INVENTORY
MS-4928 Abba Hillel Silver Papers, Series III. 1916-1945, undated
Arrangement Note: The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject and then chronologically.
Scope and Content Note: The Abba Hillel Silver Papers, Series III, 1916-1945 and undated, consist of minutes, correspondence, memoranda, reports, bulletins, press releases, publications, mainly related to Silver's work with the American Zionist Emergency Council, 1943-1945 and the United Palestine Appeal, 1934-1945. Additionally, Series III contains correspondence with Emanuel Neumann, Cyrus Sulzberger, and Sumner Wells, from the early 1940s; Zionist correspondence and memoranda related to the Zionist Organization of America, 1917-1934; correspondence and memoranda related to unemployment insurance, 1921-1937; and general correspondence, 1916-1937. The documents that make up this series have led a checkered existence. Between 1967 and 1968, they were separated from their parent collection at Temple-Tifereth Israel by an Israeli researcher, Noach Orian, and, presumably, were in Orian's possession for the next 37 years. In late 2005, the Israeli researcher-cum-collector shipped the documents back to Cleveland, directly to the Western Reserve Historical Society, where the Silver collection, a donation from the Temple to WRHS, had already been processed, cataloged, and made accessible to researchers. The returned documents were worse for wear: all exhibited signs of prolonged storage in a damp environment and many were festooned with penned notes in Hebrew. This collection is of value to researchers interested in the response of American Jewish leadership to the rise of Nazism, World War II, and the Holocaust and in the rescue of European Jewry, Jewish settlement in Palestine, and anti-Semitism in America. Documents of particular interest include the following: a copy of a Dec. 6, 1940, letter from David Ben Gurion to Justice L. Brandeis on the history of relations between Jews and Arabs concerning Palestine [2/1]; Jan. 24, 1941 statement by Rabbi Silver concerning contention over division of funds raised nationally for the United Palestine Appeal, the Joint Distribution Committee, and the National Rescue Service [2/2]; March 5, 1941 interview with Henry Morgenthau by Dr. Bernard Joseph regarding conditions in Palestine under the British High Commissioner [2/2]; Oct. 25, 1943 report by Dr. Chaim Weizmann on a meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill [1/2]; Sept. 1, 1944 letter of resignation of Rabbi Silver from the American Zionist Emergency Committee [1/5]; Jan. 6, 1945 letter from Pierre van Paassen to Rabbi Silver regarding support for Silver in his fight with Rabbi Stephen Wise [1/6].
Description | Date | Box/Folder | |
---|---|---|---|
American Jewish Conference | 1943-1944, undated | 1/1 | |
American Zionist Emergency Council | 1943 January-October | 1/2 | |
American Zionist Emergency Council | 1943 November-December, undated | 1/3 | |
American Zionist Emergency Council | 1944 January-June | 1/4 | |
American Zionist Emergency Council | 1944 July-October | 1/5 | |
American Zionist Emergency Council | 1944 November - 1945 May | 1/6 | |
Correspondence | 1916-1930, undated | 1/7 | |
Correspondence | 1931-1935 | 1/8 | |
Correspondence | 1936-1938, undated | 1/9 | |
Neumann, Emanuel | 1942-1944 | 1/10 | |
Sulzberger, Cyrus L. | 1943 | 1/11 | |
Unemployment insurance | 1921-1937, undated | 1/12 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1938 January-October | 1/13 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1938 November-December | 1/14 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1939 January-May | 1/15 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1939 June-November | 1/16 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1939 November-December | 1/17 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1940 January-April | 1/18 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1940 May-December | 2/1 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1941 January-March | 2/2 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1941 April-December | 2/3 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1942 | 2/4 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1943 | 2/5 | |
United Palestine Appeal | 1944-1945, undated | 2/6 | |
Wells, Sumner | 1943 | 2/7 | |
Zionist Organization of America | 1917-1929, undated | 2/8 | |
Zionist Organization of America | 1930-1934, undated | 2/9 | |
Report to American Jews | 1942 February | X/1 |