The Hebrew Shelter Home originated in the late 1800s to give kosher food and shelter to incoming Russian Jewish immigrants and transient poor. In 1904, the home was incorporated as the Independent Montefiore Shelter Home, and moved shortly thereafter to Orange Avenue. In 1907 the home provided 2859 days lodging and 8599 meals to 883 people. By the 1920s, when the flow of Jewish immigrants slowed down, the home became primarily a way station for Jewish transients. When the Jewish population moved eastward, the home relocated to the Glenville area, then the Kinsman area, and then in 1975 to its current location on South Taylor Road. The name was shortened to the Hebrew Shelter Home circa 1970. Today the home still provides kosher meals and shelter to indigent transients for a maximum of three nights. The Hebrew Shelter Home works closely with the Jewish Relief Society (see Mss. 3954) which provides relief and Passover food to needy local residents.
The Hebrew Shelter Home Records (1937 -1981) include minutes of the Board of Directors, correspondence, registration cards, ledgers, monthly financial reports, and annual financial budgets.
The administration of the home is documented in detail in the minutes, complete from 1937 to 1981, and in financial records, covering the years 1941 to 1969. These records also contain statistical summaries of the people who stayed at the home. Detailed information about these people is found in the Report of the Superintendent, July 1947 - January 1948, and in the registration cards, 1968 - 1972 and 1978, which list name, address, birthplace, parents' names, occupation, marital status, social security number,and health status. This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of Cleveland, Ohio, and its Jewish community during the twentieth century. It will also be useful to researchers studying the history of immigration, charity, and philanthropy.
The collection is arranged by document type and then chronologically.
The researcher should also consult MS 3954 Jewish Relief Society Records.
Processed by Dorit Ann Cohen in 1987
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4050 Hebrew Shelter Home Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
The Hebrew Shelter Home, 1984
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.