensuing decades. The role of the CRC as financial supporter of religious institutions in Eastern Europe and Palestine diminished in the post-Holocaust era as a result of the destruction of the great European yeshivot. The creation of the State of Israel, whose government allocates funds for religious schools, also minimized the need for a separate Orthodox branch of the JDC. Furthermore, the JDC (in later years, renamed the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Relief), with the support of wealthy American Jews, was capable of sending relief to needy Jews abroad without the aid of its affiliate, the CRC.

On July 29, 1947 the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (Agudat Harabanim) entered into an agreement with the JDC and formed the Central Orthodox Committee (COC), replacing the CRC. According to the agreement, the COC was to be recognized by the JDC "as the sole representative group to whom the various problems of orthodox-religious rehabilitation in Europe will be referred for consideration in consultation with the respective European local orthodox groups and the JDC representatives, in regard to the financial needs for the establishment and maintenance of orthodox life and institutions in the European countries." The COC lasted as an organization until 1950. The Central Relief Committee Collection does not reflect any significant activities of the CRC after this period.

Scope and Contents

The records of the Central Relief Committee provide valuable information for the historian of American, European, and Middle Eastern Jewry in the twentieth-century. Focusing on Jews in the United States and Palestine, these files give the researcher a unique view of the organizations and individuals, both Orthodox and secular, who gave and received assistance.

The documents are divided into three chronological sections:

I. 1914-1918
II. 1919-1929
III. 1930-1958

The breakdown of this large collection enabled the documents to be arranged by specific time periods, each period representing a definite historical unit. 1914-1918, the period dealt with in this inventory, are the years of World War I, which played the major role in the formation of the CRC.
(See Records of the Central Relief Committee, Volume II, 1919-1958 for materials on Sections II & III.)

Although this section of the CRC Collection deals with the years, 1914 - 1918, it contains material dating as late as 1948, as they could not be separated without losing the integrity of the file. The bulk of the material deals with the years 1914 and 1915. Approximately ten per cent of the collection is in poor condition.

The collection consists of minutes; reports; handwritten and typed correspondence; lists, receipts and forms for remittances; publications; clippings; and photographs. Almost the entire collection is in English; about five percent of the records are in other languages, including Hebrew, Yiddish, German, and French.

Arrangement

The files for this section have been divided into the following series and major subseries:

Index Terms

This collection has been indexed under the following terms:

Persons:
Bero, Stanley
Drachman, Bernard, 1861-1945
Elkus, Abram I., 1867-1947
Engelman, Morris, 1872-1948
Fischel, Harry
Horowitz, Abraham
Israel Meir, ha-Kohen, 1838-1933
Kamaiky, Leon
Lucas, Albert, 1859-1923
Marshall, Louis, 1856-1929
Masliansky, Zvi Hirsch, 1856-1943
Morgenthau, Henry, 1856-1946
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
Rosenblatt, Josef, 1992-1933
Schiff, Jacob H. (Jacob Henry), 1847-1920
Yisrael, Mi-Viznitsa, 1860-1930
Organizations:
Agudat Harabanim
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
American Jewish Relief Committee for Sufferers from the War
HIAS (Agency)
People's Relief Committee for Jewish War Sufferers (U.S.)
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
United States - Department of State
United States. Consulate (Damascus, Syria)
United States. Consulate (Istanbul, Turkey)
United States. Consulate (Jerusalem)
Subjects:
International relief -- Egypt
International relief -- Europe
International relief -- Palestine
Jews -- United States -- Charities
Jews -- United States -- Societies, etc.
Rabbinical seminaries -- Europe
Rabbinical seminaries -- Palestine
Rabbis -- Europe
Rabbis -- Palestine
Rabbis -- United States
Refugees, Jewish
Synagogues -- New York (N.Y.)
Synagogues -- United States
World War, 1914-1918 -- Jews -- Rescue
Yeshivas -- Europe
Yeshivas -- Palestine
Places:
Europe, Eastern
Palestine
United States -- Emigration and Immigration
Document Types:
Blank forms
Certificates
Clippings
Correspondence
Ephemera
Minutes
Pamphlets
Periodicals
Photographs
Receipts
Reports
Telegrams

Related Material

Related Manuscripts and Archival Collections at Yeshiva University:

Other Related Manuscripts and Archival Collections:
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, New York, N.Y.
People's Relief Committee for Jewish War Sufferers, 1914-1924. (American Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY).

Provenance

Acquisition Information

The Central Relief Committee Collection was given to Yeshiva University on November 5, 1963 by Rabbi N. Waxman of the Federated Council of Israel Institutions, an organization created out of the Central Relief Committee.

Processing Note

Collection Processing

In 1978, Bernard Liebtag and Marlene Braten listed the contents of the collection on cards, recording the number of the original crate in which the items came. They sorted the documents according to three broad series: Palestine Material, Yeshiva Material, and Other, such as Fundraising, and then placed them in unmarked folders, numbering the folders on the cards only. To indicate a new topic, they inserted empty folders between filled ones.

Continuing the work on the CRC collection in 1985, Dr. Roger Kohn described the contents of each box on different cards, listing every folder. Using these two sets of cards, each folder was then numbered, the empty insert removed, and a master list was compiled, noting the time span of every folder. With this list, the material pertaining to the period of 1914 - 1918 was located.

A small amount of materials relating to this period was not identified until the later portions of the collection were processed. These materials are arranged together in Series VIII - Addendum.

Sources Consulted

American Jewish Yearbook 5676 - 5679 [1916-1920]. New York: American Jewish Committee.

Bauer, Yehuda. My Brother's Keeper: A History of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 1929-1939. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1974.

Drachman, Bernard. The Unfailing Light. New York: Rabbinical Council of America, 1948.

Engelman, Morris. Four Years of Jewish War Relief Work. New York: Morris Engelman, 1918.

________, Fifteen Years of Effort on Behalf of World Jewry. New York: Morris Engelman, 1929.

Goldstein, Herbert S., ed. Forty Years of Struggle For a Principle: The Biography of Harry Fischel New York: Bloch Publishing Co., 1928.

Handlin, Oscar. A Continuing Task: The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. New York: Random House, 1964.

Hyman, Joseph C. Twenty-Five Years of American Aid to Jews Overseas. New York: The American Jewish Committee, 1939.

Morris, Robert and Michael Freund (eds.). Trends and Issues in Jewish Social Welfare in the United States, 1899-1952. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1966.

Rosenfelt, Henry H. This Thing of Giving. New York: Plymouth Press, 1924.

Szajkowski, Zosa, "Concord and Discord in American Jewish Overseas Relief, 1914-1924," YIVO Annual of Jewish Social Science, XIV (1969) pp. 99-158.

__________, "Private and Organized American Overseas Relief and Immigration, 1914-1938," American Jewish Historical Quarterly, Publications of the Jewish Historical Society, LVII (1967) pp. 55-88.

Who's Who in American Jewry. New York: The Jewish Biographical Bureau, Inc. 1926.

Conditions Governing Access and Use

Conditions Governing Access

Available to researchers deemed to be qualified by the Archivist.

Conditions Governing Use

Fragile items in the collection may only be examined on microfilm. Other restrictions may apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of materials in this collection. Please contact the Curator of Special Collections for information regarding Yeshiva University's reproduction policies and fees.

Alternative Form Available

Materials from the original acquisition of this collection, except for the clippings, are available on microfilm. Users may be requested to view microfilm instead of handling original materials.

Preferred Citation

A suggested form for citing the collection is as follows:

Minutes, CRC, July 17, 1917, Box 1, Folder 5, Central Relief Committee Collection, Yeshiva University Archives, New York, New York.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Series I: Minutes, Resolutions, and Agreements with Cooperating Organizations, 1914 - 1920. 2 boxes

Scope/Contents: The minutes are arranged in chronological order by organizations; i.e. CRC, AJRC, etc. The earliest minutes of CRC in the collection are dated October 14, 1914 while the latest in this time period are September 30, 1920. (This was not removed since it pertains to the previous minutes.) The earliest minutes of AJRC and JDC in the collection are dated February 2, 1915; the latest, November 19, 1918.

There are gaps in the series of minutes of the CRC itself in this collection. To fill these gaps, photocopies of CRC minutes located in the records of the American Joint Distribution Committee in New York have been supplied. These copies are now in box no. 14, folder no. 34.

The collection does not include the individual minutes of the AJRC, JDC, and PRC; rather, the minutes are usually those of two organizations meeting together, such as the AJRC and the JDC. The meetings of the Executive Committee of the JDC were, in reality, meetings between the JDC and the AJRC because most of the representatives were from the AJRC. Therefore, the minutes for these two organizations are headed "Minutes of the Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC." In some cases, however, there are separate minutes of the Executive Board of the JDC beginning with June, 1918.

Some minutes may be misleading; the minutes of a meeting of the AJRC and the PRC (January 13, 1916) are actually those of a Plan and Scope Committee set up by the JDC to discuss activities of the latter group.

"Sub-committees of Six and Eight" were formed from each of the three organizations to pass on reports from abroad and make recommendations to the Executive Committee regarding fundraising and allocations. They were also given full power at times to decide on apportionment of funds. The minutes of these sub-committees were placed in the folders with the minutes of the Executive Committee (of the same time period) since there are references to them in the Executive Committee's minutes.

Following the files of minutes are two folders of agreements between the CRC, JDC, AJRC, PRC and the Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs concerning the sending of relief funds to Palestine, and apportionment of money. Folder 2/5 contains a letter from Louis Marshall of the JDC and AJRC to Albert Lucas of the CRC, criticizing the creation of the Orthodox relief committee (October 14, 1914).

Some files in this series may include other types of material, such as correspondence and reports, which pertain to the documents in the file.

