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Descriptive Summary
Creator:	Jewish Community Relations Council Boston-MacIver Report
Title:	Jewish Community Relations Council Boston-MacIver Report, records
Dates:	1949-1953 (bulk 1951-1952)
Abstract:	This collection contains materials collected by Boston’s JCRC, which monitored the situation as well as participated in the review of the report. Materials include news clippings, written reactions from the organizations, notes and correspondence from JCRC director Robert Segal, and the full report with recommendations, reactions and NCRAC action steps.
Languages:	The collection is in English.
Quantity:	1.5 linear feet (3 manuscript boxes)
Identification:	I-78
Repository:	American Jewish Historical Society
Location:	Located at AJHS, Boston, MA.

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Historical Note

The MacIver Report was commissioned by the National Community Relations Advisory Council (NCRAC) in order to ascertain the efficacy of services and interrelationships of specific Jewish community services organizations under the umbrella of NCRAC, which served as their policy making body. These organizations included the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans, and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. The Executive Committee of NCRAC adopted a resolution on January 12, 1950 that enabled representatives of the Evaluative Studies Committee (with support from the Large City Budgeting Conference) to select a social scientist, not associated with any Jewish organization, to objectively evaluate the activities, objectives, methodology and results of these particular organizations.

This Evaluative Studies Committee included NCRAC representatives from community Jewish relations councils, who shared four votes between them, including Harry I. Barron of Cleveland (Chairman), Mortimer Brenner of Brooklyn, Sidney Hollander of Baltimore, Leon Mesirov of Philadelphia, Sidney Shevitz of Detroit, Bernard H. Trager of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Lewis H. Weinstein of Boston. National agency representatives, also sharing four votes, included John Slawson of the American Jewish Committee, David Petegorsky of the American Jewish Congress, Samuel H. Nerlove of the Anti-Defamation League of B’Nai B’rith (Benjamin R. Epstein was an alternative), and Emanuel Muravchik of the Jewish Labor Committee. Also participating in the Committee without voting privileges were Ben Kaufman of the Jewish War Veterans and Rabbi Jay Kaufman of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Participating from the Large City Budgeting Conference, and sharing two votes, were Louis J. Cohen of Newark, Samuel A. Goldsmith of Chicago, Ephraim Gomberg of Philadelphia, Arnold Gurin and Harry L. Lurie of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, Isidore Sobeloff of Detroit, Benjamin Ulin of Boston, and Edwin Wolf II of Philadelphia.

Eventually, they chose Dr. Robert M. MacIver, Professor Emeritus and former head of the Sociology Department at Columbia University, to implement and write the evaluative report. As part of the process, Dr. MacIver led a Technical Study Committee of fellow social scientists who were associated with the Jewish organizations under evaluation. The Committee included Dr. Isidor Chein, Director of Research, Commission on Community Interrelations of the American Jewish Congress; Dr. Samuel H. Flowerman, Director of the Scientific Research Department of the American Jewish Committee; Dr. Leo Srole, Director of the Department of Scientific Analysis and Evaluation of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith; Dr. Daniel Bell, Social Science Consultant of the Jewish Labor Committee; and Harry L. Lurie, Executive Director of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. The latter was not evaluated by the Committee.

The final report examined the relationship of the national organizations to the local community relations councils as well as NCRAC (which provided leadership to the local community relations councils.) Recommendations were lengthy and focused primarily on the programmatic efforts of the organizations, as well as the relationships between the national organizations, the local community relations councils and local offices of national organizations, and the national and local agencies to NCRAC. Compiled in three sections, Section I contained the process, evaluation and recommendation of Dr. MacIver, and was submitted to NCRAC in May 1951. Section II focused on the reactions of the participating organizations, and Section III identified NCRAC’s action steps based on the recommendations presented in the report.

When the report was released, there was considerable discomfort and disagreement amongst the evaluated Jewish organizations. The American Jewish Committee was particularly unhappy with both the methodology and results of the report, arguing that Dr. MacIver never spoke directly to the directors of the national organizations, and therefore the extent of his recommendations were inappropriate. The organization was also concerned that the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds utilized the report’s recommendations to make funding decisions. The Anti-Defamation League was also quite concerned that Dr. MacIver’s report did not clearly stipulate that the ADL was, first and foremost, a defense organization, and their objectives must be evaluated with this framework. However, the Jewish Labor Committee, the Jewish War Veterans, and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations viewed the recommendations favorably. The Large Budgeting Conference accepted the findings and recommendations in the report, and commended Dr. MacIver for his work. However, the American Jewish Committee withdrew from NCRAC in 1952 as a result of the MacIver Report’s findings.

Chronology
January 12, 1950	NCRAC adopts resolution to evaluate its constituent organizations
June 9, 1950	Dr. Robert MacIver meets with the NCRAC Special Committee on Evaluative Studies to identify scope and procedures for the study
May 1951	Dr. MacIver submits Section I of the report to the NCRAC Special Committee on Evaluative Studies
November 24-26, 1951	NCRAC Plenum meets in Atlantic City to discuss recommendations of the report
September 22, 1952	The American Jewish Committee withdraws from NCRAC

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Scope and Content Note

This collection contains the documents collected by the Boston Jewish Community Relations Council regarding the work of Dr. MacIver, as well as the report and reactions of numerous organizations. As a result, the feedback of the JCRC is more detailed and contains the personal feedback of Director Robert Segal. However, the JCRC was conscientious of the impact of the report on the Jewish community and clearly strove to ensure their records encompassed as many viewpoints as possible. The report is of particular interest, but the various reactions as well as the withdrawal statement from the American Jewish Committee highlights the many concerns of Jewish services organizations in a post-World War II era.

