An Inventory to the Peter Wiernik and Bertha Wiernik Collection, 1886-1950 Records of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1916-1946

An Inventory to the Peter Wiernik and Bertha Wiernik Collection, 1886-1950
Records of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1916-1946

Peter Wiernik


© Copyright 1990.  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: Wiernik, Peter, 1865-1936
Title:Peter Wiernik and Bertha Wiernik Collection
Inclusive Dates:1886-1950
Bulk Dates:1920-1935
Size:13.5 linear feet
Number of Boxes:15 manuscript boxes, 1 card box, 1 oversized box, 1 map box and 1 shoebox
Abstract:Peter Wiernik was a prominent Yiddish journalist active in many Jewish organizations. The collection contains his records of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, with which he was involved, as well as records of other organizations he participated in. It also contains his personal papers, including correspondence from the 1920s and 1930s in the areas of Jewish belles-lettres, philanthropy and Yiddish journalism. His notes, drafts of articles, and newspaper clippings reflect his interest in Jewish political issues, history, bibliography and literature. The papers of his sister, Bertha Wiernik, contain correspondence and several plays she wrote in the 1930s and 1940s.
Language: The records are in English, Yiddish, Hebrew, German, French, and Russian.
Call No:1966.098

About This Guide

A draft for this inventory was prepared by Dr. Roger S. Kohn in 1988, while he occupied the position of Archivist at Yeshiva University. Shulamith Z. Berger edited the draft and prepared it for publication.

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

File converted from EAD 1.0 to EAD 2002 and updated to current markup standards, January, 2008.

Encoding is in English.

Biographical Notes on Peter Wiernik and Bertha Wiernik

Peter Wiernik (1865-1936)

Peter (Peretz) Wiernik was born in Vilna on March 6, 1865, to Hirsch Wolf and Sarah Rachel (Milchiger) Wiernik. His father was a maggid (“itinerant preacher”) and his mother was a merchant. As a child, Wiernik attended a heder where he received a basic traditional Jewish education. He studied Talmud privately with tutors until the age of thirteen.

After his bar-mitzvah, Wiernik became an apprentice to a wood carver, and continued his Talmudic studies in the evenings. He began teaching himself secular studies and he remained an autodidact in this area the rest of his life.

Wiernik later moved to Riga, where he spent the next four years apprenticed to a turner. From there he traveled to Kovno and Minsk, and lived with his older brother, a Hasid, in Smorgon (Smorogonie, Wojewodztwo Wilenskie). He worked there as a private tutor.

In 1883 Wiernik returned to his parents, who had since moved to Bialystok, to recover from an ailment. After his recovery, Wiernik worked as a box-maker and studied Talmud with his father. He also developed an interest in Jewish bibliography. In 1884, he met Leon Zolotkoff who helped provide the young man with direction in his secular studies. Wiernik left Russia for the United States, and arrived in Chicago on July 25, 1885.

Peter Wiernik's first years in the United States were difficult. He worked as a peddler, a common laborer, a stevedore, and as a handyman in a warehouse for imported goods at the harbor and in a lumber yard.

In 1886, Wiernik was asked to write a series of articles on life in Chicago for the daily Hebrew newspaper Ha-Yom. The request came from Leon Zolotkoff, who had moved to Saint Petersburg and was on the editorial staff of the paper. A year later, Zolotkoff himself immigrated to the United States. He arrived in Chicago with Sarah Wiernik, Peter's mother, and the two shared a lodging with Wiernik. The whereabouts of Peter's father at this time are unknown. In December of that year, Zolotkoff became the editor of the Jewish Courier and Wiernik set type for the paper. Wiernik also served the Courier as a reporter and a writer, and eventually succeeded Zolotkoff as editor. Wiernik left the newspaper in 1896, and worked at the Western Bottle Supply Company with Bernard Horwich.

On February 1, 1898, at age thirty-three, Wiernik left Chicago for New York. He worked as a writer and typesetter for the English page of the Yiddishes Tageblatt [Jewish Daily News] until 1901. (The Tageblatt was owned by Kasriel Sarasohn and his son-in-law, Leon Kamaiky. It was in the offices of this newspaper that the officers of the Central Relief Committee were first elected, on October 4, 1914.) While at the Tageblatt, Wiernik was commissioned to write some thirty articles for the Jewish Encyclopedia. Most of the articles were biographies of rabbis and scholars.

A major advance in Wiernik's career occurred when he became the chief editor of the Jewish Morning Journal, around the time it was founded in July, 1901, by Jacob Saphirstein. When Saphirstein died in 1914, Wiernik was able to exercise full editorial freedom in the content of his articles. He wrote several pieces for each issue almost until the time of his death, totaling several thousand editorials between 1901 and 1936. Wiernik also wrote for Der Amerikaner [Jewish American], a weekly publication of the Morning Journal. In addition to these ongoing commitments to journalism, Wiernik also published several books during his tenure at the Jewish Morning Journal. His A History of the Jews in America appeared in English in 1912, was translated into Yiddish in 1914, and revised in 1931.

Peter Wiernik's prominence in the Yiddish press led him to become involved in many Jewish organizations, both in the United States and abroad. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (1921-1936). According to Joseph Hirsch (“Peter Wiernik and His Views,” D.H.L., Yeshiva University, 1974, pp. 255-257), Wiernik served as chairman of the Committee on Poland between 1919 and 1921; the Committee on Landsmanschaften between 1921 and 1924; and, in 1929, of the Central Relief Committee, an affiliate organization of the JDC representing Orthodox Jewish interests.

