This finding aid is made available for public use following the Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons designation.
This collection is located on-site.
One box of published reference books was discarded due to mold (October 2019).
Materials relating to the Bialystocker Community. Six oversize group photographs, one Yiddish typewriter.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Bialystoker Community photographs and typewriter; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
2016.2017.M157: Source of acquisition--Rebecca Kobrin. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--date.
The Bialystoker Center itself grew out efforts to provide foreign aid to the regions of Eastern Europe devastated by World War I. A Bialystoker Relief Committee was founded in 1919 to coordinate the work of existing Bialystoker landsmanshaft, and in 1921 this evolved into the Bialystoker Center, a new landsmanshaft created as an umbrella organization to oversee the other Bialystoker groups, provide a central meeting space, and direct their charitable and cultural programs. By the mid 1920s, with the recovery of Eastern Europe and the passage of national immigration restrictions, the Center's focus shifted to supporting the existing Jewish community in New York. A central component of this new mission was the creation of a Home for the Aged. Plans for a new building to house both the Bialystoker Center and the Home for the Aged were begun in 1927. The cornerstones were laid in 1929 and the completed building was inaugurated during a large ceremony in 1931.
Fragile - handle with care