Guide to the School of Education Records, Academic Departments and Schools, American Jewish University Archives (Institutional Records)

Prepared by Sivan Siman-Tov, American Jewish University
Ostrow Library and University Archives, American Jewish University
Bel and Jack M. Ostrow Library
15600 Mulholland Dr.
Bel-Air. California 90077
310-440-1238
URL: http://library.aju.edu/
Archives URL: http://callimachus.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15008coll11
E-mail: library@aju.edu
E-mail: sivanst3@gmail.com
© June, 2014
All rights reserved.

School of Education, Academic Departments and Schools, American Jewish University Archives (Institutional Records)

Collection number: CaLaAJUL1_5

American Jewish University

Bel-Air, CA 90077
Date Completed:
2014
Encoded by:
American Jewish University Archives
© 2014. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Identifier/Call Number: CaLaAJUL1_5
Title: School of Education, Academic Departments and Schools, American Jewish University Archives (Institutional Records)
Date (inclusive): 1947-1962 inclusive
Collector: American Jewish University; University of Judaism; Brandeis-Bardin Institute (Brandeis, Simi Valley, Calif.)
Repository: University Archives and Ostrow Library, American Jewish University

15600 Mulholland Dr.
Bel-Air. California 90077
Extent: 5 Folders (Box 15)
Location: Physical files are housed at the Ostrow Library of the American Jewish University.
Abstract: The records in this series contain materials related to the School of Education. It includes materials related to the Board of Governors of the School of Education, Inner Committee, Public Lectures, Teacher’s Institute, and the Department of Extension Education.
Language: Materials are in English and Hebrew

Administrative Information

Access:

This collection is open for research with permission from the Ostrow Library staff. Some materials may be restricted. Contact the Archive (sivanst3@gmail.com) or the Library (library@aju.edu).

Accruals:

Additions to this collection may be transferred regularly.

Rights:

Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. In addition, the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of gift or purchase agreement, donor restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright holder. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item], School of Education, Academic Departments and Schools, Guide to the American Jewish University Archive, American Jewish University, Bel-Air, CA 90077.

Acquisition Information:

Collected by various members of the American Jewish University.

Scope and Content:

The records in this series contain materials related to the School of Education. It includes materials related to the Board of Governors of the School of Education, Inner Committee, Public Lectures, Teacher’s Institute, and the Department of Extension Education.
The American Jewish University Archive is a collection of documents, pamphlets, recordings, letters, publications, photographs, scrapbooks, and ephemera that document the history of the University of Judaism and the Brandeis-Bardin Institute which merged to become American Jewish University in 2007, depicting people, places and events at both campuses.

Organization:

The collection is part of Series 5: Academic Departments and Schools. It is organized in 5 sub-series.
  • V. Academic Departments and Schools: 1947-2014
    • 1. School of Education: 1947-1962
      • Subseries 1. Board of Governors of the School of Education
      • Subseries 2. Inner Committee
      • Subseries 3. Public Lectures
      • Subseries 4. Teacher’s Institute
      • Subseries 5. Department of Extension Education: Youth and Adult Education

American Jewish University:

The American Jewish University , with its Familian campus in Bel Air, California and Brandeis-Bardin campus in Simi Valley, California, is the outcome of the 2007 union of Brandeis-Bardin Institute (BBI) and the University of Judaism (UJ).
In 1947, the University of Judaism was founded in Los Angeles, the vision of Dr. Mordecai Kaplan, the author of Judaism as a Civilization, who advocated the creation of an educational institution incorporating diverse elements of Jewish civilization and culture under one roof. To carry out his dream, he received the support of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and the Bureau of Jewish Education of Los Angeles.
Six years earlier, BCI was founded by Dr. Shlomo Bardin to safeguard against assimilation of young American Jews by making “the great ethical heritage of Judaism” relevant to them. Brandeis Camp Institute was named to honor our nation’s first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, Louis D. Brandeis, who was instrumental as the visionary and primary funder of Dr. Bardin’s initial programmatic endeavor. BBI was located for brief periods of time in Amherst, NH, Winterdale, PA and Hendersonville, NC before finding its home in 1947 in Simi Valley.
For more information, please see our history page at the following link: http://aboutus.aju.edu/default.aspx?id=4742 .

