Guide to the Records of the Forward Association, 1913-1972, 1986-1987, RG 685

Processed by YIVO staff. Additional processing by Rachel S. Harrison as part of the Leon Levy Archival Processing Initiative, made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org
URL: http://www.yivo.org
The collection was originally processed by YIVO staff. Additional processing was completed in 2012.

Collection Overview

Title: Guide to the Records of the Forward Association, 1913-1972, 1986-1987, RG 685

ID: RG 685 FA

Extent: 12.0 Linear Feet

Arrangement: The materials in this collection are arranged either by format, subject or organization and then usually chronologically. The collection is organized in eleven series.

Languages: English, Yiddish, German, Hebrew, Russian

Abstract

The Records of the Forward Association collection consists of the administrative records of the Office of the General Manager of the Forward Association, publisher of the Jewish Daily Forward. The collection contains correspondence, financial materials, minutes, reports, and information related to various anniversary celebrations. These materials serve to illustrate the professional activities of the Forward Association and its General Manager and show the Forward’s importance.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection pertains mostly to the work of the Office of the General Manager of the Forward Association. The materials include financial records, minutes of meetings, circulation reports, departmental reports, correspondence from regional Forward offices in Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, materials concerning various anniversary celebrations and special publications, and correspondence relating to the Liberal Party of New York, 1944-1951. The records in this collection represent only a fraction of the Forward Association archives while the rest is retained by the Office of the General Manager of the Forward Association. The collection covers the period from 1913-1972 as well as two items in an addendum from 1986-1987.

Historical Note

The Forverts (Jewish Daily Forward) was founded in New York on April 22, 1897 as a Yiddish-language newspaper supportive of the ideologies and activities of the Jewish, American and international Socialist and trade union movements. Abraham Cahan was one of the original founders of the Forward and served as its editor-in-chief from 1903 until his death in 1951. During the period represented in this collection, the position of General Manager was held by Adolph Held, Baruch Charney Vladeck, Benjamin Schlesinger, Alexander Kahn, Daniel Ifshin, Paul Rubinstein, and several others.

At its peak, from the early 1900s through the 1930s, the Forward was the largest and most influential Yiddish newspaper in the world and the largest non-English newspaper in the United States. By the early 1930s the Forward had become one of America's premier metropolitan dailies, with a nationwide circulation topping 275,000. The newspaper's editorial staff included, at one time or another, nearly every major luminary in the then-thriving world of Yiddish literature, including Zalman Shneur, I.J. Singer, I.B. Singer, Sholem Asch, David Bergelson, Avrom Reisen, and Morris Rosenfeld, among many others.

The Forward Association, which was incorporated in 1901 in New York, is the owner and publisher of the Forward and also published the monthly Zukunft (Future) from 1912-1940. Its members elect a board of directors and serve on financial, editorial and membership committees. The Forward Association remains responsible for the policies, assets and budget of the Forward, as it has done for over 100 years.

References:

http://association.forward.com/

Subject/Index Terms

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions: Permission to use the collection must be obtained from the YIVO Archivist.

Use Restrictions: Permission to publish part or parts of the collection must be obtained from the YIVO Archives. For more information, contact:YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011 email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Acquisition Method: The records of the Forward Association were given to the YIVO Archives by the Forward General Manager Paul Rubinstein in May 1974. Addendum materials were given in the late 1980s.

Separated Materials: There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.

Related Materials: The YIVO Archives has several collection relating to the Forward, including the Papers of Morris Seskind, RG 269; Papers of Mendel Osherowitch, RG 725; Papers of Leon Arkin, RG 230; Papers of Abe Cahan, RG 1139; and Papers of Ephim H. Jeshurin, RG 451; as well as the Records of the Zukunft, RG 362.

