About the AJA

The American Jewish Archives (AJA) was founded in 1947 by the renowned historian Dr. Jacob Rader Marcus (1896-1995) on the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Prof. Marcus was moved to establish the archives in the aftermath of the European Holocaust when American Jews inherited a primary responsibility of preserving the continuity of Jewish life and learning for future generations. Today, the American Jewish Archives functions as a semi-autonomous organization to collect, preserve, and make available for research materials on the history of Jews and Jewish communities in the United States. It now contains approximately 12,000 linear feet of manuscripts and records.