Shanghai Collection 1924 - 1950

The collection relates to life in the ghetto and includes materials on: founding of the ghetto; relief groups such as JDC, ORT, HIAS, and SACRA (Shanghai Ashkenazic Collaborating Relief Association); political organizations such as Zionist groups, the Bund; the rabbinate; the sick and benevolent society; kitchen fund; commercial establishments; religious schools , secular schools; professional associations; art, theater and music activities; Jewish press; emigration from Shanghai after World War II. There are also manuscript histories of the Shanghai Ghetto.

Louis Marshall papers undated, 1905-1933

Chiefly material relating to activities against restrictive immigration legislation; also some items referring to decisions of the United States Supreme Court and naturalization of immigrants. Correspondence with members of the American Jewish Committee, primarily Herbert Friedenwald, Fulton Brylawski, and Max James Kohler. Contains also printed extracts of Congressional hearings and Congressional record.

Julius Bisno collection, undated, 1780, 1801-1980.

Jewish organization executive. Primarily autographs, photos, writings, speeches, and biographical material, collected by Bisno, relating to ca. 120 Jews who have attained prominence in American public life; together with papers (1923-32) from Congregation Talmud Torah of Los Angeles, letters (1928-37) relating to other Jewish organizations in Los Angeles, and 3 letters of Stephen S. Wise, dealing with the general Jewish situation in Europe in 1933 and with the question of Jewish participation in the 1936 Olympic games. Persons represented include Benjamin N. Cardozo, Abe Fortas, Felix Frankfurter, Henry Horner, Herbert H. Lehman, and Lewis L. Strauss.

Cyrus Adler papers, undated, 1883-1937.

Primarily correspondence relating to the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning, the Jewish encyclopedia, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the Smithsonian Institution and the American Jewish Historical Society. Contains also correspondence arranged alphabetically including letters from the staff of the American Hebrew, the American Jewish Committee, Theodor Herzl, the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society, the Jewish Publication Society of America, Max J. Kohler, Louis Marshall, Jacob H. Schiff, Oscar S. Straus, Henrietta Szold, Stephen S. Wise and Israel Zangwill. Contains also material on the structure of the Jewish calendar, correspondence relating to the publication of the Jefferson Bible, correspondence and research material concerning Jewish servicemen in the Spanish-American War (published in the American Jewish year book, 1900-1901), a list of ... of the U.S. Congress, material ... immigration, the Jews in Rus ... cript proof articles from the Jewish quarterly review, numerous published articles by and ... Adler, and a large quantity of manuscript notes and material on Jewish history in general and American Jewish history in particular. Includes also David Sulzberger's collected data pertaining to the Jewish population in the United States-1900.

Industrial Removal Office records undated, 1899-1922

Contains Board of Directors minutes (1903, 1907), Executive Committee minutes (1907), Removal Committee minutes (1903-1917), Annual Reports (1910, 1913), Monthly Reports (1901-1919), Monthly Bulletins (1914-1915), studies of those removed, Bressler's "The Removal Work, Including Galveston," and several papers relating to the IRO and immigration. Financial papers include a budget (1914), comparative per capita cost figures (1909-1922), audits (1915-1918), receipts and expenditures (1918-1922), investment records, bank balances (1907-1922), removal work cash book (1904-1911), office expenses cash account (1903-1906), and the financial records of other agencies working with the IRO (1906). Includes also removal case records of first the Jewish Agricultural Society (1899-1900), and then of the IRO (1901-1922) when it took over its work, family reunion case records (1901-1904), and the follow-up records of persons removed to various cities (1903-1914). Contains also the correspondence of traveling agents' contacts throughout the U.S. from 1905-1914, among them Stanley Bero, Henry P. Goldstein, Philip Seman, and Morris D. Waldman.