Preferred Citation: Published citations should take the following form:Identification of item, date (if known); Records of the Forward Association; RG 685; folder number; YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

Box and Folder Listing

Series I: Bookkeeping 1913-1957

This series consists of bound volumes, including cash books, 1918-1934, journals 1913-1944 and trial balance sheets, 1941-1957, which list all of the financial accounts for the Forward Association.

Folders: 22

Folder 1: Cash book 1918-1919
Folder 2: Cash book 1920
Folder 3: Cash book 1921-1922
Folder 4: Cash book 1923
Folder 5: Cash book 1924
Folder 6: Cash book 1925-1926
Folder 7: Cash book 1927-1928
Folder 8: Cash book 1929-1930
Folder 9: Cash book 1931-1932
Folder 10: Cash book 1933-1934
Folder 11: Journal 1913-1919
Folder 12: Journal 1919-1926
Folder 13: Journal 1926-1931
Folder 14: Journal 1932-1936
Folder 15: Journal 1937-1944
Folder 16: Trial balance 1941-1948
Folder 17: Trial balance 1950-1952
Folder 18: Trial balance 1952-1953
Folder 19: Trial balance 1953-1954
Folder 20: Trial balance 1954-1955
Folder 21: Trial balance 1955-1956
Folder 22: Trial balance 1956-1957

Series II: Budget and Donations 1938-1949

This series contains information about the Forward Association’s budget, including allocation of donations, 1938-1942, correspondence with beneficiaries, 1938-1941, records of donations, 1944-1948, minutes of the Budget Committee, and budget reports. Sometimes the materials for a budget year are from earlier years.

Folders: 11

Folder 23: 1939 Budget 1938-1939
Folder 23A: 1939-1940 Budget 1939-1940
Folder 24: 1940 Budget 1939-1942
Folder 25: 1941 Budget 1939-1941
Folder 26: 1942 Budget 1942
Folder 27: 1943 Budget 1942-1943
Folder 28: 1944 Budget 1944
Folder 29: 1945 Budget 1942-1945
Folder 30: 1946 Budget 1946
Folder 31: 1947 Budget 1947
Folder 32: 1948 Budget 1947-1949

Series III: Circulation and Advertising 1921-1967

The materials in this series relate to the work of the Advertising Department and include monthly reports by the Advertising Department to the Board of Directors, 1921-1922, and correspondence between the Advertising Department and agents and customers, 1941-1945. Folders 33-35, concerning ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) reports on Forward circulation, 1938-1941, are missing but the information from those folders can be found in Series X: Addenda – Circulation, folders 166-195.

Folders: 19

Folder 33: ABC reports on circulation (missing) 1921-1939: Forward, 1938-1939; The Day, 1938; comparative figures on Forward, The Day and Jewish Morning Journal, 1921-1938
Folder 34: ABC reports on circulation (missing) 1938-1940: Forward, March 1939-March 1940; comparative figures for The Day and Morning Journal; comparative figures for corresponding period 1938-1939
Folder 35: ABC reports on circulation (missing) 1940-1941: Forward, March 1940-March 1941; comparative figures for The Day and Morning Journal
Folder 36: Advertising Department 1921: monthly reports to the Board of Directors; proceedings of the National Conference of Advertising Agents of Jewish Daily Forward, August 15-16 1921
Folder 37: Advertising Department 1922: report to the Board of Directors from N. Zalowitz, manager of the department, March 15 1922
Folder 38: Advertising Department 1923-1939: miscellaneous
Folder 39: Advertising Department 1938-1939: correspondence with Joseph Jacobs, Forward's advertising agent in NYC
Folder 40: Advertising Department 1940: correspondence and agreements with Joseph Jacobs
Folder 41: Advertising Department 1941-1942: correspondence with agents and customers
Folder 42: Advertising Department 1943-1945: correspondence with agents and customers
Folder 43: Advertising Department 1948: correspondence
Folder 44: Advertising Department 1949: correspondence
Folder 45: Advertising Department 1949: correspondence in connection with the Salute To Israel edition, May 4, 1949
Folder 46: Advertising Department 1950-1958: miscellaneous
Folder 47: Advertising Department 1949-1952: correspondence with David Dubinsky on the ILGWU ads in the Forward
Folder 48: Advertising Department 1955-1962: correspondence with New York judgesphotogaphs
Folder 49: Advertising Department 1961-1967: correspondence with the Surrogate’s Courts on placement of the legal ads in the Forward
Folder 50: Advertising Department undated: mailings, advertisements
Folder 51: Advertising Department undated: mailings, advertisements

