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Descriptive Summary
Creator:	Jewish Chronicle, The
Title:	Soviet Jewry Collection
Dates:	undated, 1963-1983, 1990
Abstract:	The Jewish Chronicle is a weekly newspaper covering local, national and global news for the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and its vicinity. The collection contains information and photographs used by The Jewish Chronicle for coverage of the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union during the decades of 1960s and 1970s. The bulk of the materials originated from the Soviet Jewry movement organizations and other Jewish institutions in the United States and includes publications, press releases, correspondence and photographs related to Soviet Jews.
Languages:	The collection is in English.
Quantity:	1 linear foot (2 manuscript boxes)
Identification:	I-523
Repository:	American Jewish Historical Society

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Historical Note

The Soviet Jewry files of The Jewish Chronicle represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). These papers reflect the effort, beginning in the 1960s through the late 1980s, of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Jews in the Soviet Union. The American Soviet Jewry Movement (ASJM) is considered to be the most influential Movement of the American Jewish community in the 20th century. The beginnings of the organized American Soviet Jewry Movement became a model for efforts to aid Soviet Jews in other countries, among them Great Britain, Canada, and France. The movement can be traced to the early 1960s, when the first organizations were created to address the specific problem of the persecution and isolation of Soviet Jews by the government of the Soviet Union.

The Jewish Chronicle is a weekly newspaper covering local, national and global news for the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and its vicinity.

The collection contains information and photographs used by The Jewish Chronicle for coverage of the situation of Jews in the Soviet Union during the decades of 1960s and 1970s. The bulk of the materials originated from the Soviet Jewry movement and other Jewish organizations in the United States and includes publications, press releases, correspondence and photographs related to Soviet Jews. The collection also contains articles, pamphlets and press releases from non-Jewish organizations in the United States and Israel concerned with human rights and civil liberties. Files on special projects by the American Jewish communities designed to raise awareness of the Soviet Jewry movement are also included. The collection also features news clippings and materials aggregated from the information agencies on the subjects pertaining to Soviet Jewry and general background information on the U.S.S.R., and a large number of photographs.

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Scope and Content Note

The Jewish Chronicle Soviet Jewry Collection contains correspondence, clippings, releases, pamphlets and photographs.

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Arrangement

The collection is arranged into a single series.

• Jewish Chronicle, The, Soviet Jewry Collection, undated, 1963-1983, 1990

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The collection is open to all researchers by permission of the Director of Library and Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society, except items that are restricted due to their fragility.

Use Restrictions

Information concerning the literary rights may be obtained from the Director of Library and Archives of the American Jewish Historical Society. Users must apply in writing for permission to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection. For more information contact:

American Jewish Historical Society, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16^th Street, New York, N.Y., 10011 email: reference@ajhs.org

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Related Material

The Jewish Chronicle Soviet Jewry Collection is one individual collection within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM) located at the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS). Other Soviet Jewry Movement collections at AJHS include the records of Action for Soviet Jewry (I-487), the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ; I-181 and I-181A), the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (I-410, I-410A), Houston Action for Soviet Jewry (I-500), Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews (I-505), Seattle Action for Soviet Jewry (I-507), Medical Mobilization for Soviet Jewry, the papers of Joel Ackerman (P-787), Julia Mates Cheney (P-806), Jerry Goodman (P-863), Laurel and Alan J. Gould (P-866), Leah Lieberman (P-869), Carolyn W. Sanger (P-870), Si Frumkin (P-871), Elaine Pittell (P-873), Sanford A. Gradinger (P-880), Shaul Osadchey (P-882), Leonard S. Cahan (P-883), Doris H. Goldstein (P-887), David H. Hill (P-888), Margery Sanford (P-889), Pinchas Mordechai Teitz (P-891), David Waksberg (P-895), Pamela B. Cohen (P-897), Moshe Decter (P-899), William Korey (P-903), Morey Schapira (P-906), Charlotte Gerper Turner (P-907), Myrtle Sitowitz (P-908), Kathleen M. Hyman (P-911), Babette Wampold (P-912) and Rabbi David Goldstein and Shannie Goldstein (P-918).