Wiernik was especially involved in Jewish culture and education. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Yeshiva College, and a trustee of the Israel Matz Foundation for the support of indigent Jewish scholars and writers. He was president of Habruta, an open forum on Jewish cultural issues that invited Jewish guests from abroad to speak in New York (1925-1935).

Peter Wiernik died in Brooklyn, N.Y., on February 12, 1936.

Bertha Wiernik (1884-1951?)

Bertha Wiernik, the younger sister of Peter Wiernik, was born in Vilna, on March 21, 1884. She arrived in the United States in 1887. She grew up in Chicago, where she attended public school and studied Hebrew and the Bible with a rabbi. Bertha Wiernik set type for the Chicago Hebrew weekly Ha-Tehiyah, but moved to New York in 1903, where she worked for various relief organizations and businesses.

Bertha Wiernik began writing in 1899 under the pseudonym “Shulamit.” She published poems in Der Kol in 1901 and in the Jewish Courier. She also contributed to the Jewish Herald, the Tageblatt, and other Jewish periodicals in English for which she translated Yiddish literary classics. Among her translations was Isaac Meir Dick's 1868 Yiddish book, Slavery or Serfdom, a Judaized version of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Ms. Wiernik was a “contributor and translator” for the the English-Yiddish Encyclopedic Dictionary, edited by Paul Abelson and published in New York in 1915.

Bertha Wiernik wrote and produced several theatrical pieces, which were staged under the auspices of various New York City charitable societies. Among them are: Lomir Makhn a Pshoreh [Let Us Compromise]; Di Teyveh [The Ark]; Mrs. Peddler; Nokh Nisht [Not Yet]; and Gaystige Atomen [Spiritual Atoms].

After the death of her brother, Peter, she withdrew from the public scene and became religious. Her last published work, Gaystige Atomen [Spiritual Atoms], is a religious drama in two acts.

The date and place of Bertha Wiernik's death are uncertain. The Leksikon fun der nayer Yidisher literatur states that “in 1946, she moved to California where, according to reports, she died lonely and forgotten.” According to her nephew, Harris Wiernik, she died in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1951.

Scope and Contents

The Peter Wiernik and Bertha Wiernik Collection contains unique documents dealing with the American experience of two immigrants from Eastern Europe, the history of the Yiddish press, and the history of Jewish belles-lettres in the United States. It also contains valuable records of the history of American relief efforts in Eastern Europe during and after World War I.

The Collection covers the years 1886 to 1950. The bulk of the material was created between 1920 and 1935.

The Collection also contains the personal papers of Peter Wiernik for the years 1886 to 1936, and of his sister, Bertha Wiernik, for the years 1914 to 1950. Many papers are undated.

The Peter Wiernik and Bertha Wiernik Collection contains newspaper clippings, correspondence, drafts, a drawing, essays, personal letters, manuscripts, memoranda, notes, official documents, offprints of articles, photographs, accounting and financial records, community records, and reports.

Most of the documents are in English. The two most prevalent languages of the personal papers are English and Yiddish. A few letters in the Collection are in Hebrew, German, French, and Russian. Materials were arranged in chronological order within the folders.

The arrangement of the Peter Wiernik and Bertha Wiernik Collection reflects the public and private lives of the brother and sister.

Peter Wiernik's public life was that of a prominent Yiddish journalist and Jewish community activist. He was involved in a variety of Jewish organizations, both American and foreign. His dedication to the plight of Eastern European Jewry is illustrated by the records of Jewish relief organizations that he preserved.

Peter Wiernik was most active in the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (Boxes 1 to 9). The records of the JDC contain minutes of the various committees in New York and the overseas offices in Europe during the 1920s and early 1930s.

Most of the records of the JDC consist of carbon copies. These copies have acquired significant historical value for the history of the JDC and its planning and policy-making, especially in Poland and Russia, since some of the original documents from the early 1920s are no longer available at the Archives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in New York City.

The provenance of some of the JDC records among the Peter Wiernik papers must, however, be questioned. Some of the records of the JDC now preserved in the Peter Wiernik and Bertha Wiernik Collection were removed from another collection in the Yeshiva University Archives, the Central Relief Committee Collection, at an unknown time and were later incorporated into the Peter Wiernik Collection.

The records of the European Office of the JDC (Boxes 7 to 9) contain minutes and correspondence of the American Joint Reconstruction Foundation between 1924 and 1935. The AJRF continued and expanded on the JDC reconstruction efforts in Central and Eastern Europe, with the exception of the USSR.

The Collection contains records of other Jewish relief organizations (Box 10). Peter Wiernik preserved significant records of two of the three organizations which founded the JDC in 1914: the American Jewish Relief Committee (AJRC) and the Central Relief Committee (CRC). The AJRC, under the leadership of Cyrus Adler, provided financial allocations to Jewish cultural institutions abroad. The CRC defended Orthodox interests within the JDC. Although Peter Wiernik was the chairman of the CRC from 1929 on, the paucity of its records in the Collection indirectly reflects upon the weak position of Orthodoxy within the JDC administration. There are only a few records of the third founding organization, the People's Relief Committee.

Peter Wiernik's papers (Boxes 11-15) contain his correspondence with a broad spectrum of personalities in the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the fields of Jewish belles-lettres, philanthropy and Yiddish journalism. His notes, drafts of articles (Boxes 12-13), and newspaper clippings (Boxes 14-15) reflect his interest in Jewish political issues, history, bibliography, and literature.

