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Hadassah Council in Israel and the Hadassah Youth Services Records in the Hadassah Archives

 Collection
Identifier: I-578/RG 5

Scope and Content Note

This record group mostly contains the records of two distinct Hadassah affiliated organizations in Palestine/Israel, the Palestine Council of Hadassah (later renamed the Hadassah Youth Services in 1945, and then changed again to the Hadassah Vocational Education Services in 1952, and again to the Hadassah Israel Education Services in 1967) and the Hadassah Emergency Committee (later the Hadassah Council of Palestine in 1945 and Hadassah Council of Israel in 1948).

About half of the record group consists of meeting minutes, correspondence, budgets and other financial documents, and reports of the meetings and activities of Hadassah's representatives in Israel. The record group closely documents Hadassah members' work in a number of social welfare activities in Israel, including the building of playgrounds, providing clothing and food to the poor, providing education on healthy eating, providing assistance to the Rothschild Hadassah University Hospital, and coordinating with the two other large Hadassah projects in Israel, Youth Aliyah and the Hadassah Medical Organization. Most of the work of the two organizations is represented through correspondence with the organizations' leaders, including Ethel Agron, Judah Magnes, Henrietta Szold, Myriam (Granovsky) Granott, Rose Viteles, Julia Dushkin, Sarah Bavly, Rose Halprin, Fanny Yassky, Tamar De Sola Pool, and others. The majority of this material can be found in Subgroup I and Subgroup II.

Subgroup III focuses on the work of the Hadassah Vocational Education Services, later the Hadassah Israel Education Services. It contains biographical materials, clippings, correspondence, memoranda, minutes (complete and excerpted), reports, and speeches resulting from the activities of Hadassah's educational projects in Palestine/Israel and of the committees in the United States and Palestine/Israel administering these projects. Records include those created and received by Hadassah leaders in the U.S., primarily chairwomen of education committees, i.e., the Vocational Education Committee, later the Hadassah Israel Education Services (HIES) Committee. Other frequent correspondents include Hadassah National Presidents, Treasurers, and Hadassah representatives in Palestine/Israel, primarily the Education Chair of the Hadassah Council in Israel (HCI). The earliest records stem from the planning of Hadassah educational projects in Palestine in the early 1940s until the devolution or discontinuation of these projects, including the Hadassah-Seligsberg Comprehensive High School, Hadassah Institute of Hotel Management, Hadassah Career Counseling Institute, and the Hadassah Community College.

Dates

  • Creation: 1927-2005
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1927 - 1991

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is mostly in English with some Hebrew.

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 fragility or as required by the agreement between Hadassah and AJHS.

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, NY, 10011

email: reference@ajhs.org

Historical Note <extptr actuate="onload" altrender="Alice L. Seligsberg Trade School for Girls, Fashion Exhibit, 1950" href="http://digital.cjh.org/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=3345806" show="embed" title="Alice L. Seligsberg Trade School for Girls, Fashion Exhibit, 1950"/>

The Hadassah Emergency Committee (HEC) was established in October 1940. After World War II, it was renamed the Hadassah Council in Palestine. Once Israel was established as a State, the organization changed its name to the Hadassah Council in Israel (HCI). See Subgroup I for the history of the HCI.

The Palestine Council of Hadassah (PCH) was formed in 1930. In 1945, PCH changed its name to the Hadassah Youth Services (HYS). In 1948, Hadassah Youth Services merged with the Louis D. Brandeis Vocational Center Management Committee. For a brief period, this organization was called the Hadassah Brandeis Youth Services, but soon reverted back to HYS. For a more detailed history of this organization, see the historical note in Subgroup II.

After the devolution of the Hadassah Youth Services' school luncheon and playgrounds programs in Israel, it changed its name again to the Hadassah Vocational Education Services (HVES) in 1952. Some of HVES programs included the Hadassah Seligsberg-Brandeis Comprehensive High School, Hadassah Community College, and Hadassah Career Counseling Institute. After a visit from New York University professor Martin Hamburger in 1967, HVES was renamed to Hadassah Israel Education Services (HIES) because it was no longer solely providing vocational services to youth. Legally, however, HVES/HIES remained Hadassah Youth Services. In 2001, the HIES was dissolved by Hadassah. A thorough history of HVES/HIES is found in Subgroup III.

