Record Group 4: University of Judaism, Los Angeles

• Dates: 1947-1960
• Size: 4 linear ft.
• Number of Boxes and Packages: 3 boxes; 1 package (scrapbook)
• Languages:
  • English
  • Hebrew
• Location: Special Collections Reading Room, Jewish Theological Seminary Library.
• Restrictions: Jewish Theological Seminary records are available for research, with permission, through 1972; records dating from 1973 and afterward are currently closed. For permission to see records of The Jewish Theological Seminary write to: Archivist, Ratner Center for the Study of Conservative Judaism, Jewish Theological Seminary, 3080 Broadway, New York, NY 10027. Reproduction of fragile items is not permitted; consult the archivist about literary rights.

BF, 6/14/90; rev. JM, 11/25/91

Table of Contents:

•   A Note on Folder Headings
•   Historical Note
•   Collection Description
•   Box List

A Note on Folder Headings

Individual folders are identified in the following way: record group# -- box# -- folder#, as in R.G.1-10-32. Please use this format in citations and when referring to files for any other reason.

Historical Note

The University of Judaism, the Seminary's west coast campus, was founded in 1947. It began as a teacher training program; undergraduate, continuing education, and rabbinical preparatory programs were gradually added. The University of Judaism was proposed by Mordecai Kaplan in 1945, and was headed from 1948 to 1968 by Simon Greenberg.

For more on the history of the University of Judaism see: Deborah Dash Moore, "Another Glowing Chapter: The University of Judaism," in Tradition Renewed: A History of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America ed. Jack Wertheimer (New York: JTS, 1997).

Collection Description

These records of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles consist mainly of administrative correspondence, 1947-1960. Also included are materials from commencement excercises, 1951 and 1953-1955; six reel to reel tapes, 1947-1948; and a scrapbook, ca. 1940s.

The correspondence, which is mainly Simon Greenberg's, documents the early years of the University of Judaism plus later administrative matters, particularly fundraising. Correspondents include professors, staff, board members, and others, such as University of California faculty Lawrence Powell and Robert G. Sproul. Of interest is correspondence with Hollywood film industry figures such as Louis B. Mayer, Harry Warner, and Dore Schary (who was on the University's board) among whom Greenberg attempted to stimulate interest. Also of note is correspondence with Chaim Potok, then the director of the Camp Ramah on the west coast, and correspondence relating to Martin Buber's visit to the University.

The commencement materials include drafts of programs and invitations, guest lists, and correspondence and memoranda documenting arrangements for the University of Judaism's first commencement in 1951, and subsequent ones from 1953 to 1955. Honorary degrees were awarded to California Governor Earl Warren, biochemist Dr. Wendell Stanley, composers Ernest Bloch and Darius Milhaud, and Los Angeles industrialist Paul Hoffman. Correspondence with some of them can be found in these files.

Five reel-to-reel tapes record a banquet for the University of Judaism at the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel on December 28, 1948. Speakers include Stephen Kayser, Dore Schary, E.[ddie?] Cantor, Simon Rifkind (?), and others. The sixth tape records a 1947 University of Judaism ceremony, speakers include [Louis] Rabinowitz, and [Moshe] Davis. The tapes have been removed from this collection and added to the Ratner Center Sound Collection as numbers S133-138.

The scrapbook - which may be a mock-up for a promotional brochure - consists mainly of photographs with captions. Some additional text is included.

Box List