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Guide to the Papers of Victor Borden,
1987, 1990

*P-959

Processed by Andrey Filimonov

American Jewish Historical Society

Center for Jewish History

15 West 16th Street

New York, N.Y. 10011

Phone: (212) 294-6160

Fax: (212) 294-6161

Email: reference@ajhs.org

URL: http://www.ajhs.org

© 2013, American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY. All Rights Reserved.
Electronic finding aid was encoded in EAD 2002 by Andrey Filimonov in February 2013. Description is in English.

Descriptive Summary

Creator: Borden, Victor
Title: Victor Borden Papers
Dates: 1987, 1990
Abstract: The papers of Dr. Victor Borden, a Gynecologist/Obstetrician from New Jersey, reflect his activism in the American Soviet Jewry movement. The collection focuses on a physician humanitarian mission to the Soviet Union led by Dr. Borden in 1987. The mission consisted of seven Jewish doctors from New Jersey and Tennessee, traveling under the guise of tourists. The doctors provided medical consultations and evaluations to over 150 members of the Soviet Jewish Refusenik community. The materials include a trip report by Dr. Borden, a trip report by Alan G. Graber (another member of the mission), and news clippings related to the mission.
Languages: The collection is in English.
Quantity: 1 half manuscript box. (1/4 linear foot)
Identification: *P-959
Repository: American Jewish Historical Society
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Historical Note

The Papers of Victor Borden represent one collection housed within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM). These papers reflect the effort, beginning in the 1960s through the late 1980s, of thousands of American Jews of all denominations and political orientations to stop the persecution and discrimination of Jews in the Soviet Union. The American Soviet Jewry Movement (ASJM) is considered to be the most influential Movement of the American Jewish community in the 20th century. The beginnings of the organized American Soviet Jewry Movement became a model for efforts to aid Soviet Jews in other countries, among them Great Britain, Canada, and France. The movement can be traced to the early 1960s, when the first organizations were created to address the specific problem of the persecution and isolation of Soviet Jews by the government of the Soviet Union.

Dr. Victor Borden was an activist in the Soviet Jewry movement and member of the Medical Advisory Committee of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and was on the board of directors of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. Dr. Borden educated the Reform congregation, Temple Beth El of Northern Valley in Closter, NJ (of which he was a president), on the plight of Soviet Jews. He influenced the congregation to adopt the family of a Refusenik Hebrew teacher in Moscow, Mark Lvovsky.

In 1985 Dr. Borden and his wife Francine visited the U.S.S.R. in order to meet Refusenik families. In 1987 Dr. Borden led a mission of seven Jewish doctors from New Jersey and Tennessee, traveling under the guise of tourists to provide medical consultations and evaluations to over 150 members of the Soviet Jewish Refusenik community. After the trip Dr. Borden widely publicized the urgent need of the ailing Refuseniks to be permitted to leave the Soviet Union for treatment. In 1988 Dr. Borden was among seven people arrested for demonstrating outside of the Soviet Consulate in New York in protest of the Soviet government's denial of a medical visa to Refusenik cancer patient, Georgi Samoilovich.1 After the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., Dr. Borden continued his support for Jewish communities in the former Soviet states.

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Scope and Content Note

The collection includes two trip reports and news clippings regarding the 1987 doctors' mission to the Soviet Union led by Dr. Victor Borden.

The collection consists of one half manuscript box.

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Arrangement

The collection is arranged into a single series.

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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, N.Y., 10011 email: reference@ajhs.org

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Related Material

The Papers of Victor Borden is one individual collection within the Archive of the American Soviet Jewry Movement (AASJM) located at the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS). Other Soviet Jewry Movement collections at AJHS include the records of Action for Soviet Jewry (I-487), the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ; I-181 and I-181A), the Jewish Defense League (I-374), the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews (I-410, I-410A), Houston Action for Soviet Jewry (I-500), Bay Area Council for Soviet Jews (I-505), Seattle Action for Soviet Jewry (I-507), The Jewish Chronicle Soviet Jewry Collection (I-523), B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum Soviet Jewry Movement Collection (I-529), Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry (I-530), Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism (I-538), the papers of Joel Ackerman (P-787), Julia Mates Cheney (P-806), Jerry Goodman (P-863), Laurel and Alan J. Gould (P-866), Carolyn W. Sanger (P-870), Leah Lieberman (P-869), Si Frumkin (P-871), Elaine Pittell (P-873), Sanford A. Gradinger (P-880), Shaul Osadchey (P-882), Leonard S. Cahan (P-883), Doris H. Goldstein (P-887), David H. Hill (P-888), Margery Sanford (P-889), Pinchas Mordechai Teitz (P-891), David Waksberg (P-895), Pamela B. Cohen (P-897), Moshe Decter (P-899), William Korey (P-903), Morey Schapira (P-906), Charlotte Gerper Turner (P-907), Myrtle Sitowitz (P-908), Kathleen M. Hyman (P-911), Babette Wampold (P-912), Rabbi David Goldstein and Shannie Goldstein (P-918), Leslie Schaffer (P-923), Arthur Bernstein (P-925), Dolores Wilkenfeld (P-927), Sylvia Weinberg (P-928) , Irwin H. Krasna (P-934) , Constance S. Kreshtool (P-935), Betty Golomb (P-938), Grace Perlbinder (P-942), Mort Yadin (P-943), Ann Polunsky (P-886), Lillian Foreman (P-945), Marilyn Labendz(P-946), Abraham Silverstein(P-947), Bert Silver (P-949), Billie Kozolchyk (P-950), John Steinbruck (P-951), Lawrence I. Lerner (P-952), Ruth Geller Gold (P-953), Efry Spectre (P-954), Alan M. Kohn (P-956) and Frank Brodsky (P-957).

Additional materials from other collections include records dealing with the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ) located within the North American Jewish Students Appeal (NAJSA, I-338) and the records of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC, I-172). Related records are also located at the AJHS in Newton Centre, MA including memorabilia and ephemera of the New England Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (I-237) and the Records of the Student Coalition for Soviet Jewry – Brandeis University (I-493).

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Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Victor Borden Papers; *P-959 ; box number; folder number; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY.

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Acquisition Information

Donated by Victor Borden in 2007.

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Access Points

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Container List

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

 

Papers of Victor Borden, 1987, 1990.
The series is in English.
1 half manuscript box.
Scope and Content:

See the collection Scope and Content Note.
Box Folder Title Date
1 1 Trip Report by Alan L. Graber 1987, 1990
1 2 Trip Report by Victor Borden 1987
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