The Bel and Jack M. Ostrow Academic Library:

The Ostrow Library , is designed to meet the needs of the University's faculty and students, as well as scholars conducting research in all fields of Jewish culture and civilization. Members of the general public are also invited to use the Library’s materials for personal enrichment and enjoyment. With approximately 110,000 print volumes, the library's collections have grown consistently through endowments, gifts of major private collections and an ongoing acquisition program.

The Burton Sperber Memorial Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles:

The Burton Sperber Jewish Community Library  at American Jewish University now serves as the official Jewish Community Library of Los Angeles. This new library succeeds the original Peter M. Kahn Jewish Community Library that was formerly housed at the Los Angeles Jewish Federation. Dedicated by his family in memory of noted Los Angeles philanthropist and landscape developer Burton Sperber, this library welcomes the entire Los Angeles Jewish community to enjoy its state-of-the-art facility including regularly scheduled programs for children and families as well as author and other literary encounters.

The Lowy-Winkler Family Rare Book Center:

The Lowy-Winkler Family Rare Book Center , a gift of Peter and Janine Lowy, is home to the Maslan Bible Collection. This unusual assemblage of exceptional volumes includes approximately 4,000 Bibles, some dating back almost to the inception of the printing press. This collection also features bible translations representing most of the written languages of the world, as well as the Kalman-Friedman Collection of Italian Judaica.

The University Archives:

The University Archives  of the American Jewish University is a collection of documents, pamphlets, recordings, letters, publications, photographs, scrapbooks, and ephemera that document the history of the University of Judaism and the Brandeis-Bardin Institute which merged to become American Jewish University in 2007, depicting people, places and events at both campuses.

Photograph and Digital Archive:

  • The American Jewish University Digital Archive  includes photographs, scrapbooks, and ephemera that document the history of the University of Judaism and the Brandeis-Bardin Institute which merged to become American Jewish University in 2007, depicting people, places and events at both campuses. These photographs include great Jewish thinkers who founded AJU and were involved with its growth over the years. The creation of both institutions was made possible by philanthropists to whom we owe the building of University of Judaism and the Brandeis-Bardin Institute.

Audio-Visual Archive:

  • The American Jewish University Audio-Visual Archive  is a collection of audio-visual records of lectures, shows, and events taking place at or produced by the American Jewish University (formerly University of Judaism and Brandeis-Bardin Institute) over the years.

Louis Shub Documentation Center:

  • The Louis Shub Documentation Center  at the American Jewish University is a collection of thousands of articles from various newspapers and periodicals covering a range of subjects. Gathered by Dr. Shub, the former library director of the University of Judaism, the collection was used by students to research subjects such as Israeli and Jewish figures, Foreign Policy, Global Jewish Communities, Israel, the Middle East and many other issues and subjects. The importance of this collection is the juxtaposing of articles from major papers with those of small local papers both covering the same event. The finding aid to the collection can be viewed at: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c85h7jcf/ 

Subjects:

Note

(Library of Congress Subject Headings)

Personal and Corporate Names:
American Jewish University
Brandeis-Bardin Institute (Brandeis, Simi Valley, Calif.)
University of Judaism
Camp Ramah.
Women's League for Conservative Judaism
United Synagogue of America.
Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
National Women's League
University Women of the University of Judaism
Sinai Temple (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Shub, Louis
Lieber, David L.
Greenberg, Simon, 1901-
Wexler, Robert
Turner, Justin G.
Fligelman, Julius, 1895-1980
Heschel, Abraham Joshua, 1907-1972
Kohn, Jacob, 1881-1968
Swig, Benjamin Harrison, 1893-1980
Pressman, Jacob;
Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem, 1881-1983
Finkelstein, Louis, 1895-1991
Levine, Sid
Wise, Aaron M.
Vorspan, Max
Zemach, Benjamin
Helfman, Max
Warren, Earl, 1891-1974
Eisenshtat, Sidney, 1914-2005
Gindi, Elie M.
Bergman, Martin
Jospe, Erwin
Alexander, Hanan A., 1953-
Bradley, Tom, 1917-1998
Dorff, Elliot N.
Cohen, Gerson D. (Gerson David), 1924-
Dortort, David
Goodhill, Victor, 1911-
Gordis, David M.
Schulweis, Harold M.
Glass, Judith
Ray, Eric
Krems, Nathan
Ackerman, Walter I.
Kahn, Peter M., 1878- [from old catalog]
Gordis, Robert, 1908-
Wolfson, Ron
Cohen, Aryeh
Oppenheim, Lois Hecht
Schary, Dore
Zevit, Ziony
Familian, Isadore
Seewack, Benjamin
Ostrow, Jack
Ostrow, Bel
Easton, Harold

Subjects and Indexing Terms

General Subjects:
Judaism.
Zionism and Judaism.
Israel.
Education.
College presidents.
Jewish college presidents
Rabbis.
Philanthropists
Scholars.
Art.
Patrons of education
Board of directors--United States.
College administrators
Libraries.
Jewish artists
Jewish college teachers
Authors.
Faculty, University
Women.
Musicians
College campuses.

