Index to Incorporations of Jewish Locality-Related Organizations
in New York County (Manhattan), 1848-1920
by Ada Green and Steven Siegel

In the 1960s, the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) microfilmed the "Jewish" incorporation records in New York County for the period from 1848 to 1920. Dr. Nathan M. Kaganoff, librarian of the AJHS at the time, made selection by examining the original records at the New York County Clerk's Office. The AJHS then indexed these microfilmed documents, by first word as well as by town name, on approximately 10,000 cards. These selected incorporation papers at the AJHS comprise collection I-154. The AJHS is located at The Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011.

Among the incorporation records for the period beginning in 1848 are thousands of files for Jewish organizations, including synagogues, landsmanshaftn, social clubs, benevolent societies, family circles, etc. The listings on our webpage are limited exclusively to the slightly more than 3,000 landsmanshaftn or other Jewish organizations relating to a specific town or country, including cultural, educational, political, occupational, and commercial business associations. (Included in this latter category are approximately 50 real estate firms, such as the Bialystoker Realty Company.)

The New York County Clerk’s Office, Division of Old Records (31 Chambers Street, 7th floor), has the incorporation records for organizations and businesses that incorporated in New York County (Manhattan). However, incorporations from the early 19th century through 1946, which include the period of the AJHS collection, are stored off-site, and it takes one to two weeks for retrieval. At the County Clerk’s Office, these records are indexed in a computer printout that alphabetizes the organizations by the first main word. Unfortunately the initial word may be "Congregation," "Chevra," "Anshe" or some other generic term. If a researcher would like to identify the incorporation records for all organizations that pertain to a specific town in Eastern Europe, such a search is virtually impossible by using the computer printout. Thus the AJHS collection, and by extension this webpage, can provide the necessary information.

There are two styles of cards: those that index by first word of the name, and those that are cross-references for the town name. To make it easier for you, the listings on our webpage are arranged alphabetically by keyword, which is either a town or country contained in the name of the organization. Organizations containing multiple town names are listed separately by keyword for each town. For instance, "Mischkan Israel Ansche Prusin, Seltz and Malch" is listed three times, for Prusin, Seltz and Maltz, respectively.

On the index cards, a series of numbers within parentheses follows each organizational name: the first four digits are the year of filing of the incorporation; the second one to four digits represent the file number for that particular year. These numbers are contained in our listing in the "Year Inc." and "Doc. Number" columns, respectively. See the chart to determine the precise microfilm for the year and file number you wish to access. The documents appear on the microfilm chronologically according to year and file number within that particular year. In a limited number of cases documents were filmed out of sequence. As an alternative, when you visit the AJHS you can consult the card file to get the microfilm reel and file number for each document you wish to access. The County Clerk’s Office has no microfilm of these records, so the microfilm numbers have no research relevance there.

To request the documents at the AJHS, after you have located their microfilm reel and page numbers from the card file, fill out a form and give it to an AJHS staff person in the reading room of the Center for Jewish History. While you may make as many requests as you like at one time, you will be given only one microfilm reel at a time. The microfilm readers are in a separate room adjacent to reading room. Some of the readers have photocopying abilities. You may photocopy these documents at the rate of $.25 per page; payment is made afterwards in the reading room. Non-visiting researchers can request a printout by emailing reference@ajhs.org. The charge is $.25 per page plus postage, with a minimum photocopy charge of $5.00. Photocopies will be mailed to researchers within 4-6 weeks. There is no set number of pages for an incorporation. It can vary from one page to a dozen, depending in part on subsequent filings for mergers.

Be aware that this index stops with the year 1920; there are thousands of additional "Jewish" incorporations in New York County in subsequent years. The files often contain documents more recent than the year of first filing, since mergers and organizational name changes, if reported, are filed with the original records. There was no requirement to file anything after the original incorporation.

Many societies never incorporated, and some were in existence for many decades before they incorporated. If an organization incorporated in one of New York City’s four other counties - Bronx, Kings [Brooklyn], Queens or Richmond [Staten Island] - the file would not be among the New York County records. All incorporations in New York State theoretically are also recorded at the Secretary of State’s Office in Albany. The NYS Department of State searchable database at http://wdb.dos.state.ny.us/corp_public/corp_wdb.corp_search_inputs.show indexes the incorporations across the entire state. Some organizations may have fallen through the filing cracks. For example, the Shater Progressive Benevolent Association was organized in New York County in 1909 and is entered in the NYS Department of State searchable database. Yet there is no record of its incorporation at the New York County Clerk's Office in either their computerized listing or the original handwritten index books stored in the basement at 60 Centre Street.

Only occasionally will the dissolution of an organization be documented in the file; most were so disorganized by the time they stopped functioning that no one bothered to report the organization's demise. Nevertheless, the "Jewish" incorporations are an interesting source about the early years of a society. While the basic nature and purpose of the documents are purely administrative, they may contain hidden treasures. Among the names of the initial directors, officers, trustees, or witnesses could be your ancestor, including his or her original signature. The incorporation papers of Congregation Sons of Keidan, dated 3 November 1888, contain an original Hebrew signature of John Bloom, great-grandfather of researcher Jonathan Bloom of North Falmouth, MA. Similarly, the incorporation papers of Congregation Bnai Israel Anshi Regolo Ve’Keidan, dated 6 February 1900, contain an original English signature of Goodman Telzer, great-grandfather of the wife of researcher Gregory Kolojeski of Winter Springs, FL. Click on highlighted words to see the signature pages for each of these societies.

Return to Index of New York County Incorporations

Return to Landsmanshaftn Index

Last Updated on 06/28/2004
Prepared/Edited By Ada Green

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