Archives
Guide to Jewish History Collections at The New Jersey Historical Society
MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS
- MG 802 William F. Cone (1874-1966) Business records and negatives, 1880s -1966
- MG 831 George Julius Miller (1895-1974) Papers, ca. 1724-1960
- MG 1082 Jack C. Richer Papers, 1917-1919
- MG 1320 Elizabeth Blume-Silverstein (1892-1991) Papers, 1918-950
- MG 1350 Solomon Foster (b. 1878) Papers, ca. 1900-1940s
- MG 1362 Newark, New Jersey Photograph Collection: Berg Collection, 1960-1968
- MG 1362 Newark, New Jersey Photograph Collection: Newark-Area Photograph Album, 1900-1907
- MG 1509 Poster Collection, ca. 1914-1997
- MG 1574 Samuel G. Ziger Papers
- MG 1638 William Steinitz Papers
- PUBLISHED MATERIALS
MG 802 William F. Cone (1874-1966) Business records and negatives, 1880s -1966
1 linear foot of records and 9,400 images
Relevant materials
Series 5: Institutions & People. 1890s-1966. 1510+ items
This series documents mostly Newark and Essex County charitable, health care, educational and religious institutions and people in the early 20th century. It includes images of charitable organizations, hospitals, schools, government buildings, churches, portraits of people, parks, and other institutions.
Charitable or similar institutions include the Newark Female Charitable Society, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum, the Goodwill Home & Rescue Mission, the Home for Crippled Children, the Home for the Aged, and the Anti-Saloon League. Hospitals and health-care-related institutions include the Babies’ Hospital, the Homeopathic Hospital, Essex County Hospital, the Clara Maas Hospital, Mecca College of Chiropractic, the Presbyterian Hospital, the Visiting Nurses Association, Orange Memorial Hospital and dental clinics.
MG 831 George Julius Miller (1895-1974) Papers, ca. 1724-1960
6 linear feet
Summary
Includes scrapbooks concerning Perth Amboy, Jewish life, and the career of George J. Miller of the Board of General Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey; card files, notes, and writings on New Jersey colonial history and law; page proofs with marginal notes and corrections; bills, petitions, dockets, and other original court records of the Chancery of New Jersey, 1724-48, and of the Middlesex County Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, 1744; documents signed by James Alexander, William Burnet, Fenwick Lyell, and Lewis Morris (1691- 1746); court cases pertaining to John Bowne, Daniel Coxe, Richard Salter, James Seabrook, and others.
MG 1082 Jack C. Richer Papers, 1917-1919
27 folders
Summary
Jack Richer was born in Newark in 1893, attended Barringer High School, graduated from Rutgers College in 1913, and New Jersey Law School in 1916. After graduating from law school Jack joined the United States Navy for two years, 1917-1919 and followed his military career by working for the New Jersey State Highway department and then the Newark Water Department.
The Jack C. Riucher Papers consist of letters Richer sent and received during his military service in World War I, and spans the years 1917-1919. The collection also includes various military documents pertinent to Richer’s service, as well as newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. Much of the material documents the experiences of a Jewish family in New Jersey during World War I. Elements of the collection are in Yiddish.
The collection has several research values. Richer’s correspondence provides information on his experience in war-time France, and more importantly, the full interchange of letters between Richer and his family reveals ways in which the war affected the life of a Jewish family in Newark. Also, the effects of the war on Newark itself are evident through this collection. These papers are pertinent to research on war, women, ethnic groups and urban history.
MG 1320 Elizabeth Blume-Silverstein (1892-1991) Papers, 1918-950
0.25 linear feet
Summary
Collection of papers and memorabilia relating to Elizabeth Blume-Silverstein, a prominent Newark attorney. Blume-Silverstein was the first female lawyer in New Jersey to represent without assistance a defendant in a murder case. She was also a co-founder of the World Jewish Congress.
MG 1350 Solomon Foster (b. 1878) Papers, ca. 1900-1940s
10 linear feet
Summary
Consists of the personal and professional papers of a noted Newark rabbi. Rabbi Solomon Foster was the spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Jeshurun, Newark, New Jersey. The collection includes personal as well as community based material: Temple documents, correspondence, printed matter, a large collection of the Rabbi’s sermons, Masonic material, as well as extensive correspondence from pre 1900 through the 1940s. In addition, a large collection of religious publications that the Rabbi gathered, as well as a collection of mail (mainly form letters from the 1920s and 30s) from various Jewish organizations.
