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Guide to the Papers of Isaac A. Hourwich (1860-1924) 1882-1924 RG 587

Processed by David A. Wolfson. The microfilm was prepared by Cecile E. Kuznitz with the assistance of a grant from the S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation. 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

©2011 YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. All rights reserved.

Electronic finding aid was encoded in EAD 2002 by Rachel S. Harrison in July 2011. EAD finding aid customized in ARCHON in 2012. Description is in English.

Collection Overview

Title: Guide to the Papers of Isaac A. Hourwich (1860-1924) 1882-1924 RG 587

ID: RG 587 FA

Extent: 5.0 Linear Feet

Arrangement:

The collection was originally processed by David A. Wolfson in 1971. The microfilm was prepared by Cecile E. Kuznitz with the assistance of a grant from the S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation in 1990. Additional processing was completed in July 2011.

 

The materials in this collection are generally arranged topically by series. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent according to the Latin alphabet, including materials that are written using either Hebrew or Cyrillic letters, which have been transliterated and integrated within the Latin-alphabet materials. Personal names of correspondents have been transliterated, journal titles and organization names have been transliterated and translated, and the titles of speeches and writings have been transliterated and translated and are in quotation marks. Yiddish names have been transliterated according to YIVO standards except when the individual is known in English by another spelling. Additionally, if the name appeared in Latin letters anywhere within the folder, that spelling was used rather than a standard transliteration. The languages of materials that are not in English are in parentheses following the listing of the material. The page numbers sometimes refer to the number of sheets and sometimes, for double-sided documents, to the number of sides. The collection is on two sets of microfilm. Folders 1-133 are on 11 reels numbered MK 501, while folder 134 is only on 3 reels of microfilm numbered MK 407, and does not exist physically in the boxes. Folders 127 and 128, clippings of Hourwich’s memoirs and obituaries and clippings about him after his death, were originally microfilmed as one reel numbered MK 351, however they also are represented in MK 501. The papers are divided into 6 series.

Languages: English, Russian, Yiddish, German, French, Italian

Abstract

This collection contains documents relating to Isaac A. Hourwich’s role as an economist, publicist, statistician, lawyer, author, and authority on immigration, as well as his involvement with the labor movement and the formation of the American Jewish Congress. There are reports, minutes of meetings, memoranda, clippings and correspondence, and manuscripts and articles about Jewish labor, Socialism, Russia, Marxism, immigration, and other subjects. These materials demonstrate Hourwich’s important role in American labor, immigration theory, and political and economic theory.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Papers of Isaac A. Hourwich consist of manuscripts, printed materials, reports, minutes and records of meetings, legal documents, financial records, pamphlets, memoranda, clippings, and correspondence relating primarily to Hourwich’s intellectual and organizational involvement in the labor movement, including his extensive participation in arbitration proceedings. There are also materials relating to the labor movement and labor laws in Russia, on Socialist theory and the Jewish Labor Bund. Materials on the Jewish labor movement in the U.S., particularly the garment workers industry, during the era of the Protocol of Peace include documents of the Independent Jacket Makers Union of New York and Federated Hebrew Trade Unions of Greater New York, minutes of meetings of the Board of Grievances of the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Industry, minutes and reports of various arbitration proceedings, and materials relating to the episodes known as the “Hourwich Affair” and “Moishe Rubin’s Rebellion.”

There is correspondence with Abraham Cahan, Judah L. Magnes, Zalman Reisen, and Isaac Sturner, articles by Hourwich on Socialism, Capitalism, Jewish rights, and Zionism, Hourwich’s unfinished memoirs, a bibliography on index cards of Hourwich’s works compiled by A.S. Kravetz, and documents on the organization of the American Jewish Congress, among them much statistical data on the Jewish population of the United around the time of World War I. The manuscripts and articles in the collection represent a cross-section of Hourwich’s writings on Russia, Socialism, Marxism, the labor movement, immigration, and American government and economics. There are also a large number of clippings covering many of Hourwich’s activities and interests.

The collection dates from 1882-1924 and is in 12 manuscript boxes, measuring 6 linear feet. There are also three reels of microfilm of materials not physically represented in the collection, which have a different microfilm number.

