The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives

01/27/2026

The Cincinnati campus will be closed on Tuesday, January 27, due to inclement weather.

01/25/2026

The Cincinnati Campus will be closed Monday, January 26, 2026, due to inclement weather.

12/12/2025

In anticipation of heavy snowfall overnight, the Cincinnati Campus will be closed on Friday, December 12.

12/02/2025

The AJA is closed today, December 2, due to inclement weather. Stay warm and safe!

08/27/2025

08/18/2025

05/24/2025

We love our Dr. Marcus!

In honor of , we’re highlighting the extraordinary legacy of Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus, a towering figure in American Jewish history, as shared by Hebrew Union College's The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA). Through his scholarship and visionary leadership, Dr. Marcus shaped how we understand the American Jewish experience and ensured its preservation for generations to come.

Jacob Rader Marcus, Ph.D., the founder of AJA, was born in Connelsville, PA on March 5, 1896. Known as the “Dean” of American Jewish historians, Dr. Marcus was the first American born, scientifically trained historian to earn an academic Ph.D. to examine the American Jewish experience. In 1947—with the great centers of European Jewish life destroyed in the Holocaust—the AJA was formally established in what had been the first library building on Hebrew Union College’s Cincinnati campus.

Dr. Marcus was the first trained historian of the Jewish people born in America and the first to devote himself fully to the scholarly study of America’s Jews. Through the American Jewish Archives, which he founded in 1947, and through a parade of books—culminating in a magisterial, three-volume history entitled, “The Colonial American Jew: 1492–1776,” (1970) and an even larger four-volume history of, “United States Jewry: 1776–1985,” (1989-93) completed in his tenth decade of life—he defined, propagated, and profession¬alized his chosen field, achieving renown as its founding father and dean. At the time of his death, on the evening of November 14, 1995, he was also the oldest and most beloved member of the Reform rabbinate and the senior faculty member at Hebrew Union College, where he had taught for some three-quarters of a century.

05/13/2025

Join us on May 29th at 4:30 p.m. for a hybrid webinar and panel discussion at the AJA for "An American Jewish Visionary : The Life and Career of Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler! Panelists for the event include Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, Rabbi Judy Schindler, and Dr. Gary Zola. See the photo for information on attending in person or via the internet and how to RSVP for this exciting event!

02/07/2025

The Skirball Museum is proud to announce the exhibit opening reception of: ARCHIE RAND'S "The Seventeen: Iron Flock" Thursday, March 27, 2025 5:30pm

RSVP: https://huc.edu/event/archie-rands-the-seventeen-iron-flock/

10/27/2024

90 years ago, the American Jewish Congress sponsored a rally at Madison Square Garden featuring Rabbi Stephen Wise and others called “The Case of Civilization against Hi**erism.” Wise and others warned that the views of Hi**er were spreading through the Unites states, and five years later the pro-N**i German American Bund would hold a rally there, too, in which 20,000 Americans would show up to show their support for Hi**er and the N**i party.

The AJA has a recording of the 1934 Stephen Wise rally, which is available digitally along with all of his other sermons and speeches in our catalog.

Link below!

08/02/2024

Thank you on Library and Information Resources (ClIR) ! We received a Recordings at Risk Grant! This will allow us to digitize several films from our B'nai B'rith International collection that are in danger of deteriorating! We are so excited to get started on this project and will be sharing the videos on our website next year when it is completed!

Alexandria, VA—The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) announced $796,320 in grants to digitize rare and unique audio/visual materials through its Recordings at Risk program. This eleventh cohort of the program will support 26 projects, adding to the impressive tally of over 59,000...