The Jewish Labor and Political Archives

Press About the Project | Newsletter | Project Supporters

YIVO’s Jewish Labor and Political Archives (JLPA) encompasses more than 100 collections (3.5 million pages of documents). The materials cover geographic locations across the United States and Europe from 1870 to 1992. They are rich in correspondence between major political and labor leaders; materials about revolutionary cells; illegal press and pamphlets circulated during the Holocaust, manuscripts of speeches delivered by figures in the Jewish Labor Bund; leaflets and flyers calling for protests and boycotts; posters advertising rallies and marches; and sound recordings of members of the US labor movement.

The collections illustrate how the transnational activities of the Jewish working class were instrumental in the international labor movement. Jews who immigrated to the United States during the period of mass immigration brought their political ideologies, social consciousness, and demand for labor reform to the new and fertile ground of the American working class, joining other ethnic groups in the fight for fair wages and workers’ rights. The collections provide valuable insights on the impact of the Jewish immigrant community on American culture and serve as a bridge to understanding the evolution and diversity of the American Jewish experience.

Press About the Project

PRESS RELEASES:

YIVO Receives $224,000 Save America’s Treasures Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (October 26, 2023)

YIVO Awarded $150,000 Grant from the National Archives’ National Historical Publications and Records Commission (October 18, 2023)

YIVO Receives $350,000 Grant to Digitize Four Collections Focused on Jewish Immigrant Involvement in the Labor Movement in the United States (July 6, 2023)

YIVO Announces Major Project to Digitize its Historic Jewish Labor and Political Archive (February 2, 2023)

Irene Kronhill Pletka, YIVO Honoree, Announces $1 Million Gift at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Gala (November 15, 2018)

IN THE MEDIA:

Jewish News, Millions of Bund pages to be digitised for posterity (March 9, 2023)

JTA, YIVO will digitize a trove of Jewish leftist history (March 8, 2023, picked up by Cleveland Jewish News, YNetNews, and Jewish Post and News)

The Forward, YIVO to digitize millions of documents from Jewish Labor Bund (February 22, 2023)

The Forward, Among The Treasures Of The Bund, Lessons For Today (November 14, 2018)

YIVO’s biannual newsletter includes featured artifacts and project updates from the JLPA. Read the excerpts below:

Spring 2024

Fall 2023

Spring 2023

Project Supporters

$1,000,000+ Builder
Irene Pletka

$500,000+ Partner

$100,000+ Benefactor
Institute of Museum and Library Services: Save America’s Treasures (IMLS)
Ruth and David Levine
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)

$50,000+ Patron

$25,000+ Sponsor
Anonymous
The Slomo and Cindy Silvian Foundation

$10,000+ Supporter
Harri Hoffmann Family Foundation
Deborah K. Holmes Family Foundation

$5,000+ Contributor
The Hittman Family Foundation
Julius C. Spiegel

$1,000+ Friend
Ellen Odoner and Edward Kerson

Contributions received as of December 31, 2023