Individual accounts of activities within the Soviet Jewry Movement are preserved in the UJA Oral History Collection (I-433), which includes accounts from members of the following organizations: the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, Bay Area Council on Soviet Jews (BACSJ), Seattle Action for Soviet Jews, Houston Action for Soviet Jews, Chicago Action for Soviet Jews, Colorado Committee of Concern for Soviet Jews and the National Conference on Soviet Jewry. Interviewees include accounts by Lillian Forman (BACSJ), Ann Polunsky, Morey Schapira, Myrtle Sitowitz, Deborah Turkin, David Waksberg, Sylvia Weinberg and Dolores Wilkenfeld. In addition, posters related to the Soviet Jewry Movement can be found in the Jewish Student Organizations Collection (I-61).

Additional materials from other collections include records dealing with the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) located within the North American Jewish Students Appeal (NAJSA, I-338) and the records of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC, I-172). Related records are also located at the AJHS in Newton Centre, MA including memorabilia and ephemera of the New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (I-237) and the Records of the Student Coalition for Soviet Jewry – Brandeis University (I-493).

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Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Jewish Chronicle, The, Soviet Jewry Collection ; I-523; box number; folder number; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY.

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Acquisition Information

Donated by the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, PA in 2011.

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Access Points

• Subject Organizations:

  • Anti-defamation League
  • Cleveland Council on Soviet Anti-Semitism
  • Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews
  • Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry
  • Union of Councils for Soviet Jews
  • United Jewish Appeal

• Subject Topics:

  • Antisemitism
  • Emigration and immigration
  • Human rights
  • Jews, Soviet
  • Jews--Soviet Union--Politics and government
  • Refuseniks

• Subject Places:

  • Soviet Union
  • United States

• Document Types:

  • Articles
  • Clippings
  • Correspondence
  • Memorandums
  • Pamphlets
  • Photographs

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Container List

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Jewish Chronicle, The, Soviet Jewry Collection, undated, 1963-1983, 1990.
The series is in English..
2 manuscript boxes.
Scope and Content: See the collection Scope and Content Note.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	1	American Conference on Soviet Jewry	1963-1966, 1970
1	2	Anti-Defamation League	1964
1	3	Cleveland Council on Soviet Antisemitism	undated, 1966-1967, 1971
1	4	Clippings	1964-1978
1	5	Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews	undated, 1961, 1967
1	6	Council of Jewish Federations	1979
1	7	Estonian American National Council	1967, 1971
1	8	Hadassah	1971
1	9	Israel International Information Council	undated
1	10	Jewish Telegraphic Agency	1963, 1974, 1979
1	11	Matzoh of Opression Ceremonial (Fourth Matzoh)	undated, 1969
1	12	National Conference on Soviet Jewry	undated, 1961, 1976, 1978-1979
1	13	Press Releases and Correspondence	undated, 1966, 1969-1977, 1979
1	14	Prisoners of Conscience	undated, 1979
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	1	Publications	undated, 1964-1965, 1967, 1969, 1970-1971
2	2	Refuseniks and Prisoners of Conscience	undated, 1978-1983
2	3	Soviet Jewry Freedom Bus	undated
2	4	Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry	undated, 1969-1971, 1973-1979
2	5	U. S. Government Materials Related to Soviet Jews	1968, 1970, 1972
2	6	U.S.S.R. Background Information: Soviet Space Program, Navy, Soviets in the Middle East, Siberia	1964, 1967, 1970, 1973, 1975
2	7	U.S.S.R. Embassy	undated
2	8	Union of Councils for Soviet Jews	undated
2	9	United Jewish Appeal	undated, 1990
2	10	Washington Committee for Soviet Jewry	1970-1971, 1973, 1979
2	11	World Jewish Congress	1964
2	12	World Zionist Organization	1970
2	13	Photographs	undated, 1973, 1975
2	14	Photographs: NANA Photo Service	1974
2	15	Photographs: UJA Press Service	1990

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