The Bertha Wiernik papers (Boxes 16-17) contain some correspondence and several plays that she wrote in the 1930s and 1940s.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into three subgroups, reflecting the diverse materials it contains:

Index Terms

This collection has been indexed under the following terms:

Persons:
Adler, Cyrus, 1863-1940
Freidus, Abraham Solomon, 1867-1923
Hyman, Joseph C., 1889-
Kamaiky, Leon
Kaplan, Mordecai Menachem, 1881-1983
Revel, Bernard, 1885-1940
Schapiro, Israel, 1882-1957
Wiernik, Bertha, 1884-1951
Zolotkof, Leon, 1866-1938
Organizations:
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Child Care Dept
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Executive Committee
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Reconstruction Committee.
American Jewish Relief Committee
American Joint Reconstruction Foundation
Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War
Habruta
Haitian-American Corporation
Israel Matz Foundation
People's Relief Committee for Jewish War Sufferers (U.S.)
Yeshiva College
Family Names:
Wiernik family
Subjects:
Children -- Europe
International relief -- Europe
Jewish learning and scholarship
Jewish property -- Germany
Jews -- Charities
Jews -- Education
Jews -- Europe
Jews -- History
Jews -- New York (State) -- New York
Jews --United States -- Politics and government
Journalism -- United States
Orthodox Judaism
Real property -- Germany
Reconstruction (1914-1939) -- Europe
Sabbath (Jewish law)
Sabbath legislation -- New York (State)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Germany -- Reparations
Yiddish newspapers -- New York (State) -- New York
Zionism
Document Types:
Clippings
Correspondence
Essays
Financial records
Manuscripts
Manuscripts, typed
Maps
Minutes
Offprints
Pamphlets
Photographs
Printed ephemera
Reports
Research notes
Occupations:
Jewish journalists
Women dramatists
Women poets
Titles:
Jewish Courier (Chicago)
Jewish Morning Journal
Morgen Zshurnal

Related Material

Related Manuscripts and Archival Collections at Yeshiva University:

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

Provenance

Acquisition Information

The Peter Wiernik Collection was probably donated to Yeshiva University together with the Peter Wiernik Book Collection now housed in the Mendel Gottesman Library of Hebraica-Judaica. The Peter Wiernik Book Collection was accessioned in 1936.

Some of the records of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) in this Collection were transferred at an unknown date in the late 1960s from the Central Relief Committee Collection.

The provenance of the papers of Bertha Wiernik is unknown.

A Memorial Sketch of Peter Wiernik

Editor who was an Historian1

There were two convictions which were the keystone of Wiernik's outlook: he was intensely American and profoundly Jewish. His Americanism was not of the patrioteering type that parades itself as a vulgar emotion. He had an unshakable faith in the structure of the American government and an unquenchable optimism in the resilience of the American people to adjust themselves and overcome every adversity.... So embedded into his personality was his love of and faith in America that he believed that even a United States punctuated here and there by maladministration was better than any of the governments of Europe.

In his Jewish outlook, he was staunchly traditionalist. He believed that the Jew grounded in his past was better equipped to overcome the obstacles of the present.... In him was distilled the wisdom of Jewish suffering over the centuries. “They will not destroy the Jews.” That was his refrain to every additional affront and hurt to the Jewish people.

His advice to Jews was: wrap yourself up in your Jewish traditions; get your solace from the Jewish past and try to be a good Jew in the future. That was why he thought that Orthodox Jews were better prepared psychologically to resist Hitlers....

His objection to the Zionist movement, for example, was that it was political in origin and action. He would see the purpose of a spiritual renaissance, that would equip Jews with a deeper satisfaction with their own culture. But the strength of Jews in a political world was so puny that to imitate others was to invite humiliation and defeat. We who disagreed with him respected the logical consistency of his position, because he himself set an example of broadmindedness.... Although opposed to Zionism, he contributed to its funds, more generously than is known. Admiring the enthusiasm and devotion of Zionist workers who approached him, he bought the shekel, certificate of Zionist membership, from any number of those who came to him — despite the fact that just one would have been enough....

Editorially and personally he was opposed to Communism because he believed it an unsound doctrine. And yet he respected what was being done in Russia. He felt that any government which could enforce discipline in Russia in an effort to bring order out of chaos was worthy of attention. He was influenced also by the fact that the Soviets had made so radical a change in the Russian attitude toward the Jews. He also respected the Soviets for their desire to reestablish a national life.

1. Jacob Fishman, Managing Editor, Jewish Morning Journal. (Appeared in the American Hebrew, February 21, 1936)

Bibliography

Sources on Peter Wiernik

American Jewish Year Book, vol. 6 (1904-1905), p. 206.

American Jewish Year Book, vol. 38 (1936-1937), p. 436.

Eisenstadt, Ben-Zion. Hakhme Yisra'el ba-Amerika [Israel's Scholars in America]. New York, 1903. S.v. “Viernik, Perets,” pp. 40-41.

Hirsch, Joseph. “Peter Wiernik and His Views.” D.H.L. dissertation, Yeshiva University, 1974.

Horwich, Bernard. My First Eighty Years. Chicago: Argus Books, 1939, pp. 194-196.

Invitation, Banquet in Honor of the 70th Birthday of Peter Wiernik, May 29, 1935, Box/Folder 11/43.

Jewish Encyclopedia. New York, 1901-1906. S.v. “Wiernik, Peter,” by Frederick T. Haneman.

New York Times, February 13, 1936, p. 19.