Historical Note

Biographical Note Isaac A. Hourwich was born April 27, 1860 in Vilna to a middle-class maskilic family. His father, who worked in a bank and knew several European languages, made sure to give his two children a modern secular education. Hourwich graduated in 1877 from the classical gymnasium at Minsk, and later studied medicine and mathematics. As a student, he became interested in nihilistic propaganda. His activities with a revolutionary Socialist circle in St. Petersburg led to his arrest and imprisonment in 1879 on the charges of hostility to the government and of aiding to establish a secret press. He was sent to Siberia as a "dangerous character," from 1881-1886. While in prison, he studied the settlement of Russian peasants in Siberia, and wrote a book in Russian, The Peasant Immigration to Siberia , which was published in 1888. After his release, he studied law at the Imperial University in St. Petersburg. He earned his legal degree from Demidoff Lyceum of Jurisprudence in Yaroslavl, Russia and was admitted to the Russian bar in 1887. He then practiced law in Minsk and continued his involvement in radical political movements. He helped to found the first secret Socialist circles among the Jewish workers in tsarist Russia, along with his wife Yelena (Kushelevsky) Hourwich and his sister Jhenya Hourwich, who later translated Marx’s Das Kapital into Russian. In 1890, Hourwich fled Russia, leaving behind his first wife Yelena (Kushelevsky) Hourwich and four children, Nicholas Hourwich (1882-1934), who was later involved in the founding of the Communist Party, Maria (Hourwich) Kravitz (1883-), Rosa Hourwich (ca.1884-) , and Vera (Hourwich) Semmens (1890-1976), although Hourwich’s parents continued to support his family. He first went to Paris but he had to leave there as well, at which point he immigrated to the United States. He divorced his first wife and married again, to Louise Elizabeth "Lisa" (Joffe) Hourwich (1866-1947). Lisa Hourwich had taught school in Russia, and, after immigrating to the United States with her family, attended law school, eventually passing the Illinois bar, although she never practiced as a lawyer. They had five children, Iskander "Sasha" Hourwich (1895-1968), Rebecca Hourwich Reyher (1897-1987), who was a prominent suffragist, Olga "Dicky" Hourwich (1902-1977), George Kennan Hourwich (1904-1978), and Ena (Hourwich) Kunzer (1906-1989). In New York, Hourwich joined the Russian Workers Society for Self-Education, later the Russian Social Democratic Society, which was made up mostly of Jewish immigrants from Minsk. The Society helped to finance the Group for Liberation of Labor (1883-1903), which Georgi Plekhanov, Pavel Axelrod and Lev Deutsch formed in Geneva, Switzerland for the dissemination of Marxist ideas in Russian. From 1891-1892 he was a fellow at Columbia University where he earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1893. His thesis was published under the title The Economics of the Russian Village and a Russian translation was published in Moscow in 1896. He then taught statistics at the University of Chicago from 1892-1893, after which he returned to New York City, where he practiced law while also contributing to Marxist legal magazines in Russia. In 1897-1898, after the creation of the Social Democratic Party by Eugene V. Debs, Hourwich founded the first party branch in New York City with Meyer London. He also edited a Russian Socialist newspaper, Progress , from 1901-1904. Hourwich moved to Washington, D.C. in 1900, where he worked for the United States government for several years, first as a translator at the Bureau of the Mint in 1900-1902, then at the Census Bureau in 1902-1906 and in 1909-1913 as a statistician and expert on mining. He was a statistician for the New York Public Service Commission, 1908-1909. During this period he developed his knowledge of American politics and economics which he used in his writings in the English and Yiddish press. He briefly wrote for the Forward after it began publication in 1897, even though he did not then know much Yiddish and had to learn it as he went along. For his articles in the Forward and other Yiddish periodicals he used the pseudonyms “Marxist” and “Yitzhok Isaac ben Arye Tzvi Halevi” so as not to bring attention to the fact that a government employee was writing for radical newspapers. His articles about American politics and economic institutions, particularly for the Tog (Day), were important in popularizing Socialism and were often the main source for explaining American economics and politics to a Yiddish-speaking audience in the United States. In addition to various essays in the Yiddish press, Hourwich published: "The Persecutions of the Jews," in The Forum in August 1901, "Russian Dissenters," in The Arena in May 1903 and "Religious Sects in Russia," in The International Quarterly in October 1903, to name only a few. In the wake of the October 1905 revolution, Tsar Nicholas II declared amnesty for political prisoners and Hourwich took advantage of this to return to Russia where he ran for a seat in the second Duma in Minsk in 1906. He was the nominee of a new Democratic People’s Party. The Jewish Socialist parties resented his intrusion and his non-Socialist campaign, particularly the Bund, which was running its own candidate. He was elected and would most likely have gained the seat in the Duma but the senate in St. Petersburg annulled his election and his name was taken off the final list of candidates. When the Duma was dissolved in June 1907 Hourwich returned to the United States and his government job. He also continued to write for various English magazines. Hourwich was an expert on immigration, and his book Immigration and Labor was published in 1912. In this work, he defends unrestricted immigration by arguing that the influx of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe was beneficial to the American economy. This argument was based upon economic figures and was the first defense of open immigration based on economic, rather than humanitarian, reasons. Hourwich was active in the garment workers union at the time the agreement known as the “Protocol of Peace” was in effect. Engineered by Louis D. Brandeis following the cloakmakers’ strike of 1910, the Protocol was a system for resolving conflicts between workers and manufacturers in the garment industry without resorting to arbitration. This system was proving difficult to implement when Hourwich was appointed Chief Clerk of the Cloak and Skirt Makers’ Union in early 1913. He was in favor of reforming the Protocol, including a change from conciliation to arbitration, exactly what Brandeis had been against when drafting the Protocol. Hourwich’s position earned him the enmity of other union leaders, of his old friend, Meyer London, and also of Brandeis, who had represented the garment employers in Boston against the union during the 1910 strike. In addition, the heads of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, Abraham Rosenberg and John Dyche, vehemently opposed Hourwich for asserting the power of the local union against its parent organization and were concerned that his actions would lead to another strike. The officers of the ILGWU tried unsuccessfully to force Hourwich out, although the majority of garment workers supported him for his populist views, despite his lack of trade union experience. In November 1913, the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers’ Association refused to negotiate with Hourwich as the union representative and demanded his resignation. Although the heads of the union were united in their dislike of Hourwich, they supported him in resisting the manufacturers’ pressure. However, in early 1914 when the manufacturers threatened to break off the Protocol and a strike appeared imminent, Hourwich stepped down rather than compromise, despite the protests of many rank-and-file union members. The so-called “Hourwich Affair” showed the weakness of the Protocol as a means of settling disputes and hastened its eventual reform. It also revealed the various power struggles taking place between the International and the local unions, as well as between the union leadership and the mass of garment workers. Hourwich was an early critic of the totalitarian tendencies of the Bolshevik government. Nevertheless, he maintained some sympathy for the Marxist cause and served as legal advisor to the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Ludwig C.K. Martens. He was also connected with the weekly magazine, Friends of Soviet Russia , published by the Soviet Agency, although he never wrote in support of the Bolsheviks. A visit to the Soviet Union in 1922 disillusioned Hourwich, however, and he returned firmly opposed to the Soviet regime. Despite his commitment to Socialism, Hourwich did not strictly adhere to party doctrine and often crossed political boundaries in his allegiances. For example, in 1912 he supported Theodore Roosevelt and ran for Congress on the ticket of Roosevelt’s Progressive Party, an unthinkable act for a Jewish radical, although he seems to have been unconcerned with any criticism this raised. He was involved with the Socialist Democratic Party but did not join the Socialist Party of America, despite its Marxist program. He wrote for various Yiddish newspapers of every political affiliation, including the Socialist Jewish Daily Forward , the anarchist Fraye Arbeter Shtimme (Free Workers Voice), where he published his unfinished memoirs Zikhroynes fun an Apikoyres (Memoirs of a Heretic), the Warheit (Truth), the Tog (Day), and the Tsukunft (Future). His non-ideological approach led some to label him a political opportunist. He was an ardent supporter of President Wilson and his advocacy of the New Freedom and social reform until Wilson’s 1916 appointment of Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Hourwich was still holding a grudge against Brandeis for his involvement in the “Hourwich Affair.” In his later years Hourwich became active in the Zionist movement, and in 1917 he helped to organize the American Jewish Congress. Hourwich’s books in Yiddish include Mooted Questions of Socialism (1917), a Yiddish translation of Marx’s Das Kapital (1919), and a four-volume edition of his collected works (1917-1919). Hourwich died of pneumonia on July 9, 1924.   Isaac A. Hourwich was born April 27, 1860 in Vilna to a middle-class maskilic family. His father, who worked in a bank and knew several European languages, made sure to give his two children a modern secular education. Hourwich graduated in 1877 from the classical gymnasium at Minsk, and later studied medicine and mathematics. As a student, he became interested in nihilistic propaganda. His activities with a revolutionary Socialist circle in St. Petersburg led to his arrest and imprisonment in 1879 on the charges of hostility to the government and of aiding to establish a secret press. He was sent to Siberia as a "dangerous character," from 1881-1886. While in prison, he studied the settlement of Russian peasants in Siberia, and wrote a book in Russian, The Peasant Immigration to Siberia , which was published in 1888. After his release, he studied law at the Imperial University in St. Petersburg. He earned his legal degree from Demidoff Lyceum of Jurisprudence in Yaroslavl, Russia and was admitted to the Russian bar in 1887. He then practiced law in Minsk and continued his involvement in radical political movements. He helped to found the first secret Socialist circles among the Jewish workers in tsarist Russia, along with his wife Yelena (Kushelevsky) Hourwich and his sister Jhenya Hourwich, who later translated Marx’s Das Kapital into Russian.

In 1890, Hourwich fled Russia, leaving behind his first wife Yelena (Kushelevsky) Hourwich and four children, Nicholas Hourwich (1882-1934), who was later involved in the founding of the Communist Party, Maria (Hourwich) Kravitz (1883-), Rosa Hourwich (ca.1884-) , and Vera (Hourwich) Semmens (1890-1976), although Hourwich’s parents continued to support his family. He first went to Paris but he had to leave there as well, at which point he immigrated to the United States. He divorced his first wife and married again, to Louise Elizabeth "Lisa" (Joffe) Hourwich (1866-1947). Lisa Hourwich had taught school in Russia, and, after immigrating to the United States with her family, attended law school, eventually passing the Illinois bar, although she never practiced as a lawyer. They had five children, Iskander "Sasha" Hourwich (1895-1968), Rebecca Hourwich Reyher (1897-1987), who was a prominent suffragist, Olga "Dicky" Hourwich (1902-1977), George Kennan Hourwich (1904-1978), and Ena (Hourwich) Kunzer (1906-1989).

In New York, Hourwich joined the Russian Workers Society for Self-Education, later the Russian Social Democratic Society, which was made up mostly of Jewish immigrants from Minsk. The Society helped to finance the Group for Liberation of Labor (1883-1903), which Georgi Plekhanov, Pavel Axelrod and Lev Deutsch formed in Geneva, Switzerland for the dissemination of Marxist ideas in Russian. From 1891-1892 he was a fellow at Columbia University where he earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1893. His thesis was published under the title The Economics of the Russian Village and a Russian translation was published in Moscow in 1896. He then taught statistics at the University of Chicago from 1892-1893, after which he returned to New York City, where he practiced law while also contributing to Marxist legal magazines in Russia. In 1897-1898, after the creation of the Social Democratic Party by Eugene V. Debs, Hourwich founded the first party branch in New York City with Meyer London. He also edited a Russian Socialist newspaper, Progress , from 1901-1904.

