Fifty Years of Jewish Philanthropy in Greater Boston 1895-1945.
[Judaica]. The Combined Jewish Appeal. Fifty Years of Jewish Philanthropy in Greater Boston 1895-1945. Commemorating Half a Century of Organized Jewish Philanthropy in Boston. Boston: Associated Jewish Philanthropies, United Jewish Campaign, (1945).
4to.; black and white photographs throughout; glossy paper; full-color illustrated wrappers, black rear panel lightly soiled with three small creases.
First edition of this elaborate yearbook, illustrated with black and white photos; this copy deaccessioned from the Library of the Hebrew Teachers College in Boston, with their stamp on the rear cover and title page, and their loud deaccession stamp inside the front cover (“Withdrawn by order of the librarian”).
Dedicated “In humble tribute to the men and women of the armed forces who fought and died for freedom,” Fifty Years of Jewish Philanthropy in Greater Boston 1895-1945 includes appreciations from local and national leaders for the good works accomplished by the Philanthropies during the preceding five decades, as well as detailed histories of their projects and the men and women who brought them to fruition. The frontispiece, a facsimile letter from FDR, attests to the range of the Philanthropies’ influence, and merits quoting in full:
Hearty congratulations to the Associated Jewish Philanthropies of Boston on the completion of fifty years of constructive service to the community.
The attainment of this notable milestone in good works will bring to mind all the fine things achieved in philanthropy during the past half century, whether in the field of health, recreation, or welfare. Methods change but the need for private social work continues. I trust therefore that increasing success may come to you and your associates in the decades that lie ahead.
Charles Francis Adams, as the President of the Greater Boston Community Fund, contributes a much longer piece examining the relationship between the Fund and the Philanthropies over the years, and presidents and former presidents of Jewish organizations nationwide offer congratulations. The Yearbook also includes advertisements, mostly of a patriotic bent, and related lists: the charter subscribers in 1895; the 1944 contributors to the Combined Jewish Appeal; and an Honor Roll of Jewish men and women in the armed forces of the United States from the Greater Boston area, listed by city or neighborhood. Among the many local, national and overseas agencies whose identities are sketched is the Women’s Division. In an article entitled, “Woman’s Role in Communal Affairs,” the Division Chairman writes:
Parallel with the increasing participation of women in business, industrial, education, and other fields, has been their acceptance of increasing responsibility in the philanthropic area. And parallel with the growth of the Associated Jewish Philanthropies has been the development of the Women’s Division, one of the few such groups of its size in the country operating on a completely volunteer basis.
Organized in 1917 around a nucleus of approximately one hundred workers, the Women’s Division reveals a notable history, both in social services agencies and in fund-raising for the Associated Jewish Philanthropies.
Through the efforts of the Women’s Division, much of the education of the community to the pressing need for organized social service has been accomplished. An awareness of the essential demands upon the community by our local institutions and b the recently multiplying national and overseas institutions has made this division the focal point for dissemination of information to the public concerning these needs.
The Women’s Division has been, in a large measure, the instrument by which new concepts and approaches to social problems have been successfully introduced and expanded in Boston . . . (p. 91)
A beautiful tribute to the efforts of an influential Jewish community.
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