Niger, Shmuel, ed. Leksikon fun der nayer Yidisher literatur. [Biographical Dictionary of Modern Yiddish Literature]. New York, 1956-1981. S.v. “Viernik, Perets,” by Hayyim-Leib Fox (Fuchs), vol. 3, cols. 456-459.

Reisen, Zalman. Leksikon fun der Yidisher literatur, prese, un filologye. Vilna, 1927-1929. S.v. “Viernik, Perets,” vol. 1, cols. 990-993.

Ribalow, Menachem. “Perets Vernik.” Ha-Doar 16 (February 21, 1936), pp. 294-295.

Who's Who in American Jewry, 1926. S.v. “Wiernik, Peter.”

Who's Who in American Jewry, 1928. S.v. “Wiernik, Peter.”

Sources on Bertha Wiernik

Niger, Shmuel, ed. Leksikon fun der nayer Yidisher literatur. [Biographical Dictionary of Modern Yiddish Literature]. New York, 1956-1981. S.v. “Viernik, Basiah (Berte),” vol. 3, col. 455.

Reisen, Zalman. Leksikon fun der Yidisher literatur, prese, un filologye. Vilna, 1927-1929. S.v. “Viernik, Basiah (Berte),” vol. 1, col. 990.

Roskies, David G. “An Annotated Bibliography of Ayzik-Meyer Dik.” In The Field of Yiddish: Studies in Language, Folklore, and Literature, ed. by Marvin I. Herzog... [et al.] Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1980, pp. 117-184.

Wiernik, Harris, Waco, TX, to Roger Kohn, March 28, 1988.

Zylbercwaig, Zalman. Leksikon fun Yidishn teater. [Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre]. New York; Warsaw; Mexico City, 1931-1969. S.v. “Viernik, Basiah,” vol. 1, col. 727.

Conditions Governing Access and Use

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is available to researchers deemed to be qualified by the Archivist.

Conditions Governing Use

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 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: Item description, date, Yeshiva University Archives, Peter Wiernik and Bertha Wiernik Collection, Box #, Folder #.

Detailed Description of the Collection

Subgroup I: Organizational Records, 1916 - 1946

Series A: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, 1916 - 1946. Boxes 1- 9, Oversized Box 15, and Map Box 18
Arrangement: The records of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee are separated into two series of unequal size. The records of the Central Administration in New York contain seven boxes. The records of the European offices contain three boxes.
Subseries 1: Central Administration, New York, N.Y. 1916-1946
Series Description : The records of the Central Administration span the years 1916 to 1946 with the bulk from the 1920s.

Most of the records are carbon copies of original documents. These copies have acquired great historical value, as it is assumed that the originals are no longer in existence.

The records document the activities and decisions made by the Executive Committee and National Council of the JDC and several other policy-making committees. The records of the Executive Committee contain monthly reports of the European offices of the JDC for several months in 1927 and 1930, and the address of Felix M. Warburg at “the dinner tendered to him on June 23rd, 1927.” A mimeographed report of Jonah B. Wise, National Chairman of the Fund-Raising Committee, and Isidor Coons, National Campaign Director (September 12, 1938) is preserved in the records of the National Plan and Scope Committee.

The series also contains records of some twenty committees of the JDC. Among the most important are:

The Budget and Scope Committee, including a fifty-six page report of David M. Bressler and Joseph C. Hyman on operations in Europe (October 3, 1929);
The Cultural Committee or Committee on Cultural Activities, organized in May, 1922, as a successor of a similar committee of the American Jewish Relief Committee (AJRC). Several items in this subseries are of special interest. They are the translation of a 1924 letter of M. Hildesheimer requesting funding for cultural institutions in Germany; correspondence relating to allocations for the Refugee Hebrew School of Mexico (1926) and regarding an allocation to Fryda Kagan, the widow of Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan of Radun (the “Hafets Hayim”); and a report by Dr. Bernard Kahn, of Berlin, on Jewish schools in Europe (1927);
The Committee on Landsmanschaften, active between September 1919 and 1924. The folders contain correspondence and memoranda regarding the liquidation of the department in 1924, when Peter Wiernik was president of the Committee;
The Committee on Poland, which includes a copy of a letter of Bernard Horwich to Boris Bogen attacking Mr. [?] Savitky, of the People's Relief Committee (December 20, 1919);
The Committee on Refugees, which includes a report on the refugee problem by Dr. Bernard Kahn (March 17, 1921);
The Committee on Reconstruction, active mainly between 1921 and 1924. (It was succeeded by the American Joint Reconstruction Foundation.) The folders of this committee contain several significant documents: the carbon copies of letters sent by B. Bogen reporting on the medical activities of the JDC in Poland (October 28, 1920); the translation of a letter from Harbin, Manchuria (November 1, 1920); several reports on the situation of Kovno Jewry (1921); a letter from Louis Marshall to Colonel Herbert H. Lehman, chairman of the Reconstruction Committee, presenting his views on reconstruction work in Poland (August 2, 1921); the text of the agreement between the Jewish Colonization Association and the JDC, signed on May 23, 1922, in Paris, regarding the kassas (“cooperative banks”) loans in Poland; and a report of J.C. Hyman, assistant to the chairman of the Reconstruction Committee, on reconstruction activities in Europe (1923);
The Committee on Russia, which was most active between 1921 and 1924. Of special interest among the documents which have been preserved are the draft of an agreement between the JDC and the Soviet Government (undated); a mimeographed “bulletin issued by Dr. Bogen upon his arrival in Poland” signed by Albert Lucas, Secretary (March 2, 1920); an annual report of the Vladivostok branch of the JDC (1920, 1921); the text of an address of J.L. Magnes (January 18, 1921); the report of J. Faitlovitch, from Addis Ababa (January 31, 1921); several letters of B. Bogen on his trip to Nikolaev and Kherson, surveying facilities of the American Relief Administration (1922); and a memorandum from Evelyn Morrissey, secretary of the Committee on Russia, stating that Dr. Bogen has written “approximately 200 letters” (May 15, 1923).