Hourwich moved to Washington, D.C. in 1900, where he worked for the United States government for several years, first as a translator at the Bureau of the Mint in 1900-1902, then at the Census Bureau in 1902-1906 and in 1909-1913 as a statistician and expert on mining. He was a statistician for the New York Public Service Commission, 1908-1909. During this period he developed his knowledge of American politics and economics which he used in his writings in the English and Yiddish press. He briefly wrote for the Forward after it began publication in 1897, even though he did not then know much Yiddish and had to learn it as he went along. For his articles in the Forward and other Yiddish periodicals he used the pseudonyms “Marxist” and “Yitzhok Isaac ben Arye Tzvi Halevi” so as not to bring attention to the fact that a government employee was writing for radical newspapers. His articles about American politics and economic institutions, particularly for the Tog (Day), were important in popularizing Socialism and were often the main source for explaining American economics and politics to a Yiddish-speaking audience in the United States. In addition to various essays in the Yiddish press, Hourwich published: "The Persecutions of the Jews," in The Forum in August 1901, "Russian Dissenters," in The Arena in May 1903 and "Religious Sects in Russia," in The International Quarterly in October 1903, to name only a few.

In the wake of the October 1905 revolution, Tsar Nicholas II declared amnesty for political prisoners and Hourwich took advantage of this to return to Russia where he ran for a seat in the second Duma in Minsk in 1906. He was the nominee of a new Democratic People’s Party. The Jewish Socialist parties resented his intrusion and his non-Socialist campaign, particularly the Bund, which was running its own candidate. He was elected and would most likely have gained the seat in the Duma but the senate in St. Petersburg annulled his election and his name was taken off the final list of candidates. When the Duma was dissolved in June 1907 Hourwich returned to the United States and his government job. He also continued to write for various English magazines. Hourwich was an expert on immigration, and his book Immigration and Labor was published in 1912. In this work, he defends unrestricted immigration by arguing that the influx of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe was beneficial to the American economy. This argument was based upon economic figures and was the first defense of open immigration based on economic, rather than humanitarian, reasons.

Hourwich was active in the garment workers union at the time the agreement known as the “Protocol of Peace” was in effect. Engineered by Louis D. Brandeis following the cloakmakers’ strike of 1910, the Protocol was a system for resolving conflicts between workers and manufacturers in the garment industry without resorting to arbitration. This system was proving difficult to implement when Hourwich was appointed Chief Clerk of the Cloak and Skirt Makers’ Union in early 1913. He was in favor of reforming the Protocol, including a change from conciliation to arbitration, exactly what Brandeis had been against when drafting the Protocol. Hourwich’s position earned him the enmity of other union leaders, of his old friend, Meyer London, and also of Brandeis, who had represented the garment employers in Boston against the union during the 1910 strike. In addition, the heads of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, Abraham Rosenberg and John Dyche, vehemently opposed Hourwich for asserting the power of the local union against its parent organization and were concerned that his actions would lead to another strike. The officers of the ILGWU tried unsuccessfully to force Hourwich out, although the majority of garment workers supported him for his populist views, despite his lack of trade union experience.

In November 1913, the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers’ Association refused to negotiate with Hourwich as the union representative and demanded his resignation. Although the heads of the union were united in their dislike of Hourwich, they supported him in resisting the manufacturers’ pressure. However, in early 1914 when the manufacturers threatened to break off the Protocol and a strike appeared imminent, Hourwich stepped down rather than compromise, despite the protests of many rank-and-file union members. The so-called “Hourwich Affair” showed the weakness of the Protocol as a means of settling disputes and hastened its eventual reform. It also revealed the various power struggles taking place between the International and the local unions, as well as between the union leadership and the mass of garment workers.

Hourwich was an early critic of the totalitarian tendencies of the Bolshevik government. Nevertheless, he maintained some sympathy for the Marxist cause and served as legal advisor to the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Ludwig C.K. Martens. He was also connected with the weekly magazine, Friends of Soviet Russia , published by the Soviet Agency, although he never wrote in support of the Bolsheviks. A visit to the Soviet Union in 1922 disillusioned Hourwich, however, and he returned firmly opposed to the Soviet regime.

Despite his commitment to Socialism, Hourwich did not strictly adhere to party doctrine and often crossed political boundaries in his allegiances. For example, in 1912 he supported Theodore Roosevelt and ran for Congress on the ticket of Roosevelt’s Progressive Party, an unthinkable act for a Jewish radical, although he seems to have been unconcerned with any criticism this raised. He was involved with the Socialist Democratic Party but did not join the Socialist Party of America, despite its Marxist program. He wrote for various Yiddish newspapers of every political affiliation, including the Socialist Jewish Daily Forward , the anarchist Fraye Arbeter Shtimme (Free Workers Voice), where he published his unfinished memoirs Zikhroynes fun an Apikoyres (Memoirs of a Heretic), the Warheit (Truth), the Tog (Day), and the Tsukunft (Future). His non-ideological approach led some to label him a political opportunist. He was an ardent supporter of President Wilson and his advocacy of the New Freedom and social reform until Wilson’s 1916 appointment of Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Hourwich was still holding a grudge against Brandeis for his involvement in the “Hourwich Affair.”

In his later years Hourwich became active in the Zionist movement, and in 1917 he helped to organize the American Jewish Congress. Hourwich’s books in Yiddish include Mooted Questions of Socialism (1917), a Yiddish translation of Marx’s Das Kapital (1919), and a four-volume edition of his collected works (1917-1919). Hourwich died of pneumonia on July 9, 1924.

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: Mrs. Rebecca Reyher, Hourwich’s daughter, donated the papers to YIVO in July 1969. Mrs. Reyher gave those of her father’s papers dealing with immigration to Harvard University.

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

Original/Copies Note: This collection is on two sets of microfilm. MK 501 is 11 reels and contains the contents of folders 1-133, while MK 407 is 3 reels and contains what is called folder 134, which is not physically represented in the collection.

Related Materials: The YIVO Library has a copy of Profiles of Eleven by Melech Epstein, in which Hourwich is one of the profiles. There are also several books and other writings by Hourwich. The American Jewish Historical Society Archives have American Jewish Congress records I-77, and there are also American Jewish Congress materials in other collections at AJHS and YIVO. In addition, the YIVO Archives have the Bund Archives RG 1400, as well as materials about unions, Socialism, Communism, and labor.

Preferred Citation: Published citations should take the following form:Identification of item, date (if known); Papers of Isaac A. Hourwich; RG 587; folder number; YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.


Box and Folder Listing


Browse by Series:

Series 1: Series I: Russia and the Labor Movement, 1882-1924,
Series 2: Series II: Jewish Labor Movement, 1897-1919,
Series 3: Series III: American Jewish Congress, 1915-1919,
Series 4: Series IV: Correspondence, 1891-1924,
Series 5: Series V: Miscellaneous Materials, 1899-1924, undated,
Series 6: Series VI: Manuscripts, Clippings and Microfilms, 1897-1924

Series I: Russia and the Labor Movement
1882-1924
This series consists of manuscripts, articles, pamphlets, and correspondence primarily in Russian with some English materials. These documents relate to pre-Revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Union, Marxism, Socialism, and the labor movement. They include notes on Hourwich’s trip to the Soviet Union in 1922, articles and lectures on Marx, and an analysis of population statistics from the 1900 U.S. Census.
Folders: 25
Folder 1: "Economics, Politics and Political Economy"
1882

- manuscript (Russian), 204 pgs.

- reel 1, frame 1

Folder 2: The Fifth Congress of the Jewish Labor Bund
1903

- August 7-20, 1903, report (Russian), 1 pg.

- reel 1, frame 131

Folder 3: Karl Marx
undated

- "Economic Theories of Karl Marx," 3 lectures, manuscript (Russian), 70 pgs.

- Editor's Preface to the Student's Edition of Das Kapital, typed, 2 pgs.