Arrangement: Arranged in chronological order within each organization.
Subseries A: Central Relief Committee, 1914 - 1920
BoxFolderDescription
11Minutes - 10/14/1914 (Propaganda and Organization Committee); 10/20/1914
(includes correspondence and reports concerning fund-raising conference, October 25, 1914; correspondence between CRC and AJRC concerning resolutions adopted, November - December, 1914)
2Minutes - 1/17[1915] (CRC and Provisional Zionist Committee); 1/18[1915]; 10/22/1915 (CRC and Provisional Zionist Committee; 12/8/[1915]
(includes correspondence concerning activities of CRC and JDC, and distribution of money; agreement between PZC and CRC, with listing of committee members, October 27, 1915)
3Minutes - 1/3/1916; 5/14/1916; 6/26/1916; 8/20/1916; 9/11/1916
(includes correspondence concerning collection of funds; correspondence, reports and resolutions of CRC conference of May 14, 1916, with listing of officers)
4Minutes - undated, 11/13/1918, 9/30/1920
Subseries B: American Jewish Relief Committee and the People's Relief Committee, 1916
BoxFolderDescription
15Minutes - 1/13/1916 (Plan and Scope Committee)
Subseries C: American Jewish Relief Committee and the Joint Distribution Committee, 1915 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
16Minutes of the Distribution Committee - 2/2/1915
7Minutes of the Executive and Distribution Committee (AJRC and JDC) - 7/1/15; 7/28/15; 9/7/15; 9/28/15; 10/4/15; 10/25/15; 11/29/15; 12/23/15
(includes statements of contributions to the General Fund; resolutions of meeting of November 1, 1915; and letter of D. Feinberg, secretary of the Jewish Colonization Association, to the AJRC concerning activities of the Petrograd committee, November 2, 1915)
8Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC - 3/7/16; 3/20/16; 4/11/16; 6/2/16; 6/20/16
Minutes of the JDC - 1/11/16; 2/8/16; 3/20/16
Minutes of Sub-Committee of Six - 3/8/16; 4/17/16; 5/2/16
(includes resolutions adopted at March 20, 1916 meeting)
9Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC - 7/31/16; 8/22/16; 9/8/16; 10/10/16; 11/5/16; 11/16/16; 12/14/16; 12/28/16
Minutes of Sub-Committee of Six - 7/14/16; 7/28/16; 12/5/16
(includes report of the Committee of Five, July 24, 1916; and minutes of Sub-Committee for Question of Reconstruction of Berlin Community and Warsaw Situation, December 18, 1916)
10Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC (includes unidentified index) - 1/18/17; 2/6/17; 2/21/17; 4/10/17; 6/5/17; 6/18/17; 7/17/17; 9/12/17; 11/7/17; 12/18/17
Minutes of Committee of Eight - 6/29/17; 7/24/17; 9/7/17; 10/11/17; 11/27/17; 12/24/17
(minutes bound together- poor condition)
11Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC - 1/18/17; 2/6/17; 2/21/17; 4/10/17
Minutes of Sub-Committee of Six - 1/11/17; 1/29/17; 2/9/17; 4/5/17
(includes report of distribution of funds in Palestine, February - August 1917, through United States and Spanish consuls; activities of the Committee of Eight, March 27, 1918)
12Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC - 6/5/17; 6/18/17; 7/17/17; 9/12/17
Minutes of the Committee of Eight - 6/29/17; 7/24/17; 9/7/17
(includes cable concerning disbursements in Russia, August 23, 1917)
13Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC - 11/7/17
Minutes of the Committee of Eight - 10/11/17; 11/27/17
(includes resolutions of special assembly of JDC, October 28, 1917; report of JDC activities in the Netherlands, September - October 1917; and synopsis of four circulars issued by the Central Evacuation Committee in Judea [November 1917])
14Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC - 12/18/17
Minutes of the Committee of Eight - 12/24/17
(includes report from the Netherland Branch of JDC, December 8, 1917)
15Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC - 2/10/18; 2/20/18; 3/11/18; 5/6/18; 5/20/18
Minutes of the Committee of Eight - 1/29/18; 2/14/18; 3/5/18; 3/25/18
(includes summaries of reports of the Netherland Branch (reports G - L); the Sub-Committee on Russia, May 9, 1918; and the Sub-Committee to investigate conditions in Salonica, Romania, and the Balkan States, May 13, 1918)
BoxFolderDescription
21Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC - 7/10/18
Minutes of Executive Committee of JDC - 6/19/18; 7/25/18
(includes proposed plan for creation of standing committees, n.d.; and report of Relief Department, Jerusalem, July and August, 1918)
2Minutes of Executive Committee of AJRC and JDC - 11/10/18
Minutes of Executive Committee of JDC - 10/1/18; 10/31/18; 11/19/18; 12/5/18; 12/26/18
(includes reports of standing committees - 10/31/18; 11/10/18; 12/5/18)
3Minutes of Committee on Constructive Relief - 11/19/18
(includes suggestions of procedure by committee members)
Subseries D: Agreements with the Provisional Zionist Committee, 1914 - 1915
BoxFolderDescription
24Agreements with the Provisional Zionist Committee and with the AJRC and the PRC, October 1914 - October 1915
(includes lists of committees in Eastern Europe and Palestine)
5Agreements with the Provisional Zionist Committee and with the AJRC and the PRC, October 1914 - October 1915
(includes signed letter from Louis Marshall to Albert Lucas criticizing the creation of the CRC, October 14, 1914; and correspondence with the Austro-Hungarian Consul General concerning relief shipments, November 1914 - March 1915)

Series II: Reports, 1914 - 1948. 1 and 1/2 boxes.

Scope/Contents: This section contains reports of the CRC, JDC, and the AJRC. The CRC reports are financial, consisting of lists of contributions. The "Report of the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War From October 8, 1914 to April 30, 1916" (2/11) provides important information on fundraising activities of the CRC.
Arrangement: The series is arranged in chronological order for each committee. Some of the reports of the CRC and JDC in this section of the collection are dated later than 1918 since they were not separated.
Subseries A: Central Relief Committee, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
26Financial reports; correspondence with JDC, 1914 - 1917
7Financial reports and news bulletins, 1914 - 1915
8List of total contributions by state and city, October 4, 1914 - June 1, 1915
9"Investigators Daily Report", 1915
(lists of funds sent by congregations)
10Lists of contributions to the General Fund by states and cities, up to and including June 25, 1916, 1915 - 1916
11"Report of the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War From October 8, 1914 to April 30, 1916,", [1916]
printed, two copies
12Lists of contributions of $25.00 or more, January 1916
13Lists of contributions, January - April 1916
BoxFolderDescription
31Lists of contributions of $10.00 and up, April - December 1916
2Lists of contributions of $10.00 and up, January - July 1917
(includes list of Jewish newspapers)
3Lists of contributions from congregations, local relief committees, and newspapers, 1917 - 1918
Subseries B: Joint Distribution Committee, 1914 - 1948
BoxFolderDescription
34Reports on Jewish life, refugees, economic situation and relief work in Eastern Europe, 1915 - 1924
5Reports on Jewish life, refugees, economic situation and relief work in Eastern Europe, 1917 - 1924
(includes appendices #92 - 96 prepared by Dr. Kurt Nawratzki on professional and agricultural education for Jewish youth in Poland and the rearrangement of economic conditions in Poland and Lithuania, March 15, 1917, February 11, 1918, March 14, 1918; cable from Dr. Bernard Kahn, of the JDC Holland Branch, relating report of pogrom in Lemberg, Poland [December 10, 1918]; United Council of the Zionist Organization "memorandum concerning the Jewish Massacres in the Ukraine," March 29, 1919; Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily Bulletins, September - October 1921)
6Reports on the distribution of relief funds in Eastern Europe and Palestine, 1915 - 1917, 1929
(includes "Summary of Report of Dr. Bernard Kahn," on conditions in Eastern Europe after the war, September 27, 1929)
7Reports on relief work and economic conditions in Poland and Lithuania, 1917 - 1918, 1927
(includes minutes of a JDC meeting, Jan 29, 1918)
8Reports containing excerpts of letters from JDC representatives in Europe concerning refugees (first 11 pages missing), [1917]
9Reports, "The J.D.C. Activities in Palestine 1914-1928," and "The Cultural Work of the J.D.C.", [1928]
10Financial reports, 1916 - 1920, 1932, 1948
(includes statement of payments made in Constantinople, 1917; JDC letter, with official seal, to Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, and report of Rabbi Teitelbaum concerning his mission in Constantinople, 1919; and report on religious needs of Jews in Eastern Europe, 1948)
11JDC tabulation of contributions by cities and states to the AJRC and the CRC, January-March 1917, and Gross Income of PRC for March 16 to April 15, 1917, 1917
Subseries C: American Jewish Relief Committee, 1914 - 1915
BoxFolderDescription
312Financial statements of receipts by state and city, 1914-1915; recapitulation of expenses of the Israelitische Allianz zu Wien, 1914, 1914 - 1915

Series III: Correspondence, 1913-1939. 11 boxes.

Arrangement: Correspondence is divided into the following subseries:
Scope/Contents: Most of the correspondence deals with contributions received from individuals, branches, local organizations, and congregations. The series also includes correspondence concerning relief work by the JDC in Palestine and Eastern Europe.

Subseries A, Correspondence with the Organizing Committees, contains correspondence with the JDC, AJRC, and PRC. Folder 4/7 includes a handwritten letter in Russian (1917) from Rabbi Israel Meir ha-Kohen, (the "Hafetz Hayyim" of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim of Radun) concerning relief funds received for his yeshiva.

Within Subseries B, Correspondence with Other Organizations and Individuals in the U.S., Correspondence with Government Agencies deals with the volume of letters between the CRC, State Department and other government officials regarding remittances to Jewish communities overseas, especially Palestine. In 1915, the CRC began to send funds through the State Department to United States Ambassador to Turkey Henry Morgenthau (and later, his successor, Abram I. Elkus) who would in turn distribute the money in Palestine.

The War and the severing of relations with Turkey hampered the transmittal of funds to Palestine and Europe. Correspondence in this section illustrates the benevolence and generosity of the various individuals and institutions that assisted the CRC and JDC in their mission of aid. Included are letters from Jack Mosseri, the head of the Special Committee for Relief of Jews in Palestine, who distributed funds through the Diplomatic Agency in Cairo, and S[igfried] Hoofien, a Dutch subject in charge of the Anglo-Palestine Bank, who allocated funds with the help of the Spanish Consul in Jerusalem.

