A sum of $50,000 has been offered by Julius Rosenwald of Chicago on condition that an equal amount is raised, to be devoted to Hebraica and Judaica in the Jewish Division of the Library of Congress, for which there is at present a dire need.
There has been no substantial increase to the Jewish Division of the Library of Congress since the collection contributed by the late Jacob H. Schiff, though the demand for Semitic material is constantly growing, requests coming from various government departments, embassies, congress, the press and other agencies.
The government appropriation to the Semitic department is necessarily limited and if the $100,000 fund is raised, it will be immediately turned over to the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board for the purpose of enlarging the Jewish Division.
According to a suggestion by Dr. Herbert Putnam, the Librarian of Congress, the fund of $100,000 will be used in two ways during a period of ten years; $50,000 to be applied to direct purchases and $50,000 to constitute and endowment, the income from which should be applicable to expert service as is being done with other divisions of the library.
Dr. Israel Schapiro, head of the Semitic Division, as well as Congressman Meyer Jacobstein, Mrs. Florence P. Kahn, Congressman Emanuel Celler, Ben Golder and Rabbi Isaac Landman have conferred with Dr. Putnam and it has been agreed that contributions for the Semitic division are to be sent to Rabbi Landman, chairman of the committee, at 71 West 47th Street.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
