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OVERVIEW Minnesota Historical Society Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota. Council records. 1922-1974 (bulk 1945-1970). Clippings, reports, publications, and correspondence relating to the investigative activities of this organization created in the 1930s to publicly protest anti-Semitic activity in Minnesota and the United States. Largely organized as subject files (1922-1967), they document organizations, individuals, and publications expressing conservative political, religious, and racial views, as well as a few representing communist organizations. 35.25 cubic feet (68 boxes). See Detailed Description for shelf locations. HISTORICAL NOTE

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota originated in Minneapolis in the 1930s as a response to a number of contemporaneous events. The presecution of Jews in Nazi Germany; the activities of the Silver Shirts, the German-American Bund, and similar organizations in Minnesota; and the antisemitic overtones of the 1938 Minnesota gubernatorial campaign all encouraged the formation of an organization to monitor and protest those activities. From 1936 to 1939 an informal organization, the Anti-Defamation Council of Minnesota, was the vehicle of Jewish protest against all forms of antisemitism. Members included Arthur Brin, Charles I. Cooper, and 21 other Jewish leaders in Minneapolis. A sister organization was established in St. Paul.

After the 1938 gubernatorial campaign, the Council realized the need for a more formal, activist organization. An attempt was made to enlist the aid of the national Anti-Defamation League headquarters in Chicago, but the Minnesota group's intent to function as a local, grassroots organization precluded this. The Anti-Defamation Council, as organized in 1938, included individual Jews in Minneapolis and St. Paul and representatives from the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, and the Jewish Labor Committee.

On May 15, 1939 the Council was reorganized as the Minnesota Jewish Council, with Samuel L. Scheiner as its executive director. Scheiner held this post from 1939 to 1974, except for the years 1944-1946 and 1951-1953. The Council consists of about 45 members. Chairmen serving since 1939 have included Milton Firestone, Louis Gross, Albert Heller, Meyer Dorfman, and Jack Mackay. In the 1950s the name of the organization was changed to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota.

The aims and activities of the Council have undergone a number of changes since the 1930s. Its initial purpose was investigative, with Samuel Scheiner and others spending much time investigating the activities of alleged fascist and communist organizations in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Groups like the German-American Bund, the Silver Shirts, Father Charles E. Coughlin's organizations, and the sermons and speeches of fundamentalist religious leaders like W. B. Riley, Paul and Luke Rader, C. O. Stadsklev, and W. D. Herrstrom were investgated and the antisemitic content of their communications was publicized.

During World War II the Council's attention turned to overt antisemitic activities: discrimination against Jews in the armed forces with regard to housing, hotels, resorts, and restaurants, and related matters. Reports of discrimination were investigated and reforms attempted. At this time, the Council also worked for passage of fair employment practices acts locally and statewide. The organization's wartime appeal was patriotic in nature, stressing national unity during a time of crisis and likening fascism abroad to racial and religious prejudice at home.

After 1946 the Council broadened its activities, still investigating discrimination but from a less defensive posture. It became involved in more wide-ranging community and national activities, supporting more liberal immigration policies, the Civil Rights struggle and civil liberties, separation of church and state, and interreligious cooperation.

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

Clippings, reports, publications, and correspondence relating to the investigative activities of this organization created in the 1930s to publicly protest anti-Semitic activity in Minnesota and the United States. Largely organized as subject files (1922-1967), they document organizations, individuals, and publications expressing conservative political, religious, and racial views, as well as a few representing communist organizations.

There are also background and reference files on Judaism, Jewish history and culture, and the American Jewish experience; and correspondence, clippings, and other papers relating to Samuel Scheiner's work as the council's executive director (1939-1974). THe subject files and the reference files all bulk from the postwar period.

ARRANGEMENT

The Subject Files and the Reference Files are each arranged alphabetically by file title.