Series IV: Local Offices 1929-1969

This series contains correspondence, meeting minutes and financial records from the Forward regional offices in Chicago, 1929-1969, Detroit, 1968, and Boston, 1938-1968.

Folders: 29

Folder 52: Chicago 1929-1933: comparative figures of income and expenses of NY and Chicago editions
Folder 53: Chicago 1940-1941: January-June 1941:correspondence on suggested elimination of the Forward printing plant in Chicago; exhibits on profits and losses of the Western and Chicago editions; estimates of costs of planned production of Western and Chicago editions in NY
Folder 54: Chicago 1940-1941: July-December 1941:correspondence on reorganization of the Chicago office; proceedings of the November 13, 1941 meeting of the Executive Board of the Forward Association that resolved to give up the Chicago plant; correspondence with the Hebrew Typographical Union on the Chicago situation
Folder 55: Chicago 1946-1947: correspondence on the decision of the Executive Board to suspend Morris Polin as the Forward’s Chicago manager
Folder 56: Chicago 1950-1953: correspondence
Folder 57: Chicago 1962: correspondence
Folder 58: Chicago 1963: correspondence
Folder 59: Chicago 1964: correspondence
Folder 60: Chicago 1965: correspondence
Folder 61: Chicago 1966: correspondence
Folder 62: Chicago 1967: correspondence concerning Chicago office expenses; exhibit of expenses
Folder 63: Chicago 1967-1968: weekly accounts of draw by the Union News Delivery
Folder 64: Chicago 1968: January-July 1968:monthly listings of advertisers in the Chicago and Los Angeles editions; miscellaneous correspondence
Folder 65: Chicago 1968: August-December 1968:miscellaneous correspondence
Folder 66: Chicago 1969: correspondence
Folder 67: Detroit 1968: correspondence
Folder 68: Boston 1938-1939: correspondence concerning advertising and circulation of Forward in the Boston area; financial reports, 1938-1939
Folder 69: Boston 1940: correspondence
Folder 70: Boston 1941: correspondence
Folder 71: Boston 1942: correspondence
Folder 72: Boston 1943: correspondence
Folder 73: Boston 1944: correspondence
Folder 74: Boston 1945: correspondence
Folder 75: Boston 1946: correspondence
Folder 76: Boston 1947: correspondence
Folder 77: Boston 1948: correspondence
Folder 78: Boston 1949: correspondence
Folder 79: Boston 1949-1951: correspondence
Folder 80: Boston 1968: correspondence

Series V: Local Offices - addenda 1926, 1939-1940, 1968-1969

This series consists of correspondence and circulation and financial data from the offices in Chicago, 1926, 1939-1940, Los Angeles, 1968-1969, and Philadelphia, 1968-1969.

Folders: 7

Folder 81: Chicago 1926: agreement between the Forward and the Chicago Hebrew Typographical Union on the printers’ wages
Folder 82: Chicago 1939: January-May 1939:correspondence, mainly on the planned reorganization of the Chicago office; data on circulation, profits and losses
Folder 83: Chicago 1939: June-December 1939:correspondence, mainly on the planned reorganization of the Chicago office; data on circulation, profits and losses
Folder 84: Chicago 1940: correspondence on the proposed elimination of the Chicago plant
Folder 85: Los Angeles 1968: correspondence
Folder 86: Los Angeles 1969: correspondence
Folder 87: Philadelphia 1968-1969: correspondence

Series VI: Anniversaries 1927-1972

This series is made up of materials relating to 30th-75th anniversaries of the publication of the Forward, including celebrations in Boston, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, and Los Angeles. These materials include information about anniversary editions, correspondence on anniversary letterhead, various arrangements for New York and regional celebrations particularly the 50th anniversary celebration at Madison Square Garden, official publicity, congratulatory correspondence, minutes and correspondence of the Arrangement Committee, clippings, programs, and speeches, some printed and others on tape reels.