Correspondence with National Organizations is arranged alphabetically by organization. Some correspondence dating after 1918 was left in its original folders.

Correspondence with Rabbis and Prominent Lay Leaders in the United States includes a letter from U.S. Secretary of State Robert Lansing to Albert Lucas, concerning medical supplies shipped by the CRC to Jaffa, March 2, 1916 (13/6).

Within Subseries C, Correspondence with Eastern Europe, Palestine and Egypt, Correspondence with Organizations and Individuals in Eastern Europe includes a letter from Rabbi Israel Hager, rabbi of Vizhnitz, writing from Nagyvarad, Transylvania, concerning the distribution of relief funds he received from the CRC ([December 1915] 14/4).

Arrangement: The files are arranged in chronological order within each subseries.
Subseries A: Correspondence with the Organizing Committees, 1914 - 1939
Correspondence with the Joint Distribution Committee, 1914-1939
BoxFolderDescription
41Correspondence, reports, minutes, and press notice concerning relief for sufferers of the war in Eastern Europe and Palestine, 1914 - 1927
(includes correspondence with the Central Relief Committee of Philadelphia, Oct-Nov 1915; minutes of a meeting of the CRC with the Provisional Zionist Committee, 1/17/16; and reports of the Provisional Zionist Committee, March-June 1915)
2Correspondence and cables concerning fundraising, remittances and relief work in Palestine, Alexandria (Egypt), and Eastern Europe, 1914 - 1937
3Correspondence concerning remittances to Palestine and Eastern Europe, July 1915 - March 1916
(includes minutes of and publicity concerning the Women's Proclamation Day Committee of the CRC, January 24, 1916)
4Correspondence, press releases and reports concerning the condition of and relief for war sufferers in Eastern Europe and Palestine, 1915 - 1930
(includes correspondence with E.W. Lewin-Epstein concerning his mission to Poland, October-November 1915; and United Jewish Campaign News, printed in Chicago, November 1926, No. 5)
5Letter from the JDC, citing a letter from Dr. Arthur Ruppin in Constantinople to Ambassador Elkus, concerning control by the American Embassy of relief work in Palestine, January 4, 1917; notices of JDC meetings, October 1916, 1916 - 1917
6Correspondence and cables concerning fundraising, remittances, and relief work in Eastern Europe and Palestine, 1917 - 1918
7Correspondence of Albert Lucas with Jacob Schiff, praising the CRC's work, May 19, 1916; with the American Red Cross, concerning shipments of medical supplies to Palestine, May 19, 1916; and with Henry Morgenthau concerning individual requests for aid, 1915 - 1916
(includes letter from Rabbi Israel Meir ha-Kohen (the "Hafetz Hayyim"), [June] 1917; letter to Morgenthau from the Grand Rabbi of Aleppo, Hizkia Sabetai, March 21, 1916, requesting aid; and letter from the Austro-Hungarian Consulate General concerning relief sent to Hungary, March 9, 1915)
8Correspondence between Stanley Bero, manager CRC, and Albert Lucas, secretary JDC, concerning relief funds, shipments and meetings, June - October 1916
9Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Albert Lucas concerning relief funds, November 1916 - January 1917
10Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Albert Lucas concerning relief funds, January - August 1917
11Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Albert Lucas concerning relief funds, September - December 1917
BoxFolderDescription
51Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Albert Lucas concerning relief funds, 1918
2Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Felix Warburg concerning remittances, March - May 1916
3Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Felix Warburg concerning remittances, January 1915, May - June 1916
(includes letters to the General Consul in New York, in gothic German script, January 1915 and May 1916)
4Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Felix Warburg concerning remittances, July 1916
5Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Felix Warburg concerning remittances, August 1916
6Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Felix Warburg concerning remittances, September - October 17, 1916
7Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Felix Warburg concerning remittances, October 18 - December 1916
8Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Felix Warburg concerning relief funds, July - December 1917
9Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Felix Warburg concerning relief funds, February - December 1918
BoxFolderDescription
61Correspondence of Albert Lucas with Judah Magnes and Felix Warburg concerning distribution of relief funds, 1916
2Letters from individuals to Albert Lucas and Felix Warburg concerning relief and reconstruction work by the JDC, 1915, 1918 - 1919
(retyped copies, originally kept together in a binder)
3Correspondence of Herbert H. Lehman and Stanley Bero concerning remittances of funds to Russia, Poland, Germany, Austria, January - April 1917
(includes remittance forms; and information about cabling money to Palestine from the State Department)
4Correspondence of Herbert H. Lehman and Stanley Bero concerning remittances of funds to Russia, Poland, Germany, Austria, April - May 1917
5Excerpts of letters and cables received by the JDC; account of Max M. Warburg and Co., Hamburg, with Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden, 1916
6Drafts of letters to Albert Lucas and Cyrus Alder, respectively, concerning a JDC memorandum, [1917]
7Correspondence of Stanley Bero and Leon Kamaiky with Albert Lucas and Arthur Lehman concerning sources and distribution of funds, 1917 - 1918
8Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Arthur Lehman concerning contributions and remittances, May - July 1917
9Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Arthur Lehman concerning contributions and remittances, August - September 1917
10Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Arthur Lehman concerning contributions and remittances, October - December 1917
BoxFolderDescription
71Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Arthur Lehman concerning contributions and remittances, January - March 1918
2Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Arthur Lehman concerning contributions and remittances, March - May 1918
3Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Arthur Lehman concerning contributions and remittances, May - Sept 1918
4Correspondence between Stanley Bero and Arthur Lehman concerning contributions and remittances, October - December 1918
Correspondence with the American Jewish Relief Committee, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
75Correspondence of Stanley Bero with Felix Warburg concerning remittances and funds received for War Stamps, 1914 - 1915
6Correspondence of Stanley Bero, Albert Lucas and Harry Fischel with Felix Warburg concerning remittances, September - December 1915
7Correspondence of Stanley Bero with Felix Warburg concerning remittances, January - March 1916
8Correspondence of Albert Lucas with David Bressler and A.H. Fromenson, assistant secretary of AJRC, concerning relations between the CRC and AJRC, December 1914 - March 1915
9Correspondence of Stanley Bero and Albert Lucas with David Bressler, assistant secretary of AJRC, concerning relations between the CRC and AJRC, April - July 1915
10Correspondence of Stanley Bero with David Bressler concerning requests to locate missing relatives, August - October 1915
BoxFolderDescription
81Correspondence of Stanley Bero and Albert Lucas with David Bressler concerning contributions, remittances, and requests to locate missing relatives, November - December 1915
2Correspondence of Stanley Bero with David Bressler concerning funds received for War Stamps, and meetings, 1916
3Correspondence of Stanley Bero with David Bressler concerning funds received for War Stamps, and meetings, 1916
4Correspondence of Stanley Bero with Boris Fingerhood, manager AJRC, and Cyrus Sulzberger, chairman of 1917 Campaign, concerning contributions and meeting notices, November 1916 - June 1917
5Correspondence of Stanley Bero with Jacob Billikopf, director AJRC, concerning funds received 1917 - 1918
Correspondence with the People's Relief Committee, 1915 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
86Correspondence of Stanley Bero with A. Zucker, acting manager of PRC, concerning funds received, October 1915 - December 1917
7Correspondence of Stanley Bero with A. Zucker, acting manager of PRC, concerning funds received, January - November 1918
Form Letters and Notices of Meetings, 1908 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
88Notices of meetings of the AJC, AJRC and CRC, 1908, 1915 - 1916
9Form letter to the Jews of America requesting aid [1915] and notice of CRC meeting, October 22, 1915, 1915
(includes agenda of meeting of the JDC, September 28, 1915 and list of contributors and contributions [1915])
10Form letters, 1915 - 1916, n.d.
(includes letter from Albert Lucas concerning funds for schools in German Poland, January 6, 1916; open letters from Louis Marshall, AJRC, Leon Kamaiky, CRC, and Meyer London, PRC, to the Jews of America, n.d.; and excerpt of a letter from Louis D. Brandeis to Cyrus Adler, August 10, 1915)
11Notices of meetings of the CRC and JDC, 1916 - 1918
12CRC announcement concerning the opening of the 1917 Campaign by the CRC, December 21, 1916; notice of mass meeting in Asbury Park, New Jersey, in Yiddish, August 15, [1917], 1916 - 1917
13Form letters concerning Jewish Relief Day, Proclamation Certificates and Dime Banks, and notices of meetings of the CRC, 1916
14Notices of meetings of the CRC, 1916
15Notices of meetings of the CRC, 1917
16Form letters and telegrams concerning meetings and appeals for contributions, and lists of Passover donations, 1918
Subseries B: Correspondence with other Organizations and Individuals in the United States, 1913 - 1922
Correspondence with Government Agencies, 1914 - 1922
United States Department of State, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
91Correspondence with Henry Morgenthau, United States Ambassador to Turkey, and Captain R.H. Williams, U.S. Army Military Attache, concerning remittances to Palestine, November 1914 - November 1915
(includes correspondence from Rabbi Bernard Abramowitz of St. Louis, Missouri concerning funds he sent for transmittal to Palestine)
2Correspondence with Henry Morgenthau and Dr. Otis T. Glazebrook, United States Consul to Palestine, concerning remittances to Palestine and Aleppo, Syria December 1914 - September 1918
(includes correspondence with Abram I. Elkus, United States Ambassador to Turkey [as of February 1916]; and United States license for CRC to receive communication from Swedish legation in Constantinople, September 7, 1918)
3Correspondence with Henry Morgenthau and the Department of State concerning remittances to Palestine and Aleppo, Syria, April 1915 - June 1918
(includes correspondence dealing with massacres of settlers by Bedouins in Jerusalem, April 12, 1915; correspondence on the Jewish community of Cairo and its need for assistance, July 6, 1915; and letter from the State Department advising of transfer of funds through Diplomatic Agency to Jack Mosseri, head of the Special Committee for the Relief of Jews in Palestine, March 30, 1918)
United States Department of State Bureau of Accounts, 1915 - 1920
BoxFolderDescription
94Correspondence with Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, and the Disbursing Clerk of the Bureau of Accounts, concerning remittances of funds to institutions and individuals in Palestine, March - December 1915
(includes correspondence with Henry Morgenthau outlining plan to send remittances to Palestine through the State Department)
5Correspondence with Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, and the Disbursing Clerk of the Bureau of Accounts, concerning remittances of funds to institutions and individuals in Palestine, March 1915 - December 1916
(includes bills for expenses cabled through the State Department and receipts from the Bureau of Accounts; letter from Lansing asking for passport for Morris Engelman, Financial Secretary of CRC, to travel to Austria, June 6, 1916; and letter from State Department informing the CRC that Jews are permitted in city of Krose [Kreje?, Lithuania?] by order of German government April 10, 1916)
6Correspondence with Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, and the Disbursing Clerk of the Bureau of Accounts, concerning remittances of funds to institutions and individuals in Palestine, May 1915 - May 1918
(includes correspondence of the CRC with the Central Committee Knesseth Israel; and correspondence concerning aid to Jews in Egypt, July-August, 1915)
7Correspondence with Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, and the Disbursing Clerk of the Bureau of Accounts, concerning remittances of funds to institutions and individuals in Palestine, December 1916 - September 1920
8Correspondence with Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, and the Disbursing Clerk of the Bureau of Accounts, concerning remittances of funds to institutions and individuals in Palestine, April 1917 - October 1918
(includes correspondence with S[iegfried] Hoofien, of the Anglo-Palestine Bank, concerning transmittal of funds by cable to institutions and individuals in Palestine; checks and lists of recipients; list of "Direct Remittances, 1915-1919;" list of directors' addresses, n.d.)
9Correspondence with Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, and the Disbursing Clerk of the Bureau of Accounts, concerning remittances of funds to institutions and individuals in Palestine, February - December 1918
10Correspondence with Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, and the Disbursing Clerk of the Bureau of Accounts, concerning remittances of funds to institutions and individuals in Palestine, April 1918 - September 1922
