Scope and Contents
This collection of records traces the growth and development of Atlanta's Jewish community. The minutes, reports, correspondence and administrative files and scrapbooks is an extensive resource for the social historian researching subjects as varied as Jewish social service, Jewish – Christian relations, Jewish–Black relations, Holocaust restitution, Resettlement, Jewish camping, settlement houses, and religion in the public schools. . A number of the files in each series overlap as all three agencies were separate until the 1967 merger. Therefore files relating to certain subjects such as the Jewish Home for the Aged or the Atlanta Jewish Community Center will be found in all three series. The records are divided into four series and three subseries:
Series I, Atlanta Federation for Jewish Social Service and Holocaust Records, is divided into three subseries and consists of administrative records related to the Jewish Social Service and case files individuals and families the Federation provided relief and restitution before, during, and after the Holocaust. Subseries IA, Atlanta Federation for Jewish Service, consists of the records of the Atlanta Federation for Jewish Social Service including minutes, annual reports, correspondence, and files from the numerous organizations and agencies with whom the Federation had a relationship. Included in this series are the records of the Jewish Educational Alliance, the Morris Hirsch Clinic, the Montefiore Relief Association and the Morris Lichtenstein Free Loan Association. Subseries IB, Case Files, consists of the case files of individuals and families requiring counseling and relief assistance and the case files of children and adult victims of the Holocaust who were assisted by the Federation. Subseries IC, Holocaust Restitution Files, consists of the case files of Holocaust survivors requesting restitution. The bulk of the records date from 1906 – 1967 and include Federation files up until the time of the merger. Folders that contain material past 1967 are found in the files of families and individuals whose case was initiated prior to 1967 and continued thereafter.
Series II, Atlanta Jewish Welfare Fund, includes campaign files, minutes and funding requests from organizations and yeshivoth in the United States, Europe and Palestine. If the location of the requestor was not clear from the name, then the location was added in parentheses following the entry. Folders that contain material past 1967 are included if documents add to the understanding of records from pre–1967 years.
Series III, Atlanta Jewish Community Council, consists of minutes, newsletters and files on subjects concerning the Council such as anti–Semitism, The Temple bombing, segregation and religion in the public school.
Series IV, Scrapbooks, consists of scrapbooks from the Atlanta Jewish Welfare Fund, 1936 – 1943, and the Atlanta Jewish Community Council, 1956 – 1957 and oversize financial records.
Dates
- Creation: 1906 - 1980
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1910 - 1967
Conditions Governing Access
The case files in series I as well as several other files throughout the collection are closed to researchers. The closed files are clearly marked and are only available to researchers with written permission given by both the Atlanta Jewish Federation and The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright restrictions may apply. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.
Biographical / Historical
The Atlanta Jewish Federation was formally incorporated in 1967 and is the result of the merger of the Atlanta Federation for Jewish Social Service founded in 1905 as the Federation of Jewish Charities; the Atlanta Jewish Welfare Federation founded in 1936 as the Atlanta Jewish Welfare Fund; and the Atlanta Jewish Community Council founded in 1945. Prior to the merger, each agency acted independently with separate officers but overlapping boards of directors. Edward M. Kahn was the executive director of all three. In 1912 the Federation for Jewish Social Service was reorganized to oversee the functions of several Jewish communal agencies that had heretofore operated separately. In that year the Montefiore Relief Association founded in 1896, the Free Loan Association, later known as the Morris Lichtenstein Free Loan Association, the Jewish Educational Alliance organized in 1909 and the Morris Hirsch Clinic founded in 1911 came under the Federation umbrella. Over the years the Federation operated the majority of the social service functions within the Jewish community of Atlanta. Varied activities of the staff and case–workers at the Federation included family counseling, welfare and relief for indigents and transients, and supervising Moas Chitim (distribution of Passover packages to the needy). The Federation also participated in efforts to immigrate Jews to the United States prior to and after World War II, and in the tedious process of procuring restitution for survivors of the Holocaust. Of special interest in this section are the files relating to the displaced children who with the help of the Federation, the Atlanta Section, National Council of Jewish Women who worked with National agencies to were able to be resettled in both Georgia and Alabama. In 1936 at the behest of Harold Hirsch, the chief counsel for the Coca–Cola Company, the Atlanta Jewish Welfare Fund was established. The newly founded organization quickly took over the fund raising responsibilities of the Federation instituting the first campaign to raise and allocate funds for local, national, and international causes. The Jewish Community Council was founded in 1945 to cope with problems of anti–Semitism as well as internal Jewish issues involving social planning, such as the need for new services. The establishment of the Bureau of Jewish Education in 1945, the Jewish Home in 1951, and the Jewish Community Center in 1956 resulted from studies initiated by the Council.
Extent
120 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Atlanta Jewish Federation was formally incorporated in 1967 and is the result of the merger of the Atlanta Federation for Jewish Social Service founded in 1905 as the Federation of Jewish Charities; the Atlanta Jewish Welfare Federation founded in 1936 as the Atlanta Jewish Welfare Fund; and the Atlanta Jewish Community Council founded in 1945. Over the years the Federation operated the majority of the social service functions within the Jewish community of Atlanta. The records consist of minutes, reports, correspondence, administrative files, and scrapbooks.
Arrangement
All material is arranged in alphabetical order by subject and chronologically within each folder.
- Title
- Mss 82, Atlanta Jewish Federation Records
- Author
- Sandra Berman
- Date
- March 1999
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum Repository
1440 Spring St. NW
Atlanta Georgia 30309 United States
678-222-3700