An organization chart tracking the changes of name in the two groups can be found here: http://digital.cjh.org/3336579.

Extent

33 Linear Feet (66 manuscript boxes and 4 oversized folders)

Additional Description

Abstract

This record group contains meeting minutes, correspondence and reports of the Hadassah Council in Israel (originally the Hadassah Emergency Services and the Hadassah Council in Palestine), the Hadassah Youth Services (originally the Palestine Council of Hadassah) and the Hadassah Youth Services (HYS) successor organizations, Hadassah Vocational Education Services (HVES) and Hadassah Israel Education Services (HIES). The records represent the activities of Hadassah's representatives in Palestine/Israel, from 1927 to the 1990s. The Hadassah Youth Services focused on providing services to underserved youth in Palestine/Israel, most notably with their school luncheon and Guggenheimer playground programs. After HYS changed its working name to HVES in 1952, it began to focus on vocational education projects in Israel. Legally, however, the name of the organization in Israel remained Hadassah Youth Services. The Hadassah Council in Israel acted as an advisor and liaison between Hadassah's American offices and Hadassah's Israel projects, including the Hadassah Medical Organization, Youth Aliyah, and Hadassah Youth Services.

Arrangement

This record group is divided into three subgroups. Materials are then arranged by the name of the organization when the material was created.
  1. Subgroup I: Hadassah Emergency Committee/Hadassah Council in Palestine/Hadassah Council in Israel, 1940-2005
  2. Subgroup II: Palestine Council of Hadassah/Hadassah Youth Services, 1927-1971
  3. Subgroup III: Hadassah Vocational Education Services/Hadassah Israel Education Services, 1939-2007
  4. Series I: Administration, 1940-1999
  5. Series II: Projects, 1939-2007
  6. Subseries 1: Hadassah Seligsberg-Brandeis Comprehensive High School, 1941-1999
  7. Subseries 2: Brandeis Apprenticeship Department, 1941-1973
  8. Subseries 3: Hadassah Vocational Guidance Institute, 1945-2006
  9. Subseries 4: Judge Julian W. Mack School, 1939-1954
  10. Subseries 5: Fashion Institute, 1949-1950
  11. Subseries 6: Hadassah Institute of Hotel Management, 1949-1961
  12. Subseries 7: Ma'abaroth Project, 1952-1960
  13. Subseries 8: Hadassah Community College, 1967-2007
  14. Series III: Individuals, 1939-1981
  15. Subseries 1: Alexander M. Dushkin, 1939-1976
  16. Subseries 2: Julia A. Dushkin, 1940-1977
  17. Subseries 3: Helen Kittner, 1945-1981

Physical Location

Located in AJHS New York, NY

Previous Finding Aids and Concordance

In 2008, an EAD finding aid for RG 6 was created. That finding aid is provided for reference only, and can be found here: http://digital.cjh.org/3219523. Please note that this arrangement is no longer valid.

The concordance links the former box and folder numbers for RG 6 from the 2008 finding aid to the current box and folder numbers in the 2015 finding aid. The concordance is provided for reference and can be used to track previous citations of material. The concordance can be found here: http://digital.cjh.org/3333622.

The original finding aid for RG 5 was a Word document that was never made publically available. AJHS can provide a copy if needed. There is no concordance for the original arrangement of RG 5, but the physical order of the folders is unchanged, so previous citations can be tracked.

Acquisition Information

The Hadassah Archives, of which the Hadassah Council in Israel and Hadassah Youth Services Records (RG 5) are a part, are on long-term deposit at the American Jewish Historical Society.

Related Material

The Guide to the Hadassah Archives on Long-term Deposit at the American Jewish Historical Society, which describes the entire collection, can found here: http://digifindingaids.cjh.org/?pID=2916671.

