Finding aid for the Jewish Community Center of Cleveland Records, Series II


Repository: Western Reserve Historical Society
Creator: Jewish Community Center of Cleveland
Title: Jewish Community Center of Cleveland Records, Series II
Dates: 1899-1992
Dates: 1960-1979
Extent: 11.0 linear feet (11 containers)
Abstract: The Jewish Community Center of Cleveland was formed in 1948 by the merger of the Council Educational Alliance (est. 1899), Camp Wise (est. 1907), the Jewish Young Adult Bureau (est. 1939), and the Cultural Department of the Jewish Community Council (est. 1945), for the purpose of providing recreational social and cultural programs to Cleveland, Ohio's Jewish community. By 1959 the center moved from Cleveland to the suburb of Cleveland Heights. A second building was constructed in Beachwood, Ohio, in 1986. The collection consists of minutes, programs, and reports.
MS Number MS 4696
Location: closed stacks
Language: The records are in English

History of the Jewish Community Center of Cleveland

The Jewish Community Center of Cleveland was established in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1948 after a Group Work Study sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland recommended the merger of four predecessor agencies: The Council Educational Alliance; Camp Wise; the Jewish Young Adult Bureau; and the Cultural Department of the Jewish Community Council. Although each of these agencies was separately organized, all were established "to make daily living ricer and more constructive through group experiences in recreational, social, and cultural programs."

The Council Educational Alliance was founded in 1899 by the Cleveland Section, National Council of Jewish Women. Although originally housed in the Moritz Joseph mansion near Perry Street and Woodland Avenue, growing needs and a mobile Jewish population prompted two additional moves to East 37th Street and Woodland Avenue in 1909, and finally to East 135th Street and Kinsman Avenue, with an extension program on East 105th Street in 1928.

Organized as a settlement house in the heart of the immigrant community, Council Educational Alliance assisted its patrons in adjusting to the Cleveland Jewish community as well as to American society in general. Classes in citizenship training, English, handicrafts, and manual training were all offered by the Alliance. The Council was responsive to the specific needs of the Jewish community and acted as a meeting place for various Jewish fraternal and Zionist organizations.

In 1928, with immigration nearly at a halt, Americanization and settlement programs gave way to new activities such as athletics, dances, and other social functions to meet the needs of a population becoming predominantly American-born. The Great Depression years brought added needs for vocational guidance and an employment service became the forerunner of the Jewish Vocational Service.

The Jewish Young Adult Bureau was formed in 1939 because of the needs and pressures of many organized young adult groups, who complained of lack of facilities for meeting and activities. Throughout its existence, the Young Adult Bureau carried on a coordinated program of cultural and recreational activities for more than fifty groups, embracing four service areas: service to groups and individuals; conduct of programs cutting across all groups; inter-group cooperation; and community wide activities of both a Jewish and general character. In 1948, the Jewish Young Adult Bureau was merged with the newly created Jewish Community Center of Cleveland, becoming the Young Adult Services Division.

Camp Wise was founded in 1907 to enable Jewish children of differing backgrounds to experience country living in a camp setting. Unlike other camp programs available during this period, Camp Wise offered a distinctive Jewish milieu including a kosher kitchen and Sabbath services. In 1926 a section of the Camp Wise site was loaned to the Council Educational Alliance and a separate facility was formed and named Camp Henry Baker. After the second World War both camps were merged under the administration of the Alliance and subsequently merged under the Jewish Community Center in 1948.

The Cultural Department of the Jewish Community Council came into existence in 1945 as an experiment in revitalizing Jewish cultural activity for adults. During its first three years of activity, the Cultural Department sponsored a Jewish Arts Festival, a program consultation service for organizations, a Program Chairmen's Planning Conference, a Jewish Music Committee, Art Committee, and Yiddish Cultural Committee. In October 1948, the Department was merged into the Adult Services Division of the Jewish Community Center.

From 1948-1959 the Jewish Community Center was without a major facility and therefore performed all business and functions through its five branches: Arlington; Shaker-Lee (Mount Pleasant); Euclid; Heights; and Mayfield. In 1958 land was purchased on Mayfield Road, a new modern facility was erected, and all branch operations were closed. The establishment of the Jewish Community Center in 1948, and the erection of a new building in 1959 allowed for the continuation of the services provided by its four predecessor agencies.

click here to view the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry for the Jewish Community Center of Cleveland


Scope and Content

The Jewish Community Center of Cleveland Records, Series II, 1899-1992 (1960-1979) and undated, consist primarily of minutes, programs, and reports.