Folders: 34

Folder 88: 30th and 35th anniversary 1927-1932
Folder 89: 40th anniversary 1937
Folder 90: 45th anniversary 1942
Folder 91: 50th anniversary 1947-1948: anniversary edition
Folder 92: 50th anniversary 1947: anniversary letters and letterhead
Folder 93: 50th anniversary 1947: arrangements
Folder 94: 50th anniversary 1947: publicity
Folder 95: 50th anniversary 1947: congratulations
Folder 96: 50th anniversary 1946-1947: proceedings of the Arrangement Committee
Folder 97: 50th anniversary 1946-1947: tickets, artists, speakers
Folder 98: 50th anniversary 1947: reservations
Folder 99: 50th anniversary 1946-1947: celebration in Madison Square Garden, May 25, 1947
Folder 100: 50th anniversary 1946-1947: Boston and New England celebrations
Folder 101: 50th anniversary 1947: Baltimore
Folder 102: 50th anniversary 1947: Chicago
Folder 103: 50th anniversary 1946-1947: Cleveland
Folder 104: 50th anniversary 1946-1947: Detroit
Folder 105: 50th anniversary 1946-1947: Los Angeles
Folder 106: 50th anniversary 1947: addresses of newspapers that received the publicity material
Folder 107: 50th anniversary 1947: Forward Facts (publicity material)
Folder 108: 50th anniversary 1947: congratulatory letter from President Harry Truman (photostat)
Folder 109: 50th anniversary 1947: statement by New York City mayor William O’Dwyer
Folder 110: 50th anniversary 1947: clippings, list of published notices, articles and editorials on the Forward
Folder 111: 50th anniversary 1947: speeches, clippings, correspondence, programs
Folder 112: 60th anniversary 1956-1957: Arrangement Committee correspondence
Folder 113: 60th anniversary 1956-1957: Carnegie Hall arrangements
Folder 114: 60th anniversary 1956-1957: program and speakers
Folder 115: 60th anniversary 1957: tickets
Folder 116: 60th anniversary 1956-1957: publicity and press releases
Folder 117: 60th anniversary 1957: clippings
Folder 118: 60th anniversary 1957: special edition correspondence
Folder 119: 70th anniversary 1967: speeches (tape reels)
Folder 120: 75th anniversary 1972: speeches (tape reels)
Folder 121: 75th anniversary 1972: anniversary letters and letterhead

Series VII: Anniversaries - addenda 1946-1947

This series concerns the 50th anniversary and includes materials from the Philadelphia celebration, the Workmen’s Circle Forward Jubilee Committee, the Landsmanschaften Committee for the Forward Jubilee, publicity materials about Forward staff, and information about the celebration at Madison Square Garden such as contracts, financial and ticket records and other publicity materials.

Folders: 15

Folder 122: 50th anniversary 1946-1947: Philadelphia
Folder 123: 50th anniversary 1947: Madison Square Garden funds
Folder 124: 50th anniversary 1947: complimentary tickets
Folder 125: 50th anniversary 1947: correspondence on ticket sales
Folder 126: 50th anniversary 1947: Madison Square Garden contract, complimentary tickets
Folder 127: 50th anniversary 1947: arrangement with Arcus-Simplex Ticket Company
Folder 128: 50th anniversary 1947: Workmen’s Circle Forward Jubilee Committee
Folder 129: 50th anniversary 1947: publicity
Folder 130: 50th anniversary 1947: publicity material on Hillel Rogoff
Folder 131: 50th anniversary 1947: publicity material on Adolph Held
Folder 132: folder not used
Folder 133: 50th anniversary 1947: publicity material on A. Kahn
Folder 134: 50th anniversary 1947: Landsmanschaften Committee for the Forward Jubilee
Folder 135: 50th anniversary 1947: banquet, May 25, 1947
Folder 136: 50th anniversary 1947: releases