The records of the Central Administration of the JDC also contain some carbon copies of cables sent or received and some printed materials. In the printed materials, a list of 1,034 communities in Poland reached by JDC relief efforts (1919), is of special interest.

BoxFolderDescription
11JDC Minutes, 1917
2JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1918
3JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1920, January-April
4JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1920, May-August
5JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1920, September-December
6JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1921
7JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1922
8JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1923
9JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1925
BoxFolderDescription
21JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1926
2JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1927
3JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1928
4JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1929
5JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1930
6JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1931
7JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1932
8JDC Executive Committee, Minutes, 1937
9JDC Executive Committee, Correspondence, undated; 1916-1927
10JDC Executive Committee, Correspondence, 1927
11JDC Executive Committee, Correspondence, 1928-1929
12JDC Executive Committee, Correspondence, 1930-1936; 1938
BoxFolderDescription
31American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Board of Directors, 1932-1939
2American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Board of Directors, 1945
3National Council of the Joint Distribution Committee (members), 1932
4American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee National Council, 1935
5National Plan and Scope Committee, 1938
6Administrative Committee, 1921-1923
7Committee on Reduction of Administrative Expenses and Personnel, 1923
8Budget and Scope Committee, 1927; 1929
9Budget and Scope Committee, 1931-1935
10Campaign Committee, 1921; 1923
11Committee on Central Europe, 1921
12Cultural Committee, Minutes, 1922-1923
13Cultural Committee, Minutes, 1926-1930; 1935
14Cultural Committee, Correspondence, undated; 1922
15Cultural Committee, 1923-1924; 1926
16Cultural Committee, 1927-1929
17Cultural Committee, 1932-1935
18Remittances and Finance Committee, 1919-1921
19Landsmanschaften Committee, Minutes, 1922; 1924
20Landsmanschaften Committee, Correspondence, 1920-1924
21Landsmanschaften Committee, Correspondence, 1923
4Landsmanschaften Committee, Cards on Benevolent Societies
BoxFolderDescription
51Medical Committee, undated; 1922
2Orphans Committee, undated; 1921-1922; 1925
3Palestine Committee, 1918-1921
4Palestine Orphans Committee, 1921; 1928-1929
5Plan and Scope Committee, Minutes, 1920
6Committee on Poland, 1919-1923
7Committee on Refugees, 1921-1922
8Subcommittee on Romania, undated; 1916
9Committee on Reconstruction, Minutes, 1921-1922
10Committee on Reconstruction, Minutes, 1924-1927
11Committee on Reconstruction, Correspondence, undated; 1918-1919
12Committee on Reconstruction, Correspondence, 1919
13Committee on Reconstruction, Correspondence, 1920-1921
14Committee on Reconstruction, Correspondence, 1922 (1)
15Committee on Reconstruction, Correspondence, 1922 (2)
BoxFolderDescription
61Committee on Reconstruction, after 1922
2Committee on Reconstruction, 1923
3Committee on Reconstruction, 1924-1925; 1927-1929
4Committee on Russia, undated; 1919
5Committee on Russia, 1920 (1)
6Committee on Russia, 1920 (2)
7Committee on Russia, 1921
8Committee on Russia, 1922
9Committee on Russia, after 1922
10Committee on Russia, 1923
11Committee on Russia, 1924
BoxFolderDescription
71Cables, 1919-1922
2Printed, undated
3Printed, Bulletin of the Joint Distribution Committee, 1916-1917
4Printed, Information Service Letter, 1919
5Printed, Newsletter, 1920
6Printed, Bulletin of the Executive Committee of the Jewish World Relief Committee, 1921
7How Your Contributions Are Helping, 1922
8Jacob Billikopf, The Jews Bend to a Great Task, reprinted from the Survey, October 15, 1925
9Printed, Loeb & Troper, CPA, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Report, October 1914 - Through December 31, 1926
10Printed, Cable ([J.] Rosenberg in Russia), 1926
11Printed, Letter of Resignation of James G. McDonald, High Commissioner for Refugees (Jewish and Other) Coming from Germany, Supplement to the Christian Century, January 15, 1936
12Printed, JDC Bulletin, undated [1937]; 1938
13Printed, General Mortgage Bank of Palestine, Report, 1937
14Printed, Folkshilf, 1939; Noyt un hilf, (in Yiddish) 1941
15Printed, JDC Press Releases, 1945-1946
Subseries 2: European Offices, 1920-1935
Series Description : The records of the European offices of the JDC (Boxes 7-9) span the years 1920 to 1935. The bulk of the materials are from the late 1920s and early 1930s.

The printed materials include a report on the European situation by James H. Becker (1920).

The American Joint Reconstruction Foundation (AJRF) was created by the JDC and the Jewish Colonization Association in May, 1924. (It succeeded the Committee on Reconstruction of the JDC). The records contain most of the minutes and correspondence of the AJRF. Of special interest is the correspondence on managerial problems at the Bank dla Spoldzielni, especially a memorandum signed by J.C. Hyman, dated April 8, 1932.

