The records document the varied activities of the synagogue, both religious and secular, including the religious school, adult social clubs, and the financial structure of the institution. In order to better understand the dating of the records, the researcher should remember that the synagogue's calendar runs according to the Jewish monthly cycle. Thus, the year runs from September to August. The collection has been divided into the following series: ADMINISTRATION, FINANCIAL RECORDS, TALMUD TORAH, NEW BUILDING, SISTERHOOD, MEN'S CLUB, PUBLICATIONS, AGUDAS ACHIM, ORAL HISTORIES and PHOTOGRAPHS.
The ADMINISTRATION series includes correspondence from the late 1940s through the 1960s, the major part of which is dated 1968 and 1969. “Personal” correspondence relates to the private concerns of the congregation, including birth and death announcements and financial donations. Most of this correspondence is outgoing, from either the rabbi or congregation president. Business correspondence includes purchase orders and other financial papers, dated from 1949 to 1969. There is little in the way of administrative minutes or executive records, except for minutes of the board of directors from the 1960s, and those of the annual meeting, from 1974 to 1975.
FINANCIAL RECORDS provide a fairly complete record of the financial structure of the congregation from 1950 to 1970, documented through ledgers and journals. For the year 1961, monthly statements are included with the Budgets and Financial Statements. Pay books and the salary book appear to be records of the money allocated each pay period to both the rabbi and the religious school teachers. The file containing records on High Holy Day seating is included with the financial series because worshippers were required to buy seats for the special holidays due to the unusually large number of congregants on those occasions.
Constituting one-half of the collection, the TALMUD TORAH series includes records of the religious school, which operated on an after-school and weekend basis. Student records are cumulative files on each student throughout his enrollment in the Talmud Torah, usually from six to ten years. Children whose records are included in this series were born between 1948 and 1954. The series also contains records concerning the Jewish National Fund's Trees for Israel program in which students were encouraged to purchase trees to be planted in Israel for about $2.00 apiece. Each child could request that the tree they purchased be planted in honor or in memory of someone. There are separate files of tree order forms and lists of persons in whose honor tree certificates were purchased.
The NEW BUILDING series contains papers concerning the construction of the new synagogue in 1949 and later additional construction. Included are pledge cards from the building fund and invoices.
The SISTERHOOD series offers the most complete documentation of a group within the synagogue hierarchy. Minutes of both the board of directors and the general monthly meetings are complete from 1955 to 1975, with a gap from 1971 to 1972. The financial aspects of the organization are also well documented, particularly through financial statements from 1955 to 1975. The files concerning Sisterhood programs include flyers about those individuals and groups available as entertainers, as well as the scripts of many of the programs produced by the Sisterhood before the entire congregation.
Much of the scattered correspondence in the MEN'S CLUB series is concerned with fundraising and donations for the annual picnic. Executive and annual picnic papers reflect only essential decisions.
The PUBLICATIONS series contains the congregation's Annual Book, which provides a good synopsis of yearly activities of the congregation, including the functions of the social clubs, the Talmud Torah, and synagogue gossip. Also included in the series is a calendar, 1958-1959, noting important dates for the congregants, as well as providing the usual information of a Jewish calendar, i.e. sunrise and sunset times, Jewish holidays, and days of remembrance for the deceased. The newsletters report on social, cultural, and philanthropic activities of the congregation for 1948-1956, 1959-1962, and 1981-1982.
The ANNUAL DUES series contains records pertaining to the assessment of annual dues. It includes correspondence between members of the congregation and the finance committee concerning assessments, membership lists on which the congregants' annual dues have been noted, and dues cards, 1964-1968, which have been completed by congregants according to annual income.
AGUDAS ACHIM is a minute book in Yiddish documenting synagogue activities from 1908 to 1920 and is available only on microfilm. It includes lists of officers and members and some financial reports.
Tape recorded ORAL HISTORIES, conducted by David Mandel in 1982, offer additional insight into Agudas Achim and the early history of the Beth Israel Center. Four interviews with older members of the congregation, some of them former officers, focus on such topics as fundraising and social activities, the role of the Sisterhood, the 1937 split between Agudas Achim and Adas Yeshurun, the reasons for Agudas Achim's transition from Orthodoxy to Conservatism, and the rationale and events surrounding the building of the Beth Israel Center. The interviewees, all emigrants from Poland or Russia, also describe their family backrounds, the Mound Street Jewish neighborhood, and their activities within Madison's Jewish community. A similar interview with Morris Heifetz, secretary of Agudas Achim from 1924 to 1949, was conducted in 1978 by Sara Leuchter and has been cataloged separately as Tape 714A.
PHOTOGRAPHS from 1949 to 1955 depict officers of Agudas Achim, Beth Israel Center, and the Sisiterhood; member of Bas Mitzvah, Bar Mitzvah, and Talmud Torah classes; interior and exterior views of the Beth Israel Center; religious ceremonies and social activities. Many of the photographs appeared in the congregation's annual books.