- reel 1, frame 134

Folder 4: Das Kapital
undated

- notes, manuscript (Russian), 4 typed copies with annotations

- reel 1, frame 258

Folder 5: Novaya Zhizn (New Life)
1917-1918

- materials pertaining to Hourwich's work as a correspondent for this publication, including letters from the Western Union Telegraph Company, letters from the Commercial Cable Company, letters from the Censorship Board, and cables from Petrograd (St. Petersburg), manuscript and typed (Russian, English), 44 pgs.

- reel 1, frame 392

Folder 6: Changes in Russia
1923

- notes on changes which took place in Russia, written after Hourwich's visit in 1922, (Russian), manuscript, 21 pgs., typed, 13 pgs.

- reel 1, frame 456

Folder 7: Foreign delegates of the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party to the Conference of the three International Federations of Socialist and Communist Parties
1922

- memorandum, conference held in Berlin April 2, 1922, printed, 7 pgs.

- photograph of the delegation

- reel 1, frame 503

Folder 8: "The Last Illusion (Is a Socialist State Possible Without a Revolution?)"
undated

- typed (Russian), 31 pgs., incomplete

- reel 1, frame 517

Folder 9: "The Czar's Responsibility"
1910

- lecture by V. Bursev, delivered at Cooper Union, N.Y.C., on April 25, 1910, pamphlet, (Russian), 16 pgs.

- reel 1, frame 549

Folder 10: "The Labor Laws of Soviet Russia"
1920

- pamphlet, N.Y., 48 pgs

- reel 1, frame 561

Folder 11: Declaration by representatives of organized labor
1899

- draft, August 17, 1899, manuscript, 5 pgs., typed, 4 pgs.

- reel 1, frame 589

Folder 12: Correspondence pertaining to the legalization of the Independent Workmen's Circle
1908-1909

- 4 letters and notes (Yiddish, English)

- reel 1, frame 600

Folder 13: Social Democratic Party
1899, 1924, undated

- "An Economic Basis for an American Labor Party," address by Hourwich before the League for Independent Democracy, June 26, 1924, typed, 7 pgs.

- "To the National Executive Committee of the Social Democratic Party," manuscript and typed, 6 pgs., undated

- letter from A.S. Edwards, August 31, 1899

- Social-Democratic League, Declaration of Principles, typed, 2 pgs., undated

- reel 1, frame 616

Folder 14: "Class Conscious Labor Politics"
undated

- article by Hourwich, manuscript, 8 pgs.

- reel 2, frame 1

Folder 15: "De Leonism"
undated

- manuscript, 9 pgs., signed "Marxist," Hourwich's pen name

- reel 2, frame 10

Folder 16: "Social-Economic Classes in the Population of the U.S."
undated

- based on the U.S. census of 1900, statistical tables, typed, 216 pgs.

- reel 2, frame 20

Folder 17: "The Counter Revolution"
undated

- article by Hourwich, typed, 13 pgs., 2 copies

- reel 2, frame 240

Folder 18: "The Class Struggle in the United States"
undated

- manuscript (Russian), 79 pgs.

- reel 2, frame 269

Folder 19: National constitution of the Socialist Party
1912

- pamphlet, 16 pgs.

- reel 2, frame 354

Folder 20: United Hebrew Trades circular
1915

- addressed to the officers and delegates of the American Federation of Labor, October 30, 1915, 2 pgs.

- reel 2, frame 364

Folder 21: New York Call (publication)
1917

- memorandum of the N.Y. Call to the Third Assistant Postmaster General demanding that its second class mail privileges should not be revoked, 27 pgs.

- letter from Raymond Wilcox (N.Y. Call), November 5, 1917

- clippings of memorandum printed in the N.Y. Call

- reel 2, frame 367

Folder 22: American Civil Liberties Union pamphlets
1920-1921

- "Justice to the I.W.U.," 1920

- "Amnesty for Political Prisoners," 1920

- "The Police and the Radicals," 1921

- "The Supreme Court vs. Civil Liberty," 1921

- "Search and Seizure," 1920

- reel 2, frame 402

Folder 23: Department of Justice pamphlets
1919-1920, undated

- "Lynch Law and the Immigrant Alien," by Frederick C. Howe, undated

- American Deportation and Exclusion Laws, 1919

- report on the illegal practices of the U.S. Department of Justice, 1920

- reel 2, frame 428

Folder 24: "Reform or Revolution"
1920

- address by Daniel De Leon, January 26, 1896, reprint

- reel 2, frame 488

Folder 25: Material for a case against the Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad Company
1908

- tables and notes

- reel 2, frame 508

Series II: Jewish Labor Movement
1897-1919

This series consists of papers in English and Yiddish. It includes minutes of meetings and hearings, reports, legal documents, correspondence, clippings, magazine articles, and pamphlets. These materials relate to the Jewish labor movement, particularly in the garment workers industry, and comprise the most important series in the collection. Perhaps most significant are documents about the “Hourwich Affair” and the crisis in the Protocol of Peace it precipitated. Among these is correspondence between Hourwich and union officials, including the Manufacturers’ Association’s demand for Hourwich’s resignation and his letter of resignation itself. Other correspondence includes copies of letters Hourwich sent to Meyer London during a power struggle between the two men. There are also legal documents and correspondence relating to several conflicts which served as tests of the Protocol machinery, namely the cases of B. Schnall, Jaffe and Katz, and Levay and Friedberg. This series includes reports of hearings on the Protocol held by the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations, the first case considered by this body created to investigate labor unrest.

In addition, the series contains material from the Cloak Operators’ Union Local 1, which Hourwich served as legal advisor. Of particular note are documents relating to a conflict between the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union and the local union known as “Moishe Rubin’s Rebellion.” In 1916-1917, the pro-Hourwich leadership of Local 1 defied its parent body in an attempt to show its independence, and in turn had its charter revoked by the International. Materials in the series include papers from disputes between the local and union members, financial records of the union, pamphlets, and clippings.

Folders: 33
Folder 26: Official documents
1897-1899, 1914

- papers of incorporation of the Independent Childrens' Jacket Makers Union of New York, 1897

- papers of incorporation of the Federated Hebrew Trade Unions of Greater New York, 1897

- contract and promisory notes of the United Hebrew Brotherhood of Cloakmakers Local 1, 1898-1899

- letter of Jacob Shinbrot (Yiddish), incomplete, 1914

- reel 2, frame 622

Folder 27: Minutes of the Session of the Joint Board of the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York
1913

- February 1, 1913, typed, 59 pgs.

- reel 2, frame 655

Folder 28: Minutes of the Board of Grievances
1913

- Cloak, Suit and Skirt Industry, January 27, 1913, typed, 26 pgs.

- Stenographic minutes of the Joint Board of the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York and the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association, July 8, 1913, 2 pgs. (missing)

- reel 2, frame 716

Folder 29: Complaints before the Board of Grievances
1913

- May 15, 1913

- Operator No. 3 against S. Marcus, 18 pgs.

- Presser Gordon against Jaffe and Katz, 16 pgs.

- In the matter of the dispute between Jaffe and Katz and the Employees of the Cloth Operating Department, 13 pgs.

- reel 2, frame 744

Folder 30: Arbitration Proceedings between the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York and the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association
1913

- August 3-6, 1913, 2 volumes, typed, 1500 pgs., volume I

- reel 3, frame 1

Folder 31: Arbitration Proceedings between the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York and the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association
1913

- same as above, volume II

- reel 4, frame 1

Folder 32: Report of a special meeting of the Board of Grievances
1913

- August 13, 1913, typed, 87 pgs.

- reel 4, frame 791

Folder 33: Report on Board of Grievances matters and recommendations
1913

- Exhibit E, September 10, 1913

- reel 5, frame 1

Folder 34: Minutes of the Board of Grievances
1913

- In the matter of B. Schnall, September 5, 1913, typed, 73 pgs.

- reel 5, frame 17

Folder 35: Regular Meeting of the Board of Grievances
1913

- report on the Schnall Case, September 3, 1913, typed, 106 pgs.

- decision in the Schnall Case. October 1, 1913, typed, 2 pgs.