Box 15

Series: 5.1:
School of Education 1947-1962

Physical Description: 5 Folders
Physical Location: Related Materials: For materials on classes, schedules and faculty, see Schedules and Bulletins of General Information (Box 1).

Scope and Content Note

This subseries contains materials related to the School of Education. It includes materials related to the Board of Governors of the School of Education, Inner Committee, Public Lectures, Teacher’s Institute, and the Department of Extension Education.

Biography/Organization History

Historical Note: In the Fall of 1947, the University of Judaism opened its School of Education, which included the Teacher's Institute (Teacher's Training Program), an Extension Department, Public Lectures, and a Leaders Training Fellowship. Dr. Samuel Dinin served as Dean of the School and Jacob Pressman served as the School's first Registrar and was succeeded by Max Vorspan in 1952. A Women’s Institute, University Institute of Adult Jewish Studies, Fine Arts Department, Institute of Jewish Communal Service, School of Creative Arts, a Museum and Art Gallery were added to the school during the 1950s-1960s.
Box 

15, folder 1

A:  Minutes of Board of Governors of the School of Education 1947-1949

Physical Location: Related Materials: For materials on the Board of Governors (1968-), please see Board of Governors (Box 13, folder 7-8).

Scope and Content Note

Minutes of the Board of Governors meetings, discussing the history of the School, reports on programs and from committees, lectures, and other various issues.

Biography/Organization History

Historical Note: Established in the fall of 1947 to oversee and promote the establishment and development of the academic programs of the UJ, including the School of Education, its first chairman was Peter M. Kahn. While they did not have any legislative powers, their advice was incredibly important to the University academic staff. Members included Mordechai Kaplan, Moshe Davis, Aaron Gordon, Mrs. Ayola (Irwin) Reiss, Samuel Dinin, Jacob Kohn, Abbott Kaplan, Meyer Krakowski, Ben Platt, Jacob Pressman, Nathan Saltzman, Theodore Strimling, Mrs. Leo Gallin, Max Holtzman, and more.
Box 

15, folder 2

B:  Minutes of the Inner Committee 1948-1949

Scope and Content Note

Minutes of the Inner Committee meetings, discussing housing, lectures, courses, registrar reports, the library, brochures, public relations, and more.

Biography/Organization History

Historical Note: Members included Peter Kahn, Simon Greenberg, Jacob Kohn, Samuel Dinin, Jacob Pressman, Benjamin Platt, George Meyer, Victor Garvey, Ruth Swerdlow (Secretary) and more.
Box 

15, folder 3

C:  Public Lectures 1952-1962

Physical Location: Related Materials: For materials on the Faculty Forum, Public Lectures (1962-1964), please see the Graduate School (Box 15);

Physical Location: Related Materials: For materials on the Public Lectures (1962-) under the Earl Warren Institute of Ethics and Human Relations, please see Box 15;

Physical Location: Related Materials: For materials on the Library Lecture Series (1964-), please see the University Institute (Box 15).

Physical Location: Related Materials: For materials on the Public Lecture Series (1976-), please see the Department of Continuing Education (Box 18).

Scope and Content Note

Includes a program from the Annual series, "Six Public Lectures" and news clippings of various lectures.

