Title:

Elkan and Henrietta Moscowitz Voorsanger papers, 1914-1979

Creator/Contributor:

Voorsanger, Elkan C. (Elkan Cohen), 1889-1963, creator, creator.

Creator/Contributor:

Voorsanger, Henrietta, creator.

Creator/Contributor:

Western Jewish History Center, 277.

Creator/Contributor:

Judah L. Magnes Museum, WJHC 1977.001.

Creator/Contributor:

Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

The collection contains correspondence from Elkan and Henrietta Moscowitz Voorsanger; correspondence and materials relating to Elkan and Henrietta's work in Europe during and after World War I; a photograph album holding photographs of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in Eastern Europe and Warsaw (1920-1921); photographs of members of the Voorsanger family; correspondence from family members and friends; newspaper articles; scrapbook materials including correspondence, photographs and articles; and sermons. NOTE: most of the material in this collection are photocopies from the American Jewish Archives.

Date:

1914 (issued)

Subject:

n-us-ca

Rabbis

Jewish women

Military chaplains -- Judaism

Jews

Jewish women

Jews

Military chaplains -- Judaism

Rabbis

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Jewish Welfare Board.

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Jewish Welfare Board.

Voorsanger, Elkan C. (Elkan Cohen) -- 1889-1963 -- Archives

Voorsanger, Henrietta

Formerly: Western Jewish History Center Collection Number 277.

Formerly: Judah L. Magnes Museum Collection Number WJHC 1977.001.

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.

Transfer; Judah L. Magnes Museum; 2010.

Elkan C. Voorsanger was a rabbi and businessman, who was the United States' first Jewish chaplain, serving in France during World War I. He was born in San Francisco in 1889. He was ordained a rabbi at Hebrew Union College in 1914. He served as rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Temple Saare Emeth in St. Louis. While there, World War I broke out and he resigned his post and enlisted in the army as a private. He was promoted to sergeant, lieutenant-chaplain, captain and senior chaplain of the 77th division of the U.S. Army. He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre and several American citations, including the Purple Heart. Following World War I, Elkan Voorsanger was named overseas director of the Jewish Welfare Board (and served the Board during World War II as chaplaincy commissioner.) In 1919-1920, he visited Poland and Kiev for the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. From 1924-1936, he employed himself as a businessman, and he also engaged in financial and/or Jewish welfare work in Chicago, Milwaukee, and for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, and the American Jewish Relief Committee (1934-1955). He retired in 1957 and moved back to San Francisco. Henrietta Moscowitz Voorsanger was born in New York City and became the head of the stenographic department of the United States Army's Signal Corps. While in France, she became a secretary to Elkan and they married in 1921. They had three daughters. They made friendships and relationships with numerous important people, including Margaret Sanger and Eleanor Roosevelt and were noted for their philanthropic activities and political and civic involvement. Elkan Voorsanger passed away in 1963.

Elkan Voorsanger and Henrietta Moscowitz Voorsanger papers, BANC MSS 2010/817, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Materials in English.

Type:

Archives.

Personal correspondence.

Photographs.

Personal correspondence.

Photographs.

print

2.9 (2 1

English

Origin:

California

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.