Lt. Colonel Rachel (Rae) Diane Landy papers undated, 1913-2000

Rachel Diane Landy Papers consist of correspondence, reminiscences, legal documents, journal, newspaper and magazine articles and color Xerox copies of photographs as well as original photographs. This collection is of value to researchers studying the history of Hadassah and the living conditions and state of medical care in Palestine during the second decade of the 20th century. It is also of interest to researchers studying women in America during the first half of the 20th century who were able to pursue a challenging and productive career and become a leader and innovator in their chosen field. In addition it will be of interest to those researching the graduates of the Cleveland public and professional schools at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, and the Cleveland Jewish community and the George Crile U.S. Army Hospital in Cleveland during the 1940's.

American Jewish Committee. Office of Jewish War Records, undated, 1918-1921, 1962.

The records consist of documentation of the American Jewish Committee's project to describe Jewish participation in the United States Armed Forces during World War I. The bulk of the material consists of questionnaires that the AJC sent to servicemen to determine Jewish identity, which contain information on personal identification and details of military service. Responses to the questionnaire come from both Jews and non-Jews. In addition, the collection contains office papers concerning the project and a ledger of manuscripts. The manuscripts document the distribution of records the Office of Jewish War Records collected, as well as list Jews who died or were given military honors.

Myer S. Isaacs collection undated, 1844, 1851-1925

Contains correspondence and newspaper clippings relating to the centennial birthday celebration of and memorial services for Sir Moses Montefiore; correspondence consists primarily of replies to a circular advocating the holding of memorial services issued by the Board of Delegates on Civil and Religious Rights from congregations in Buffalo, Charleston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Detroit. Contains also correspondence relating to the activities of the Alliance Israelite Universelle on behalf of Palestine and the Jews in the Balkan States and Morocco and to the establishment of United States committees for the Alliance and the raising of funds, including correspondence with H. Pereira Mendes, Henry S. Jacobs, John Hay, and Adolphe Cremieux as well as letters from Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Galveston, Minneapolis, Mobile, Rochester, St. Louis, and San Francisco. Also contains extensive correspondence concerning anti-semitism in Russia, aid to Jewish immigrants, and Jewish agricultural colonies in the United States, with letters from James G. Blaine, Manuel Augustus Kursheedt, Sabato Morais, Charles Nathan, Hirsch Leib Sabsovich, (Isaac N.?) Seligman and Judah Wechsler, among others. Also contains newspaper clippings and other items relating to Jewish life during the late 19th century and articles and memorabilia about various members of the Isaacs family.

Harold Debrest papers 1905-1976

The collection contains miscellaneous writings, personal correspondence and memorabilia of Debrest, an American Jewish journalist, poet and business executive. Among the correspondents are Felix Adler and Harry Truman.

Strauss-Stern Family 1902-1942

Personal and official documents relating to the life of the Strauss family during the years 1902-1940: pre-marital agreement dated February 1902 and June 1904 (Ehe und Erbvertrag); partnership agreement dated on several dates in 1905; variety of Lehrvertraege, passports, documents necessary for emigration and immigration to Italy and USA. The Lehrvertrag is dated 1920, the other documents pertain to the period from 1938 to 1942. "Schulzeugnisse" from the early 1900s.

Kirkon vai valtion kirjat? : Uskontokuntasidonnaisuuden ongelma Suomen väestökirjanpidossa 1839-1904