- letter of Hourwich to Meyer London, 1913

- reel 5, frame 92

Folder 36: Regular Meeting of the Board of Grievances
1913

- same as above, second copy

- not microfilmed

Folder 37: Cloak and Suit Arbitration
1913

- October 4, 1913, 12 pgs.

- reel 5, frame 201

Folder 38: Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Arbitrators with representatives of the Shirt and Cloak Makers' Unions of New York and with the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers' Association
1913

- October 12-13, 1913, 392 pgs.

- reel 5, frame 214

Folder 39: Hourwich and Abraham Bisno
1913-1914

- minutes of the meeting of the Court of Honor, convened to consider charges against Hourwich by Bisno, March 7, 1914, 16 pgs.

- 2 letters of Hourwich to Bisno, June 14 and July 21, 1913

- reel 5, frame 608

Folder 40: Materials relating to the garment workers' unions
1912-1914

- especially the Joint Board of the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Union, including materials on the "Hourwich Affair"

- correspondence, memoranda, resolutions, manuscripts pages, and an article (English, Yiddish)

- reel 5, frame 636

Folder 41: Materials from cases brought before the Board of Grievances
1913-1914

- complaint against Jaffe and Katz

- complaint against Levay and Friedberg

- reel 5, frame 706

Folder 42: Statistics on lockouts and stoppages of work
1913

- materials from an inquiry undertaken by the Board of Arbitration on wages earned by workers in the garment industry

- reel 5, frame 778

Folder 43: Correspondence
1912-1913

- regarding Hourwich's appointment as Chief Clerk of the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Union, 1912

- regarding Hourwich's conflict with Meyer London, 1913

- regarding Hourwich's reappointment for a second term as Chief Clerk, 1913

- reel 6, frame 1

Folder 44: Correspondence
1913-1914

- regarding the Manufacturers' Association's demand for Hourwich's resignation, including Hourwich's resignation itself

- reel 6, frame 20

Folder 45: United States Commission on Industrial Relations
1914

- telegram from Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, Commissioner, to Hourwich

- discussion on the question of differences between the manufacturers and workers in the Cloak, Suit, Waist Industry, January 15-17, 1914, stenographic report, typed, 3 volumes, 506 pgs.

- reel 6, frame 36"

Folder 46: Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Arbitrators
1914

- selected by the representatives of the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York, and the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association, January 18, 23, and 24, 1914, stenographic report, typed, 2 volumes, 87 pgs.

- reel 6, frame 577

Folder 47: Board of Arbitration
1914

- memorandum presented to the Board of Arbitration pertaining to wage increases, typed, 31 pgs.

- loose pages from minutes of arbitration proceedings

- letter on pricemaking from Williams, Impartial Chairman to Hillman and Lezinsky, Chief Clerks of the Cloakmakers' Protocol

- letter from the union committee appointed to the Arbitration Board, to the Joint Board

- reel 6, frame 666

Folder 48: Council of Conciliation in the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry
1915

- report and recommendations, July 23, 1915, typed, 6 pgs.

- reel 6, frame 717

Folder 49: Documents from cases which Hourwich handled in his legal practice
1915

- Hill Coal Company vs. Bernet Shapiro

- Kosto vs. Robinson

- Phillips vs. Rosenthal-Romagnoli Company

- Raines vs. Levy

- Sedeis vs. Goldschmidt

- Simberg VS. Simberg

- Tulchiner vs. Malcolm

- Bercovici vs. Delaware and Lackawana Railroad Company

- notes on the definition of a lockout

- reel 6, frame 725

Folder 50: Controversy between Cloak Operators' Union Local 1 and the ILGWU
1915-1918

- terms of settlement of the controversy, correspondence, briefs, pamphlets, clippings (English, Yiddish)

- reel 6, frame 741

Folder 51: Legal cases involving Local 1
1917-1919

- briefs, summonses and correspondence

- Israel Kanowitz and William Rosen vs. Local 1 and the ILGWU, 1917

- Local 1 vs. Perez Kottler et. al., 1919

- Joseph B. DeYoung vs. Local 1, 1917-1919

- Abraham Mintz vs. Local 1, 1918

- reel 7, frame 1

Folder 52: Financial matters of Local 1
1917-1919

- financial transactions, audit, bonds, mortgages on personal property

- reel 7, frame 53

Folder 53: Miscellaneous materials relating to Local 1
1897, 1917-1919

- manuscript pages, depositions, two drafts of a manuscript, "Di Zitsung fun der Unterzukhungs Komite vegn di Elekshuns far di Ekzekutiv Bord fun Local Eyns" (The Meeting of the Inquiry Committee aboul the Election for the Executive Board of Local 1), typed, 7 and 8 pgs., (English, Yiddish)

- reel 7, frame 117

Folder 54: Fur Workers' unions
1917

- minutes of the conference between the firm of A. Hollander and Son, Newark, N.J. and the Fur Dressers, Fur Workers and Dyers Union, Local 54, 1917, typed

- agreement between A. Hollander and Son and Local 54 of the International Fur Workers Union

- agreement between the Associated Fur Manufacturers and the International Fur Workers Union of the U.S.A. and Canada, March, 1917

- typed correspondence and handwritten notes pertaining to the above, 63 pgs.

- reel 7, frame 179

Folder 55: Constitution of the ILGWU and by-laws for local unions
1917

- printed booklet with Hourwich's name printed on cover (English, Yiddish), 127 pgs.

- reel 7, frame 250

Folder 56: Cloak Operators' Union, Local 1
1917

- 4 statements by a certified public accountant for an audit of the local, typed, 23 pgs.

- reel 7, frame 317

Folder 57: Newspaper clippings
1913-1915

- pertaining to the needle trades and in particular to Hourwich's resignation as Chief Clerk

- clippings from:

- The New York Times

- The New York Globe

- The World

- The Survey

- The Evening Post

- The New York Call

- The Daily People

- Il Proletario

- The Ladies' Garment Cutter

- Women's Wear

- The Commercial Advertiser

- The American Hebrew

- The Journal

- The DaiIy Trade Record

(English, Italian, Russian)

- reel 7, frame 342

Folder 58: Articles
1913-1915

- articles about the Protocol of Peace by Hourwich in The New Review, June 15 and July 15, 1915

- articles by Ab. Baroff and Isadore Epstein in The Ladies' Garment Worker, June 1913

- issues of The Ladies' Garment Worker, July and October, 1913 and January and March, 1914

- reel 7, frame 417

Series III: American Jewish Congress
1915-1919
This series consists of minutes and reports of meetings, correspondence, financial and election records, manuscripts, legal documents, and clippings. These materials are in English with some Yiddish documents. They relate to the American Jewish Congress, particularly its formation during 1917-1918. Included are papers from the planning of the election for delegates to the Congress. Among these are statistics on the American Jewish population circa 1916-1917, which Hourwich gathered to determine how delegates to the Congress should be apportioned, and successive drafts of the rules for the elections. There are materials from the elections themselves, such as correspondence regarding hotly disputed elections and official ballots and ballot reports. The series also contains papers relating to the financial situation of the Congress, among which are financial records and documents from a case where the Congress was sued for failing to pay its bills.
Folders: 11
Folder 59: Writings by Hourwich
1916-1919, undated

- "The American Jewish Congress," manuscript, 24 pgs., undated

- clippings of 2 articles:

- "A Berikhtigung tsu Mr. Lipski's Briv" (A Justification of Mr. Lipsky's Letter) (Yiddish), The Tog (?) (The Day), September 12, 1916

- "Der Yidisher Kongres" (The Jewish Congress) (Yiddish), The Tog (The Day), November 10, 1918

- reel 7, frame 629

Folder 60: Materials relating to the election of delegates to the Congress
undated

- statistics on the membership of various Jewish organizations and the number of delegates allotted them

- statistics on the American Jewish population, circa 1916-1917

- list of secretaries to the Jewish Congress Committees

- Schedules of Election and Convention Fees Paid Direct to the General Board of Elections

- reel 7, frame 657

Folder 61: Materials on determining the rules of elections to the Congress
1915-1917, undated

