Boris Moiseevič Sapir Collection
Period
(1873-) 1945-1966
Total size
1.24
m.
Consultation
Not restricted
History
Boris Sapir (1902-1989), archivist and Menshevik historian, was director of the Research Department of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC); this organization served since 1914 as overseas arm of the American Jewish community; first aim was to help needy Jews in Palestine and in war-torn Europe during World War I; JDC helped local Jewish communities establish relief programs and health and child care facilities in Poland and Russia; as Hitler consolidated power between 1933 and 1939, JDC accelerated its aid to German Jewry; it helped 250. 000 Jews flee Germany and 125. 000 to leave Austria; late in 1944, JDC entered Europe’s liberated areas and organized a massive relief effort; JDC funding helped Jewish refugees to leave Europe for South America and Israel; in Western Europe, the JDC helped local organizations assist the devastated communities to restore Jewish life, train new leadership and revive communal institutions; with onset of the Cold War, JDC was expelled from most countries of Eastern Europe.
Content
Historical survey of the activities of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) before and during the Second World War in Europe, Russia and Palestine 1945-1946; minutes of the meetings of the conferences of the country directors of the JDC 1948-1949, 1951-1963; letter of Herbert Katzki to Boris Sapir on the omission of the minutes of the conference in 1964 1966.
Transcriptions of archival documents from Russian archives on the IISH (and elsewhere?), made for source publications by Sapir and Smirnov.
Processing information
Inventory (nos. 1-27) made by Bouwe Hijma in 2001, supplement (nos. 28-65) by Hermien van Veen in 2010
Secondary creator
American Jewish Joint Distribution CommitteeRelated material
The papers of Boris Sapir are kept in the Rare Book & Manuscript Library of Colombia University, New York
INVENTORY
Jewish Defence Committee
- 19
- Notes and extracts of the minutes of the country director’s conference and a report on Malben (a conference-session). 1958. 1 cover.
- 20-24
- Annual overseas conference. The sequel to the country director’s conference. 1959-1963. 5 packages.
Transcriptions
NB. Inv.nos. 28-52 form a collection of transcripts, mainly from papers present at the IISH and occasionally photocopies of the documents.
Vpered! 1873-1877 and Lavrov - Years of Emigration
- 28
- Letters and other documents, not published in Vpered! 1873-1877 and Lavrov - Years of Emigration . 1873-1874, 1881, 1883, 1885, 1892-1894 and n.d. 1 folder.
- 29
- Letters from Russia to the editors of Vpered! and from the editors to Russia. 1873-1876. 1 folder.
- 30-31
- Letters from D.I. Richter to V.N. Smirnov (and R.Chr. Idel'son). 1881-1886 and n.d. 2 folders.
- 39
- Statements by G.D. Goldenberg (PSR inv.no. 52), recollections by Stepanov (PSR inv.no. 52) and 'Iz dejatel'nosti po social'no-revoljucionomu delu' (PSR inv.no. 15 at the back). N.d. 1 folder.
- 41-42
- Recollections by N.I. Paevskij, I.I. Dobrovol'skij (Danilovskoe delo), Šamšiev, S.A. Podolinskij, N.K. Sudzilovkij (Russell), S.A. Šebunev, P.B. Aksel'rod, L.A. Dičeskulo, K.A. Kac (C. Dobrogeanu-Gherev) (PSR inv.nos. 52 and 70). 1880 and n.d. 2 folders.
- 43-47
-
Letters
from various persons to P.B. Aksel'rod. Alphabetically arranged.
1888, 1891-1928 and n.d.
5 boxes.
NB. Original letters in Aksel'rod inv.nos. 1-51.
Theodor Dan Letters 1899-1946
- 50
- Letters from F.I. Dan and a few from L.O. Dan to K. Kautsky, including some to Louise Kautsky. 1901, 1903-1905, 1907, 1911-1913, 1925, 1927-1928, 1930, 1934, 1937 and n.d. 1 folder.
- 51
- Letters from F. Dan to F. Adler, including one letter to J. van Roosbroeck. 1905, 1935-1938 and n.d. 1 cover.