Biography/Organization History

Historical Note: Under the School of Education, many distinguished professors and visiting scholars would teach at the University and give public lectures. The visiting scholars who lectured included Martin Buber, Simon Halkin, Naftali Tur-Sinai, Paul Chertoff, Abraham Menes, Shlomo Noble, Shalom Spiegel, Ernst Simon, Leo Strauss, Zvi Scarfstein (The Role of the Heder in Jewish Life, Past and Present, in Yiddish; Life and Culture in Present Day Palestine, in Hebrew), Elias Bickerman, and Mordecai M. Kaplan (The Future of the American Jew). They were organized by the Lecture Series Committee, whose chairmen include Cyrus Levinthal, J. J. Lieberman, Jacob Kohn, Harold Easton, Charles Brown, Dore Schary, Nathan Saltzman, Charles Zibbell, David Winston (Enduring Values in Judaism), Abraham Heschel (Judaism and the Moral Problem), Judah Goldin (The Role of Midrash in Jewish Thought) and Joseph Schulman. The lectures were hosted by Congregation Sinai, Sinai Fellowship, Temple B'nai Israel of Pasadena, Southwest B'nai Zion Temple Center, Israela, the Valley Jewish Community Center, Temple Beth El of Hollywood, and more. This program moved to the Earl Warren Institute of Ethics and Human Relations around 1962 and later to the Department of Continuing Education.
Box 

15, folder 4

D:  Teacher’s Institute 1948-1962

Physical Description: 1 Folder
Physical Location: Related Materials: For materials on the Hebrew Teachers College, and the College of Judaica (1961-1972) please see Box 15, Folder 20.
Physical Location: Related Materials: For materials on the University College of Jewish Studies (1972-1987), see Box 15.

Biography/Organization History

Historical Note: When Samuel Dinin arrived in Los Angeles in 1945, he realized that there was no Hebrew high school or program to train teachers for such schools. A program which began with the Bureau of Jewish Education was then transferred to the University, under the School of Education, first named a Teachers Training Program. It consisted of a Department of Hebrew Language and Literature, and a Department of Yiddish Language and Literature. It offered courses to those who wished to become teachers in week-day Jewish schools or who wished to continue their Jewish studies on a collegiate level. In the 50s it was a four-year program with a dozen courses a semester. By 1956, the program offered a Teaching Diploma, a Bachelor in Religious Education, and a Bachelor in Hebrew Letters. David Lieber was Dean of Students of the Teachers Institute in 1958. In September 1962, the program was replaced with the Hebrew Teachers College and the College of Judaica.
Box 

15, folder 4

1.  Minutes of the Teacher’s Training Committee/ Teachers Institute Committee 1948-1949

Scope and Content Note

Chairmen included Jacob Kohn and Nathan Saltzman. Topics include reports, the Yiddish department, schedules, publication fund, out of town students, the register, and more.
Box 

15, folder 4

2.  Alumni Association 1961

Scope and Content Note

Includes Minutes of the West Coast Branch of the Teachers Institute Alumni and news clippings (Mrs. Ayola Reiss Heads Newly Formed Alumni Association).

Biography/Organization History

Historical Note: Graduates of the Teachers Institute formed this group, with their project being a scholarship fund in honor of Samuel Dinin. The money would be raised through personal pledges, theatre parties, annual dinner, and more. They were also in communication with the New York Alumni branch from JTS. The initial meeting was held on December 4th, 1961.
Box 

15, folder 4

3.  News Clippings 1960-1962

Box 

15, folder 5

E:  Department of Extension Education: Youth and Adult Education 1947-1948

Physical Description: 1 Folder
Physical Location: Related Materials: For materials on the the Institute for Jewish Studies or the University Institute, please see Box 15.

Biography/Organization History

Historical Note: This department was established to "help young people and adults to improve their understanding of themselves, their cultural heritage, and the problems of our world, as an aid to constructive Jewish living in the American democracy". It included the Youth Institute of Jewish Studies (Joseph Field and Portia Fisher as chairmen), Education for Sunday School Teachers and Group Workers, the Women’s Institute of Jewish Studies, and the Adult School of Jewish Studies. At first, the classes took place at Vermont Avenue and at Sinai Temple. Later they were moved to the Ardmore Campus. Rabbi Jacob Pressman was the first Director of the Extension Department. The Women's Institute (with Mrs. Ayola Reiss as Registrar and Director) would have morning classes, with a Valley branch as well. In the 50s, the University Institute of Adult Jewish Studies would have classes in the evening. The Women's Institute became the Morning Division of the University Institute of Jewish Studies around 1957. The Department of Extension Education eventually turned into the University Institute for Jewish Studies, and later the University Institute.
Box 

15, folder 5

1.  Youth Institute of Jewish Studies 1947-1948

Scope and Content Note

Includes analysis, schedules, registration reports, and a brochure.