- memoranda, reports, minutes of committee meetings

- reel 7, frame 706

Folder 62: "Plan of Elections to the American Jewish Congress"
1917, undated

- various drafts, manuscripts, typed, and printed with handwritten corrections

- reel 7, frame 760

Folder 63: Correspondence relating to the proposed rules of election to the Congress and proposed changes to the rules
1917
- reel 7, frame 819
Folder 64: Correspondence relating to the election of delegates to the Congress
1917-1918

- correspondence from:

- Jacksonville, FL

- Denver, CO

- Atlanta, GA

- New Brunswick, NJ

- Chicago, IL

- Lynn, MA

(English, Yiddish)

- reel 7, frame 841

Folder 65: Correspondence
1917-1919

- regarding mail delivery at the Congress's offices, 1917

- regarding the Congress's financial matters, 1917

- miscellaneous correspondence relating to the Congress, 1917-1919

- reel 8, frame 1

Folder 66: Financial materials
1917-1918

- financial records of the Congress's Executive Committee, 1917-1918

- bankbooks, receipts, voided checks, charts showing expenditures, and deposit slips

- not microfilmed

Folder 67: Jewish Memorial to the Peace Conference and Special Memorandum on Pogroms
1919

- presented by the Committee of the Jewish Delegation at the Peace Conference, 1919, typed, on the stationery of the Congress's Executive Committee, 6 pgs.

- reel 8, frame 23

Folder 68: Official report on ballots cast and voided ballots
1917
- reel 8, frame 30
Folder 69: Briefs from Grayzel Press, Inc. vs. Samuel Ellsberg, Treasurer of the Congress
1916

- a legal case where the Congress was sued for failure to pay its bills

- reel 8, frame 155

Series IV: Correspondence
1891-1924
This series contains correspondence from individuals and organizations in Yiddish, English and Russian. It is arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent according to the Latin alphabet even when the materials are in either Yiddish or Russian. Among these correspondents are Alexander Berkman, Abraham Cahan, Judah L. Magnes, Zalman Reisen, and Pyotr Struve. There are also letters from several Yiddish newspapers to which Hourwich contributed, such as the Fraye Arbeter Shtimme (Free Workers Voice), the Forward , the Warheit (Truth), and the Tsukunft (Future). This series includes correspondence with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union in which Hourwich describes his version of the events of the “Hourwich Affair.”
Folders: 10
Folder 70: Alpert to Fraye Geselschaft

- Alpert, Dr. N., 1919 (Yiddish, English)

- Austro-Hungarian Zionists, 1915

- Baranoff, M., 1898 (Russian)

- Berkman, Alexander, 1921

- Branting (Hourwich's letter to Branting on behalf of Berkman), 1922

- Brownsville Ferrer School Association (Nathan Davis), 1923 (Yiddish)

- Cahan, Abraham, undated (Russian)

- The Call (William Feigenbaum), 1914-1915

- Co-operative Workingmen's Circle (L. Becker), 1905 (Yiddish)

- Edgerton, E., 1913

- Egdall, S., 1905 (Yiddish)

- Ellsberg, Dr. S., 1923

- Federation of Ukranian Jews of Baltimore, 1921

- Fingerhud, B., 1916 (Yiddish)

- Fraye Arbeter Shtimme (Free Worker's Voice), 1905-1906, 1923 (includes English letter to the editor from S. Aaronovich, 1891), (Russian, English)

- Fraye Geselschaft (Free Society), 1923 (missing)

- reel 8, frame 191

Folder 71: The Forward
1903, 1921-1922

- letter of Hourwich to the Forward Association, 1903

- letters of K. Marmor, B. Vladeck, and S. Weschler to Hourwich, 1921-1922

- clipping from the Fraye Arbeter Shtimme (Free Worker's Voice) with handwritten corrections, 1903

(Yiddish, English)

- reel 8, frame 235

Folder 72: Gyer to International Ladies' Garment Workers Union

- Gyer, Harry, undated (Yiddish)

- Hartford Literary Society, 1913 (Yiddish)

- Hebrew Literature Society, 1905, 1923 (Yiddish)

- Hourwich, Rose, 1905 (Yiddish)

- International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, 1914-1922 (includes materials on Hourwich's nomination to the Commission on the Investigation of the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry in N.Y.C., 1922, letters of Hourwich to B. Schlessinger, M. Hillquit, and N.I. Stone, Hourwich's Statement of Qualifications, clipping, 1922) (French, English)

- reel 8, frame 261

Folder 73: Intercollegiate Socialist Society to Jewish Writers Club

- Intercollegiate Socialist Society, 1921 (includes copy of constitution, letter of Harry W. Laidler, and Hourwich's reply to Laidler)

- Jewish American (Der Yidisher Amerikaner), undated (Yiddish)

- Jewish Daily News (Sarasohn and Son), 1910

- Jewish Labor World (Di Yidishe Arbeter Velt), 1912 (Russian)

- Jewish Literature Society (Yidishe Literatur Gezelshaft), 1913 (Yiddish)

- Jewish National Workers' Alliance, 1915-1924 (Yiddish)

- Jewish Socialist Farband of America (Yidisher Sotsialistisher Farband fun Amerike), 1924 (Yiddish)

- Jewish Writers Club (Y.L. Perets Shrayber Farayn), 1922 (Yiddish)

- reel 8, frame 289

Folder 74: Knopf, A., Inc. to Ossen

- Knopf, A., Inc., 1922

- Kopiloff, H., 1914 (Yiddish)

- Levy, L., 1922 (Yiddish)

- Lubin, Morris A., 1913-1914 (Yiddish)

- Magnes, Dr. Judah L., 1921

- Martin, Mrs. John, 1922

- Medler, M., 1922 (Yiddish)

- The Nation, 1922

- National Conference of Jewish Social Service, 1922

- National Civic Federation, 1903

- National Federation of Ukranian Jews, 1922

- The New Leader, 1924

- The New Post (Naye Post) (Tsivyon to Hourwich), 1914 (Yiddish)

- Novy Mir (New World), 1911 (Russian)

- Ossen, M., 1905 (Yiddish)

- reel 8, frame 340

Folder 75: Pavlotsky, Vigdor
1923-1924, undated

(Yiddish, English)

- reel 8, frame 401

Folder 76: Poalei-Zion to Sturner

- Poalei-Zion (A. Chertoff), 1908 (Yiddish)

- Posnansky, H. (?), 1908, undated (Yiddish)

- Rakoff, 1907 (Yiddish)

- Reisen, Zalman, 1922 (Yiddish)

- Rosenstein, 1911, 1922 (includes 2 Russian promisory notes, 1902) (Yiddish, English)

- Rubin, M., 1923, undated (Yiddish)

- Sanine, A., 1895 (Russian)

- Shapiro, Solomon J., 1901-1902 (Yiddish, English)

- Socialist Literature Company, 1911-1912

- State Department, 1911

- Strahl, Jacob, 1914

- Struve, Pyotr, 1904 (Russian)

- Sturner, Isaac, 1922 (Yiddish)

- reel 8, frame 449

Folder 77: Voronoff to Der Yidisher Kemfer

- Voronoff, H., undated (Yiddish)

- Warheit (Truth), 1906-1914 (English, Russian)

- Workmen's Circle (Arbeter Ring), Branches 27, 305, and 325 and Educational Committee, 1905-1923 (Yiddish)

- Dos Yidishe Folk (The Jewish People), 1910-1911 (Yiddish)

- Der Yidisher Kemfer (The Jewish Fighter), 1906-1911 (Yiddish)

- reel 8, frame 503

Folder 78: Yiddish Literary Publishing Company to Di Zeit

- Yiddish Literary Publishing Company, 1914 (Russian)

- Di Yidishe Zukunft (The Jewish Future), 1908 (Yiddish)

- Zametkin, Michael, 1905 (Russian)

- Di Zeit (Time), 1920-1922 (Yiddish, English, German)

- reel 8, frame 540

Folder 79: Zionist Organization of America to Di Zukunft

- Zionist Organization of America, 1919

- Di Zukunft (The Future), 1901-1905, 1922 (Yiddish, English, Russian)

- reel 8, frame 567

Series V: Miscellaneous Materials
1899-1924, undated
This series consists of correspondence, legal documents, agreements and contracts, financial records, manuscripts, clippings, pamphlets, proofs from a book, and a bibliography of Hourwich’s works on index cards. These materials are in English, Yiddish, Russian, German, and Italian. They concern various professional activities of Hourwich’s, including his partnership with Meyer London, his campaign for U.S. Congress in 1913, the creation of a new Yiddish newspaper which he was supposed to edit, and the publication of his books in translation. In addition, there are proofs of Hourwich’s translation of Das Kapital . This series also includes documents from several cases which Hourwich handled in his legal practice, among them the Manya Vilbeshevitch case, the Evalenko case, and Yanovsky vs. Liber. The papers of the Manya Vilbeshevitch case contain an exchange of letters with Vladimir Medem.
Folders: 28
Folder 80: Partnership agreement between Hourwich and Meyer London
1899

- typed, 2 pgs.