This collection is of particular value to researchers studying Jewish communal organizations in the United States and, specifically, Cleveland and northeast Ohio. Of special note are the records reflecting the need of the agency to relocate as much of the Jewish population moved to Cleveland's eastern suburbs in the 1940s and 1950s. Also of note are the records relating to the plethora of Cultural Arts Department programs in the 1960s and 1970s. Under the successive direction of Mark Feder, Flora Wayne Sargous, and Dorothy Silver, numerous plays, lectures, and art exhibits were produced. In addition, starting in the late 1970s, as large numbers of Jews were allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union, the agency provided a number of services to those who settled in Cleveland. The documentation concerning individual Soviet immigrants as well as the programs that were provided to meet their language training and social needs will be of particular interest to researchers studying various aspects of 20th century immigration history.


Statement of Arrangement

The collection is arranged in six series. Each series is arranged alphabetically by subject and then chronologically.
Series I: Board of Trustees
Series II: Administration
Series III: Financial
Series IV: Precursor Agencies of the Jewish Community Center of Cleveland
Series V: Departments and Programs
Series VI: Publications

Restrictions on Access

None.

Related Material

The researcher should also consult MS 3668 Jewish Community Center of Cleveland Records; MS 4226 Luci Wolpaw Papers; PG 149 Jewish Community Center of Cleveland Photographs; and PG 502 Jewish Community Center of Cleveland Photographs, Series II.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Community centers -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Jewish Community Center of Cleveland.
Jewish community centers -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Jews -- Ohio -- Cleveland -- Social life and customs.
Jews -- Ohio -- Cleveland -- Societies, etc.
Jews -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Jews -- Recreation -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Jews, Soviet -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Recreation centers -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Refugees, Jewish -- Ohio -- Cleveland.

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4696 Jewish Community Center of Cleveland Records, Series II, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Jewish Community Center of Cleveland, 1993.

Processing Information

Processed by Stanley Lasky in 1994.

