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Jewish Welfare Centre (South End, Boston, Mass.) Records

 Collection
Identifier: I-435

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains a ledger from the Jewish Welfare Centre of the South End documenting money disbursed to individuals and families in need, as well as individual and organizational donations to the centre.

Dates

  • 1918-1930

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is in English.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for researcher use. Please contact us to request access or to make an appointment to view this collection at

Historical Note

The Jewish Welfare Centre in Boston, Massachusetts’s South End was one of five “district houses” or “district services” the Federated Jewish Charities of Boston organized under Executive Director Morris Waldman in the late 1910s. Other centres opened in other neighborhoods of Boston with significant Jewish populations, including Roxbury, Dorchester, the West End, and East Boston. The first of the five centres, the South End Jewish Welfare Centre, located at 15 Florence Street, provided recreational and public welfare services and was led by a professional social worker. The centre provided, among other things, Hebrew and Yiddish classes for both adults and children, art classes, and meeting space for outside organizations, such as the South End Ladies’ Society, the Young Women’s Hebrew Association, and the Jewish People’s Relief, as well as disbursements to individuals and families in need. After reorganizing as the Associated Jewish Philanthropies (now known as the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston) in 1930, the main organization found that Jewish population had moved from the South End and other neighborhoods where the centres were located, and discontinued them, deciding to streamline and modernize their public and recreational welfare programming.

References

  1. Ebert Susan. “Community and Philanthropy.” In The Jews of Boston, edited by Jonathan D. Sarna, Ellen Smith, and Scott-Martin Kosofsky, 236-238. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005.
  2. Pelonsky, Anna S. "Woman Her Intersts: Why 15 Florence Street is Justly Named 'The Jewish Welfare Centre of the South End' Jewish Adovocate, March 13, 1919.

Chronology

late 1910s
The Federated Jewish Charities organize five "district houses" or district "services."
1930
The district houses close.

Extent

0.25 linear feet (1 half-manuscript box)

Abstract

This collection contains a ledger recording the Jewish Welfare Centre of the South End's disbursement of funds to individuals and families in need, as well as individual and organizational donations it recieved.

Physical Location

Located in Boston, Mass.

Acquisition Information

Acquistion information unknown.

Processing Information

Processed by Lindsay Murphy, 2017

Title
Guide to Jewish Welfare Centre (South End, Boston, Mass.) Records, I-435 I-435
Author
Processed by Lindsay Murphy
Date
2017
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center at American Ancestors Repository

Contact:
99-101 Newbury Street
Boston MA 02116 United States
617-226-1245