Synopses & Reviews
"Hannah Kliger has provided an important service to historians... " --Journal of American Ethnic History
"... Hannah Kliger has provided a valuable primary source for studying immigrant Jewry and has argued forcefully for the resiliency and adaptability of ethnic institutions as mechanisms for Jewish adaptation and survival." --American Jewish Archives
Struggling to cope in a strange land, immigrants in the early years of this century gathered with compatriots from their old hometowns and with family for their social life and to form support systems. Here is an illuminating portrait of community life among Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, as seen by participants in landsmanshaftn (hometown associations) and family circles. Prepared in the 1930s through the WPA-sponsored Yiddish Writer's Group, this revealing document is published here for the first time.
About the Author
HANNAH KLIGER, Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has published articles on the communication of ethnic identity in immigrant communities.
Table of Contents
Preface
Part One: Documenting Jewish Immigration: New York Jewish Writers and the Works Progress Administration
Part Two: The WPA's "Jewish Landsmanshaftn and Family Circles in New York"
An Annotated Edition Prepared by Hannah Kliger
Introductory Note
1. The Present State of the Lansmanshftn
2. The Social Role of the Landsmanshaftn
3. The Constitutions of the Landsmanshaftn
4. The Souvenir Journals of the New York Landsmanshftn
5. The East European Background of the Jewish Family
6. Jewish Family Circles
7. Jewish Famlily Life in New York City
8. Three Generations
Part Three: Contemporary Lanslayt in New York: Continuities and Discontinuities
Bibliographic Guide
Appendix
From The Jewish Landsmanshftn of New York
From Jewish Families and Family Circles of New York
From Jewish Landsmanschaften and Family Circles in New York
Notes
Index
Illustrations follow p. 15