11Correspondence with Robert Lansing, Secretary of State, and the Disbursing Clerk of the Bureau of Accounts, concerning remittances of funds to institutions and individuals in Palestine, May - December 1918
("acknowledged Department of State" and date noted on bottom of letters)
United States Post Office, 1915 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
101Correspondence concerning mailing procedures and letters never received by individuals, 1915 - 1918
Correspondence with National Organizations, 1914 - 1918
American Red Cross, 1916
BoxFolderDescription
102Correspondence between Albert Lucas and Jacob Schiff, treasurer of the American Red Cross Society, concerning the shipment of medicine to Palestine, 1916
(includes press notice and correspondence with the Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs, January 19, 1916)
HIAS, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
103Correspondence with Irving Lipschitz, general manager, and Jacob R. Fain, acting general manager, with enclosed letters from individuals, concerning funds received, November 1914 - May 1916
4Correspondence with Irving Lipschitz, general manager, and Jacob R. Fain, acting general manager, with enclosed letters from individuals, concerning funds received, June - December 1916
5Correspondence with Irving Lipschitz, with enclosed letters from individuals, concerning requests to locate missing relatives, December 1915 - January 1916
6Correspondence with Irving Lipschitz, with enclosed letters from individuals, concerning requests to locate missing relatives, January - February 1916
7Correspondence with Irving Lipschitz, with enclosed letters from individuals, concerning requests to locate missing relatives, January - December 1917
8Correspondence with John Bernstein, president, and Jacob Fain concerning funds received, 1918
Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs, 1915 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
109Correspondence with E.W. Lewin-Epstein, treasurer, concerning relief funds for Palestine, February - March 1915
10Correspondence with Benjamin Perlstein, administrative secretary, concerning relief funds for Palestine, January 1915
11Correspondence with Benjamin Perlstein, administrative secretary, concerning relief funds for Palestine, February - July 1915
(includes press notice, March 5, 1915)
12Correspondence with Benjamin Perlstein, administrative secretary, concerning relief funds for Palestine, August - December 1915
13Correspondence with Benjamin Perlstein, administrative secretary, concerning relief funds for Palestine, December 1915 - February 1916
14Notices concerning the collection of funds for Jewish Relief Day, 1916
BoxFolderDescription
111Correspondence with Benjamin Perlstein, administrative secretary, Jacob de Haas, secretary, and Charles A. Cowen, chairman, concerning relief funds for Palestine, February - December 1916
2Correspondence with Jacob de Haas and Adolph Hubbard, Director of the Emergency Fund Department, concerning relief funds for Palestine, 1917
3Correspondence of Stanley Bero with the Provisional Zionist Committee and the Zionist Organization of America concerning funds received, 1918
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, 1913, 1916
BoxFolderDescription
114Correspondence of Albert Lucas, honorary secretary, concerning the kosher kitchen at the city hospital on Blackwell Island, N.Y. and student examinations given on Saturday, 1913, 1916
(includes correspondence with Frank H. Sommer, Dean of New York University School of Law, May 1916; Report of the Sixth Convention of the Orthodox Union, June 29, 1913; list of Orthodox synagogues in District No. 5 of Manhattan; minutes of meeting of the Executive of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, April 26, 1916)
5Correspondence of Albert Lucas with the Department of Public Charities of the City of New York and other government agencies concerning the Blackwell Island hospital's kosher kitchen, 1916
Correspondence with American Companies, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
116Correspondence with and receipts from Goldman, Sachs and Company concerning remittances to Austria and Hungary, November 1914 - September 1916
(includes correspondence of Stanley Bero and Albert Lucas concerning fundraising in Chicago)
7Correspondence with Guaranty Trust Company concerning remittances of funds from CRC to the Jewish Colonial Trust Company, London, England, through Guaranty Trust, for transmission to Palestine, January 1915 - December 1918
(includes letter about remittance of $6200 to Rabbi Chaim [Ozer] Grodzinsky, November 24, 1915)
8Correspondence with and receipts from American Express Company concerning funds transmitted to Egypt, Austria, Germany, Poland, and Russia, April 1915 - April 1916
9Correspondence with and receipts from American Express Company concerning funds transmitted to Egypt, Austria, Germany, Poland, and Russia, May 1916 - July 1917
10Correspondence concerning funds transmitted to Palestine through Standard Oil Company, requested by Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, April 1915 - December 1916
11Correspondence with and receipts from Postal Telegraph Company and Western Union Telegraph Company concerning transmittal of funds to Russia, and establishing code word "CENTJEWCOM," October 30, 1915, July 1915 - December 1918
(includes correspondence with New York Telephone Company concerning payment for phone calls and telephone equipment)
Correspondence with Jewish Newspapers (concerning contributions received), 1915 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
1112The Day, April 1915 - December 1916
13The Day, May 1917 - 1918
14The Jewish Daily News, 1915 - 1916
BoxFolderDescription
121The Jewish Daily News, 1917
(personal letters and receipts)
2-3The Jewish Daily News, 1918
4The Jewish Daily Warheit, November 1914 - December 1916
5The Jewish Daily Warheit, 1917 - 1918
6The Jewish Morning Journal, October 1915 - December 1916
7The Jewish Morning Journal, December 1916 - October 1917
8The Jewish Morning Journal, October - December 1917
9The Jewish Morning Journal, 1918
10Correspondence with various newspapers (in alphabetical order), 1916
Correspondence with Prominent Rabbis and Lay Leaders in the United States, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
131Correspondence with E.W. Lewin-Epstein of the Provisional Zionist Committee concerning remittances and war relief stamps, 1914 - 1916
2-5Correspondence with Rabbi Bernard Abramowitz of St. Louis, Missouri, concerning remittances for institutions in Palestine, 1914 - 1916
6Correspondence between New York Congressman Isaac Siegel and the State Department concerning U.S. citizens in Palestine, relief shipments and funds for Palestine, Egypt and Eastern Europe, 1914 - 1916
(includes signed letter from Secretary of State Robert Lansing to Albert Lucas concerning medical supplies shipped by the CRC to Jaffa, March 2, 1916); correspondence between Harry Fischel and Herbert Lehman concerning funds, November 1916; and "Hagadah of Nineteen Hundred and Sixteen," pamphlet, printed by the CRC)
7Correspondence between Albert Lucas and Rabbi Philip Klein concerning aid to Palestine, October 1915
8Fragments of correspondence (in Hebrew), 1915
(poor condition)
9Letter from E.W. Lewin-Epstein of Carmel Wine enclosing a cable (in French) from David Idelovitch, member of the American Delegation of Alexandria, concerning medical supplies for Palestine, May 11, 1916, 1916
10-13Correspondence requesting funds for transportation of relatives from Palestine to the U.S., 1916 - 1917
14Letters from Isaac Siegel to Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum concerning the transmission of funds for relief in Palestine, September 23 and 30, 1917
(includes letter from Siegel concerning granting of U.S. Charter, July 2, 1917)
15Correspondence of Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum with Arthur Lehman of the JDC, Cyrus Adler of Dropsie College, Isaac Siegel, and HIAS concerning transportation of immigrants to the U.S., November 1917, May - October 1918
16Letters to Morris Engelman responding to his request for photographs for his book, Four Years of Relief and War Work, May - June 1918
BoxFolderDescription
141Letters to Morris Engelman responding to his request for photographs for his book, Four Years of Relief and War Work, May 1918
(includes a biographical sketch of H. Leo Weil, lawyer and philanthropist, released by the United Press Syndicate, No. 1292)
Subseries C: Correspondence with Eastern Europe, Palestine and Egypt, 1914 - 1932
Correspondence with Organizations and Individuals in Eastern Europe, 1914 - 1916
BoxFolderDescription
142Correspondence with the Israelitische Allianz zu Vien concerning aid to Galician refugees in Austria and the search for missing relatives, 1914 - 1915
3Report of the Jewish Committee for the Relief of the War Victims in Petrograd, Russia to the Minister of the Interior of the Imperial Russian Government (translated into English, ) [1915]
4Letters from refugee rabbis requesting aid, 1915 - 1916
(includes letter from Rabbi Israel Hager, rabbi of Vizhnitz, concerning relief funds [December 1915]
5-6Correspondence with Adolf Frankl, president of the Orthodox Jewish Community of Budapest, and Leopold Grossberg, publisher and editor of the Allgemeine Jüdische Zeitung concerning aid to refugees, 1915 - 1916
7Letter to Rubin Chaim Kahan in Olkenick, "Russ-Poland," responding to a request for aid, May 2, 1916
(in German)
8Postcard from a prisoner of war in Russia requesting aid, March 1, 1917
Correspondence with Institutions and Individuals in Palestine and Egypt, 1914 - 1917
BoxFolderDescription
149Correspondence with the Central Committee Knesseth Israel in Jerusalem concerning funds to be distributed through Ambassador Morgenthau, and letter to Central Committee asking that no discrimination be made against Galician or Sephardic Jews, September 8, 1915, April 1915 - December 1918
(includes letters from JDC concerning tracing of relatives in the Ukraine, 1918)
10Correspondence with charitable institutions and individuals in Palestine concerning remittances and distribution of funds, May 1915 - June 1916
(includes letters from David Yellin, chairman of AJRC in Jerusalem complaining about the work of the Central Committee Knesseth Israel, February 1916; and "Hamashbir," booklet describing AJRC's activities)
11Correspondence with various charitable institutions in Palestine seeking funds, December 1915 - August 1916
(includes receipts)
12Correspondence with various charitable institutions in Palestine seeking funds, [1917]
(very poor condition)
13Correspondence concerning medical shipments for Palestine on the SS Collier Vulcan, 1916 - 1924
(includes minutes of a special meeting of the JDC and the Executive Committee of the AJRC, 7/17, 1917; correspondence with the State Department, 1916; reports on JDC activities; and a printed pamphlet, "A Survey of the Work of Central Relief Committee 1921-1924")
14Correspondence of Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum with organizations in Palestine, 1917 - 1921, 1932
(includes letter from Congressman Isaac Siegel, January 14, 1917; cable from Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, concerning cuts in salaries for teachers and rabbis, January 2, 1921; and correspondence with the JDC, 1932)
15Correspondence with the Zionist Commission, Relief and Reconstruction Department in Jerusalem concerning transmittal of funds in Palestine, August 1918
16Correspondence with S[iegfried] Hoofien of the Anglo-Palestine Co., Ltd., and Dr. Eder of the Relief and Reconstruction Department of the Zionist Commission concerning remittances sent through the American Legation in Cairo, October - December 1918
(includes letters sent to individuals in Jerusalem concerning visit of a Miss Weinstein on behalf of a newspaper to study post-war conditions, October 1918)
17Correspondence with orphan homes in Palestine requesting funds, 1918
18Letters from refugee organizations in Alexandria, Egypt, requesting funds, 1916 - 1917
Subseries D: Correspondence with Individuals in other Foreign Countries, 1916 - 1917
BoxFolderDescription
1419Correspondence with individuals in Argentina concerning funds received for remittances to Jews in Russia, March - August, 1916
(in English, French, and Yiddish)
20Correspondence with individuals in Chile concerning remittances for relatives in Jerusalem, April - June, 1916
(in English, French, and Spanish)
21Correspondence concerning contributions received from the Jewish community of Cuba, January - March, 1916
(includes lists and receipts)
22Correspondence concerning remittances sent to relatives in Palestine from individuals in El Salvador, April - October, 1916
23Correspondence concernings remittances from individuals in Great Britain sent to relatives in Palestine, February - July, 1916
(in English and Yiddish)
24Letter to Alfred Polak, Honorary Secretary of the Netherlands Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering through the War, of Tilberg, Holland, concerning assistance to relatives of prisoners of war, March 7, 1916
25Letter to Rev. Solomon of the Congregation of United Israelites in Kingston, Jamaica, concerning availability of esrogim (citrons), May 11, 1916
26Correspondence concerning remittances from individuals in Mexico to relatives in Palestine, May - August, 1916, 1917
(in English and Spanish)
27Correspondence concerning remittances from individuals in Panama to relatives in Palestine, January - October, 1916
(includes correspondence concerning contributions to CRC)
28Correspondence concerning remittances from individuals in South Africa to relatives in Palestine, March - November, 1916
(in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish)
Photocopies of CRC Documents in American Joint Distribution Committee Archives, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
1429Photocopies of minutes (10/25/14; 7/31/16; 11/13/16; 11/21/16; 1/3/17); resolution (3/16/17); reports (1915, 1917); and letters from Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum of CRC to Albert Lucas (4/1/18 and 7/23/18), 1914 - 1918