BoxFolderDescription
716European Executive Council, Minutes, 1921; 1923
17JDC Regional Offices: Europe, Summary of the Vienna Conference, 1920-1921; November 15-19, 1920
18General Statistical Data and Specific Details Relating to J.D.C.-Relief Activities in Poland 1926
BoxFolderDescription
81European Executive Offices. Child Care Department, Its Activities in Pictures. Berlin, 1926
2Same, Child Care Department. A Few Illustrations of Articles Exhibited at Headquarters Typical of the Trade Education in the Various Countries. Berlin, 1926
3American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Minutes, 1924-1926
4American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Minutes, 1926
5American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Minutes, 1927-1928
6American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Minutes, 1928
7American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Minutes, 1929-1931
8American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Minutes, 1932
9American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Minutes, 1933-1935
BoxFolderDescription
91American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, undated; 1924
2American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1925
3American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1925
4American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1926
5American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1926
6American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1927
7American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1928
8American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1928
9European Executive Offices, Financial Department, Berlin. Annual Financial Report, 1927
10European Executive Offices, Financial Department, Berlin. Annual Financial Report, 1928
11American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1929
12American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1930
13American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1931
14American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1931
15American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1932
16American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1933
17American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1933
18American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1934
19American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, Correspondence, 1935
OversizeFolderDescription
151Three pictures with captions “Medical Work,” “Gemiloth Chessed,” and “Agro Joint,” (poor condition) undated
2Financial reports of American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, 1924; 1926; 1928
3Balance sheets and Budget chart of American Joint Reconstruction Foundation, 1927-1930
4Photograph of a map showing the growth of Jewish land settlements in Crimea, (Photo Reprint Co., Trucopy, 40 Exchange Place, 225 Broadway) 1924-1930
5AJJDC- European Executive Offices. Berlin, Germany, Data Relating to its Operations, Since its Inception to Date 1914 - 1931. Berlin, 1931..
MapBoxFolderDescription
181List of 99 kassas (“cooperative banks”) in Poland (14" × 16 3/4"), undated
2Map showing location of Jewish schools in Poland (4' × 4' 7", mounted on fabric), undated
3Map showing location of Jewish schools in Lithuania (24" × 19", mounted on fabric), 1923
4Map showing location of Jewish schools in Latvia (2' 3" × 19 2/4", mounted on fabric, poor condition), 1923
Series B: Records of other Organizations, 1914-1935
Series Description : This series contains the records of eleven American Jewish organizations active in the United States and the Middle East between 1914 and 1935.

The records of the American Committee for Relief in the Near East contain a description of the relief freight on board the S.S. Mercurius in 1919.

The American Jewish Relief Committee was one of the three committees which constituted the JDC in 1914. The records mainly document the cultural involvement of the AJRC under the leadership of Cyrus Adler, before the foundation of a JDC Cultural Committee in May, 1922. Of special interest are a report on schools and education in Galicia, and a list of Tarbuth schools in Poland (1921).

The Central Relief Committee was another founding committee of the JDC in 1914. Among other documents of interest is a letter from Joseph C. Hyman, JDC secretary, nominating Peter Wiernik as chairman of the Central Relief Committee (October 14, 1929).

Peter Wiernik was a trustee of the Israel Matz Foundation for the support of indigent Jewish scholars and writers. The folder on the Israel Matz Foundation contains minutes of meetings and records of allocations.

Wiernik was also the president of Habruta, a club that invited speakers to discuss Jewish cultural issues in New York. The folder contains Hebrew invitations to meetings.

BoxFolderDescription
101American Committee for Relief in the Near East, Shipment on S.S. Mercurius, 1919
2American Jewish Relief Committee, Minutes, Correspondence, Reports, Memoranda, undated; 1914-1916; 1920-1922; 1927-1929
3Central Relief Committee, undated; 1916-1922; 1927; 1929
4Central Relief Committee (?) - List of Congregations in Philadelphia, undated
5Central Relief Committee (?) - “Appropriations”; “Leaders in Cities Affiliated with the Middle Western Bureau,” 1916-1922; 1922
6Habruta, 1929-1933
7Haytian-American Corporation, 1920-1924
8Israel Matz Foundation, 1926-1935
9Palestine Economic Corporation, 1924-1931
10People's Relief Committee, 1922
11United Palestine Appeal, 1930
BoxFolderDescription
156Poster - Pioneers in the Raising of Funds for the Relief of Jews Suffering through the War, undated

Subgroup II: Peter Wiernik Papers, 1888-1936. Boxes 11-14 and Oversized Box 15

Scope and Contents : Peter Wiernik's personal correspondence covers his years in Chicago and in New York. Most of the letters are in English, with a sizeable portion in Yiddish. Among the most frequent or notable correspondents are:

Cyrus Adler, of Philadelphia; the Educational Alliance (1907); Bernard Horwich, of Chicago; Mordecai Kaplan (1932); Dr. Henry Keller; Dr. J. Luepke, of Brooklyn; B. Mack, of Long Branch, N.J.; Samuel Oppenheim's critique of Peter Wiernik's History of the Jews in America (1912); Dr. Bernard Revel, President of Yeshiva College; Judge Otto Rosalsky; James N. Rosenberg, of New York; Samuel Rottenberg, of New York; Ms. Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, of New York; Israel Schapiro, of the Library of Congress; Rabbi M. Schneerson Twersky, of New York; Harry Wiernik, Peter's nephew, of Brooklyn (1926, 1929); Leon Zolotkoff, editor of the Jewish Courier (1888); William Zuckerman, of the European Bureau of the Jewish Morning Journal, from London and Berlin.