Within the Hadassah Archives materials related to the Hadassah Youth Services and the Hadassah Council in Israel can be found in the following record groups: RG 1—Youth Aliyah Records; RG 2—Hadassah Medical Organization Records; RG 4—Zionist Political History; RG 10—Name Files Records (Deborah Kallen materials); RG 13—Executive Functions Records (Henrietta Szold and Irma Lindheim series); RG 17—Printed Materials and Publications; RG 18—Photographs; RG 21—Architectural Materials; RG 22—Artifacts and Memorabilia; and RG 25—Audio and Moving Images Materials.

Separated Material

A personnel flow chart and a map of Kfar Vitkin were separated to Oversize Box 1.

Architectural plans of the Alice Seligsberg Vocational High School by Joseph Klarwein and Daniel Berler, the Brandeis Center School, Kfar Vitkin, Afuleh Plot and Kotler Playground were separated to RG 21.

Processing Information

From 2003-2009, the record group was processed and addenda were added by Susan Woodland and Jeanne Swadosh. In 2014, under a new agreement between Hadassah and AJHS, the Hadassah Archives were placed on long-term deposit at AJHS.

RG 5 (formerly known as Hadassah in Israel) was made up of the records of the Hadassah Emergency Services, Hadassah Council in Palestine, Hadassah Council in Israel, Palestine Council of Hadassah, and Hadassah Youth Services. The RG was broken down into seven series:

Series I: Palestine Council of Hadassah (1927-1951)

Series Ia. Hadassah Youth Services (1945-1949)

Series II: Hadassah Council in Palestine (1944-1948)

Series III: Hadassah Council in Israel (1948-1991)

Series IV: Hadassah Emergency Committee (1940-1945, n.d.)

Series V: Programs and Activities (n.d., 1926-1974)

Series VI: People (1956-2003)



In August 2015, the collection was reprocessed and intellectually rearranged from seven series into two subgroups to create a clear separation between the two organizations represented in this record group. Series I and Ia were combined to create Subgroup II. Series II, III, and IV were combined to create Subgroup I. Materials initially arranged under the series "Activities" and "People" were intellectually arranged into the appropriate subgroup according to provenance of the materials. At that point, the collection was renamed to the Hadassah Youth Services and Hadassah Council in Israel Records in the Hadassah Archives. In addition, 0.5 linear feet of new material was processed and incorporated into the arrangement.

RG 6 (formerly Hadassah Education in Israel) contains the records of the Hadassah Vocational Education Services (HVES), later the Hadassah Israel Education Services (HIES). After research and a survey of the collection, archivists determined that the Hadassah Youth Services (the organization documented in Subgroup I in RG 5) changed its name to Hadassah Vocational Education Services to better represent its work in Israel. Since RG 5 and RG 6 shared an institutional history, as well as an overlap of materials, RG 6 was incorporated into RG 5 and then reprocessed and described as Subgroup III. Subseries in Series I and Sub-subseries in Series II and III were disbanded and subseries and sub-subseries headings were added to folder titles.

Description from the previous finding aids was reused and incorporated into the 2015 finding aid as much as possible, particularly collection-level description. Some series and subseries description was added and collection-level notes pertaining to acquisition, processing, access and use, and related material were added as well.

Overall, the boxes were consolidated to save space and reduce damage to the material. Boxes and folder numbers were renumbered to create uniform numbering across the entire record group. Some boxes were replaced and nonarchival folders were also replaced. Plastic clips and deteriorating plastic sleeves were removed. In general, folder titles were not rewritten, and reflect the original arrangement and description of the record group.

Related Names

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Hadassah Council in Israel and the Hadassah Youth Services Records in the Hadassah Archives 1927-2007 I-578/RG 5
Status
Completed
Author
The finding aid was prepared by Nicole Greenhouse in 2015. It is based upon a previous finding aid created by Susan Woodland and Jeanne Swadosh in 2009.
Date
© 2015
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Sponsor
as part of the Leon Levy Archival Processing Initiative, made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository

http://ajhs.org
Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States

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