National Foundation for Jewish Culture Records

The National Foundation for Jewish Culture (later the Foundation for Jewish Culture) supported Jewish scholarship, art, and the relationships between cultural institutions and local Jewish communities, primarily through grants.

Founded in 1961, NFJC regarded development, strengthening, and support of Jewish scholarship, art, and community services to be its major responsibility. It encompasses a broad range of activities, from providing research grants and scholarships to organizing seminars and conferences, from providing programs and cultural resources to local Jewish communities to organizing national programs designed to explore all aspects of Jewish creativity and to bring a better understanding of contemporary Jewish culture to a broad range of public audiences in the United States.

The National Foundation for Jewish Culture owes its creation to the survey report initiated by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Board in 1959. The study was headed by Julian Freeman and Arthur Gelbert and also included twenty-nine community leaders. The findings and recommendations were approved in a resolution on November 13th, 1959. NFJC was "to become a “face” for the total Jewish cultural enterprise in America instead of the current fragmentation,” to bridge a gap between the local communities and Jewish agencies, and foremost to support and nurture newly emerging Jewish scholars in America.

The encouragement of individuals to enter the field of Jewish scholarship continued to be one of the major tasks of the Foundation for Jewish Culture until the early 1980s, when its focus shifted to the arts and humanities. The Foundation worked closely with Colleges and Universities, helping to found Jewish Studies Departments and supporting already existing departments, organizing symposia and scholarly conferences, arranging lectures for Jewish scholars, and maintaining its close interest and support in the area of publications.

In 1971, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture was instrumental in founding the Joint Cultural Appeal, a consortium of nine Jewish agencies entrusted to present a unified budget and allocation requests to the Federated Jewish communities. The National Foundation for Jewish Culture served as its administrative arm.

In the 1970s, the Federation continued its efforts to enhance Jewish scholarship and in 1971 co-founded Council of Archives and Research Libraries in Jewish Studies in order to improve cooperation in the efforts to enhance preservation and access to Jewish archives and libraries. The Council was responsible for coordinating a number of important projects related to the preservation of Jewish cultural heritage in the United States and Canada.

In 1977 the National Foundation for Jewish Culture helped found The Council of American Jewish Museums and provided administrative assistance to the Council. CAJM provides support for collaborative efforts to promote scholarship and preservation of Jewish art on behalf of over thirty member institutions. CAJM membership represents a wide spectrum of Jewish community museums, galleries, and art museums in the United States.

The Council of Jewish Theatres was established by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture in 1985 to serve as a coordinating body for Jewish theatres in the United States and Canada.

Starting in the 1980s, the main focus of the Foundation’s work was to support other aspects of Jewish culture such as “programs and initiatives based on arts and humanities.” It did so via granting organizations and initiatives such as Six Points, Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film, New Jewish Cultural Network, The Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Fund for Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships in Jewish Studies, Fund for Jewish Cultural Preservation, the Jewish Studies Expansion Program, and the Council of American Jewish Museums. It also organized numerous music, theater, and film festivals in addition to conferences and general cultural events.