Peter Wiernik's interest in Jewish bibliography is expressed through his correspondence with Israel Schapiro, of the Library of Congress (1923-1928) and his involvement with the Abraham S. Freidus memorial volume (1924-1928). His papers contain a description of the library of Samuel Krauss, of Vienna (undated [after 1925]) and a list of the books he donated to Yeshiva College Library (undated [after 1935]). His notes contain a faultfinding essay reviewing Marx and Margolis's History (undated [after 1927]).

Peter Wiernik's intellectual interests are documented in his notes and articles on Jewish life in the United States and abroad: Yiddish cultural activities, political reflections on Jewish territorialism and Russian Jewish history are among the topics he addressed. Peter Wiernik also kept a series of lectures on American Jewish history - probably given at Yeshiva College - and articles on Jewish Orthodoxy in America.

BoxFolderDescription
111Correspondence, undated
2Correspondence, Jewish Courier (Chicago), 1888-1890
3Correspondence, 1899
4Correspondence, 1900
5Correspondence, 1904
6Correspondence, 1905
7Correspondence, 1906
8Correspondence, 1907
9Correspondence, 1908
10Correspondence, 1909
11Correspondence, 1910
12Correspondence, 1911
13Correspondence, P.C. Knox to [?] Sulzer, on Leon Kamaiky (copy), 1911
14Correspondence, 1912
15Correspondence, 1913
16Correspondence, 1914
17Correspondence, 1916
18Correspondence, 1917
19Correspondence, 1918
20Correspondence, 1919
21Correspondence, 1920
22Correspondence, 1921
23Correspondence, 1922
24Correspondence, 1923
25Correspondence with Israel Schapiro, of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 1923-1928
26Correspondence, 1924
27Correspondence with Lewis A. McGowan, of Washington, D.C., regarding claims against the Government of Germany about Imperial German Bonds, 1924-1931
28Correspondence, 1925
29Correspondence regarding Peter Wiernik's 60th Birthday, 1925-1926
30Correspondence, 1926
31Correspondence, 1927
32Correspondence, 1928
33Correspondence regarding Yeshiva College Dedication Dinner, 1928
34Correspondence regarding Hebrew Union College Endowment Fund, 1929
35Correspondence, 1929
36Correspondence, 1930
37Correspondence, 1931
38Correspondence, 1932
39Correspondence with Maurice William, author, 1932-1934
40Correspondence, 1933
41Correspondence, 1934
42Correspondence, 1935
43Correspondence regarding Peter Wiernik's 70th Birthday, 1935
44Correspondence, 1936
BoxFolderDescription
121Savings Bank Booklet, 1930
2Checkbooks, undated; 1913-1914
3Check Stubs, 1927
4Check Stubs, 1928
5Check Stubs, 1929
6Check Stubs, 1930
7Check Stubs, 1931
8Check Stubs, 1932
9Check Stubs, 1933
10Check Stubs, 1934
11Check Stubs, 1935
12Unidentified Handwritten Notes, undated
13Handwritten Notes “T” [=? Translations], undated
14“T” (poor condition)
15Handwritten Notes on American Jewry, undated
16Handwritten Notes, “Memoirs,” undated
17Handwritten Notes, Wiernik Family, undated
18Handwritten Notes, Notes on Readings, undated
19Handwritten Notes, List of Books, undated
20Dr. Samuel Krauss (Vienna) Library, undated [after 1925]
21Peter Wiernik Book Plate, undated
22Yeshiva College Library, List of Books Donated by Peter Wiernik, undated [after 1935]
23“Reference Books in the Wiernik Collection,” undated [after 1935]
24Manuscripts, fragments, undated
25Manuscripts, “The Deterioration of the Hatchet,” (incomplete), undated
26Manuscripts, Introduction to Lectures, undated
27Manuscripts, “Ezra vs. Caesar,” undated
28Manuscripts, “Jewish Claims [to Other] Lands than Palestine,” undated
29Manuscripts, [“Cultural Activities in Yiddish” (?)] (incomplete, pp. 4-15), undated
30Manuscripts, “Cultural Activities in Yiddish” (incomplete), undated
31Manuscript on Russian Jewish History (incomplete, pp. 8-79), undated
32Manuscript IX. On Russian Jewish History (incomplete, pp. 222-257), undated
33Manuscript on Haskalah in Russia in the nineteenth century, undated
BoxFolderDescription
131Manuscripts, I. [On American Jewish History] (incomplete, pp. 1-57), undated
2Manuscripts, “I. From Stu[y]vesant to Lehman: A Process of Adjustment,” 33 pp., undated
3Manuscripts, Lectures IV and V [On American Jewish History] (incomplete, pp. 58-126a)
4Manuscripts, Eulogy to [?], undated
5Manuscripts, “Yeshiboth,” undated
6Manuscripts, [On Orthodoxy], undated
7Manuscripts, “What the Open Adjustment Requires,” undated
8Manuscripts, [On American Jewry], undated [1920s]
9Manuscripts, Review of Marx and Margolis's History, undated [after 1927]
10Manuscripts, “Blank Pages and Periods of Preparation in Jewish History,” undated [after 1929]
11Manuscripts, “Essay” [“American Jewry, Past, Present and Future”], 1931
12Manuscripts, [“American Jewry...”] Part I, undated [1930s]
13Manuscripts, [“American Jewry...”] Part III (incomplete), undated [1930s]
14Revised Typescript, [“American Jewry...”] (incomplete), undated [1930s]
15Typescript, [“American Jewry...”] (incomplete), undated [1930s]
16Typescript, Carbon Copy [“American Jewry...”] (incomplete), undated [1930s]
17Typescript, “Jewish Claims to Other Lands than Palestine,” undated
18Typescript, “What the Open Adjustment Requires” [for Yeshiva College], undated [late 1920s]
19Typescript, Lecture (?), undated
20Typescript, “Lecture IV,” undated
21Typescript, “Lecture Five,” “Lecture VI,” undated
22Typescript, “Lecture VII,” “Lecture VIII,” undated
23Typescript, “Lecture IX,” “Lecture X,” undated
24Typescript,? (incomplete, p. 7), undated
25Typescript,? (incomplete, p. 64), undated
26Typescript, [On Polish Jewish History] (incomplete), undated
27Typescript, [On American Jewry] (incomplete), undated
28Typescript, [Introduction] (in Yiddish), undated
29Typescript, [“Abraham Cahan as an American Jew”] (in Yiddish), undated
30Drawing of Peter Wiernik, undated
31Photographs, Peter Wiernik, undated
32Photographs, Peter Wiernik, undated [1930s]
33Photographs, Peter Wiernik, and Family (?), undated [1930s]
34Photographs, Unidentified Man, [Europe (?)] undated
35Photographs, Unidentified Family, [Europe (?)] undated
36Photographs, Unidentified Man, [F. Gutenkunst, Philadelphia] undated
37Photographs, Unidentified Woman, [USA (?)] undated,
38Photographs, Two Unidentified Women, [Yogg Studio, Newark, N.J.] undated
39Photographs, Three Photographs, 1929; 1934
40Photographs, Habruta, Asbury Park, N.J. 1928
BoxFolderDescription
141Newspaper Clippings in English (unprocessed)
2Newspaper Clippings in Yiddish (unprocessed)
3Newspaper Clippings in Yiddish (unprocessed)
4Newspaper Clippings in Yiddish (unprocessed)
5Newspaper Clippings in Yiddish (unprocessed)
6Newspaper Clippings in Yiddish (unprocessed)
7Newspaper Clippings in Yiddish, Jewish Morning Journal (unprocessed)
8Newspaper Clippings in Yiddish (unprocessed), Jewish Morning Journal
9Newspaper Clippings in Yiddish (unprocessed), “Curiosities,” “Drama,” “Poetry,” “Philosophy”
10Printed articles in Yiddish by Peter Wiernik
11Printed articles in English by Peter Wiernik
12A.S. Freidus Memorial Volume, 1928
13Printed articles about Peter Wiernik, 1914-1932
OversizeFolderDescription
156Scrapbook of Newspaper Clippings of Peter Wiernik's articles, 1898-1916
BoxFolderDescription
19Photograph - 60th [birthday?] celebration in honor of Peter Wiernik, editor of the Jewish Morning Journal, Broadway Central Hotel [New York, NY], Dec. 7, 1925

