American Jewish Historical Society

Library and archive - see schedule othe Society welcomes all researchers who wish to conduct research on American Jewish life from first arrival in the americas to the present day. The library consists of approximately 50,000 volumes, including both books and serials (journals and periodicals). The Society houses approximately 2000 archival collections and has developed finding aids for its personal and institutional holdings, and they are available online. Access to the physical materials resumed in 2021 when the reading room reopened, and scholars have been using the materials at high levels since the reopening. The Society also has expanded our digital holdings and digitization program, in order to continually provide access to our materials, regardless of reading room status. In the last quarter of 2021, statistics on digital use found that in a three month span the top three collections searched were; the national Jewish welfare board bureau of war records - accessed 355 times, the hebrew orphan asylum records- accessed 338 times, and the hebrew immigrant aid Society - accessed 317 times. These are collections that have a great deal of digitized content, demonstrating the overall value of the Society digitization program and the ongoing need to continually expand our digital offerings.

Publications - see schedule oamerican Jewish Historical journal - scholarly journal of published articles on American Jewish history themes. The journal editorial board published 4 volumes in 2021, resuming its full publishing schedule despite difficulties in the pandemic. Additionally, the Society competed work to redesign its website to be mobile-friendly and contain a dynamic publishing platform to cross-post journal articles, as well as other digital media and content related to American Jewish history. The website serves as a digital portal to the Society's content, featuring articles, videos, past programs, and featured collections.

Public programs - see schedule oin 2022, the Society returned to hosting a number of onsite public programs as well as the continued hosting online book talks and other scholarly programs, reaching audiences both locally and nationally through this public history initiative. The Society hosted monthly events including a day-long symposium, panel discussions in coordination with our exhibition "from sitting room to soapbox: emma lazarus, union square, and American identity, and author talks celebrating new releases. The Society also conducted its first in-person biennial scholars conference since the covid-19 pandemic, working in partnership with the grant center at tulane university to welcome more than 100 scholars to new orleans. The conference was conducted in a hybrid format, allowing scholars unable to travel to participate. Online, the Society continued its popular "at lunch" series with julie salamon, welcoming guests from the fields of history, entertainment, journalism, and more. Additionally, the Society launched a new partnership with the gilder lehrman institute of American history to train k-12 teachers and administrators about how to best use archival materials related to Jewish American history and culture in their classrooms. The program trained 50 educators and reached roughly 5,000 students nationwide.

Exhibits