- reel 8, frame 593

Folder 81: Correspondence relating to Hourwich's campaign as a candidate for the U.S. Congress
1913
- reel 8, frame 597
Folder 82: Correspondence relating to the Yiddish Press
1916

- contract between Isaac Straus and Hourwich for Hourwich to become editor-in-chief of a daily Yiddish newspaper

- letter to Morris Weinberg (The Day), typed, 4 pgs.

- clipping (Yiddish)

- reel 8, frame 610

Folder 83: Announcements of lectures and courses by Hourwich

- bulletin of the Rand School announcing lectures by Hourwich, 1908

- program of the June 1924 conference of the League for Industrial Democracy announcing a panel led by Hourwich and Scott Nearing, 1924

- Columbia University bulletin announcing a course in statistics given by Hourwich, 1901-1902

- reel 8, frame 617

Folder 84: Correspondence with German publishing houses
1923

- pertaining to the publication of translations of Hourwich's Yiddish and Russian books, 13 pgs. (Russian, German)

- reel 8, frame 635

Folder 85: Quote about one of Hourwich's books from an Italian newspaper
undated

- copied by Hourwich, some shorthand notations (Italian)

- reel 8, frame 652

Folder 86: Miscellaneous items of a personal character

- certificate from the Socialist Party, undated

- personal and professional correspondence, 1906-1922, undated (English, Russian, Yiddish)

- reel 8, frame 654

Folder 87: Materials relating and operation of the Yiddish Literary Publishing Company
1915

- agreements, financial data, notes, letters, 62 pgs.

- reel 8, frame 675

Folder 88: Materials relating to the Manya Vilbushevitch case
1921-1922

- clippings of newspaper articles by Vladimir Medem and by Hourwich (Yiddish)

- an exchange of letters between Medem and Hourwich (Russian, Yiddish)

- a statement by Hourwich (Yiddish)

- reel 8, frame 746

Folder 89: Materials relating to the Evalenko case
1910-1911

- correpsondence of Evalenko, L. Menstchikoff, and Hourwich (Russian, English)

- reel 9, frame 1

Folder 90: Materials relating to Yanovsky vs. Dr. B. Liber
1914

- a case of slander for which Hourwich was Yanovsky's attorney and Alexander Berkman, Michael A. Cohn, and Leon Moisseiff were arbitrators

- correspondence of Liber, Hourwich, Moisseiff, Cohn, and Henry L. Slobodin (Yiddish, English)

- agreement signed by Alexander Berkman, 40 pgs.

- reel 9, frame 60

Folder 91: Unidentified manuscript
undated

- 19 pages of a manuscript, part of an article which Hourwich had with him at the hospital before his death (Yiddish)

- reel 9, frame 106

Folder 92: "Thoughts of a Profane Person about the Accursed Problem"
undated

- manuscript, 31 pgs. (Russian)

- reel 9, frame 127

Folder 93: Clippings about Louis D. Brandeis
1914-1916

- his testimony before an Interstate Commerce Commission hearing and about Brandeis' appointment to the Supreme Court

- reel 9, frame 160

Folder 94: Fragments
undated

- article by U. Steklev (Russian)

- manuscript by Hourwich (Russian)

- reel 9, frame 183

Folder 95: Article by Hourwich against Henry M. Boies's book Prisoners and Paupers
undated

- against Boies' proposal that criminals be castrated, manuscript, 4 pgs. (Russian)

- reel 9, frame 196

Folder 96: Pamphlets
undated

- Sidney Webb, "The Labor Party on the Threshold," 1923

- Swinburne Hale, "Act-of-Hate Palmer," 1920

- reel 9, frame 201

Folder 97: Proofs of Hourwich's Yiddish translation of Das Kapital by Karl Marx
undated

(Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 98: Proofs of Hourwich's Yiddish translation of Das Kapital by Karl Marx
undated

(Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 99: Proofs of Hourwich's Yiddish translation of Das Kapital by Karl Marx
undated

(Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 100: Proofs of Hourwich's Yiddish translation of Das Kapital by Karl Marx
undated

(Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 101: Proofs of Hourwich's Yiddish translation of Das Kapital by Karl Marx
undated

(Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 102: Proofs of Hourwich's Yiddish translation of Das Kapital by Karl Marx
undated

(Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 103: Proofs of Hourwich's Yiddish translation of Das Kapital by Karl Marx
undated

(Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 104: Proofs of Hourwich's Yiddish translation of Das Kapital by Karl Marx
undated

(Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 105: Proofs of Hourwich's Yiddish translation of Das Kapital by Karl Marx
undated

(Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 106: Notebook containing notes on various clubs in New York City
undated

- handwritten, not in Hourwich's handwriting

- not microfilmed

Folder 107: BIbliography of Hourwich's work until the time of his death
undated

- including his articles, books, and Ph.D. dissertation (Columbia University, 1892) on "The Economy of the Russian Village"

- compiled by Raphael Mahler in 1925-1926, on index cards (English, Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Series VI: Manuscripts, Clippings and Microfilms
1897-1924

This series consists of articles, manuscripts, clippings, and microfilms of clippings in Yiddish, English, Russian, German, and French. Included are articles by Hourwich on Socialism, World War I and the labor movement. There are also manuscripts and transcripts of his lectures on immigration, Soviet Russia and Marxism. The clippings include material about Hourwich himself, about the crisis of the Protocol of Peace, the Socialist response to World War I, and the Soviet Union. The microfilms pertain to Russia and the Soviet Union, the labor movement and the Protocol, Socialism, and World War I. There are also microfilmed articles both by and about Hourwich.

Of particular interest are the clippings about Hourwich, including articles about his run for the Duma in 1906, his unfinished memoirs Zikhroynes fun an Apikoyres (Memoirs of a Heretic), and obituaries and remembrances of Hourwich. Also in this series are a large number of clippings on Soviet life in the 1920s, as well as many Socialist periodicals and Russian magazines from the turn of the twentieth century.

