Audio and Moving Images Materials in the Hadassah Archives

Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, was founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold. Over the past century, the organization has engaged hundreds of thousands of American Jewish women in the Zionist project. Two nurses sent to Jerusalem in 1913 grew into a network of hospitals, clinics, health stations, public health initiatives and school-based programs that represent key segments of Israel’s health system. In addition to health care, Hadassah has also supported other projects in Palestine and later Israel, primarily focused on education and children.

To publicize and raise awareness of Hadassah projects, different departments of the national office produced films, filmstrips, and audio advertisements on Hadassah Medical Organization, Hadassah Israel Education Services, and Youth Aliyah projects, and Young Judaea camps. Most of the films, film strips, and advertising were produced by the Film and Publicity Departments.

The Publicity Department was established in 1926, which aimed to disseminate knowledge of Hadassah and its work through press and organization literature. In the 1940s, the Film Department was established, followed by Visual Aids Department in 1950. By 1951, the Publicity and Publications Department had changed its name to the Publicity and Promotion Department. In 1953, the Promotion Department was formed and Publicity became the Public Relations Department. During that time, the Public Relations department was responsible for press and periodicals at Hadassah events and to the Jewish press, radio and television spots and features, Hadassah films, press releases, and publicity kits. In 1960, the Public Relations Department became the Press-Radio-TV Department. By 1983, the Communications Division was established and contained the Hadassah Magazine; Press-Radio-TV; Program Films, Picture Archives; Promotion; Tourism; and Visual Aids and Exhibits Departments.

The Program department was established in 1934 in response to requests by members for scripts and other special occasion programming materials to the Education Committee. The role of the department was primarily to prepare scripts, ceremonials, speeches for chapter officers, slideshows, propaganda, and holiday materials for chapters and groups. They also conducted national programs for regions and big chapters, created television spots, and developed special material to respond to events in Israel. Programs were often used during a portion of a membership or fundraising event, incorporated or overlapped with an education presentation, or followed the business portion of a general meeting. In 1973, the Program Department merged with the Film Department. By the 1990s, publicity materials were produced by the Creative Services department. Many of the films were produced by Hazel Greenwald, who was the chairman of the Film Department for 18 years.