These documents are organized into the following sections:Administrative Records Subject Files Reference Files CATALOG HEADINGS Topics:African Americans African Americans -- Minnesota. Antisemitism. Civil rights. Communism. Discrimination. Education. Fascism. Jewish-Arab relations. Jews -- Europe. Jews -- Minnesota. Jews -- United States. Judaism. Moral re-armament. Religion. Sedition. Socialism. Subversive activities -- United States. World War, 1939-1945. Persons:Coughlin, Charles E. (Charles Edward), 1891-1979. Courtney, Kent. Dies, Martin, 1900 or 1901-1972. Eichmann, Adolf, 1906-1962. Gaddis, Thomas. Hargis, Billy James, 1925- Hart, Merwin Kimball, 1881-1962. Lewis, Fulton, 1903-1966. Lindbergh, Charles A. (Charles Augustus), 1902-1974. Lundeen, Ernest, 1878-1940. Manion, Clarence, 1896-1979. McCarthy, Joseph, 1908-1957. Nordskog, Andrae B., 1855- Pelley, William Dudley, 1890-1965. Rader, Luke, 1890-1952. Rader, Paul, 1880-1938. Raihle, Donald F., 1901-1966. Riley, W. B. (William Bell), 1861-1947. Rosenberg, Ethel, 1915-1953. Rosenberg, Julius, 1918-1953. Scheiner, Samuel L. Smith, Gerald L. K. (Gerald Lyman Kenneth), 1898- Smoot, Dan. Springer, Harvey H. Stadsklev, C. O. Viereck, George Sylvester, 1884-1962. Organizations:American Legion. B'nai B'rith. Anti-defamation League. Catholic Church. Ku Klux Klan (1915- ). Minneapolis Self Survey of Human Relations. Pilgrim Baptist Church (Saint Paul, Minn.). Unesco. United Nations. Places:Germany -- History -- 1933-1945. Germany -- History -- 1945- Minneapolis (Minn.). United States -- Foreign relations -- 20th century. United States -- Politics and government. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples

Accession Information:

Accession number: 10,408; 11,872; 12,187

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 990017190570104294

RELATED MATERIALS

Additional Council records are held by the Upper Midwest Jewish Archives at the University of Minnesota. An inventory that lists the contents of that collection is also available.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Administrative Records 147.A.3.7B 1-C Historical sketch: Charles I. Cooper, "The Minnesota Jewish Council in Perspective, 1939-1953." Minutes: Jewish Anti-Defamation Council of Minnesota, 1942. Minnesota Jewish Council, 1942-1958. Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota, 1959-1973. 11 folders. Attendance records, 1948-1973. P445 61 Minnesota Jewish Tercentenary celebration, 1954. Miscellaneous correspondence and related materials, undated, 1930-1953. 5 folders. P445 62 Miscellaneous correspondence and related materials, 1954-1963. 11 folders. P445 63 Miscellaneous correspondence and related materials, 1964-1973. 7 folders. P445 64 Scrapbooks: Volume 4. 1938-1940.

Includes information on the Nazi Party in Germany, pro-Nazi activities in the U.S., refugees from Nazi Germany, and Fr. Charles E. Coughlin.

Volume 5. 1938-1940.

Includes information on the topics found in Volume 4, as well as material relating to the Silver Shirts, the German-American Bund, and the Ku Klux Klan.

Volume 6. 1942-1943.

Includes material on race riots in the U.S., and general information relating to African Americans.

P445 61 Materials collected by the council: Minneapolis Self-Survey of Human Relations, 1947:

The 1947 self-survey was commissioned by the city of Minneapolis and conducted by the Race Relations Department, American Missionary Association, Fisk University. It was led by Charles S. Johnson (director) and Herman H. Long (co-director). Its purpose was to assess the levels of discrimination practiced against religious, ethnic, and racial minorities in several critical areas of civic life. Each of these areas comprises one of the reports listed below.

"Civic Organizations." 10 pp. "Health and Hospitals." 32 pp.

Report prepared by consultant Grace C. Jones.

"Minneapolis Churches and Human Relations." 25 pp.

Report prepared by consultant L. Maynard Catchings.

"Racial Problems in Housing." 35 pp.

Report prepared by consultant Herman H. Long.

"Social Welfare." 42 pp. "Industrial Minorities in the Minneapolis Labor Market." 156 pp. in 3 folders.

Report prepared by consultant John Hope II.

P445 63 Volume 1. The Fulton Lewis Jr. Report on the Fund for the Republic, [1955?]. Volume 2. The Truth About the United Nations, 1955.

Compiled by the Congress of Freedom, Inc.

Volume 3. Pilgrim Baptist Church, St. Paul: Centennial volume, 1963.

Presented to the council by this African American congregation.

