AJHS is the oldest ethnic, cultural archive in the United States.
Established in 1892, the American Jewish Historical Society provides access to more than 30 million documents and 50,000 books, photographs, art and artifacts that reflect the history of the Jewish presence in the United States from 1654 to the present.
AHJS Featured Holdings
The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) fosters awareness and appreciation of American Jewish heritage and serves as a center for national scholarly research. Among our archival treasures, exhibitions, and public programs is the handwritten original of Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus, which graces the Statue of Liberty. We also collect and preserve records of the nation’s leading Jewish communal organizations, and important collections in the fields of education, philanthropy, science, sports, business, and the arts.
We are located within the Center for Jewish History on West 16th street in downtown Manhattan.
Upcoming Events
Author Hannah E. Zaves-Greene joins us to discuss her new book, Able to Be American: Disability in US Immigration Policy and the American Jewish Response with Sarah Imhoff. Epilepsy. Heart disease. Varicose veins. “Feeble-mindedness.” In 1891, Congress unambiguously codified the popular sentiment that “defects” like these should preclude admission to the United States. Expanding the eugenics-rooted […]
Julie Salamon, New York Times best-selling author, sits down with Joshua Jelly-Schapiro to discuss his latest book, Daylight Come: Harry Belafonte and the World He Made. Joshua Jelly-Schapiro is a geographer and writer whose books include Names of New York: Discovering the City’s Past, Present, and Future Through Its Place-Names; Island People: The Caribbean and the World; and, […]
Join author Amy Weiss as she discusses her new book, Interfaith Friends and Ideological Foes: American Jews, Evangelicals, and Israel, 1963 – 2018. Interfaith Friends and Ideological Foes examines the evolution of the relationship between American Jews and evangelicals. Amy Weiss argues that Jewish interfaith partnerships with evangelicals developed as a necessary, adaptive strategy to […]
Established in 1892, the mission of the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) is to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American Jewish history. At our home on West 16th Street in downtown Manhattan, AJHS illuminates American Jewish history through our many archival treasures, scholarship, exhibitions, and public programs.