Source: JDC Archives
Hundreds of thousands of searchable documents and more than 45,000 photos are now available at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s (JDC) Global Archives website. Drawn from the humanitarian organization’s vast international collection, the online compilation currently represents materials from JDC’s founding in 1914 through 1932. Additional records are being added in the coming year.
The website offers extensive photo galleries, including photos by renowned photographers Walter Limot and Al Taylor; lists of more than 7,000 aid recipients from the First World War Era, and a video lecture series on JDC from Professor Yehuda Bauer. With materials for scholars, educators, genealogists, and the general public, the site also has a tutorial for site visitors. Users will be able to match archival documents with photos, the names index, and oral histories. The website includes material for serious scholarly research, curated exhibits, and a search option for those interested in family history and general Jewish interest.
Topic Guides
The JDC Archives contains rich historical documents and photographs relating to Jewish communities in the modern period dating from 1914 to the present. JDC's records of its work in assisting Jewish communities, often in response to emergencies and critical periods in Jewish life, are a treasure trove of primary source material.
This original material can be used by educators in a variety of settings to bring historical events and challenges to life in a very meaningful and poignant way. In the Topic Guides, the website seeks to introduce briefly the historical event and provide rich primary source materials that the educator can utilize to develop lessons, curricula, programs, or readings. Included are original letters, reports, minutes of meetings, and historical photographic images. This material can be used in formal or informal education settings for ages ranging from high school to adults. The material can be used for the study of Jewish history, social responsibility, or general history.
JDC previously made available a collection of its historic records and photographs from the Holocaust period on the "Our Shared Legacy Mini-site", now part of the JDC Global Archives website.