Jewish Labor Committee Photographs
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Dates
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General Physical Description note
Language of Materials
Abstract
The Jewish Labor Committee was founded in 1934 for the purpose of organizing opposition to fascism and providing assistance to its victims. It maintained close contact with European resistance movements, and was able to effect the rescue of several thousand labor and socialist activists, their families and other refugees. After World War II, the Committee continued its program of relief to Holocaust victims and reconstruction of Jewish culture by financing Yiddish libraries, schools, and cultural centers throughout Europe and Israel, in addition to campaigning for trade union rights and against religious discrimination. The bulk of the material relates to the years immediately following World War II through the 1950s, and includes many photographs relating to the Committee's relief programs for Holocaust victims, especially children. Of special interest are images of the children's performances: singing, dancing, theater. Also depicted are supporters, including: David Dubinsky, Leon Blum, and Jacob Pat. In addition, there are images of Committee-supported Yiddish libraries, schools, and cultural centers, as well as, several hundred portrait photographs of individual children from the Committee's Child Adoption program.
Historical Note
The Jewish Labor Committee, an umbrella group of Jewish trade unions and fraternal organizations, was founded in 1934 for the purpose of organizing opposition to fascism and providing assistance to its victims. It maintained close contact with European resistance movements and was able to effect the rescue of several hundred labor and socialist activists and their families, as well as other refugees. After World War II, the Committee continued its program of relief to Holocaust victims, providing regular shipments of food, clothing, and medical supplies. It cooperated with other Jewish agencies in helping reunite families, and organized a "Child Adoption" program through which American trade unionists supported thousands of destitute children. The Committee contributed to the reconstruction of Jewish culture after 1945 by financing Yiddish libraries, schools, and cultural centers throughout Europe and Israel. In addition, the Committee has campaigned for trade union rights in the United States and abroad, and against anti-Semitism and other forms of racial and religious discrimination.
Arrangement
Within each series, the progression is from the specific to the general (i.e., in SERIES I, SUBSERIES D, the arrangement moves from JLC-sponsored civil rights activities to general photographs related to the civil rights movements).
The files are grouped into 5 series:
Missing Title
- Series I: General Activities, 1930s-1980s
- Series II: Personalities
- Series III: Aid To Children
- Series IV: Photograph Albums And Oversized Photographs
- Series V: Unprocessed
Scope and Content Note
The bulk of this material is concentrated in the years immediately following World War II and in the 1950s, and includes many photographs relating to the Committee's relief programs for Holocaust victims, especially children. Most of these photographs were shot in Europe (including Austria, Belgium, England, Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland, but with the largest number shot in France) and in Israel. They are particularly strong in images of children's homes supported by the Committee--often in concert with the Workmen's Circle or United States labor unions. These include images of the exteriors of the homes themselves (several are quite impressive, resembling small chateaux), and of various activities within them: children at meals, in class, playing, getting dressed, being examined by medical personnel, etc. Of special interest are images of the children's performances: singing, dancing, theater. Also depicted are visitors/supporters of the homes, including David Dubinsky, Leon Blum, Jacob Pat, and others. In addition, there are several hundred portrait photographs of individual children supported by the Committee through its Child Adoption program. The collection also includes images of Yiddish libraries, schools, and cultural centers financed by the Committee in Europe and in Israel, photographs of performances by two Yiddish/Jewish theater groups in postwar Germany (the Baderekh Theater in Berlin and the "Mit" Theater in Munich), images of displaced persons camps, and of the activities (demonstrations, summer camps, performances) of European organizations allied with the Committee, such as the Jewish Labor Bund, Left Poalei Zion, and SKIF (the youth arm of the Bund).
The collection is arranged and subdivided as follows: Series I-General Activities, 1930s To 1980s:Subseries A: Establishment of JLC and Early ActivitiesSubseries B: Holocaust and Jewish Life in Europe Under the NazisSubseries C: Postwar Aid ActivitiesSubseries D: Anti-Discrimination and Pro-Human Rights ActivitiesSubseries E: Other Postwar ActivitiesSubseries F: JLC Staff, Branches, Chapters, Divisions, and CommitteesSubseries G: Miscellaneous
Series II-Personalities:Subseries A: JLC LeadershipSubseries B: General
Series III-Aid to Children:Subseries A: Child Adoption ProgramSubseries B: European Orphanages and Children's Homes and Other Child Aid Activities (except for France)Subseries C: Children's Homes and Orphanages and Other Child Aid Activities in France
Series IV, Oversized Albums and Panorama Portraits
Folder labels denote series, subseries, individual folder numbers, and topic. For example, the folder entitled "Wartime food and clothing drives and other activities" is labeled as follows: I-A-3: Wartime food and clothing drives and other activities (i.e. Series I, Subseries A, Folder 3).
In addition, two appendices provide more information on the contents of the collection. They consist of a partial guide to photographs of prominent individuals represented in Series I of the collection (see Appendix 1; Series II: Personalities also has photographs of the same and other individuals), and a list of translations of the Yiddish captions/annotations for nearly all the images that have such notations --a total of approximately 1700 photographs (see Appendix 2).
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
People
Topics
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (and related rights to publicity and privacy) to materials in this collection, created by the Jewish Labor Committee, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Jewish Labor Committee Photographs; PHOTOS 048; Box number; Folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The first shipment of the Jewish Labor Committee Records arrived at the Tamiment Library in 1984. The accession numbers associated with these donations are 1984.002 and 1984.006. A number of addition donations to the collection have been made by the JLC and its individual members over the years. The accession numbers associated with the photographs donated by JLC and its members are 1984.015, 2011.091, NPA.1991.001, NPA.1991.005, NPA.1991.011, NPA.1995.024, NPA.1996.015, NPA.2003.023, NPA.2005.160 and NPA.2009.026.
Separated Materials
This collection is comprised of photographs that were separated from the Tamiment Library's Jewish Labor Committee Records, Parts I, II, and III (WAG 025.001, WAG 025.002, and WAG 025.003) as these collections were processed during the 1990s and 2000s.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Materials have been rehoused in archival folders and containers.
