The records document the role and activities of several women's organizations formed to serve residents and assist in financing and operating the Milwaukee Jewish Home. There are some materials regarding the construction and general administration of the home. The collection also affords some insight into resident life, primarily by documenting the social, recreational, and therapeutic activities arranged by the various women's auxiliaries. Records generated by residents are limited to a few issues of a resident newspaper, The Voice, which appeared from 1952 to 1956. There are no files regarding individual residents and little or no information concerning their medical treatment.
The records are organized into three series: GENERAL RECORDS, HISTORICAL NOTES, and WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS.
The GENERAL series contains miscellaneous and fragmentary files of material pertaining to the construction and overall administration of the home and is arranged alphabetically by subject. Administrative records consist of resident admissions policies, several sets of by laws and articles of incorporation, a five year segment of Board of Trustee minutes, and miscellaneous financial statements and reports.
The Building Committee and Building Fund files document the construction of the home at its second location on North 50th Street in 1930, and the 1949 addition to the building. Legal documents include deeds, titles, promissory notes and correspondence regarding ownership of the property.
A file of illustrated brochures and programs document public relations and fund raising from the 1930s through 1981. There are several files concerning preparations for the annual meetings of the Board of Trustees. These include correspondence, clippings, memoranda, expense reports, and minutes of the Annual Meeting Committee from 1972 to 1980.
Photographs included in the GENERAL series depict past presidents, trustees, staff, members of the women's organizations and residents of the home on outings and engaged in various activities during the 1940s, 1960s and 1970s. Photographs of the building include interior and exterior views (primarily from the 1960s and 1970s), and the ground breaking, laying of the cornerstone, and construction of the third facility during the early 1970s.
HISTORICAL NOTES consist of a detailed handwritten chronology of events in the history of the Milwaukee Jewish Home and its women's organizations from 1906 to 1972. The notes were taken by Jennie Feinstein, president of the B'noth Israel Society from 1930 to 1934. They served as the basis for accounts published in the Milwaukee Jewish Chronicle and in some of the home's publicity material.
The most complete and voluminous portion of the collection documents the work of the WOMENS' ORGANIZATIONS. The series begins with clipping files which provide an overview of fund raising, social, and organizational activities primarily from 1949 to 1981. Thereafter the records are arranged alphabetically by the name of the organization.
The House Committee was responsible for furnishing, decorating, equipment, repairs, hiring, salaries, and overseeing the observance of kashrut, or Kosher dietary laws. The records are largely those of the “Women of the House Committee,” and include an incomplete set of minutes from 1944 to 1970, and correspondence, memoranda and reports from 1962 to 1970.
Records of the B'noth Israel Society are fragmentary, consisting of a brief run of minutes from 1931 to 1934, at which time the Society changed its name to the Ladies' Auxiliary.
Records of the Ladies' Auxiliary (formerly the B'noth Israel Society), are the most consistent of the women's organizations and document the group from its formation in 1934 to its merger with the Women's Aid Society in 1962. The group raised funds through annual balls, membership dues, and private subscriptions, and sponsored social events for residents. Included are by laws, account books from 1956 to 1964, minutes from 1934 to 1962, illustrated bimonthly bulletins, printed programs and announcements from 1948 to 1961. The account books itemize income and expenditures and include lists of dues paying members and residents who received gifts from the Auxiliary. Interfiled with the minutes are monthly financial statements, annual reports from the president, and occasional correspondence.
Records of the Women's Aid Society reflect their contribution towards furnishing, maintaining and renovating the home, and their cooperation with the Ladies' Auxiliary in hosting parties and open houses. Included is a listing of officers and committees and a complete set of minutes from the organization's founding in 1933 to 1962, when it merged with the Ladies' Auxiliary. The financial records consist of an account book detailing income and expenditures from 1956 to 1962; information for the period 1933 to 1955 is missing.
The Ladies' Auxiliary and Women's Aid Society joined in 1962 to become the Women's Auxiliary and Aid. The merger is documented through a file of minutes of the Planning Committee and a copy of the organization's revised by laws. The activities and membership of the group from 1962 to 1969 are reflected in a complete set of minutes and bimonthly bulletins. Like those published by the Ladies' Auxiliary, the bulletins typically contain news, announcements, photographs, and lists of officers, members and contributors.
Similar bulletins are the main source of information about the Women's Service Auxiliary which was formed in 1970 by a merger of the Women's Auxiliary and Aid and the Women's Service League. Unlike its predecessors' records, the files here are extremely fragmentary. The Women's Service League, established in 1956, is slightly better represented through bulletins, minutes and financial reports. However, only the bulletins are complete for the years 1956 to 1968.
