Judah Rubinstein (1921-2003) was an archivist, historian, author, and research associate for the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, and a well-known authority on Cleveland Jewish history. His parents, Israel (d. 1966) and Sonia (1900-1982) were born in Poland and came to the United States early in the twentieth century. They married in 1920. Judah Rubinstein was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended public schools in the Kinsman and Glenville neighborhoods, which at that time were population centers for the Jewish community. He graduated from Western Reserve University in 1942, received a Masters in Arts from that school in 1947, and attended Harvard University from 1948-1951. In 1955 he worked as a historian for the Jewish Theological Seminary of America's American Jewish History Center, providing the Seminary with basic research for a projected monograph on Cleveland Jewish history. This research became the basis for The History of the Jews of Cleveland, by Lloyd Gartner, published in 1978.
Rubinstein joined the staff of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland (JCF) in 1958 as its research associate. He compiled local Jewish population studies, research reports, exhibits, and other projects relating to the JCF. In 1976 Rubinstein helped establish the Cleveland Jewish Archives at the Western Reserve Historical Society. With Sidney Vincent he was the co-author of a book of photographs,
The Judah Rubinstein Papers, 1825-2003, consist of correspondence, research notes, lectures and slide presentation scripts, newspaper clippings, reports, and oral history transcripts. Nineteenth century materials are photocopies.
The collection is of value to researchers investigating the history of the Jewish community of the Cleveland, Ohio, metropolitan area in general, and specifically, those contributions to the body of research on Cleveland Jewish history by Judah Rubinstein. Some of his original research includes papers on Ezra Brudno (1877-1954), Marcus Rosenwasser (1846-1910), the Jewish press in Cleveland, and Sidney Z. Vincent (1912- 1982). Information about the creation of the Cleveland Jewish Archives at the Western Reserve Historical Society, the Jewish Community Federation Archives and History Committee, and its publications subcommittee is also to be found in this collection. Rubinstein collected documentation on other organizations, including Camp Wise, and conducted the oral histories of Leah Garber (1885-1978), Irving Kane (1901-1988), and Ben Zevin (1901-1984). Also of note is the primarily Yiddish correspondence from Israel Rubinstein (d. 1966) to Sonia Rubinstein (1900-1982) before and after their marriage, and other correspondence from relatives in the United States, Canada, and Europe to Sonia Rubinstein from 1916 through the 1930s.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject, and then chronologically.
All photographs have been removed to PG. 528 Judah Rubinstein Photographs. Audiocassettes have been removed to the audiovisual collections.
The researcher should also consult MS 4563 Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland Records; and MS 4835 Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland Records, Series II.
Processed by Jane A. Avner in 2004
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[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4907 Judah Rubinstein Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Judah Rubinstein, 1990, 1993, and 1998-2003.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.