Western Jewish History Center - Resources and Materials

Resources and Materials

Its research library has more than 1,200 volumes, dozens of oral histories, a clipping/vertical file, and a large collection of 19th and 20th century Jewish newspapers from Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. Many of these are on rolls of microfilm.

Its primary source materials, consisting of more than 500 archival collections, include the papers and artifacts of Jewish families and individuals such as Judah L. Magnes; Adolph Sutro; David and Simon Lubin; Rosalie Meyer Stern; Julius Kahn; Florence Prag; Flora Arnstein; Ernest Bloch; Lloyd Dinkelspiel; Robert Levinson; Harris Weinstock; Ruth Carol Silver; Benjamin Swig; Rhoda and Richard Goldman; Alfred Henry Jacobs; members of the Haas, Koshland, Gerstle, Sloss, and Lilienthal families; and many others. Many of these take the form of family letters, diaries, photographs, and scrapbooks.

In addition, the Center’s archive also holds the papers and artifacts of important Jewish organizations such as synagogue congregations like San Francisco’s Emanu-El, Beth Israel-Judea, Sherith Israel, and Ohabai Shalome; Oakland's Congregation Sinai; Berkeley's Aquarian Minyan, and Lafayette's Isaiah. In addition, the Center has also collected the papers of many important Western rabbis (i.e. Voorsanger; Nieto; Asher; Kaplan; Fine; Fried; White; Magnin; Stern; Reichert; Goldstein; and others). Besides documenting the religious life of the city and the activities of a congregation and its congregants, these collections also can contain a wealth of genealogical information, often in the form of marriage and burial registers. Because the Center's holdings and collections have not been computerized or indexed, genealogical research that utilize these materials, of necessity, takes a long time. Those interested in doing genealogical research on Jewish individuals and families from the San Francisco Bay Area may first want to contact the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society to see that the subject/s of their interest has not been researched earlier.

The Center also holds the records of historic Jewish businesses and self-help societies like the Emanu-El Sisterhood for Personal Service; the San Francisco chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women; the records of the Mount Zion Hospital and Medical Center; the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco; the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, Marin County, and the Peninsula; the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay; B'nai B'rith District 4; the Northern California Division of the American Jewish Congress; the Jewish Arts Community of the Bay (J.A.C.O.B.); the Judah L. Magnes Museum; and the Commission for the Preservation of Pioneer Jewish Cemeteries and Landmarks. These records often take the form of working documents, memoranda, and minutes from boards of directors; reports; official correspondence; and documentary photographs.