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Jewish Children's Home papers

 Collection
Identifier: D.67

Biographical/Historical note

The Jewish Children's Home in Rochester, New York, was founded in 1912 to serve as an orphanage for children of Orthodox Jewish faith so that they could be raised in a setting appropriate to their religious beliefs. As early as 1877 the Jewish Orphan Asylum of Western New York, located in Rochester on North St. Paul Street, provided shelter and upbringing for the orphans of Jewish parents. But the growing numbers of the Orthodox community in the city and their increasing independence from the German-Jewish Reform community made it desirable to provide an Orthodox setting for the raising of orphans. The founding president of the Jewish Children's Home, Alfred Hart, argued that Orthodox orphans should have the opportunity to be raised "as their parents would have done if they lived with all the sacred customs that were so dear to them." The Jewish Children's Home opened its doors at 27 Gorham Street in 1914, and continued in operation until 1948.

Scope and Contents

The Jewish Children's Home Papers are comprised of five boxes containing mostly budgets, record and account books kept for the institution and its charges in the 1900s. There is a large bound volume which records all 341 admissions to the home between 1914 and 1947. It contains background information on each child admitted, their progress at the home, and the circumstances of their discharge. Most of the records were kept by the institution's superintendent, Jacob.S. Hollander, who served in that capacity from 1919 to 1948. Box 4 of the collection contains correspondence, budgets, and printed material he kept from involvement with Rochester chapters of the Jewish National Fund and the Mizrachi Zionist organization during the late 1930s and 1940s.

Creator

Dates

  • Creation: 1914-1949

Language of Materials

English

Extent

5 box(es) (5 boxes, 3 volumes)

Access

The The Jewish Children's Home Papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.

Use

In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was the gift of Abraham Karp, January 11, 1976.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, item date], Jewish Children's Home Papers, D.67, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Related Archival Materials

Other materials in the Department of Rare Books & Special Collections relating to the Jewish Children's Home Papers are: Howard Goldstein, The Home on Gorham Street and the voices of its children (University of Alabama Press, 1996). Stuart E. Rosenberg, The Jewish Community in Rochester, 1843-1925 (Columbia University Press, 1954).

Other materials outside the Department of Rare Books & Special Collections relating to the Jewish Children's Home Papers are:

Ida Klein Richardson, "A Study in Insitutional and Foster Home Care for Dependent Children," MA thesis, University of Rochester (1938)

Title
Jewish Children's Home papers
Author
Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
Date
undated
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Library Details

Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library

Contact:
Rochester NY 14627-0055 USA