The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was established Feb. 6, 1917 in The Hague (Holland) by Jacob Landau with the help of Jacques Buchenholtz, Sylvain Birnbaum, Sylvain Russ and Elias Chanania. It was known then as the Joodsch Correspondentie Bureau and represented the first effort to organize a worldwide Jewish news service. The purpose was to prepare world public opinion for an intelligent handling of the Jewish problem at the Versailles Peace Conference. After World War I the Agency was re-established in London in 1920. The head-quarters of the JTA were established in New York in 1921. The Agency was reincorporated in 1936 to give formal status to its communal, non-profit character as an instrument of the Jewish people.
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.