Series IV: Remittances, 1914 - 1925. 11 boxes.

Scope/Contents: This series contains lists, receipts, and forms. Correspondence dealing with remittances can be found in the CORRESPONDENCE and FUNDRAISING series.

The remittance forms used by the CRC and the JDC were found interfiled with correspondence concerning fundraising; since the majority of the folder pertains to fundraising rather than remittances, they have been placed in the FUNDRAISING series.

There is one folder of JDC remittance forms for funds sent to institutions and individuals in Safed and Tiberias in June 1918 (15/1) - there are no similar folders located in the collection.

Records of those in Palestine and Eastern Europe who received funds and those who sent them were kept by the CRC in lists of remittances. The files of Yeshiva University Archives contain lists of remittances to Palestine dated as early as November 1914; there is only a binder of remittances to Europe for the year 1916, and two folders of receipts.

For the purposes of this inventory, the last list dealt with is no. 59, December 31, 1918. Many of the lists have dates and other items noted on them, such as "thro JDC;" folder 19/8 contains a financial statement of Palestine remittances sent through the State Department, Standard Oil, JDC, and the Jewish Colonial Trust in London.

Several lists have been preserved in more than one copy, some with notations, some untouched. All have been arranged in chronological order. With the exception of the earliest, # 1 - 15, all have cover sheets with the list number and total amounts given to cities noted, i.e. Jerusalem, Jaffa, and/or Safed.

Receipts for all remittances received by institutions and individuals in Palestine were filed in numerical order. Beginning January 1916, receipts are stamped "Central Committee Jewish Payment," and the numbers on top of each receipt correspond to the number on the remittance list. It is possible in almost all cases to match the receipts with the remittance list it refers to, and list numbers have been noted for each folder. It is obvious that a very careful system of checks and balances was kept.

The receipts cover payments on deposits made by the CRC, and are usually dated a few months after the remittance lists, signifying that funds were given to the institution or individual in Palestine. Since the CRC was not allowed to send money directly to those in the war-torn countries, there were several intermediaries before money reached its destination. There are receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria, the American Consulate in Jerusalem (for funds transferred through the American Consulate in Constantinople), and later, from the Spanish Consulate in Jerusalem and the Royal Legation of Sweden in Constantinople.

All those who received funds signed their names in acknowledgement. In a few instances when the person could not sign his name, an "X" was recorded and a fingerprint taken.