Series VIII: Liberal Party 1944-1951

This series relates to the Liberal Party of New York State, with which many of the Forward staff were closely involved, and includes correspondence and news clippings concerning the 1944 presidential campaign, other correspondence and press releases and propaganda booklets on the presidential campaign.

Folders: 8

Folder 137: Liberal Party, NY State 1944: correspondence, including some concerning the presidential campaign
Folder 138: Liberal Party, NY State 1944: press releases and propaganda booklets on the presidential campaign, a Party convention
Folder 139: Liberal Party, NY State 1944: clippings
Folder 140: Liberal Party, NY State 1944: clippings
Folder 141: Liberal Party, NY State 1944-1947: correspondence
Folder 142: Liberal Party, NY State 1949: correspondence
Folder 143: Liberal Party, NY State 1950: correspondence and news releases
Folder 144: Liberal Party, NY State 1951: correspondence

Series IX: Miscellaneous 1924-1969

This series contains various materials about circulation, special editions of the Forward, publications put out by the Forward Association, correspondence and biographical materials of various Forward Association staff, incorporation papers and several versions of the constitution of the Forward Association, meeting minutes, promotional materials, financial reports, newspaper clippings, and Forward Association membership materials.

Folders: 21

Folder 145: Forward Readership Study 1938-1939: project of a research to be conducted with the Forward subscribers by the Ross Federal Research Co.
Folder 146: British Commonwealth/Empire Edition 1941: correspondence, promotion material, December 7, 1941
Folder 147: A Vanished World 1946-1947, 1962: correspondence on financial matters in connection with the publication
Folder 148: Workmen’s Circle 50th Jubilee 1950: correspondence on special Forward edition, May 1950
Folder 149: Abraham Cahan Edition 1949-1950: correspondence, mostly on promotion, September 4, 1950
Folder 150: Alexander Kahn, Forward manager 1956-1961: correspondence
Folder 151: Abraham Cahan Fund 1958-1968: correspondence
Folder 152: Agreement between Forward Corporation and the Newspaper Guild Local #3 1960
Folder 153: Adolph Held, Forward manager 1954-1966: correspondence
Folder 154: Adolph Held 1939-1969: biographical notes
Folder 155: Adolph Held 1969: obituaries (Yiddish, English)
Folder 156: Adolph Held 1969: funeral
Folder 157: Jack Dubno, secretary of the Forward Association 1963-1969: correspondence
Folder 158: Daniel Ifshin, Forward manager 1968-1969: correspondence
Folder 159: Book and Record Department 1964: correspondence on sale of the books and records published by the Forward Association
Folder 160: Book and Record Department 1965: correspondence on sale of the books and records published by the Forward Association
Folder 161: Book and Record Department 1966-1967: correspondence on sale of the books and records published by the Forward Association
Folder 162: Incorporation Papers of the Forward Association 1966: photostat of documents from 1901, 1911
Folder 163: Constitution of the Forward Association 1924, 1966-1967: photostat of documents from 1901, booklets, 1924, 1967
Folder 164: Miscellaneous 1931-1959: Standard Market Data, accounts, reports, correspondence, list of types of news covered in the Forward, clippings, membership applications for the Forward Association
Folder 165: Membership meetings 1967-1969: announcement letters

Series X: Addenda – Circulation 1917-1969

This series consists of Audit Bureau of Circulations reports for the Forward, The Day, The Day-Jewish Morning Journal, the Jewish Journal and Daily News, and the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold (New York State Newspaper and Herald), as well as publisher statements, statements of ownership, management and circulation for the Forward, The Day, The Day-Jewish Morning Journal, the Jewish Journal and Daily News, Freiheit (Freedom) and Morning Freiheit, the Jewish American, the New Warheit (Truth), and other non-English newspapers, including Nowy Swiat (Polish Morning World), the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, La Prensa (The Press), and tables of comparative circulation figures for the Forward, The Day and The Jewish Morning Journal.