Detailed Description of The Collection

Series I: Board of Trustees 1947-1983 undated

Box Folder
1 1-15 Minutes, Board of Trustees (see Folder 2 for report on Beachwood pilot program for teenagers; Folder 7 for report of Heights Area Project; and Folder 14 for report on need for a second building east of Cleveland Heights) 1966-1983
1 16-17 Agency Self-Evaluation, repot 1959-1960
1 18-20 Agency Self-Study, Administrative Phase 1971-1972
1 21 Agency Self-Study, Preliminary Report 1972
1 22 Agency Self-Study, Group Services Task Force, minutes and miscellaneous 1970-1971
Box Folder
2 23 Agency Self-Study, Group Services Task Force, minutes and miscellaneous 1971-1972
2 24 Agency Self-Study, Preliminary Report of the Program Phase 1971
2 25 Agency Self-Study, Workbook 1970
2 26-27 Annual Meeting, reports and programs 1951-1977
2 28 David Berger Monument dedication 1974-1975
2 29 B'nai B'rith Youth Organization relationship, workbook, statements, and minutes 1947-1974
2 29 Board member lists 1966-1978
2 30 Board member manuals 1955-1976
2 31-32 Board-Staff Institute, workbooks, reports, and presentations 1960-1979
2 33 Capital improvement campaign 1965
2 33 Committee members of various committees 1956-1958
2 33 Community Contact Committee, minutes and report 1960-1962
2 34 Council Gardens relationship 1962-1970
2 34 Council of Jewish Women, statements of relationship, minutes, and correspondence 1948-1978
2 35 Coventry study, Jewish demographics and agency's services to that area 1959-1970
2 35 Endowment Fund Committee, minutes and program 1976
2 36-37 Executive Committee, reports and minutes 1949-1978
2 38 Facilities and Transportation Task Force, minutes 1967-1971
2 38 Federation of Women's Organizations, minutes 1950-1957
2 38 Finance Committee, minutes and reports 1961-1973
2 38 Former presidents of the Council Educational Alliance and the Jewish Community Centers (1899-1953) 1953
2 38 Forum Sub-committee, report and minutes 1961-1962
2 39-41 Forward Planning Committee, minutes and reports 1966-1980
2 41 Forward Planning Committee, fund raising report 1957
2 42 Heights Area Task Force, policy statements, minutes, and reports 1971-1975
2 43 Hillel Foundation relationship, memorandum, reports, and correspondence 1969-1973
2 43 House and Maintenance Committee minutes 1971-1977
2 43 Image of Cleveland Heights Task Force, minutes, reports, and correspondence regarding proposed move of Temple on the Heights 1970-1972
2 44 Interpretation Committee, minutes 1950
2 44 Investment Committee 1957
2 44 Jewish Education Study Committee, minutes and reports 1971-1976
2 44 Jewish Family Service Association, minutes, statement, and joint refugee program materials 1948-1974
2 45 Jewish Recreational Council relationship, memorandum and minutes 1957-1958
2 45 Joint Site Selection Committee of Jewish Community Center, Bureau of Jewish Education, and the Cleveland Hebrew Schools, memorandum and correspondence 1949-1950
2 45 Kronenberg Awards 1965-1974
2 45 Land and Site Committee, minutes and recommendations 1953-1957
2 45 Leadership Training Program Committee, minutes and reports 1948-1975
2 46 Long Range Planning Committee, minutes and reports 1958-1968
Box Folder
3 47 Master Plan Steering Committee, workbook 1981
3 48-50 Membership and Fees Committee, minutes and reports 1949-1979 undated
3 51 National Jewish Welfare Board, convention held in Cleveland, Ohio, reports 1954
3 51 National Jewish Welfare Board, reports, including Soviet Jewish immigrants acculturation data 1969-1979
3 52 National Jewish Welfare Board, reports, including Health, Physical Education, and Recreation study 1967-1976
3 53 New building study (Mayfield Road), including various site proposals 1954-1959
3 54 New building study (Mayfield Road), reports and programs 1959-1964
3 55 Nominating Committee, minutes 1950 1954 1956
3 55-56 Personnel Committee, minutes and correspondence 1948-1979
3 57-60 Program Committee, minutes and reports 1953-1979
3 61-62 Public Affairs Committee, minutes, policies, resolutions, and newsletters 1952-1977
3 63 Public Relations Committee, minutes and reports 1953-1974
3 63 Relationships Committee, minutes and study of relationships with other agencies and organizations 1955-1965 undated
3 64-65 Sabbath Practices Committee, minutes, recommendations, correspondence, reports, and Kashruth practices 1958-1977
3 66 Services to College Student Committee, minutes, reports,and memorandum 1969-1972
3 66 Shanman Israeli Gardens, program and design 1962-1963
3 66 Survey of Cleveland's Jewish population 1957-1981
Box Folder
4 67 Synagogues-agency relationship, including reports, memorandum, and articles 1948-1978
4 67 Volunteer manuals 1963
4 67 Miscellaneous, including correspondence, affirmative action plan, and sketches of proposed building 1959-1974

Series II: Administration 1945-1992 undated

Box Folder
4 68 Bailenson, Mary, secretary to the executive director, recognition program 1973
4 68 Eigen, Herman A., director of the J. C. C., articles and program 1954-1976
4 68 Feder, Mark, performing arts director, programs, memorial service, and correspondence 1966-1992
4 68 Group leaders guide 1957
4 68 History of the Jewish Community Center 1970
4 68 Ida Schott Staff Institute, programs 1972-1973
4 69-78 Membership lists 1960-1973
4 79 Membership by community and census tract 1961
4 79 Membership reports 1960-1968
4 80 Staff assignments 1956-1968
4 80-82 Staff Conference, proceedings 1956-1976
4 83 Staff Jewish Institute, minutes 1975
4 83 Staff manual 1954
4 84 Staff meetings, minutes 1949-1975
4 85 Staff reports to National Jewish Welfare Board 1947-1970
4 86 Staff Workers' Conference (for Jewish Community Center workers), proceedings and minutes 1945-1969
4 87 Standards for Jewish Community Centers 1976
4 88 Supervisors meetings, minutes 1949-1978
4 88 Miscellaneous 1956-1975 undated

Series III: Financial 1948-1949 1965-1981

Box Folder
5 89-95 Budget 1948-1949 1965-1981

Series IV: Precursor Agencies of the Jewish Community Center of Cleveland 1899-1961 undated