The Population Register – run by the Church or the state? The problem posed by the obligation to belong to a religious community in the registration of births and deaths in Finland between 1839 and 1904 The Lutheran Church of Finland is the nation’s largest church; approximately 82 per cent of Finns were members in 2007. The Church ran an official register of its members until 1999, when the state then undertook this task. The registration of births and deaths by the Church has a long history dating back to the 17th century, when Bishop Johannes Gezelius Sr. decreed that all parish members would have to be recorded in parish registers. These registers were used to control how well parish members knew the Christian doctrine and, gradually, also if they were literate. Additionally, the Church attempted to ensure by means of the parish registers that parish members went to Holy Communion annually. Since everyone was a member of the Lutheran Church, the state also took advantage of the parish registers and used them for the purposes of tax collection and conscription. The main research theme of “The Population Register – run by the Church or the state?” goes back to these times. The actual research period covers the years of 1839–1904. At that time Finland was under Russian rule, although autonomous. In the late 19th century the press and different associations in Finland began to engage in public debate, and the country started moving from a submissive society to a civic one. The identity of the Lutheran Church also became more prominent when the Church Act and the General Synod were realised in 1869. A few years earlier, municipal and parish administrations had been separated, but the general registration of births and deaths was left to the Church to see to. In compliance with the constitution of the country, all the inhabitants in principle still had to be Lutheran. In practice, the situation was different. The religious and ideological realms diversified, and the Lutheran concept of religion was no longer acceptable to everyone. The conflict was reflected in the registration of births and deaths, which was linked to the Lutheran Church and its parish registers. Nobody was allowed to leave the Church, there was no civil register, and the Lutheran Church did not consent to record unbaptized children in the parish registers. Therefore such children were left without civil rights. Thus the obligation to belong to a religious community had become a problem in the registration of births and deaths. The Lutheran clergy also appealed to the 1723 privileges, according to which they had been exempted from the drawing up of additional population registers. In 1889 Finland passed the Dissenters Act. By virtue of this act the Baptists and the Methodists left the state Church, but this was not the case with the members of the free churches. The freethinkers had to retain their church membership, as the law did not apply to them. This meant that the unbaptized children of the members of the free churches or those of freethinkers were still not entered in any registers. The children were not able to go to school, work for the state or legally marry. Neither were they able to inherit property, as they did not legally exist. The system of parish registers was created when everyone was required to be a member of the Lutheran Church, but it did not work when liberal attitudes eventually penetrated the sphere of religion, too. The government´s measures to solve the problem were slow and cautious, partly because Finland was part of Russia, partly because there were only about 100 unbaptized children. As the problem group was small and the state´s resources were limited, no general civil register was established. The state accepted the fact that in spite of the problems, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the congregations of dissenters were the only official establishments to run populations registers in the country, and for social purposes, too. In 1900 the Diet of Finland finally approved a limited civil register, which unbaptized children and unregistered foreigners would be recorded in. Due to political reasons the civil register did not come into existence until 1917, after the actual research period.

Manuscript Items relating to the Civil War, including letters

Digital image

Legacies of War--[Ten percent terror]

Ten Percent Terror brings together leading creatives from the fields of contemporary theatre, contemporary dance, music theatre, circus and digital arts in the first collaboration of its kind. Commissioned by Brisbane Powerhouse, with support from the Anzac Centenary Arts and Culture Fund and in partnership with Dancenorth and Company 2, this is an inter-disciplinary work that combines theatrical narrative with eloquent physicality, through circus and dance, to express certain truths of the soldiers' experience. This production will be a circus-narrative that uses the form and language of circus to express the key themes of risk, panic and brotherhood. Ten Percent Terror is intended to be a work of scale, yet also intimacy: of stillness and panic, inertia and chaos. Project partners, Dancenorth and Company 2, share the vision to use contemporary artistic disciplines to connect younger and modern audiences to the ANZAC legacy, perhaps offering a connection for those audiences that they may not find through more traditional art forms. The development process has included a community research project in Townsville, conducted by Shane Pike, which explored contemporary Australians’ stories through interviews with serving military personnel and the local community, as well as collecting photographic documentation and other artefacts from around Townsville. This was followed by an archival research project in Brisbane, where Pike reviewed letters, photographs and personal accounts of soldiers from WW1. The results of these projects will be used by the creative team to inform the development of Ten Percent Terror. Given Townsville’s reputation as Australia’s ‘garrison’ city, the project partners plan to deliver the world premiere performance of Ten Percent Terror in Townsville in late 2015. It is intended that Ten Percent Terror will receive its Brisbane premiere in November 2015 at Brisbane Powerhouse, as part of a four-performance season. This expert panel included discussion of the project and its place in analysing key aspects of Australia's wartime history.