Subgroup III: Bertha Wiernik Papers, 1914-1950. Boxes 16-17

BoxFolderDescription
161Correspondence, undated
1aCorrespondence, 1908, undated
includes Application for a Certificate of Arrival and Preliminary Form for a Declaration of Intent (post 1940)
2Correspondence, 1914
3Correspondence, 1946
4Correspondence, 1949
5Correspondence, 1950
6Correspondence, undated [1950s]
7Handwritten Notes in Yiddish, undated
8Handwritten Notes in English, undated
9Handwritten Notes in English, [“Ahre'le”] in Yiddish, undated
10Unidentified Play, undated
11Plays, The Akarah, Director's Copy (incomplete typescript), undated
12Plays, The Akarah, (typescript), 1939
13Plays, The Akarah, (incomplete carbon copy), undated
14Plays, [Mrs. Peddler] (typescript for a performance), undated
15Plays, [Mrs. Peddler (?)] (carbon copy of scenes, incomplete), undated
16Plays, Actors' Roles in Mrs. Peddler, undated
17Plays, Mrs. Peddler, The Bridge to Heaven (typescript), undated
18Plays, [Mrs. Peddler, The Bridge to Heaven] (carbon copy of scenes, incomplete), undated
19Plays, The Bridge to Heaven (incomplete typescript), undated
20Plays, The Bridge to Heaven (carbon copy of the first act), 1947
21Plays, The Bridge to Heaven (typescript), after 1948
22Plays, Spiritual Atoms (incomplete typescript), undated
23Part of a Novel (?) in Yiddish (carbon copy with handwritten parts), undated
24 The Halizah (play), undated
25“Let Him Dream,” First Draft (typescript), undated
26 Monis (play, incomplete typescript), undated
27Bound volumes of The Aqua Monk (typescript), The Halizah (The “Untying”), undated
BoxFolderDescription
171Bound Volume: Isaiah's Garden; or, The Romance of Ten Million Jews, I'll Die Dreaming of You, Photoplay Drama based on the story “Violet” by Joseph Borstack, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1918-1939; 1942
2Bound Volume: “Wandering Thoughts, Volume One,” Brooklyn, N.Y., 1930-1935
3Bound Volume: The Akarah, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1939
4 Gaystige Atomen [Spiritual Atoms: A Religious Drama](photocopy of the printed copy with handwritten notes kept in the Mendel Gottesman Library, 892.492 W), undated [after 1946]
5 Di Getlikhe Pshoreh [The Divine Compromise] (Kessler's Theatre, revised version in Yiddish), New York, N.Y., 1950