Box Folder
5 96-97 Council Educational Alliance, annual reports, including history and description of the institution and Camp Wise 1942-1948
5 97 Council Educational Alliance, articles of incorporation (1945 certified copy of this 1899 document) 1899 1945
5 98 Council Educational Alliance, budget 1943-1947
5 99 Council Educational Alliance, correspondence 1940-1949
5 100 Council Educational Alliance, minutes 1947-1948
5 101 Council Educational Alliance, newsletters 1943-1948
5 101 Council Educational Alliance, programs 1928-1948
5 102 Jewish Community Center branches, Arlington House, correspondence, minutes, newsletters, and reports 1948-1960
5 103 Jewish Community Center branches, Arlington House and the Glenville Area Community Council, correspondence, minutes, and reports 1945-1948
5 104 Jewish Community Center branches, Heights House, correspondence, minutes, newsletters, and reports 1945-1960
5 105 Jewish Community Center branches, Inter-Branch Committee, minutes 1950-1958
5 106 Jewish Community Center branches, Mt. Pleasant House, correspondence, minutes, programs, and reports 1948-1959
5 107 Jewish Community Center branches, Shaker-Lee House, correspondence, minutes, programs, and reports 1947-1961 undated
5 108 Jewish Young Adult Bureau, budget, correspondence, minutes, and newsletters 1940-1957