The Soviet Union, Finland and the Cold War : The Finnish Card in Soviet Foreign Policy, 1956-1959

From the Soviet point of view the actual substance of Soviet-Finnish relations in the second half of 1950s clearly differed from the contemporary and later public image, based on friendship and confidence rhetoric. As the polarization between the right and the left became more underlined in Finland in the latter half of the 1950s, the criticism towards the Soviet Union became stronger, and the USSR feared that this development would have influence on Finnish foreign policy. From the Soviet point of view, the security commitments of FCMA-treaty needed additional guarantees through control of Finnish domestic politics and economic relations, especially during international crises. In relation to Scandinavia, Finland was, from the Soviet point of view, the model country of friendship or neutrality policy. The influence of the Second Berlin Crisis or the Soviet-Finnish Night Frost Crisis in 1958-1959 to Soviet policy towards Scandinavia needs to be observed from this point of view. The Soviet Union used Finland as a tool, in agreement with Finnish highest political leadership, for weakening of the NATO membership of Norway and Denmark, and for maintaining Swedish non-alliance. The Finnish interest to EFTA membership in the summer of 1959, at the same time with the Scandinavian countries, seems to have caused a panic reaction in the USSR, as the Soviets feared that these economic arrangements would reverse the political advantages the country had received in Finland after the Night Frost Crisis. Together with history of events, this study observes the interaction of practical interests and ideologies, both in individuals and in decision-making organizations. The necessary social and ideological reforms in the Soviet Union after 1956 had influence both on the legitimacy of the regime, and led to contradictions in the argumentation of Soviet foreign policy. This was observed both in the own camp as well as in the West. Also, in Finland a breakthrough took place in the late 1950's: as the so-called counter reaction lost to the K-line, "a special relationship" developed with the Soviet Union. As a consequence of the Night Frost Crisis the Soviet relationship became a factor decisively defining the limits of domestic politics in Finland, a part of Finnish domestic political argumentation. Understood from this basis, finlandization is not, even from the viewpoint of international relations, a special case, but a domestic political culture formed by the relationship between a dominant state, a superpower, and a subordinate state, Finland.

State Agent, Identity and the "New World Order" : Reconstructing Polish Defence Identity after the Cold War Era

National identity signifies and makes state s defence- and foreign policy behaviour meaningful. National consciousness is narrated into existence by narratives upon one s own exceptionalism and Otherness of the other nations. While national identity may be understood merely as a self-image of a nation, defence identity refers to the borders of Otherness and issues that have been considered as worth defending for. As national identities and all the world order models are human constructions, they may be changed by the human efforts as well; states and nations may deliberately promote communitarian or even cosmopolitan equality and tolerance without borders of Otherness. The main research question of the thesis is: How does Poland constitute herself as a nation and a state agent in the current world order and to what extent have contextual foreign and defence policy interactions changed the Polish defence identity during the post-Cold War era? The main empirical argument of the thesis is: Poland is a narrated idea of a Christian Catholic nation-state, which the Polish State, the Catholic Church of Poland, the Armed Forces of Poland as well as a majority of the Polish nation share. Polish defence identity has been almost impenetrable to contextual foreign and defence policy interactions during the post-Cold War era. While Christian religious ontology binds corporate Poland together, allowing her to survive any number of military and political catastrophes, it simultaneously brings her closer to the USA, raises tensions in the infidel EU-context, and restrains corporate Poland s pursuit of communitarian, or even cosmopolitan, global equality and tolerance. It is not the case that corporate Poland s foreign and defence policy orientation is instinctively Atlanticist by nature, as has been argued. Rather, it has been the State s rational project to overcome a habituated and reified fear of becoming geopolitically sandwiched between Russian and German Others by leaning on the USA; among the Polish nation, support for the USA has been declining since 2004. It is not corporate Poland either that has turned into a constructive European , as has been argued, but rather the Polish nation that has, at least partly, managed to emancipate itself from its habituation to a betrayal by Europe narrative, since it favours the EU as much as it favours NATO. It seems that in the Polish case a truly common European CFSP vis-à-vis Russia may offer a solution that will emancipate the Polish State from its habituated EU-sceptic role identity and corporate Poland from its narrated borders of Otherness towards Russia and Germany, but even then one cannot be sure whether any other perspective than the Polish one on a common stand towards Russia would satisfy the Poles themselves.