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Arrangement

The collection is arranged into four series as follows:

• Series I: JCRC Response, 1950-1952
  • Subseries I: Segal, Robert, 1950-1952
• Series II: MacIver Report, 1951
• Series III: Organizations’ Response, undated, 1949-1954
  • Subseries I: American Jewish Committee, undated, 1951-1953
  • Subseries II: American Jewish Congress, 1951-1952
  • Subseries III: Anti-Defamation League, 1951-1952
  • Subseries IV: Miscellaneous, undated, 1949-1952, 1954
• Series IV: Reports and Speeches, undated, 1951-1953

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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 16th Street, New York, NY, 10011
email: reference@ajhs.org

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Related Material

Boston Jewish Community Relations Council, I-123
Papers of Lewis Weinstein, P-641

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Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Jewish Community Relations Council Boston-MacIver Report, records; I-78; box number; folder number; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY.

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Acquisition Information

This collection was donated to AJHS by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Boston.

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Access Points

• Subject Names:

  • MacIver, Robert M. (Robert Morrison), 1882-1970
  • Segal, Robert, 1912-
  • Weinstein, Lewis, 1905-

• Subject Topics:

  • Associations, institutions, etc. -- United States
  • Evaluation research (Social action programs)
  • United States -- Political and social conditions.
  • United States -- Societies, etc.

• Subject Places:

  • Atlantic City (N.J.)
  • Boston (Mass.)
  • New York (N.Y.)

• Subject Organizations:

  • American Jewish Congress.
  • B’nai B’rith.
  • B’nai B’rith. Anti-Defamation League
  • Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.
  • Jewish Community Relations Council (Boston, Mass.)
  • Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.)
  • Jewish War Veterans of the United States, Inc.
  • National Community Relations Advisory Council (U.S.)
  • Union of American Hebrew Congregations

• Document types:

  • Correspondence
  • Meeting minutes
  • Notes
  • Published material
  • Reports

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Container List

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

Series I: Jewish Community Relations Council Response, 1950-1952.
English.
Box 1, Folders 1-3.
Scope and Content: This series contains correspondence, meeting minutes and memos regarding the MacIver report and the reactions of various individuals and organizations in the Jewish community. Also included in this series are feedback, notes and correspondence from the Director of the JCRC, Robert Segal.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	1	Memorandums, Meeting Minutes and Misc. Correspondence	1951-1952
Subseries I: Segal, Robert, 1950-1952.
English.
Box 1, Folders 2-3.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	2	Correspondence	1950-1952
1	3	Feedback and Discussion	1951-1952

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Series II: MacIver Report, 1951.
English.
Box 1, Folders 4-5.
Scope and Content: This series contains the full publication of the MacIver report, as well as a draft version of Section I, with notes.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	4	Full Publication	1951
1	5	Section I with Notes	1951

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Series III: Organizations’ Response, undated, 1949-1954.
English.
Box 1, Folder 6 -- Box 3, Folder 5.
Scope and Content: This series contains the responses of each of the six national organizations evaluated in the report. Included in this series are official statements from the organizations, as well the published brochure announcing the American Jewish Committee’s withdrawal from NCRAC. Organizations not directly affected by the report also responded, including the Reconstructionist Foundation, the Jewish Theological Society, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and Temple Israel in Boston.
Subseries I: American Jewish Committee, undated, 1951-1953.
English.
Box 1, Folders 6-9.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
1	6	Analysis of the Barr Plan	undated
1	7	General	1951-1953
1	8	Statement of Withdrawal from NCRAC	1952
1	9	Statement on MacIver Report	1951
Subseries II: American Jewish Congress, 1951-1952.
English.
Box 2, Folders 1-2.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	1	“Implementing the MacIver Report” Brochure	1952
2	2	Memorandum on the MacIver Report	1951
Subseries III: Anti-Defamation League, 1951-1952.
English.
Box 2, Folders 3-4.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	3	General	1951-1952
2	4	“Proposals for Implementation of the Atlantic City Resolutions” (with AJ Committee)	1951
Subseries IV: Miscellaneous, undated, 1949-1952, 1954.
English.
Box 2, Folders 5 -- Box 3, Folder 5.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
2	5	Central Conference of American Rabbis	1952
2	6	Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds	1949-1952
2	7	General	undated, 1951-1952
2	8	Jewish Labor Committee	undated
2	9	Jewish Theological Seminary Institute for Religious and Social Study	1951
2	10	Jewish War Veterans	1951
2	11-12	National Community Relations Advisory Council	1951-1952
Box	Folder	Title	Date
3	1	Reconstructionist Foundation	1951-1952
3	2	Synagogue Council of America	1952
3	3	Union of American Hebrew Congregations	undated
3	4	Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America	1954
3	5	United Synagogue of America	1951

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Series IV: Reports & Speeches, undated, 1951-1953.
English.
Box 3, Folders 6-13.
Scope and Content: This series contains various written material on the MacIver Report, including news clippings, articles, and speeches detailing the issues and concerns brought forward by the report.
Box	Folder	Title	Date
3	6	“After the MacIver Report” by Rabbi S. Andhil	1953
3	7	“Facts and Myths about Jewish Community Relations” by Philip M. Klutznick	undated
3	8	“Jewish Community Relations Work Today”	undated
3	9	“MacIver Report- What is Right and what is Wrong with it?” by Abraham Duker	undated
3	10	(The) Menorah Journal	1952
3	11	News Clippings	1951-1952
3	12	Newsletters	1951-1952
3	13	Recommendations & Digest of MacIver Report	undated

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