Oscar I. Janowsky Papers

This collection consists of the personal and professional correspondence, research files, various clippings, and work of Oscar I. Janowsky.

Series I: Academic

His work as a professor and administrator is documented in Series I: Academic. This bulk of this series documents his career at the City College of New York. Of particular interest are those files pertaining to his work establishing City College's graduate program in history. This includes correspondence to colleagues and college officials, and committee meeting minutes and reports. During his tenure at City College, Janowsky was integral to the establishment of the Metropolitan New York Area Studies department by securing grants from the Rockefeller and Stuart Hirschmann Foundations. Related to his research is the file containing his coursework for a class on modern imperialism.

This series also documents his work with the American Friends of Hebrew University and Hebrew University where he served as a member of the Academic Council, Library Committee, and Board of Governors. The type of records found here include correspondence, meeting minutes, and reports. In addition to this material are an assortment of correspondence with colleagues, friends, students, and other universities.

Series II: League of Nations

His work with the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, James G. McDonald is documented in the second series of this collection. Due to the differing types of material, the series required additional division into subseries. The first subseries contains the correspondence of Janowsky with associates and others. The second subseries contains correspondence, diaries, and reports of Commissioner McDonald. Of particular importance is a copy of McDonald’s letter of resignation. Along with this letter are various clippings and correspondence collected by Janowsky in the aftermath of McDonald’s resignation.

Janowsky’s work as an advisor and scholar in pre-war Europe, specifically his research and observations on the plight of minorities, especially Jews, is documented in the sub-series three, titled Papers and Reports. Much of the material here is part of his larger research files associated with minorities found in Series IV: Research and Writings – Sub-series 1. These papers were not moved due to issues of original order. Found in this sub-series are the notes and drafts of two of his major works International Aspects of German Racial Policies, which he coauthored with Melvin Fagan, and People at Bay.

Sub-series four that contains a number of photographs. A unique document in this collection is the photo-essay, "Pictorial experiences of a Dutch motor cyclist," depicting German anti-Semitism through various signage.

Series III: Personal

This series contains material related to the personal and professional life of Oscar Janowsky as researcher and scholar. This series has been divided into six sub-series due to the various types of documents and their content.

The first sub-series is an assortment of clippings, notes, notices, mailings, records, and speeches made by Oscar Janowsky throughout his career. Of particular interest to the researcher are Janowsky’s obituary and his official records and credentials.

The second grouping is his correspondence to various friends, colleagues, and associates. These include such notable figures as Cyrus Adler, Morton Gottschall, Louis Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter, James, T. Shotwell, Salo Baron, and many others. Topically this material is quite diverse and ranges from a personal statement made to his youngest child and her husband to correspondence with Hebrew University regarding Janowsky’s honorary doctorate.

The third sub-series contains the diaries of Oscar Janowsky from 1917 to 1988 with gaps. The format of this material consists of loose sheets that appear to have been part of a bound volume and small day planners that were used as diaries.

An unpublished autobiography is found in the fourth sub-series. The memoirs of Oscar Janowsky can be found here in draft form with various notes and marginalia found throughout the sub-series. The manuscript appears to be complete with the exception of a chapter 2.

The fifth sub-series contains various printed mementos and memorabilia collected during his trips abroad. The last sub-series contains various photos of Janowsky with colleagues and unnamed persons.

Series IV: Research and Writings

This series contains the bulk of this collection. Included in this series is an assortment of clippings, notes, and correspondence documenting the thought processes and observations made in the course of producing works related to his research interests. This series was divided into three parts based primarily on content, except in the case of the note cards.

The first sub-series documents the main focus of his research efforts. These include such topics as American Jewry and anti-Semitism to Human Rights and Jewish Community Centers to Israel and Minorities. Within this topical arrangement the researcher will find all of Janowsky’s notes, clippings, drafts, articles, and assorted information pertaining to each topic.

The second sub-series contains an assortment of clippings from newspapers and journals on a variety of topics ranging from the clearly defined "Media Bias in Headlines" to the ambiguously titled “Cynical, Droll, Antics, Sloganeering.” These clippings, while not part of the larger research file, are tangentially connected to the research interests of Janowsky.

The third sub-series contains the note cards related to the research of Oscar Janowsky. These have been left in the arrangement as found in his file cabinet. They contain notes and clippings related to his major interests found in the research files and his minor interests as found in the clippings folders. Any researcher should consider examining these for additional information; while they may lack the overall depth of his main research files, they should be considered supplemental to them.