Congregation Cnesses Israel was officially organized on September 15, 1898 when a small group of Green Bay Jewish residents filed formal Articles of Organization in the Office of the Register of Deeds for Brown County. The incorporators were listed as Isaac Cohen, William Sauber, Azriel Kanter, John Baum, Aaron Rosenberg, B. Bronstein, Sam Abrams, and Charles Fink.

The first Jewish settler in the Green Bay area was Jacob Franks, a fur trader, who arrived from Toronto in 1792. Upon his return to Canada in 1812, his nephew, John Lawe, assumed his position in the community as a successful merchant. Lawe also served as associate judge of the first court in the territory and as a member of the first territorial legislature. These early Jewish settlers, however, left no record of Jewish activities and had little contact with other Jews around the state. It was not until the large-scale Jewish migration of the 1880s that the identity of the Green Bay Jewish community was secured.

Although the Jewish community in Green Bay numbered only 20 families by the summer of 1903, the setting of a cornerstone for the construction of a synagogue on August 25 attested to the strength and conviction of a handful of Jewish residents determined to preserve their religious and secular values. The first services of Congregation Cnesses Israel were performed in the new building on February 27, 1904, and Hebrew School assembled there two days later. Formal dedication of the synagogue occurred on September 4, 1904.

The congregation organized a Ladies Aid Society in 1902, and Ella Sauber was elected president. The Society's main objectives were fundraising for the new building and support of worthy causes in the community, such as hospitals, orphanages, and needy families. The organization is now known as the Sisterhood. (Many of its records, 1922-1968, constitute a previously acquired collection, Green Bay Mss 51.)

Abraham Goldman served as the first president of Congregation Cnesses Israel. He was followed by John Baum, Isaac Cohen, Benjamin Abrohams, Nathan Fisher, Carl Asman, John Levitas, William I. Miller, Nathan Rosenberg, and Jake Rosenberg. In 1944, the congregation drafted a new constitution, which called for the creation of a Board of Trustees and granted equal rights of suffrage to men and women. The first chairman of the board was Meyer M. Cohen; he was succeeded by Arthur A. Fogel, Lewis Peal, and Bert Milson.

On December 9, 1906, the Green Bay Lodge #618 of B'nai B'rith was chartered by 26 members dedicated to serve the community and the congregation. Membership has increased to 100 at present.

Hadassah, the largest Jewish Women's Zionist organization in America, was established in Green Bay in 1917 under the guidance of Ella Sauber, for whom the local chapter is named. Although the organization was created to build a medical center in Palestine, Hadassah has also contributed to Youth Alyah, the Jewish National Fund, youth activities, and the Hadassah Medical Organization.

It was decided in the autumn of 1943 that the congregation needed a greater physical structure, and fundraising was begun under the tutelage of Nathan Rosenberg. It was not until the weekend of September 21-23, 1951, that official dedication of the new synagogue occurred, however. In 1948, Congregation Cnesses Israel officially became a part of the Conservative movement through affiliation with the United Synagogue of America.

These records reflect the complexities of an institution, which serves both the community and its members through religious instruction, spiritual guidance, and social events. The bulk of the material dates from 1922-1975 and contains detailed files of administrative and financial records of the synagogue. The publications of the synagogue and of the local B'nai B'rith, 1940-1973, comprise a significant part of the collection. The collection has been divided into three subseries: a Historical File, Administrative Records, and Publications and Speeches. The materials were received in the Archives in three groups: Box 1 and 2 and the photographs in 1977, Box 3 and 4 in 1984, and Box 5 in 1990.

The HISTORICAL FILE consists of materials compiled and presented by Cnesses Israel Historian Marian Miller at Green Bay's Jewish-American Heritage festival, held in June 1984. This file contains a chronology of major events in the history of Green Bay's Jewish community, and an account of the congregation's formation and earliest years. Other items provide details about Cnesses Israel's founders. These include brief biographical accounts of the Kanter, Sauber, and Stern families, and a copy of the Yehuda and Rasha Miller family tree.

ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS include annual reports of the congregation and of the synagogue's many religious, service, and social committees, 1958-1975; minutes of annual meetings, “regular” monthly meetings; membership lists; financial records such statements, summaries, and budgets; and Building Fund records, 1943-1952. Account books, variously dated from 1936 to 1945, document members' donations and the congregation's expenditures. Some of the records are in Yiddish. The photographs depict religious services and social activities such as award ceremonies, bazaars, luncheons, the Mr. and Mrs. Dance Club, and the Theatre Arts Group.

The PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES include Congregation Cnesses Israel newsletters, 1967-1973, and Sisterhood Circle Book, 1957-1967, as well as extensive files of B'nai B'rith publications. Also present are printed booklets commemorating the dedication of the new synagogue, 1951, and the building's Silver Anniversary in 1976. A small file of undated speeches completes this series.