Series V: Departments and Programs 1911-1992 undated

Box Folder
5 109 Adult Services Department, correspondence, minutes, and reports 1948-1957
Box Folder
6 110-111 Adult Services Department, correspondence, minutes, and reports 1959-1977
6 112 Aliyah programs 1967-1975
6 112 Amnesty program 1974-1975
6 112 Backdoor workshop 1971
6 112 Bernard Ostrovsky Forum 1969
6 113 Braverman Lectures, correspondence and program 1961-1978
6 114-116 Camp Wise, H. A. Rippner, staff member diary, including photographs 1911
6 117-119 Camp Wise, minutes, newsletters, and reports 1924-1977
6 120 Cleveland Hebrew Association for the Deaf, Chatterbox newsletters and reports 1966-1977
6 121 Cleveland Shalom, guides, minutes, and reports 1970-1978 undated
6 122-128 Cultural Arts Department, minutes, programs, and reports 1946-1972
Box Folder
7 129 Cultural Arts Department, minutes, programs, and reports 1973-1978 undated
7 130-131 Day Camps (includes play centers, Playland, and the Anisfield Day Camp), minutes, programs, and reports 1947-1978
7 132 Draft counseling, correspondence and reports 1970
7 132 Drug Abuse Program, minutes and reports 1971-1972
7 133-134 Extension programs, correspondence, memoranda, minutes, programs, and reports 1951-1979 undated
7 135-137 Family and Children's Services Department, correspondence, minutes, and reports 1947-1979 undated
7 138-141 Health and Physical Education Department, correspondence, minutes, and reports 1949-1978
7 142 Helen Stein Institute, minutes, programs, and reports 1965-1973
7 143 Israel Independence Day Committee, minutes and programs 1948-1978
7 143 Israeli Students Organization, correspondence and membership lists 1968-1977 undated
7 144 Jewish Book Council, minutes, programs, and reports 1950-1976
7 144 Jewish Secular Community, reports and programs 1973-1975
7 145 Jewish Singing Society, programs 1946-1980
7 146 Jewish Youth Council, minutes and programs 1951-1974 undated
7 146 Joe Sokol Memorial Program, correspondence, minutes, and programs 1961-1972
7 147 Kibbutz Summer Program, reports and program 1970-1978
7 147 Legislative Institute 1971
7 147 Mental Patients Program, minutes 1972-1976
7 147 Morris Gisser Memorial Lectures, programs 1967-1968
7 147 Myron Guren Jewish Scholar-in-Residence Program 1977
7 147 New Voter Symposium, correspondence and report 1972
7 147 Norma and Ernest Siegler Israel Scholarship Fund Committee 1977
Box Folder
8 148 Rapart Center, minutes and reports 1967-1977
8 149 Rose and Hugo Mahrer Institute 1970
8 149 Sabbath Programs 1957-1976
8 150 Schlichim program, correspondence, minutes, and reports 1968-1981
8 151-158 Senior Adult Department (Golden Age Division), correspondence, minutes, reports, and newsletters 1950-1979 undated
8 159-161 Senior Adult Department, Title III grants, Title V grants, Title VII grants, Title X grants, and Title XX grants 1973-1980
8 162 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary C. E. A./J. C. C., minutes and program 1974
8 162 Slow Learners Program, articles, minutes, programs, and reports 1964-1969
8 163 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, announcements in Russian 1975-1991
8 163 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Anti-Semitism in Russia 1963-1981
8 164 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Cleveland Council on Soviety Anti-Semitism, correspondence and reports 1972-1982 undated
8 165-167 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Council of Jewish Federations Demonstration Grants Projects, Innovative Programming on Soviet Jewish Resettlement 1979-1980
Box Folder
9 168 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Financial and Educational Integration of the Russian Immigrant Jewish Students Report 1979
9 168 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Freedom Bus, correspondence and program 1971
9 168 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, From Russia With Love Exhibit, announcements and correspondence 1981
9 169 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, grant proposals 1974-1981
9 170 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Intensive English Learning Program, attendance data 1975-1981
9 170 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Intensive English Learning Program, budget 1977-1981
9 171-172 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Intensive English Learning Program, student record sheets (alphabetical by student last name) 1978
9 173-178 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Intensive English Learning Program, student record sheets (alphabetical by student last name) 1979-1980
9 179-180 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Intensive English Learning Program, student record sheets (alphabetical by student last name) 1980-1981
9 181 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Intensive English Learning Program, Teacher Guide Book ca. 1980
9 181 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Intensive English Learning Program, newsletters 1978-1981
9 182 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Jewish Community Federation Task Force on Help to Russian Refugees, Correspondence and minutes 1974-1980
9 182 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Jewish Family Service Association Soviet Refugee Resettlement Committee, correspondence, minutes, and reports 1974-1979
9 183 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Newcomer Orientation Packet, draft ca. 1981
9 183 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, reports 1974-1992 undated
9 184 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, resettlement handbook, Jewish Community Center of Greater Boston 1980
9 185 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, resettlement analysis of Russian and Vietnamese immigrant families, University of Illinois 1980
9 186 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, resettlement articles, proposals, and miscellaneous; resettlement families 1975
9 187-188 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Rhythms of Cleveland newspaper (Russian language) 1981-1985
9 188 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Russian-American Young Adult Project ca. 1974
Box Folder
10 189-195 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Soviet block grant information cards 1979-1980
10 196 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, Soviet-Jewish Identity Sub-Committee Report 1981
10 196 Soviet Jewry Resettlement Programs, miscellaneous, including Cleveland Jewish agencies resettlement proposals and An Annotated Bibliography of Russian-Language Judaica 1973-1982 undated
10 197 Summer Travel Camp, report 1977
10 197 Volunteer Service Department Prospectives 1974
10 197 Walkathon, minutes and program 1973-1974
10 198-199 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Committee, minutes, programs, and announcements 1962-1978
10 200-201 Yiddish Cultural Committee, announcements, minutes, programs, and reports 1947-1978 undated
10 202-204 Young Adult Council, minutes, programs, newsletters, and reports 1948-1977
10 205-207 Youth Department (includes Teen Department and Youth Division), announcements, correspondence, minutes, and reports 1949-1970
Box Folder
11 208 Youth Department (includes Teen Department and Youth Division), announcements, correspondence, minutes, and reports 1970-1978 undated
11 209 Miscellaneous, including account of David Freireich remeeting Jennie Rayzberg Drucker 1961-1974

Series VI: Publications 1940-1978

Box Folder
11 210-212 Jewish Community Center News 1966-1977
11 213-215 Jewish Community Center News Bulletin 1967-1975
11 216 Program Resources pamphlet 1960-1962
11 217-219 Program schedules 1949-1977
11 220-222 Publications and studies 1940-1941 1945
11 223 Publications and studies, including merger analysis 1945-1966
11 224 Publications and studies, including Jewish Holiday Manual 1966-1968
11 225-226 Publications and studies, including "A Practitioner's Exploratory Study of the Effect of the Introduction of Black History on Behavior in an Interracial Group," by Belle Likover (1969) 1967-1978
11 227 Scripts for Jewish Community Center plays 1948-1971