Subseries A: Palestine Remittance Forms, 1918
BoxFolderDescription
151JDC remittance forms sent from CRC for funds to institutions and individuals in Safed and Tiberias in Palestine, June 1918
Subseries B: Lists of Palestine Remittance - in Binders, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
152"Palastine (sic) Remittances 1915" List # 1-22, 1914 - 1915
(has handwritten notations on sheets; poor condition)
3[Palestine Remittances 1915] List # 1-22, 1914 - 1915
BoxFolderDescription
161"Palastine (sic)Remittances 1916" List # 23-41, 1916
2[Palestine Remittances 1916] List # 23-39, 1916
BoxFolderDescription
171[Palestine Remittances 1917-1918] List # 42-59, 1917 - 1918
2"Palastine (sic) Remittances 1918" List # 47, 1918
Subseries C: Individual Lists of Palestine Remittances, 1914 - 1925
Scope/Contents: Includes recapitulation sheets of funds for individuals and institutions in Palestine, forwarded through the United States Department of State, Standard Oil Co., the JDC, and other agencies.
BoxFolderDescription
181List of individual recipients of funds in Palestine and their donors, undated
2[List # 1-11], November 24, 1914 - March 24, 1915
3[List # 1], November 24, 1914
4[List # 2], December 15, 1914
5[List # 3], December 22, 1914
6[List # 5], February 1, 1915
7[List # 6], February 3, 1915
8[List # 7], February 19, 1915
9[List # 8], February 25, 1915
10[List # 9], March 4, 1915
11Recapitulation sheet for Bikur Cholim Hospital and Yeshiva Etz Chaim in Jerusalem, November 24, [1914] - March 11, 1915
12[List # 12], April 14, 1915
13[List # 15], June 17, 1915
14[List # 17], August 19, 1915
15[List # 18], September 8, 1915
16List of institutions in Palestine which received funds, September 13, 1915
(includes lists of remittances made by the CRC to the Central Committee Knesseth Israel for distribution in Jerusalem, undated)
17[List # 19], October 8, 1915
18[List # 21], November 30, 1915
19[List # 22], December 22, 1915
20[List # 23], January 17, 1916
(includes list of receipts covering payments made from deposit by CRC on January 19, 1916)
21[List # 25], March 10, 1916
22[List # 27], April 10, 1916
(Balance sheet of "Rabbi's Fund")
23[List # 29], May 19, 1916
24[List # 35], September 4, 1916
Recapitulation sheet for Bikur Cholim Hospital
25[List # 39], December 7, 1916
26Lists # 42-45 January 28, 1917-March 29, 1917
(includes correspondence from United States Department of State concerning these lists, 1924-1925)
27List # 46, April 26, 1917
(One copy marked "void;" includes list of institutions and individuals who received funds from the Ezra Torah Fund, April 26, 1917)
28List # 47, November 13, 1917
29List # 48, March 13, 1918
30List # 49B, March 21, 1918
(marked "thro JDC Committee")
BoxFolderDescription
191List # 49, [April 25, 1918]
19List # 50, [April 25, 1918]
2List # 51, May 16, 1918
3List # 52, June 12, 1918
(One copy marked "thro JDC")
3List # 53, June 14, 1918
3List # 54, July 11, 1918
(very poor condition)
4List # 55, August 1, 1918
4List # 56, September 13, 1918
5List # 57, November 1, 1918
6List # 58, November 28, 1918
(includes correspondence with the JDC concerning remittances of 1918, September 20, 1920; and receipts of money sent, 1919)
7List # 59, December 31, 1918
(marked "London;" includes receipts of money sent, 1919)
8Supplements of lists # 42, 43, 44, and 45, 1914 - 1919
(includes financial statement of Palestine remittances through the United States State Department, noting sources and amounts of lists 16-64)
Subseries D: Receipts of Palestine Remittances, 1915 - 1922
BoxFolderDescription
201Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria, and the American Consulate in Jerusalem, for funds transmitted through the American Consulate in Constantinople, signed by the Central Committee of New York and by recipient in Palestine, July 1915 - November 1915
("Central Committee" appears on some receipts)
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 15
2Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria, and the American Consulate in Jerusalem, for funds transmitted through the American Consulate in Constantinople, signed by the Central Committee of New York and by recipient in Palestine, July 1915 - September 1915
("Central Committee" appears on some receipts)
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 15A
3Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria, and the American Consulate in Jerusalem, for funds transmitted through the American Consulate in Constantinople, signed by the Central Committee of New York and by recipient in Palestine, August 1915 - November 1915
(includes memo from American Embassy in Constantinople concerning January 7, 1916 payments and cash register receipts)
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 15 and # 16
4Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria, and the American Consulate in Jerusalem, for funds transmitted through the American Consulate in Constantinople, signed by the Central Committee of New York and by recipient in Palestine. Stamped "State Department Telegram, no. 893", October 1915 - January 1916
(includes receipt from American Consulate in Alexandria, Egypt, November 1915)
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 16
5Receipt from the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 553", August 1916
Receipt corresponds to CRC list # 16
6Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria and the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped (beginning February 1916) "State Department Telegram, no. 976", November 1915 - May 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 17
7Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria and the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped (beginning April 1916) "State Department Telegram, no. 1086", November 1915 - September 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 18
8Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria and the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped "State Department Telegram, no. 1207", December 1915 - September 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 19
9Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria and the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped "State Department Telegram, no. 1418", February 1916 -April 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 20
10Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria and the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped "State Department Telegram, no. 1536", January 1916 - September 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 21
11Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria and the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped "State Department Telegram, no. 1641", March 1916 - October 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 22
BoxFolderDescription
211Receipts from the American Consulate General in Syria and the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 479", March 1916 - October 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 23
2Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 555", May 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 24 (1)
3Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 555", May 1916 - July 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 24 (2)
4Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 555", May 1916 - August 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 24 (3)
5Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. Mar. 15/16", May 1916 - December 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 25
6Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 607", June 1916 - January 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 26
7Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 643", June 1916 - October 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 27
8Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 690", August 1916 - October 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 28
9Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 732", July 1916 - October 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 29
BoxFolderDescription
221Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 782", August 1916 - October 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 30
2Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 826", June 1916 - December 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 31
3Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. "874", September 1916 - February 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 32
4Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 924", October 1916 - December 1916
Receipts correspond to CRC list 33
5Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 974", October 1916 - February 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 34
6Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 1032", November 1916 - February 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 35
7Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 1076", November 1916 - January 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 36
8Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 49", January 1917 - March 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 37
9Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 128", February 1917 - March 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 38
10Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 68", January 1917 - March 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 38A
BoxFolderDescription
231Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 164" March 1917 - April 1917
(includes correspondence of American Embassy in Constantinople and the Ionian Bank, Ltd., concerning receipts of individual in Palestine, November 1922)
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 39
2Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 221" March 1917 - April 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 40
3Receipts from the American Consulate in Jerusalem and the American Consulate General in Syria stamped "State Department Despatch, no. 206" March 1917 - April 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 41
4Receipts from the Royal Swedish Legation in Constantinople, stamped "State Department Instruction no. 311 and 347," August 1917; and the Spanish Consulate in Jerusalem, stamped "State Department Instruction no. 347", September - October 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 42
5Receipts from the Royal Swedish Legation in Constantinople and the Spanish Consulate in Jerusalem, stamped "State Department Instruction no. 347", June 1917 - November 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 43
6Receipts from the Royal Swedish Legation in Constantinople and the Spanish Consulate in Jerusalem, stamped "State Department Instruction no. 382", June 1917 - December 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 44
7Receipt from the Royal Swedish Legation in Constantinople, stamped "State Department Instruction no. 410", August 1917 - September 1917
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 45
8Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department and JDC, noted "JDC", May 1918 - June 1918
(most receipts are marked "duplicate")
Receipts correspond to CRC lists # 46 and 47 (1)
9Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department and JDC, noted "JDC", May 1918 - June 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC lists # 46 and 47 (2)
10Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department and JDC, noted "JDC", May 29 - 30, 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC lists # 46 and 47 (3)
11Receipts from Hevrat Anglia-Palestine, transferred through the Joint Distribution Committee, for the account of the Central Relief Committee, May 1918 - July 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC lists # 47 (4)
BoxFolderDescription
241Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department, stamped "A," and numbered "1, 10, 29, 72, 104, 119, 155, and 170" on receipts, June 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 48
2Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department, [July 1918]
(very poor condition)
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 49
3Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department, [April 25, 1918]
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 50
4Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department, May 16, 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 51
5Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the Joint Distribution Committee (very poor condition), [June 1918]
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 52
6Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department (very poor condition), June 1918 - August 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC lists # 53 and 55
7Receipts from the Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department (very poor condition), April 11, 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 54
7Receipts from the Anglo-Egyptian Bank, transmitted by the American Diplomatic Agency in Cairo, stamped "Department's instruction no. 75," noted "B", July 17, 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 54
7Receipts from Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department, as per Department's instruction no. 83, noted "C", August 15, 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 55
8Receipts from Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department, September 13, 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 56
BoxFolderDescription
251Receipts from the Anglo-Egyptian Bank, Ltd. in Jerusalem, transmitted through the American Agency in Cairo, December 1918
(includes copy of remittance list for each institution, September 13, 1918)
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 56
2Receipts from Central Committee for funds forwarded through the State Department, [November 1, 1918]
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 57
3Receipts from Central Committee for funds forwarded through the Jewish Colonial Trust Company, London, England, May 1918 - January 1919
(very poor condition)
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 58
4Receipts from Central Committee for funds forwarded through the Jewish Colonial Trust Company, London, England, December 31, 1918
Receipts correspond to CRC list # 59
5Receipts of various remittances, 1915 - 1919
(very poor condition)
Subseries E: Eastern European Remittances, 1916
BoxFolderDescription
256"Russian Remittances", 1916
List of remittances sent to Russia, Austria, Germany, and Poland, in binder
(very poor condition; list corresponds to receipts)
7Receipts for funds sent to Russia, 1916
(includes remitter's name and address)
8Receipts for funds sent to Russia, Poland, and Germany, 1916
(includes correspondence with Markel Bros. Bank; and correspondence with JDC and AJRC concerning remittances)

Series V: Fundraising, 1914 - 1918. 80 boxes.

Arrangement: This series is arranged in the following subseries:
Scope/Contents: This series contains correspondence concerning special fundraising campaigns; correspondence with branches of the CRC and AJRC, local organizations, congregations, and individuals; and files arranged in alphabetical order by states and cities, for both specific campaigns and the CRC's General Fund.

Subseries B, Correspondence with Branches of CRC and AJRC are arranged alphabetically since the dates of the records overlap.

Subseries D, Correspondence with Congregations, 1914-1915, contains correspondence with congregations throughout the United States, including New York City. The existence of separate files for congregations in New York City in 1916 reflects the growing significance of the city to the fundraising efforts of the CRC. Correspondence with congregations can also be found within the GENERAL FUND files (Subseries H).

Approximately eighty per cent of the files in correspondence with individuals contain remittance forms and/or letters pertaining to remittances. Only ten to twenty per cent of those folders, however, pertain to remittance forms or letters; the majority of the contents of the folders deal with contributions and receipts. These files were therefore placed in the FUNDRAISING series.

Subseries E, Correspondence with Individuals was found dispersed throughout the collection, with each segment arranged in alphabetical order. Groups of correspondence were later combined to form one subseries. Included in this subseries are materials found in two record center boxes in very poor condition. Access to these materials is therefore restricted.

The files arranged by city and state were kept in their original order. It should be noted that Canada is treated as a state within the alphabetical arrangement (e.g., following California).

Ten boxes of correspondence deal exclusively with contributions for Certificates and Dime Banks and form their own sub-subseries.

The correspondence in the GENERAL FUND section of FUNDRAISING deals mostly with contributions for the GENERAL FUND. These files, however, include correspondence dealing with contributions to the other campaigns i.e., Palestine Fund, (for individuals and/or institutions), Certificates, and Dime Banks.

Among the noteworthy items in these folders is a letter from a Jew, enclosing a contribution to the CRC and exhorting Jews to believe in Jesus, (December 6, 1915) (38/1-5). In the same folder is a letter from Theodore Roosevelt declining an invitation to a CRC gathering (December 1915), now Rare Book Room Ms. No. 1147.

The 1917 GENERAL FUND files do not contain any correspondence with New York City.

