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Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles Oral History Project
Collection
URB.JFSOH
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles Oral History Project Collection
Creator:
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles (Calif.)
Identifier/Call Number: URB.JFSOH
Extent:
3.85 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1979-1981
Abstract: The Jewish Family Service of Los
Angeles Oral History Project consists of 50 interviews of Jewish immigrants in the Los
Angeles area. The goal of the project was to study and evaluate the life experiences of
persons who came to the United States during one of the three waves of Jewish immigration -
the period from 1900-1945, the years after the Holocaust, and the period of Russian
immigration in the late 1970s. The life stories taken during the project reveal a rich
folklore of the Jewish people, their countries of origin, war, social change, customs,
traditions, and the individual's feelings about Jewish life.
Language of Material: English
The Jewish Family Service (JFS) of Los Angeles was originally established in 1854 as the
Hebrew Benevolent Society. Founded by a group of Jewish businessmen, the organization
provided funeral services and charity to destitute Jews and Gentiles. This was the first
relief agency in Los Angeles, and the predecessor of all benevolent societies and charitable
institutions in Southern California.
In 1916, the Hebrew Benevolent Society merged with the Ladies' Hebrew Benevolent Society
to form the Jewish Aid Society. The new society began referring the growing number of relief
cases to public welfare agencies and encouraging indigent families to become
self-supporting. A name change in 1929 to Jewish Social Service Bureau reflected a widening
range of assistance programs available to families and individuals, including psychiatric
counseling and job placement.
Throughout the early 1940s, the organization worked with problems related to family
disorganization created by World War II. After the War, the agency concerned itself with the
influx of European immigrants especially Holocaust victims, by working with the United
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. This relief program involved the largest expenditure made by
any private family agency in Los Angeles, with the exception of the Red Cross. In 1946, the
agency changed it's name to Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles.
The 1950's gave rise to a deeper interest in personal counseling, with fees being
instituted for the increasing numbers of middle-class clients. A branch office of JFS was
established in the San Fernando Valley, and services were extended to West Los Angeles,
Santa Monica and Venice. The 1960's brought further expansion, including telephone
counseling, crisis intervention, Jewish family-life education programs, outreach service,
and the opening of the Freda Mohr Center, a walk-in store-front for the elderly. A new unit
was established in 1973 to help newly arrived Russian immigrants.
JFS was the first agency in California to receive certification from the Family Service
Association of America. It has been a participating agency in the Community Chest (Los
Angeles Area Welfare Federation and United Way of Greater Los Angeles, Inc.), a constituent
agency of the Jewish Federation-Council, and a member of the Association of Jewish Family
and Children's Agencies and Jewish National Fund Council. JFS also handles casework for the
Hamburger Home, the Julia Ann Singer Nursery School and Cedars-Sinai Hospital.
The
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles Oral History Project
Collection
consists of 50 interviews of Jewish immigrants in the Los Angeles area.
The goal of the project was to study and evaluate the life experiences of persons who came
to the United States during one of the three waves of Jewish immigration - the period from
1900-1945, the years after the Holocaust, and the period of Russian immigration in the late
1970s. The life stories taken during the project reveal a rich folklore of the Jewish
people, their countries of origin, war, social change, customs, traditions, and the
individual's feelings about Jewish life.
Interviews were conducted by volunteers trained by the Jewish Family Service. These
interviews were then donated to the library in 1981 along with other records from the
organization. Interviewees were given the option to maintain their anonymity, in which case
they were assigned a number or name by volunteers for identification purposes. The
collection is divided into two series:
Audio Recordings
(1979-1981) and
Interview Notes (1979-1981).
Series I,
Audio Recordings, consists of oral history interviews
recorded onto audiocassettes.
Series II,
Interview Notes, consists of field notes taken by
interviewers, summaries of the tape contents, and indexes of topics discussed in the
interviews.
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, 1981.
Series I: Audio Recordings, 1979-1981
Series II: Interview Notes, 1979-1981
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Jessica Geiser, 2014
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiovisual materials
Documents