Folders: 27
Folder 108: Articles by Hourwich from The International Socialist Review
1900-1902

- "Trusts and Socialism," October 1900

- "Theology or Science?" March 1901

- "Summing Up," June 1901 (2 copies)

- "Malthus et. al. Bankrupts," October 1901

- "Maxim Gorky, The Portrayer of Unrest," January 1902

- reel 9, frame 226

Folder 109: Articles by Hourwich from The International Socialist Review
1902-1903, 1915

- "Sociological Laws and Historical Fatalism," April 1902

- "Thus Spake 'Marxist'," June 1902

- "Mr. Hennesey's Philosophy," October 1902

- "A Patent Medicine for Trusts," February 1903, (2 copies)

- "The Referendum Movement and the Socialist Movement in America," October 1903

- "The Socialist Party Vote in the United States," February 1915

- reel 9, frame 265

Folder 110: Articles by Hourwich from The Socialist Review
1920-1921

- "The Czar's Police," February 1920

- "Is the Proletariat a Majority?," April-May 1921

- "The Socialist Vote at the Last Election," April-May 1921

- reel 9, frame 291

Folder 111: Articles by Hourwich from The New Review
1913-1915

- "Social Economic Classes in the United States," March 8, 15 and 22, 1913

- "The Garment Workers' Strike," April 5, 1913 (2 copies)

- "Colorado, 1893-1914," June 1914

- "Capitalism, Foreign Markets, and War," January 1915

- "The Bernhardi School of Socialism," April 1915

- "The S.P. Taboo on Fusion," August 1, 1915

- reel 9, frame 301

Folder 112: Articles by Hourwich from The Intercollegiate Socialist and The Survey
1917-1918

- The Intercollegiate Socialist: "Socialists and the Problem of War," Symposium, April-May 1917

- The Survey: "Industrial Relations," November 23, 1918

- reel 9, frame 339

Folder 113: Articles from Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik (Journal of Economics and Statistics)
1897-1900

- reprints of 2 articles by Wladimir Gregorievitch Simkhovitch (German)

- reel 9, frame 356

Folder 114: Articles by Hourwich from Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik (Journal of Economics and Statistics)
1914

- "Why England and Germany Went to War," The White Papers of England and Germany, reprinted from The New York Times, August 23-24, 1914

- reel 9, frame 392

Folder 115: Articles by Hourwich
1912-1914, undated

- American Journal of Sociology: "Immigration and Crime," January 1912

- The Maccabean: "The War and Jewish Rights in Russia," October 1914

- Die Welt (The World): "Die Ausfuerbarkeit des Zionismuss (The Feasibility of Zionism)," undated (German)

- reel 9, frame 417

Folder 116: Articles by Hourwich from Zhizn (Life)
1898

- "The Triumphant Plutocracy," June 10, 1898 (Volume 16)

- Letter from America - "The Convention of the American Social-Democratic Party," August 20, 1898 (Volume 23)

(Russian)

- reel 9, frame 448

Folder 117: Articles by Hourwich from Na chuzhbine (In a Foreign Land)
1914

- "The Russian Colony in the United States," November 23, 1914 (2 copies)

(Russian)

- reel 9, frame 472

Folder 118: Articles by Hourwich from Svoboda i Ravenstvo (Freedom and Equality)
1907

- "The American Man," March 6, 1907

(Russian)

- reel 9, frame 478

Folder 119: Articles by Hourwich from Pravda (Truth)
1904, undated

- "The Economic Consolidation in the United States," September 1901

- "The World Exhibition in St. Louis," undated

(Russian)

- reel 9, frame 484

Folder 120: Articles by Hourwich
1911, undated

- "The Wool Schedule," A speech by Victor L. Berger delivered in Congress, June 14, 1911

- "The Masters of Life," an interview by Maxim Gorky, undated

- reel 9, frame 538

Folder 121: "Di Imigratsie un der Amerikaner Arbeter Klas" (Immigration and the American Working Class)
undated

- manuscript, parts I, II and III (Yiddish)

- reel 9, frame 557

Folder 122: Typed transcriptions of lectures in Yiddish by Hourwich
1917-1918, undated

- "Notes on the Yiddish lecture delivered December 13, 1917"

- "Politishe Ekonomi" (Political Economy), January 31, 1918, February 7, 1918, February 14, 1918, February 21, 1918 with a cover letter from The Tog (Day), March 8, 1918 (Yiddish)

- "Karl Marx tzu Zayn Hundert Yorikn Yubileum" (Karl Marx on his 100th Birthday), manuscript, Yiddish, 52 pgs. (Yiddish)

- reel 9, frame 653

Folder 123: Writings by Hourwich
undated

- "Bolshevism," manuscript

- "Der Voyenen Komunizm in Rusland" (War Communism in Russia), manuscript (Yiddish)

- "Tsurik tsum Voyenen Komunizm" (Back to War Communism), manuscript (Yiddish)

- "Di Partey fun Arbeter un Poyerim" (The Party of Workers and Peasants), manuscript (Yiddish with transliterated English title)

- "City and Country," manuscript (Yiddish with Russian title)

- "Ungezetslikhe Arestn" (Illegal Arrests), manuscript (Yiddish)

- quote about one of Hourwich's books from a French periodical, copied by Hourwich (French)

- reel 10, frame 1

Folder 124: "Der Handel mit Rusland" (The Trade with Russia)
undated

- fragments of an incomplete manuscript (Yiddish)

- reel 10, frame 142

Folder 125: Fragments of manuscripts and incomplete manuscripts
undated

(mostly Yiddish)

- not microfilmed

Folder 126: Cartoons and other clippings about Hourwich, the Cloak Makers' Union, and the "Hourwich Affair"
1913-1914

(Yiddish)

- reel 10, frame 259

Folder 127: Clippings of "Zikhroynes fun an Apikoyres" (Memoirs of a Heretic)
1921-1922

- Hourwich's unfinished memoirs, from Di Fraye Arbeter Shtimme (Free Worker's Voice) (Yiddish)

- reel 10, frame 390 (previously filmed as MK 351)

Folder 128: Obituaries and clippings about Hourwich at the time of his death
1924

(Yiddish, English)

- reel 10, frame 586 (previously filmed as MK 351)

Folder 129: Clippings about socialist attitudes towards World War I
1914-1918

(Yiddish, English, German, Russian)

- reel 11, frame 1

Folder 130: Clippings about socialist debates about World War I and anti-war propaganda
1914-1918

(Yiddish, English, German, Russian)

- reel 11, frame 350

Folder 131: Clippings about the Soviet Union
undated

(Yiddish)

- reel 11, frame 538

Folder 132: Clippings of articles by Hourwich on immigration, Soviet Russia, and other topics
1904-1918

(Yiddish)

- reel 11, frame 696

Folder 133: Clippings of articles by Hourwich on immigration
undated

(Yiddish, English, German)

- reel 11, frame 742

Folder 134: Microfilms of clippings from Yiddish, English, Russian, and German newspapers and magazines
1900-1924, undated

- MK 407, 3 reels

Roll 1:

- The Protocol and the controversy in the Cloak Makers' Union, 1913-1914

- World War I

- Socialist theory and practice

- Human rights in the U.S. and in other countries, 1912-1918

Roll 2:

- Pre-revolutionary and Soviet Russia

- Problems of Communism and Soviet Russia, 1920-1924

- Struggle and opposition in the Communist Party in the 1920s

- Topics relating to Soviet Russia

- Political trials

- Party life

- Working conditions

- Lenin

- Management-administration

- Black Market - trials for economic crimes

- The village

- Unions

- Life in Soviet Russia in the early 1920s

- Housing

- Homeless children

- Cities and provinces

Roll 3:

- Topics relating to Soviet Russia

- Anti-Communist articles

- Life in Soviet Russia in the early 1920s

- Poalei Zion

- Communism in the world

- Pre-Soviet Russia

- Topics relating to the U.S.A., 1900-1925

- World War I

- American socialism

- Debs

- Communism

- The People's Party

- The Farmer - Labor Party

- Toledo Mayor Samuel M. Jones

- American intervention in Haiti, 1920

- Labor news

- Colorado miners' strike, 1904

- Cloakmakers' union - strikes and other activities

- Hatters' union

- Trusts

- Corruption

- Immigration

- Freedom of speech

- Race problem

- News about Jews

- Clippings of articles by Hourwich

- Clippings about Hourwich

- Hourwich in Russia as a candidate for the Duma, 1906

- Other clippings about Hourwich


Browse by Series:

Series 1: Series I: Russia and the Labor Movement, 1882-1924,
Series 2: Series II: Jewish Labor Movement, 1897-1919,
Series 3: Series III: American Jewish Congress, 1915-1919,
Series 4: Series IV: Correspondence, 1891-1924,
Series 5: Series V: Miscellaneous Materials, 1899-1924, undated,
Series 6: Series VI: Manuscripts, Clippings and Microfilms, 1897-1924
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