Records of related organizations: Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, Minnesota/Dakotas Office. Miscellaneous materials, 1941-1973. Duluth Jewish Council. Minutes and report, 1947, 1951. St. Paul Jewish Council. Minutes and miscellany, 1947-1959. Subject Files

The materials comprising this series were all accumulated by Samuel Scheiner during his work as executive director. In processing the series, Society staff consolidated some small files relating to the same person, organization, or topic, and sometimes created artificial files out of unfiled materials and miscellaneous folders. Materials in each file have been arranged chronolically by year, but have not been further arranged.

The prewar and wartime files are a record of the numerous organizations and individuals who, during the 1930s-1940s, represented right-wing political, religious, and racial viewpoints. There are also a few files relating to communist or communist-front organizations. The files show close relationships existing among right-wing groups and individuals, and how they capitalized on the Roosevelt administration's New Deal policies, the Great Depression, and events in pre-war Europe. Isolationism and religious and racial prejudice are documented, along with conspiracy theories regarding the predominance of Jews in the Roosevelt administration and in international banking circles. The propoganda of domestic fascist and antisemitic groups grew less overt during the war, and expressed itself in such things as rumors about Jews escaping military service and rationing.

These groups and others revived after the war, however, and rallied around opposing the policies of the Truman and subsequent administrations. Frequent foreign relations causes were opposition to the United Nations, foreign aid, communism, and disarmament. As commissions and agencies supporting human rights and fair employment practices developed, antisemitism--especially public discrimination--became a more tractable problem, but the Council continued to address remaining pockets of resistance, including periodic resurgences of neo-Nazi hate groups. Also, with the growth of the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s-1960s, it came to focus more of its energies on the integration of African Americans.

P445 1 Aaberg, Einar, 1947-1955. Alert Americans Association, 1963. Alinsky, Saul, 1941. Allen, Marilyn R., 1946-1948. America First, 1944-1959. America in Danger, 1941-1947. American Action, Inc., 1946-1947. American Board of Missions to the Jews, 1948. American Coalition of Patriotic Societies, 1948, 1955. American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, 1953-1959. American Digest, 1946-1949. American Fascist Union, 1950. American Fur Breeder, 1942. American Gentile Army, 1946. American Hebrew, 1940-1942. American Heritage Protective Committee, 1954-1956. American Jewish Labor Council, 1948-1950. American Jewish League Against Communism, 1948-1962. American Legion: Case against member William P. Williams, 1942. World Affairs Center and Student Peace Union, 1963-1964. 4-H controversy, 1954-1955. 3 folders. P445 2 4-H controversy, 1954-1955. Material on subversive organizations, 1955-1956. Firing Line, 1953-1966. Miscellaneous, 1953-1957. 3 folders. P445 3 Miscellaneous, 1953-1957. 3 folders. American Merchants of Hate, 1940. American Mercury, 1951-1961. American Nationalist Committee.

See: Reynolds, Robert.

American Nationalist Party.

See: Reynolds, Robert.

American Peace Crusade, 1951. American Protestant League, 1950.

See also: Quarles, Dr. D. M.

Trestle Board.

See: Thompson, Howard M.

Troublemakers, 1952. Truth and Liberty Magazine.

See: Stadsklev, C. O.

Truth Seeker, 1943-1951. Under Cover, 1943-1944. United Nations and UNESCO, 1953-1965. Van Hyning, Lyrl Clark: Miscellaneous, undated, 1944-1956. 2 folders. P445 58 Women's Voice, 1950-1959. 4 folders. Viehman, Ed, 1955-1961. Viereck, George Sylvester, 1940-1950. Vigilantes, The, 1949-1951. Virginia, Minn.: Antisemitic incident, 1941. Von Karajan, Herbert, 1955. P445 59 Wally Bell of Washington, 1951. Wanderer, 1946-1948. Warner, James K.

See: Sons of Liberty.

Waters, Agnes, undated, 1940-1956. We, the Mothers Mobilize for America, Inc.

See: Van Hyning, Lyrl Clark.

Weinberg, Joseph, 1951.

University of Minnesota professor.

Welch, Robert.

See: John Birch Society.

West, G. S.

See: Domestic and foreign affairs, New York City.

West Virginia Anti-Soviet Educational League, 1950. Western Destiny, 1964-1965. Western Voice.

See: Springer, Harvey H.

White American News Service.

See: National Citizens Protective Association.