Subseries A: Correspondence -Specific Fundraising Campaigns, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
261Correspondence concerning various fundraising campaigns, 1914-1918
(includes correspondence with Rabbi Aaron Ashinsky of Pittsburgh concerning relief funds, October-December 1914; correspondence of Albert Lucas with Stanley Bero concerning the cross-country fundraising tour, March-May 1916; form letters; and printed postcards for ordering Dime Banks and certificates, undated)
2Correspondence with Cyrus Sulzberger of the AJRC, Felix Warburg of the JDC, Boris Fingerhood of the PRC, and local relief committees concerning fundraising conflicts, 1915-1918
3Correspondence concerning self-taxation stamps, 1914-1917
4Correspondence concerning self-taxation stamps and Jewish Relief Day, 1914-1917
(includes JDC Bulletin, June 1917)
5Correspondence and lists concerning the Presidential Proclamation and Jewish Relief Day, December 1915 - February 1916
(includes telegrams to Albert Lucas from state governors in response to request to proclaim Jewish Relief Day)
6Reports and correspondence of Albert Lucas and Rabbi Harris (Hirsch) Masliansky concerning their cross-country fundraising tour, 1916
7Correspondence and receipts from branches and individuals in New York City for contributions to the 1917 Campaign, December 1916 - June 1917
8Correspondence with individuals in New York City concerning contributions made following the mass meeting at Carnegie Hall on December 21, 1916, beginning the $10 million campaign, 1917
9Correspondence concerning the 1917 Yom Kippur Campaign in New York City, July - August 1917
10Correspondence with the 1917 Campaign for Jewish War Sufferers; newsclippings from the North Adams Evening Transcript concerning a speech delivered by Stanley Bero on Jewish war relief, December 27, 1917, 1917
11Correspondence with the Jewish War Relief Committee New York Campaign, December 1917 - August 1918
12Correspondence and lists concerning tickets for the Josef (Yossele) Rosenblatt concert at the Hippodrome, New York City, 1917
(includes correspondence with the Philadelphia Central Relief Committee)
13Correspondence concerning the Josef Rosenblatt concert tour, March 1917 - March 1918
(includes correspondence with M.H. Hanson, Concert Director, and local relief committees)
14Draft of letter from Mrs. Rose Elkeles, Chairman of the Women's Proclamation Committee, to a Dr. Brill, n.d.; JDC advance press notice concerning the conditions in the Eastern War Zone, June 21, 1916, n.d., 1916
15"Chanukah Appeal," circular, four pages, printed, undated
Subseries B: Correspondence with Branches of the CRC and the AJRC in the United States and Canada, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
2616List of local committees, 1914
BoxFolderDescription
271Alabama - Wisconsin, 1915
2California-Colorado, January - October 1916
3Canada, London, 1915-1916
(includes correspondence with M. Fishbein, treasurer of the London War Relief Committee)
4Connecticut, Hartford - Willimantic, 1915
5Florida, Jacksonville, 1915
6Massachusetts, Boston - Lowell, 1915
(includes correspondence with the New England Branch of the AJRC in Boston)
7Massachusetts, Malden - Worcester, September-December, 1915
8Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 1916-1917
(reports and correspondence; includes report on the Springfield, Mass. branch of the AJRC, 1917; reports of the Elizabeth [New Jersey] Relief Committee, 1916; report of the Philadelphia branch of the CRC, 1917; and correspondence with the Allentown [Pennsylvania] Jewish Relief Committee, 1917)
9Michigan, Grand Rapids - Montana, Butte, 1914-1915
10Minnesota - Nebraska, 1916 - 1917
11Minnesota, St. Paul, 1917
(recapitulation of funds received)
12Nebraska, Lincoln, 1918
(letter from the JDC, July 9, 1918)
13New Jersey, Elizabeth - Plainfield, 1915
14New York, Albany - Elmira, November 1914 - December 1915
15New York, Glen Falls - Yonkers, November-December 1915
BoxFolderDescription
281Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1915
(correspondence with Wolf Klebansky, treasurer of the Philadelphia Central Relief Committee)
Subseries C: Correspondence with Local Organizations in the United States and Canada, 1914 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
282Correspondence with local organizations concerning contributions for stamps and the General Fund, 1914-1918
(includes minutes of the Propaganda and Organization Committee, 10/14/14)
3Bnai Brith lodges, (New Haven, Connecticut - Milwaukee, Wisconsin) 1915
4Brooklyn Jewish Volunteer Relief Committee, 1915-1917
(includes minutes of a conference between the CRC and the Brooklyn Jewish Volunteer Relief Committee, 1/13/16 and lists of organizations affiliated with the committee)
5Canadian Jewish Alliance, Hamilton, Ontario 1915-1916
6Charities, Alabama - Wisconsin, October-December 1915
7I.O. (Independent Order) Free Sons of Judah, New York 1914
8Ladies Aid Societies, October-December, 1915
Subseries D: Correspondence with Congregations, 1914 - 1915
Arrangement:: Arranged into separate sections for congregations outside New York City and within New York City. Arranged by date/congregation name within each section.
Congregations outside New York City, 1914-1915
BoxFolderDescription
289Adas Israel - Zemach Zedek, November 1914 - August 1915
BoxFolderDescription
291Achim Bnai Israel - Beth Abraham, September-October 1915
2Bnai Abraham - Brotherhood of Israel, October 1915
3Chebra Kadishe - Zedek Nusach Haorie, October 1915
4Agudas Achim - Huntington Hebrew Congregation, November 1915
5Congregation in Hunter, New York, October 1915
6Kaal Kadosh Yangacob - United Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, November 1915
(includes correspondence with Rev. Dr. H. Pereira Mendes concerning fundraising attempts)
7Aaron Yehiel Anshe Eizbitz - Tipheret Israel, December 1915
Congregations in New York City, 1916
BoxFolderDescription
298A[c]hawath Achim - Beth Israel
9Beth Israel - Kehilath Jeshurun
10Kol Israel - Zerach Jacob
Subseries E: Correspondence with Individuals, 1914 - 1917
October 1914 - June 1915
BoxFolderDescription
301-15Aaron - Epstein
BoxFolderDescription
311-13Falk - Kwass
BoxFolderDescription
321-15Labe - Rittenberg
(32/4 includes correspondence with the Manischewitz Co. concerning donation of Matzos, December 1914)
BoxFolderDescription
331-13Robbins - Twersky
BoxFolderDescription
341-7Udelowitz - Zurivan
June - December 1915
BoxFolderDescription
348-19Aa - Cutler
BoxFolderDescription
351-14Dachs - Kaplan
BoxFolderDescription
361-8Keidan - Lipman
BoxFolderDescription
371-11Lippa - Philips
(37/5 includes correspondence with Rev. Dr. Pereira Mendes concerning institutions in Jerusalem)
BoxFolderDescription
381-10Pianin - Schlossberg
(38/1 includes correspondence with the Committee for the Relief of German and Austro-Hungarian Prisoners of War concerning remittances for prisoners of war, December 1915; 38/5 includes note from S. Robitschuk of Lowell, Massachusetts, contributing $1 in the name of Jesus, and exhorting Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah, December 6, 1915; also, correspondence with Theodore Roosevelt concerning Carnegie Hall meeting, December 1915)
BoxFolderDescription
391-8Schnabel - Swertsky
BoxFolderDescription
401-9Tabachinik - Zlotolow
10Correspondence concerning checks returned by banks to the CRC April 1915 - March 1917
Subseries F: Certificates, 1915 - 1917
BoxFolderDescription
411-11ANONYMOUS - ILLINOIS, Wankegan, 1915-1916
BoxFolderDescription
421-12INDIANA, Evansville - MISSOURI, St. Louis, 1915-1916
BoxFolderDescription
431-8MONTANA, Butte - NEW YORK, New Brighton, 1915-1917
BoxFolderDescription
441-11NEW YORK, New York - PENNSYLVANIA, Lansford, 1915-1916
BoxFolderDescription
451-13PENNSYLVANIA, Lebanon - WISCONSIN, Milwaukee, 1915-1916
Subseries G: Dime Banks, 1915 - 1918
BoxFolderDescription
461-11ARIZONA, Seligman - INDIANA, Vincennes, 1916-1918
BoxFolderDescription
471-12IOWA, Centerville - NEW JERSEY, Highland Park, 1916-1918
BoxFolderDescription
481-6NEW JERSEY, Newark - NEW YORK, New Rochelle, 1915-1918
BoxFolderDescription
491-12NEW YORK, New York, 1915-1918
BoxFolderDescription
501-47NEW YORK, Nyack - WISCONSIN, Witton, 1916-1918
Subseries H: General Fund, 1916 - 1918
1916
BoxFolderDescription
511-8ALABAMA, Alexander City - CANADA, Berlin, Ontario
BoxFolderDescription
521-11CANADA, Blain Lake, Sask. - Ridgetown, Ontario
BoxFolderDescription
531-9CANADA, Vancouver - CONNECTICUT, New Haven (Aaronson - Mendelsohn)
BoxFolderDescription
541-9CONNECTICUT, New Haven (Miller - Widman) - DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington, (correspondence with attorney Louis S. Gottlieb)
BoxFolderDescription
551-8FLORIDA, Jacksonville - GEORGIA, Warrenton
BoxFolderDescription
561-6MICHIGAN, Ahmeek - Wakefield
BoxFolderDescription
571-10MINNESOTA, Albert Lea - MISSISSIPI, Drew
BoxFolderDescription
581-10MISSISSIPI, Fitler - NEVADA, Reno
BoxFolderDescription
591-9NEW HAMPSHIRE, Berlin - NEW JERSEY, Jersey City
BoxFolderDescription
601-32NEW JERSEY, Keyport - Wetfield
(60/12 includes correspondence with Rabbi Israel Rosenberg concerning meeting notices)
BoxFolderDescription
611-13NEW YORK, New York (Abraham - Cutler)
BoxFolderDescription
621-12NEW YORK, New York (Dabdoub - Gutradt)
BoxFolderDescription
631-14NEW YORK, New York (Hager - Lurio)
BoxFolderDescription
641-16NEW YORK, New York (Macfarland - Rothenberg)
(64/3 and 64/4) includes correspondence concerning wrapper tubes for Proclamation engravings, January 1915; correspondence about publication of photograph for propaganda work, May 1916; and letters from Rev. Dr. Pereira Mendes concerning situation of Jewish communities of Corsica and Spain, January - March, 1916)
(64/6 includes correspondence with Rev. Dr. Henry S. Morais concerning fundraising, January 1916; and letter to Henry Morgenthau concerning reception honoring Morgenthau, February 24, 1916)
(64/12) includes correspondence from Rev. Dr. David de Sola Pool concerning contributions from the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, January - December, 1916)
BoxFolderDescription
651-11NEW YORK, New York (Rothman - Szender)
BoxFolderDescription
661-10NEW YORK, New York (Tamler - Zwigel)
(66/4) includes correspondence with the War Refugee Bureau and the War Relief Clearing House for France and her Allies concerning war situation and refugees, February 1916)
BoxFolderDescription
66a1-26NORTH CAROLINA, Asheville - NORTH DAKOTA, Devil's Island
BoxFolderDescription
66b1-27NORTH DAKOTA, Dogden - OHIO, Cincinnati
BoxFolderDescription
66c1-23OHIO, Circleville - Plymouth
BoxFolderDescription
66d1-28OHIO, Price Hill - OREGON, Salem
BoxFolderDescription
66e1-36PENNSYLVANIA, Allentown - Doylestown
BoxFolderDescription
66f1-32PENNSYLVANIA, Drifton - Jessup
BoxFolderDescription
66g1-27PENNSYLVANIA - Johnstown - Mt. Carmel
BoxFolderDescription
66h1-19PENNSYLVANIA, Mt. Pleasant - Portage
BoxFolderDescription
671-10PENNSYLVANIA, Pottstown - SOUTH CAROLINA, Batesbury
BoxFolderDescription
681-8SOUTH CAROLINA, Beaufort - TEXAS, Wharton
BoxFolderDescription
691-10UTAH, Ogden - WEST VIRGINIA, Kimball
BoxFolderDescription
701-8WEST VIRGINIA, Martinsburg - WYOMING, Chayenne
9Treasurer's receipts for the General Fund and Palestine Fund, February 1916
10Treasurer's receipts for the General Fund and Palestine Fund, April-December 1916
1917
BoxFolderDescription
711-9ALABAMA, Birmingham - CANADA, Kentville
BoxFolderDescription
721-5CANADA, Montreal - CONNECTICUT, New Britain
BoxFolderDescription
731-8COLORADO, Colorado City - CONNECTICUT, Greystone
BoxFolderDescription
741-11CONNECTICUT, New London - Norwalk
BoxFolderDescription
751-14GEORGIA, Albany - Michigan, Negauee
(note: gap in states between IDAHO and MICHIGAN
BoxFolderDescription
761-10MICHIGAN, Norway - MISSOURI, Webb City
BoxFolderDescription
771-11MONTANA, Butte - NEW JERSEY, Jersey City
BoxFolderDescription
781-8NEW JERSEY, Kingsland - NEW YORK, Binghampton
BoxFolderDescription
791-7NEW YORK, Brooklyn (Aaronson - Kewitz)
(79/2 includes correspondence with Jacob Billikopf, Executive Director of the AJRC in New York, 1917)
(poor condition)
BoxFolderDescription
801-8NEW YORK, Brooklyn (Klar - Zaslowsky)
BoxFolderDescription
811-7NEW YORK, Buffalo - Lindenhurst
BoxFolderDescription
821-8NEW YORK, Little Falls - Sidney
BoxFolderDescription
831-6NEW YORK, Syracuse - NORTH DAKOTA, Edmore
BoxFolderDescription
841-6NORTH DAKOTA, Elgin - OHIO, Hamilton
BoxFolderDescription
851-7OHIO, Lorraine - PENNSYLVANIA, Bradford
1918
BoxFolderDescription
861-10NEW JERSEY, Arlington - Spatswood
BoxFolderDescription
871-9NEW JERSEY, Sterling - NEW YORK, Gowanda
BoxFolderDescription
881-7NEW YORK, Granville - New York (Congregation Yanovis Anshei Sam Tov)
BoxFolderDescription
891-8NEW YORK, New York (Aaronson - Cleaver)
BoxFolderDescription
901-9NEW YORK, New York (Corn - Godwin)
BoxFolderDescription
911-8NEW YORK, New York (Goldberg - Kessner)
BoxFolderDescription
921-9NEW YORK, New York (Kinsman - Putterman)
BoxFolderDescription
931-8NEW YORK, Port Chester - NORTH CAROLINA, Durham
BoxFolderDescription
941-7NORTH CAROLINA, Fayetteville - OHIO, Cincinnati
BoxFolderDescription
951-8OHIO, Circleville - PENNSYLVANIA, Berwick
BoxFolderDescription
961-8PENNSYLVANIA, Bolivar - Kittanning
BoxFolderDescription
971-8PENNSYLVANIA, Lancaster - Pittsburg (Liethan - Windt)

