11. Jewish community

This collection contains programs, pamphlets, photographs, speeches, correspondence, compact discs, administrative records, and newsletters that document part of the history of Jewish Family Service - Houston from 1947 to 2015, including oral history interviews conducted with former staff and board members.

The Martin Nathan Collection contains photographs and scrapbook pages depicting Martin Nathan over the course of his life, with a focus on his Bar Mitzvah. The detailed identification of attendees and extensive gift list offer a clear depiction of the ceremony.

This collection contains issues of the Jewish Herald-Voice, as well as related correspondence, newsprint and articles, photographs, and a Directory of Jewish Organizations showcasing different aspects of the Jewish community and smaller groups that make it up. "Representing the great and powerful diversity of [the Houston and Texas Gulf Coast Jewish communities,] the Herald unites many thoughts in its weekly pages" (Newspaper owners Samuels and Levy).

The AMIT collection is made up of six membership directories, each containing a brief history and statement of purpose, officer list, membership list, and advertisements from local businesses put out annually by the Pearl Schwartz-Houston Chapter of the leading education network across all measurements in Israel, Americans for Israel and Torah.

The American Associates Ben-Gurion University of the Negev programs offer unique insight into the global connections of Jewish culture and tradition with their extension of the Israeli university community into the Greater Texas Region, acknowledgement of influential figures, and exploration of kosher food.

The Congregation Beth Jacob, Galveston [TX] records is made up of letters, invitations, programs, bulletins, directories, legal documents, and a DVD recording the history of this small, vibrant congregation on Texas’ southern coast. Formed from two smaller communities--Russian and Austro-Hungarian--the congregation has a rich history of tradition.

The collection includes correspondence, certificates, invitations, photographs, booklets, memorabilia and realia that documents Betsy Schreiber's family from 1897 to 1996.

The Tania Brown Family Papers feature the wartime record of Frank Brown, shown through correspondence and documents, and Rachel Mayer Brown’s involvement in the Texas Southern Region’s Hadassah Organization through a photo album memorializing her experiences and connections to the larger Jewish Community.

Planning materials, board games, a scrapbook, press releases and other publicity materials document the activities undertaken by Estelle Panzer, Janis Odensky, and Judy Jordan between 1984 and 1989 to create the Tradition Jewish trivia board game. The collection also includes an oral history with Estelle Panzer and Janis Odensky conducted in 2019.

This collection contains a small number of programs, certificates, booklets, an oral history recording and transcript, and correspondence regarding imminent Jewish Associations in Houston and Aubrey Farb's personal papers from 1938 to 2018.