White Sentinel, 1966. Wiers, Edgar, 1940. Williams, Aubrey.

See: Southern Patriot.

Williams, Robert H.: Williams Intelligence Summary, 1949-1958. Miscellaneous, undated, 1947-1958. P445 60 Winrod, Gerald B.: Miscellaneous, undated, 1939-1963. The Defender, 1952-1965. Winrod Letter.

See: Winrod, Gerald B.

Wood, Robert E.

See: American Security Council.

Women's Voice.

See: Van Hyning, Lyrl Clark.

Workers' Alliance, 1941. Workers Anti-Communist League.

See: Counter-Action.

Worth Street Forecast, 1942-1944. Wright, Edwin M., 1956. X-Ray, The, 1943-1951. Zoll, Allen.

See: National Council for American Education.

Reference Files

The 1943-1974 files comprise a separate set of backround and reference files kept by Samuel Scheiner that relate to Jewish history and culture, the conditions of Jews in America and around the world, Judaism, Jews in various occupations, Jews in politics, antisemitism, community relations, the U.S. Civil Rights movement and discrimination against African Americans, and related topics. Many files consist only of newspaper or magazine articles, and other miscellaneous publications. Some include Samuel Scheiner correspondence. Scheiner referred to this set as the "Green File," probably named after the green labels on the original folders, which have been replaced.

152.B.20.15B 1-B "Jesus Christ Superstar," 1973. Jewish: Answers to Christians, 1956, 1961. 'Attitudes Toward Non-Jews: A Bibliography," 1958. Calendar: Origins of, 1975. Chaplaincy: History of, [1962?]. Community centers' admission policies, 1949-1951. Community relations, Scope of, 1954-1972. Community relations worker professional standards, 1959. Community relations workers and rabbis, [1959?]. Component in Jewish community relations, 1961. Component in Jewish communal service, undated. Concept of the Messiah, 1956, 1967. Content in books, 1972. Contributions in art, literature, and science, undated, 1945-1949. "Contributions to American Culture: A Selected Bibliography," 1955. Culture, undated, 1947. Day schools and the American education pattern, 1940-1971. Economic trends in America, 1942-1946. Ethics, 1941-1957. Ethnic groups, 1939-1950. History, undated, 1948. History, American: Bibliography, 1954. Identification: Forms and expressions, 1955. Labor in the U.S., 1955-1961. Lawyers: Percentage in U.S. and England, 1972. Occupational patterns, 1947. Poor, 1971-1973. Population trends in U.S., 1950-1963. Population trends throughout world, 1952, 1970-1973. Population trends in St. Paul, 1962. Population trends in St. Paul and Greater Minneapolis, 1961-1973. Publicity: Good, 1949-1965. 2 folders. Religious holidays, 1960. Salaries in U.S., 1973. Self-hatred, 1957. Service: Public funds for, [1960?]. Stereotypes: Efforts to avoid, 1948-1953. Suburban living, 1959, 1963. Survival: Realistic goals, 1962. Values: Conference on, 1961. Vote: Is there a, 1960-1965. Voting in the 1968 presidential election, 1968-1969. Voting in the 1972 presidential election, 1972-1973. Jews: American: American Jewish Study Committee report, 1959. "Contributions of Jews to American Culture: A Bibliography," 1951. Contributions of Jews to the American Economy, 1955. Income, 1969. Israeli and New York Jews contrasted, 1961. Jews in American wars, 1942-1946. Liberal tradition in America, 1961, 1974. Look magazine article: "The Agonized American Jews," 1971. Look Magazine: "The Jews," 1958. Time essay: "The New American Jew," 1965. Washington Post: "The New Jew," 1970. Jewish Digest: "The Presidents and the Jews," 1956. Reader's Digest: "The Jews Among Us," 1955. Reports on education, occupations, and income, 1969. Sociology of the American Jew, 1962. "Are Jews Meant to Be Christian?," 1959, 1965.

Jewish responses to an article that appears in the Christian Century.

Black, 1962-1975.

Information on American and Ethiopian (Falasha) Black Jews.

