United Hebrew Charities Recipients & Donors

This database contains data from two sources. The first source is a ledger containing the names, addresses and details of 1,231 of the United Hebrew Charities’ recipients, primarily from the 1870s. The second source is the combined donor list from the United Hebrew Charities’ first three annual reports, 1875-1877. These sources are currently held by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the American Jewish Historical Society.

The charity recipients represented in the ledger lived through a particularly difficult era in American history. In 1873, dozens of banks failed, setting off a nationwide financial crisis, with the poor, immigrants, and city-dwellers being hit hardest. With no public safety net and with an alarming increase in the numbers of Jews in distress, the elite of New York’s Jewish community decided in 1874 to form the United Hebrew Charities. The organization’s 1876 report noted that the preceding three years “has brought no relief to the distressing condition of trade and commerce in this country superinduced by the Panic of 1873,” and that the organization would continue to support those most in need.

The names in the ledger are mostly of German origin. The Charities’ recipients at this time came from the pool of central European immigrants who arrived prior to the mass migration of people from eastern Europe in the 1880s and onwards. The ledger complicates the oversimplified stereotypes we have about supposedly wealthy, established “German Jews,” and their poor east European brethren. When they arrived in America, many German-speaking Jews needed the charitable support that we typically associate with the later east European immigrants.

In addition to the names, addresses, and descriptions of the recipients, the ledger includes two other interesting data points. It categorized potential recipients using the following codes: “worthy,” “not worthy of assistance,” “not needy,” “not very needy,” “not recommended needy,” “professional Beggar,” and “not well recommended.” These codes helped the United Hebrew Charities distinguish between those individuals and families that it felt needed and deserved aid, and those that did not. They represent pervasive beliefs about the need to prioritize the “deserving poor.”

In some cases, the ledger also includes the amount given to each recipient. Contemporaneous annual reports of the United Hebrew Charities divided recipients into two categories: firstly, the sick, orphans, and widows, who were entitled to a monthly allowance; and secondly, individuals who found themselves temporarily in hard circumstances, who the UHC would grant one-off payments. It is not clear from the ledger which figures represent which type of payment.

Additionally, dates are recorded in some cases. The dates range from 1869-1873. While it is not clear exactly what the dates mean, these individuals were probably initially beneficiaries of one of the smaller organizations that came together to form the United Hebrew Charities, and were put on the rolls of the UHC upon its founding in 1874.

The second source is the combined donor list from the UHC’s annual reports of 1875-1877. The donors are divided into two categories: those who gave cash donations, and those who gave clothing or miscellaneous items. The list includes individuals, families, businesses, synagogues, and other community organizations, and features some of nineteenth century American Jewry’s most prominent figures, like Jacob Schiff and the Lehman brothers.

You can use the main search bar below to search the database for individual names and addresses. Click between “Charity Recipient” and “Donor” to see the results for each category. You can also use the menu on the left-hand side to filter the results by code, marital status, amount given or received, and year. Click on each card to see the case and view the original document. To download multiple results from your search, click the “Download as CSV” button in the top right corner of the database.

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