Series VI: Printed Materials, 1914 - 1939. 1 manuscript box and 1 flat storage box.

Scope/Contents: The books and pamphlets in this series provide an excellent source of background information for the collection. No bulletins of the CRC were found, however, and only two JDC pamphlets are included.

Newspaper clippings and reproductions of certificates have been placed together with photographs in box 100, a flat storage box, because of their size.

Subseries A: Books & Pamphlets, 1914 - 1939
CRC, 1918 - 1929
BoxFolderDescription
981Engelman, Morris. Four Years of Jewish War Relief Work. New York: Morris Engelman, 1918. 67 pages.
2Engelman, Morris. A Chronological Summary of the Principal Events Comprising Fifteen Years of War Relief Work. New York: Morris Engelman, 1929. 43 pages.
3Report of the Central Committee for the Relief of the Jews Suffering Through the War, October 8, 1914-December 15, 1922
(very poor condition)
JDC, 1935 - 1939
BoxFolderDescription
984Twenty-One Years of J.D.C. Activity Overseas: Charts Showing Where, When, and How Reconstructive Work and Emergency Aid Have Been Administered, 1914-1935. New York: Joint Distribution Committee, 1935. [8 pages].
5Hyman, Joseph C. Twenty-Five Years of American Aid to Jews Overseas: A Record of the Joint Distribution Committee. New York: American Jewish Committee, 1939. 39 pages.
Zionist Organization, 1918
BoxFolderDescription
986Great Britain, Palestine, and the Jews: Yiddish Celebration in Honor of the National Charter. The Zionist Organization: London Bureau, 1918. 63 pages.
(in Yiddish)
Subseries B: Bulletins, 1916 - 1918
JDC, 1916 - 1917
BoxFolderDescription
987The Bulletin of the JDC,Volumes 2 & 10, October, 1916; June, 1917
(includes fragments of letter from the Federation of Galician and Bucovinian Jews in America, December 27, 1918)
AJRC, 1915 - 1916
BoxFolderDescription
988Monthly Bulletin, Volume 1, numbers 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12; Volume 2, numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, April, 1915 - July, 1916
Subseries C: Reproductions of Certificates, 1916
BoxDescription
100Presidential Proclamation Certificates in denominations of $1, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 15" 1/2 × 14", January 27, 1916
(poor condition)
Subseries D: Newspaper Clippings, 1918
BoxDescription
100Scrapbook of clippings from the Yiddish press concerning relief stamps, 1918

Series VII: Photographs, 1914 - 1919. 1 flat storage box.

Scope/Contents: Photographs are divided into Individual Portraits, Group Portraits, and Other Photographs. Most are in fairly good condition; two are in poor condition.

Only four of the photographs could not be identified. Two of the group photos, one of a CRC executive meeting, June 25, 1918, and a second of refugees from Jerusalem, were identified through Morris Engelman's book, A Chronological Summary. The names of the individuals in these photos were not listed in the inventory. The researcher should consult Engelman's book, cited in the inventory (98/2), for further identification.

The original photographs are housed in Box 100. Box 99 contains photographic copies of them, as well as some other artifacts from the collection such as Dime Certificates.

Subseries A: Individual Portraits
BoxDescription
100Unidentified, 5 1/2" × 3 1/2", undated
100Unidentified, 9" × 6", undated
(poor condition)
100Unidentified, 10" × 7 1/4", undated
(poor condition)
100Abraham I. Elkus, 6 1/2" × 4 1/2 ", undated
100Morris Engelman, 5" × 4", undated
100J. Joseph, Buffalo, N.Y., 6" × 4", undated
100Rabbi Louis J. Kopald of Temple Beth Zion, 6 1/2" × 4 1/2", undated
100Abraham Elijah [Lieberman], 5 1/2" × 4", 1914
100Isadore Perlberg, Philadelphia, Pa., 5 1/2" × 3 1/2", undated
100Col. Harris Weinsh[?], San [Trennto], 7 1/4" × 4 1/4", undated
Subseries B: Group Portraits
BoxDescription
100Unidentified meeting [Women's Proclamation Committee?], 11" × 16" (?), undated
(poor condition)
100CRC meeting of the Board of Directors, 11" × 14 1/2", [June 25, 1918]
(see M. Engelman, Twenty-Five Years, p. 12, for identification of individuals)
100Representatives of the CRC at the White House, 10" × 13", February 17, 1916
(see Engelman, Four Years, p. 20 for further identification)
100"Jerusalem - Berne - New York", refugees from Jerusalem upon their arrival in New York, 13 1/2" × 16 1/2", August 1917
(see Engelman, Four Years, p. 32 for more complete identification)
100"Mr. Jacob H. Schiff Dinner Tender to the Executive and Administrative Committees of the Jewish War Relief and Welfare Fund, Hotel Astor, N.Y.", printed, 5" × 9 1/2", December 2, 1917
100Meeting of the Joint Distribution Committee of the American Funds for Jewish War Sufferers, 11" × 14", July 10, 1918
100Three group portraits in Tel Aviv, 4 3/4" × 6 1/4", [1919]
(includes Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum?)
Avraham Soskin, photographer
(5 individual items - two duplicates)
Subseries C: Other Photographs
BoxDescription
100Warehouse of the Chicago Joint Relief Committees, 8" × 10", undated
100Export License from the War Trade Board Bureau of Exports for the Chicago Joint Relief Committee, 9 3/8" × 6 1/8", 1918

Series VIII: Addendum undated, 1915-1918. 1 box and 1 record carton

Scope/Contents: This series contains materials that were identified during processing of the later units of the collection.
BoxFolderDescription
2681Dime Bank, 191-?
2Cable from Central Committee to Rabbi I. Rosenberg, September, 1915
3Correspondence of Albert Lucas, 1916
4CRC press release, 1916
5Di Tsiyon Komonvelt (Ahuzat Tsiyon), M. Schenkin, Chicago: Palestine Byuro, 1917
6Central Committee Knesseth Israel of Jerusalem, undated, 1918
7Correspondence of CRC officers, 1918
8Receipts to individuals and institutions in Palestine, 1918
9Report of Jüdische Hilfskomittee für Polen (27 pages), 1916
10Summaries of JDC reports, undated
11Announcement of "Hero Land Pageant" sponsored by JDC, 1917
CartonDescription
283Financial correspondence and receipts, 1915
(extremely poor condition)