Comparison with Catholic and Protestant beliefs, 1959. Conservative tradition: Who is a Jew?, 1954-1959. Discrimination and self-segregation, 1962. In Africa, 1955. In agriculture, 1943-1961. In America, 1942-1950. In the Civil War, [1961?]. In Denmark during Nazi period, 1970. 152.B.20.16F 2-B In employment, undated, 1947. In England, 1960. In Europe: "...How to Help Them," from The New Republic, 1943. "...Before and After Hitler" (pamphlet), 1962. In France, 1965. "In History of Western Music," 1957 In Iraq, 1973. In Italy, 1970. In Libya, 1962, 1970. In medicine, undated, 1957. In Minneapolis, 1943, 1973. In Minnesota, undated, 1973. In Morocco, 1961. In North Africa, 1955. In Poland and Hungary, 1956. In professions, undated, 1946. In Puerto Rico, 1957. In South Africa, 1957. In South America, 1973-1974. In Syria, 1974. In transition, 1949-1950. In the United States, 1958. In Uruguay, 1973. Look at themselves, 1957-1958. Myths about, 1954. Superiority, 1969.

Controversy stemming from statement made by C. P. Snow.

Survey of St. Paul, 1969, 1973. "Vanishing Jew," 1964. What is a Jew?, 1954-1972. Who is a good Jew?, 1959-1969. "World's Fifty Most Important Jews," 1974. "Why I Choose to be a Jew," 1959.

Article in Harper's by Arthur A. Cohen.

Writing about, 1963. Young American Jews: What we know about, 1970.

A bibliography.

Jews and Judaism: Bibliographies, undated. Judaism: Differences from Christianity, 1955-1963. Communist attack on, 1958. How to convert to, 1960. Its meaning, etc., undated. Political trends, undated, 1937-1943. Reform, 1960, 1964. Social action, 1958. Speech materials, 1961. Will it survive?, 1970. Justice, Biblical meaning of, undated. Marriage: Interracial and interreligious, 1955-1967. Marx and the Jews, undated. Mogen Dovid: Its meaning, 1965, 1973. Mohammadism, 1961. Monument to the six million Jews, 1958-1969. Mormons and Negroes, 1963-1974. Negroes: Antisemitism, 1966-1967. And Arabs, 1967-1968. In America, 1960-1963. History, 1967. "The City and the Negro," from Fortune, 1962. Aristocracy, [196-]. Birmingham demonstrations, 1963. Chicago, 1959-1960.

A series on racial challenges facing the city that appeared in theChristian Science Monitor.

Crime rate, 1958-1961. Economic situation, 1962. In gray flannel suits, 1956-1961. In Minnesota history, 1965. In the North, 1957-1963. Jewish exploitation?, 1968-1969. Jews and slavery, 1961. Jewish-Negro marriages, undated. Jewish-Negro relations, 1957-1969. Liberalism and the Negro, [1964?]. Minnesota population, 1950. Preferential and compensatory quota problems, 1963-1964. Population in major cities, 1961. Right to vote, 1962. Negro-White problem in the North, [1964]. Negroes who are Jews, undated. 152.C.1.1B 3-B "Neither Free Nor Equal," 1947-1949.

WCCO Radio's multi-segment investigative broadcast on racial discrimination in the Twin Cities, which was picked up and aired nationally by CBS. The JCRC assisted in researching the documentary.

Nigeria/Biafra, 1968. Passover, undated, 1964-1967. Rosen-Sibley controversy, 1963-1965. Race: "Cultural Differences and Race," [1956?]. "Debate on Race," undated. "The Oriental in Minnesota," 1949 "Race and Reason: A Yankee View" (commentary), 1962. Anthropology, 1939-1953. Superiority, 1959-1965. Attitudes in Hennepin County, 1968. North Side (Minneapolis) riots, 1966. 2 folders. Antisemitism: The Real Power Behind Anti-Semitism, 1967. In the U.S.S.R., 1966-1967. In the New Testament, 1970, 1972. What the Jews believe, 1952-1953. Combatting antisemitism today, 1968-1974. In the Greek and Roman world, 1968. In America, 1962-1974. Modern origins of, 1969-1971. Surveys of antisemitic and anti-liberal forces in Minnesota, 1952. Surveys of antisemitism in Twin Cities, 1947-1959 Minneapolis Community Self-Survey of Human Relations, 1947-1948. 2 folders.

Research materials and follow-up information resulting from the 1947 self-survey. The published report appears elsewhere in the collection.

Anti-Catholic campaign materials, 1958-1960. 2 folders.

Most of the material relates to the 1960 presidential campaign.