Guide to the Records of the ORT Jewish Vocational School (Technicum) in Vilna, RG 21

Processed by Felicia Figa with the assistance of a grant from the American ORT Federation, 1977. Finding Aid edited, encoded and posted online thanks to a grant from the Gruss Lipper Family Foundation.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org
URL: http://www.yivo.org

Electronic finding aid was converted to EAD version 2002 by Yakov Sklyar in October 2006. EAD finding aid customized in ARCHON in 2012. Description is in English.

Collection Overview

Title: Guide to the Records of the ORT Jewish Vocational School (Technicum) in Vilna, RG 21

ID: RG 21 FA

Extent: 2.5 Linear Feet

Arrangement: The collection is divided into 3 series:

Abstract

ORT Jewish Vocational School (Technicum) in Vilna was founded in 1921 to train young people who were unable to get into government-run schools, in the fields of mechanics and electronics. It was subsidized by ORT, Vilna Kehilla and the Vilna City Administration. The school possesed a technical library and published its own material for use by students. it was liquidated in 1939.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Series I includes by-laws of the school, financial records, 1922-1937; file on legal matters; school statistics, 1921-1930, 1938-1939

Series II includes outgoing and incomimg correspondence. Outgoing: to the Central Committee of ORT (Warsaw), 1925, 1929, 1937-1939; to ORT, Vilna, 1923, 1928-1939; to the Polish Ministry ofEducation in Warsaw, 1922-1923, 1928-1939. Incoming: from ORT Central Committee (Warsaw), 1923-1934; ORT Vilna, 1921, 1928, 1939-1940; Polish Ministry of Education (Warsaw), 1922, 1925-1939; Central Committee of the Yiddish School Organization in Warsaw, 1938-1939.

Series III includes student medical cards, 1929-1938; student questionaires and other documents, lists of students, roll-books, exeminations; teachers' files including teaching outlines for general subjects, technological subjects, electronics, physics, chemistry; files on the school cultural activities including announcements, posters.

Historical Note

The Jewish Vocational School of the ORT in Vilna (also called “Technicum”) was founded in 1921 by a group of communal workers. One of them, Israel Okun, was the school’s director in the first three years of its existence. In 1924 he was replaced by Matisyahu Schreiber, who remained at this post until the liquidation of the school at the outbreack of World War II.

The task of the school was to prepare electricians and technically-trained specialists. The school's goal was to provide the impoverished Jewish youth in the difficult post-World War I years with an opportunity to acquire skills on the level of a trained technician.

A note should be made of the fact that for Jews, access to government run schools was very difficult. Therefore, Jewish youngsters from all parts of the country studied at the Vilna Technicum. Of 200 students, only 50 were from Vilna; the rest coming from Galicia, Volhynia, central Poland and other places.

The Technicum had two divisions: mechanical and electrotechnical. Classes were taught in Yiddish and the training period was 3 years (6 semesters). The school was subsidized by ORT, the Vilna Jewish Community Board, and the Vilna municipality. It was well equipped, had its own vocational library, and printed technical school books in Yiddish, as the needs of the students required.

The Vilna Jewish Vocational School provided a substantial number of qualified assistants for engineers, managers of small industrial enterprises, foremen of divisions in factories, technical draftsmen, etc. of special scholarly and educational interest are the student papers, teachers’ notes and curriculum. They yield evidence on the high level of learning and instruction represented by the Technicum.

The materials from the Vilna Technicum which YIVO received after World War II together with the Vilna Archives, are arranged in such a way as to reflect the structure and activities of the school. The collection consists of 98 folders and is 2’5” in size.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions: Open to researchers by appointment with the Chief Archivist. To request access to the collection, contact: Chief Archivist, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011 email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Preferred Citation: Published citations should read as follows:Identification of item, date (if known); YIVO Archives; Records of the ORT Jewish Vocational School (Technicum) in Vilna; RG 21; folder number.

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

Series 1: Series I: Administrative Records, 1922-1940,
Series 3: Series III: Teachers' and Students' Files, Courses, 1921-1939,
Series 2: Series II: Correspondence, 1922-1940,
All

Series II: Correspondence 1922-1940

Series II includes outgoing and incoming correspondence. Outgoing to the Central Committee of ORT (Warsaw), 1925, 1929, 1937-1939; to ORT, Vilna, 1923, 1928-1939; to the Polish Ministry of Education in Warsaw, 1922-1923, 1928-1939. : from ORT Central Committee (Warsaw), 1923-1934; ORT Vilna, 1921, 1928, 1939-1940; Polish Ministry of Education (Warsaw), 1922, 1925-1939; Head Committee of the jewish School Organization in Warsaw, 1938-1939.

Sub-Series 1: Outgoing Correspondence 1922-1939

Folder 17: ORT Central Committee, Warsaw 1925, 1929, 1937-1939
Folder 18: ORT Committee in Vilna 1923, 1928-1931, 1937-1939
Folder 19: Ministry of Education, Warsaw 1922-1923, 1928-1939
Folder 20: Board of Education (Curatorium), Vilna district 1922, 1927-1930, 1932-1933, 1937-1939
Folder 21: Union of Jewish Teachers, Vilna 1923, 1925-1933, 1939
Folder 22: Various institutions, organizations, individuals 1923, 1925-1933, 1935-1939

Sub-Series 2: Incoming Correspondence 1922-1940

Folder 23: ORT Central Committee, Warsaw 1923
Folder 24: ORT Central Committee, Warsaw 1924
Folder 25: ORT Central Committee, Warsaw 1925
Folder 26: ORT Central Committee, Warsaw 1926
Folder 27: ORT Central Committee, Warsaw 1927
Folder 28: ORT Central Committee, Warsaw 1928
Folder 29: ORT Central Committee, Warsaw 1929
Folder 30: ORT Committee in Vilna 1921, 1928, 1939-1940
Folder 31: Education Department of the Temporary Governing Commission for the Central Lithuania (Tymczaasowa Komisja Rzadzaca) 1921-1922
Folder 32: Ministry of Education, Warsaw 1922, 1925-1932
Folder 33: Ministry of Education, Warsaw 1933-1939
Folder 34: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1922
Folder 35: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1923
Folder 36: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1924
Folder 37: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1925
Folder 38: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1926
Folder 39: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1927
Folder 40: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1928
Folder 41: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1929
Folder 42: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1930
Folder 43: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1931
Folder 44: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1932
Folder 45: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1933 January-June
Folder 46: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1933 July-December
Folder 47: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1934 January-June
Folder 48: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1934 July-December
Folder 49: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1935
Folder 50: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1936
Folder 51: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1937
Folder 52: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1938
Folder 53 a: Board of Education (curatorium), Vilna District 1939
Folder 53 b: Board of Education (Curatorium), Vilna district circular letters 1929-1938
Folder 54: Ministry of Education of the Republic of Lithuania 1940
Folder 55: Executive Board of the Yiddish School Organization (YISHO), Warsaw 1938-1939
Folder 56: Various institutions, organizations, individuals 1927-1937
Folder 57: Various institutions, organizations, individuals 1938-1940

Browse by Series:

Series 1: Series I: Administrative Records, 1922-1940,
Series 3: Series III: Teachers' and Students' Files, Courses, 1921-1939,
Series 2: Series II: Correspondence, 1922-1940,
All