Folders: 30

Folder 166: ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) reports on the Forward 1921-1934
Folder 167: ABC reports on the Forward 1938-1941: also the ABC Bylaws and Rules, May 1941
Folder 168: ABC reports on the Forward 1928-1941: Chicago edition, 1928-1929, 1933-1934, 1939-1941
Folder 169: ABC reports on the Forward 1957, 1968
Folder 170: ABC reports on the Forward 1922-1941: duplicates
Folder 171: ABC reports on The Day 1928-1941
Folder 172: ABC reports on The Day-Jewish Morning Journal 1957-1964
Folder 173: ABC reports on the Jewish Journal and Daily News 1939-1941
Folder 174: ABC reports on the Jewish Morning Journal 1928-1934
Folder 175: ABC Publisher Statements 1938-1957: Forward
Folder 176: ABC Publisher Statements 1939-1945: Forward, Chicago
Folder 177: ABC Publisher Statements 1938-1945: The Day
Folder 178: ABC Publisher Statements 1939-1945: Jewish Journal and Daily News
Folder 179: ABC report on the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold (New York State Newspaper and Herald). 1941: Also Publisher's Statements for Nowy Swiat (Polish Morning World), New Yorker Staats-Zeitung und Herold, La Prensa (The Press)
Folder 180: Statements of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1922-1969: Forward
Folder 181: Statements of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1922-1969: The Day
Folder 182: Statements of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1923-1927: Jewish Morning Journal
Folder 183: Statements of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1928-1952: Jewish Journal and Daily News
Folder 184: Statements of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1923-1927: Jewish Daily News
Folder 185: Statements of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1922-1936: Freiheit and Morning Freiheit
Folder 186: Statements of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1959-1961: Jewish American
Folder 187: Statements of Ownership, Management and Circulation 1925: New Warheit
Folder 188: Circulation of Jewish newspapers 1917-1957: comparative tables based on the ABC figures for 1917-1957
Folder 189: Circulation of Forward, The Day and the Morning Journal 1921-1930: comparative figures - countrywide
Folder 190: Circulation of Forward, The Day and the Morning Journal 1930-1941: comparative figures - NYC and countrywide
Folder 191: Circulation of Forward, The Day and the Morning Journal 1941-1942: comparative figures - NYC and countrywide
Folder 192: Circulation of Forward, The Day and the Morning Journal 1942-1946: comparative figures - NYC and countrywide
Folder 193: Circulation of Forward, The Day and the Morning Journal 1946-1947: comparative figures - NYC and countrywide
Folder 194: Circulation of Forward, The Day and the Morning Journal 1947-1955: comparative figures - NYC and countrywide
Folder 195: Circulation 1953-1959: miscellaneous correspondence regarding circulation of the Forward

Series XI: Addendum 1968-1972, 1986-1987

This series contains the correspondence of Simon Weber, the editor of the Forward, with Jerzy Kosinski, Elie Wiesel, Avraham Sutzkever, Morris Crystal, Mordecai Kosover, Aaron Zeitlin, and Szymon Dzigan, as well as a 1987 letter from Roslyn Waletzky about Simon Weber, and a 1986 report on Forward Association financial statements.

Folders: 2

Folder 196: Simon Weber, Forward editor 1968-1972, 1987: correspondence with Jerzy Kosinski, Elie Wiesel, Avraham Sutzkever, Morris Crystal, Mordecai Kosover, Aaron Zeitlin, Szymon Dzigan, and Roslyn Waletzky
Folder 197: Report on Financial Statements 1986