Correspondence

Temple Emanuel was founded in 1920 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It began by serving a small immigrant Jewish community that has since grown to an affluent and lively congregation of about 600 families. This growth occurred largely under the tenure of Rabbi Harry A. Roth, who lead the congregation from 1962 until 1990 and oversaw the temple’s move to Andover, Massachusetts. This collection includes correspondence, photographs, and sermons.

Temple Ner Tamid was founded in 1959 by local Jewish families who wanted a conservative synagogue in their home town of Peabody, Mass. Following its inception the congregation was able to buy a tract of land and raise money for construction of the temple, which was completed in 1965. Included are correspondence and other mailings, event programs, seating charts, temple by-laws, a Landscaping Committee record book, meeting and expense reports, and membership lists.

Temple Shalom is an Egalitarian Conservative Synagogue in Salem, Massachusetts, formerly called the Sons of Jacob. The congregation was formed by European Jewish immigrants in the Salem area in 1898. This collection includes photographs of congregation members and activities, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, meeting minutes, and various publications.

Founded in 1846, the United Order of True Sisters (UOTS) originated in New York with the intent of increasing philanthropy and providing an outlet for women. In 1947, the United Order of True Sisters Cancer Services was founded to raise funds to support oncology centers. The material in this collection includes event programs, a certificate of life membership, and the correspondence of Sylvia Shapiro, vice-president of the UOTS.

Noemi #11 was an organizational branch of the charitable organization United Order True Sisters. The members of Noemi #11 were particularly dedicated to the philanthropic cause of aid to disabled children, and had a strong association with Children’s Hospital, Boston, and Massachusetts General Hospital. The collection includes meeting minutes, personal histories of the lodge, programs, photographs and correspondence.

The Vilna Shul is the last immigrant-era synagogue building in Boston and currently operates as a cultural center. This collection contains correspondence, meeting minutes, reports, proposals, photographs, notes, publications, financial records, legal documents, architectural plans, and audiovisual materials relating to the activities, internal proceedings, finances, early history, building renovations, and legal disputes of the Vilna Shul.

This collection contains the correspondence between two Jewish teenage pen pals, Walter Weiner from Boston and Jenny Wilk from Antwerp, Belgium, shortly before and during the first years of World War II. The correspondents share their perspectives on antisemitism in Belgium and the United States, and, after Wilk reports about her ordeal since the start of the war, Weiner looks for ways to console and support her from afar.

Consists of correspondence, in the form of postal cards, between family members in Vilna, London, New York City and Boston at the turn of the century. Corresponding members of the family include D. [David] Wolk in London and Boston, J. Wolk in London, S. [Sam or Salomon] Wolk in Boston, New York and Malden, Massachusetts and B. Wolk in Cambridge and Malden, Massachusetts, as well as P. Fine in Boston, with whom D. Wolk and S. Wolk temporarily resided.