MG 1362 Newark, New Jersey Photograph Collection: Berg Collection, 1960-1968
3 boxes
Related materials
Roll 4, 504 33 N side W. Kinney look E from SW corner Quitman, Jewish Aged Home. (1960 July 4)
Roll 26, 562 2 SW corner Halsey & Central, # 36 Central, Jewish Charities (1960 July 21)
MG 1362 Newark, New Jersey Photograph Collection: Newark-Area Photograph Album, 1900-1907
3 folders
Related materials
Item 36 Hebrew Hospital: corner of High & Kinney Streets (1906 July)
MG 1509 Poster Collection, ca. 1914-1997
ca. 300 posters
Related materials
Poster 030 – Seventy Thousand Jewish Boys in the Army and Navy
Poster 109 – The Jewish Welfare Board
Poster 118 – Civilians: The Jewish Welfare Board
Poster 188 – Share. New Jersey Drive for $1,000,000. Jewish Relief Campaign
MG 1574 Samuel G. Ziger Papers
ca. 5 linear feet
Summary
Samuel George Ziger was born in Austria in ca. 1891. He emigrated with his family ca. 1896 and settled in Newark. His first known address was 125 Peshine Avenue and later lived at 39 Ridgewood Avenue. As a child he exhibited a remarkable natural talent in art. Throughout his youth he drew independently and made copies in numerous sketchbooks. In approximately 1907 he enrolled in the Newark Free Drawing School, located in Academy Street. He studied there for a number of years, eventually becoming a teacher in the same institution. In 1913 he married Leah Cohen, daughter of Newark Rabbi A.A. Cohen. Sam and Leah had 2 children: Gertrude Sarah born March 25, 1914, and Jerome A., born March 25, 1919. In 1940 the family moved to 251 Dorer Avenue, Hillside. Samuel Ziger worked most of his life for Aetna Photo and Engraving, NYC. He also illustrated medical and dental books, painted portraits, designed calendars, drew and painted landscapes in and around Newark. He died at home, at age 70, May 3, 1962.
Includes drawings made while either a student or teacher at the Newark Free Drawing School, family photographs, and memorabilia.
MG 1638 William Steinitz Papers
.39 linear feet
Consists of the correspondence, photographs, clippings, and ephemera of William Steinitz, chess strategist and the first World Chess Champion, and one time resident of Upper Montclair, NJ.
Applebaum, Joy Zacharia. The history of Jews in Teaneck. [Teaneck, N.J.: Jewish Community Council, c1977] (N 296.6 Ap 48)
Averick, Evelyn. A historic narrative … the story of Temple Emanu-El, Westfield, New Jersey. New York: Unbekant Typographers, Inc., 1981. (N 296.65 Un3we)
Bloom, Santley. Szklaniewicz family tree. [Bridgewater, N.J.: the author, 1988]. (929.2 Sz 98) Brandes, Joseph. Immigrants to freedom: Jewish communities in rural New Jersey since 1882. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, c1971. (N 296 B73)
Daughters of Israel Pleasant Valley Home, West Orange, N.J. Our first 75 years … 1970-1982. [N.p., 1982]. (Pamphlet file)
Dubrovsky, Gertrude Wishnick. The land was theirs: Jewish farmers in the Garden State. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1992. (N 974.9 D819)
Eisenberg, Ellen. Jewish agricultural colonies In New Jersey, 1882-1920. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1995. (974.9004924 E 362)
Feinberg, Milton A. A history of the Jewish Federation of greater Trenton: the first fifty years, 1929-1979. Trenton: Jewish Federation of Greater Trenton, 1980. (Pamphlet file)
Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society, Newark, N.J. Annual report of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society, and United Hebrew Charities. 1890, 1904, 1914. (Pamphlet file)
The Jewish community blue book. Newark, N.J.: Jewish Community Blue Book Publishing Co., [1924?]. (Reading Room)
Jewish Education Association of Essex County. The Essex story: a history of the Jewish community in Essex County, New Jersey. Newark, N.J.: the author, c.1955. (N 296 J54)
Kurzweil, Arthur. From generation to generation: how to trace your Jewish genealogy and personal history. New York: Schocken Books, 1982, c1980. (Ref 929.1089924 K 97)
Kurzweil, Arthur and Miriam Weiner, eds. The encyclopedia of Jewish genealogy. Northvale, N.J.: J. Aronson, c1991- (929.1089924 K972)
Our Paterson Jewish Heritage. 2nd ed. [S.l.: Jewish Historical Society of North Jersey, 1987] (Pamphlet file)
Passaic, N.J. Jewish Community Council. Jewish roots: a history of the Jewish community of Passaic, N.J. Passaic, N.J.: Tercentenary Committee of the Jewish Community Council of Passaic-Clifton and vicinity, 1959. (Reading Room)
Patt, Ruth Marcus. The Jewish Scene in New Jersey’s Raritan Valley, 1698-1948. New Brunswick: N.J.: Jewish Historical Society of Raritan Valley, 1978. (N 296 P276)
Patt, Ruth Marcus. New Jersey Jewish history: a bibliographical guide. 2nd ed. New Brunswick, N.J.: Jewish Historical Society of Central Jersey, c1984, 1987. (Pamphlet file)
Patt, Ruth Marcus. The Workman’s Circle: its New Jersey story. Sommerset, N.J.: Jewish Historical Society of Central Jersey, 1989. (N 296 P276 Sup. 3)
Pine, Alan S. Peddler to suburbanite: the history of the Jews of Monmouth County, New Jersey, from the colonial period to 1980. Deal Park, N.J.: Monmouth Jewish Community Council, c1981. (N 296 P652)
Shapiro, Edward S. Ethnicity and employment: the early years of the Jewish Vocational Service of Newark. Newark: The New Jersey Historical Society, 1988. (N 974.9 N421212)
Werb, Morris. Jewish suburbia: an historical and comparative study of Jewish communities in three New Jersey suburbs. [Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International, 1981]. (Reading Room)
