Harry Kaplan Papers

Manuscript Collection No. 54

1924-1970. 2 Linear ft.

ACCESS AND PROVENANCE

The HARRY KAPLAN PAPERS were donated by Kaplan's wife, Theresa Kaplan,
in 1972 and 1976.

Property rights have been assigned to the American Jewish Archives. All 
literary rights to materials authored by Harry Kaplan are held by the 
Kaplan heirs. Literary rights to materials authored by others are held by the 
individual author or his/her heirs. Questions concerning rights should 
be addressed to the Director of the American Jewish Archives.

The HARRY KAPLAN PAPERS are open to all users. The original manuscript 
collection is available in the reading room of the American Jewish 
Archives.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH top

Harry Kaplan was born on October 6, 1901 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He
was educated in the public schools of Minneapolis. In 1923 he graduated from
the University of Minnesota, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, majoring in
Sociology and Community Organization. He was a member of the first graduating
class of the Minneapolis Talmud Torah, a nationally known Hebrew School.

He was ordained as rabbi from the Jewish Institute of Religion, New York
City, in 1927, while also receiving a Master of Hebrew Literature, cum laude.
He took postgraduate work at the University of Wisconsin, at Ohio State
University, and at the Geneva, Switzerland Institute of International Studies.

From 1926 to 1935 he was Rabbi at Temple Anshe Amunim in Pittsfield,
Massachusetts. From 1935 until his death in 1969 he was Ohio State University
Hillel Director. In addition he was Midwest Regional Director for the B'nai
B'rith Hillel Foundation and a member of the National Hillel Cabinet. he was
also a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and a Rotarian. He
was a past President of the Jewish Teachers' Association of the New England
Liberal Schools, of the Pittsfield Council of Social Agencies, and of the
Alumni Association of the Jewish Institute of Religion.

Rabbi Kaplan's articles appeared in Religious Education, The National
Jewish Monthly, and The Commentator.

Rabbi Kaplan was honored in 1953 with the honorary degree of Doctor of
Divinity by Hebrew Union-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio. In
1955 Ohio State University gave him an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

Harry Kaplan died on February 7, 1969. He was survived by his wife,
Theresa, and four children.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE top

The HARRY KAPLAN PAPERS (1924-1970) cover Rabbi Kaplan's relationship
with his former teacher Stephen S. Wise, his work as the rabbi of Temple Anshe
Amunim, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1926-1935, and as Ohio State University
Hillel Director, 1935-1969. The collection includes correspondence,
newsclippings, sermons, lectures, and nearprint. The HARRY KAPLAN PAPERS are
divided into two series: 

				A. GENERAL 
				B. LECTURES AND SERMONS.

The GENERAL series consists of three and one-half boxes covering the years
1924-1970. It includes correspondence with Stephen S. Wise, as well as with
U.S. servicemen during World War II. Also included are papers dealing with the
Jewish Institute of Religion's Alumni association, Temple Anshe Amunin, the
Ohio State Hillel, the Hillel War Service Department, the Hillel Refugee Fund,
as well as Kaplan's work with them. The series is alphabetically arranged.

The LECTURES AND SERMONS series consists of one and one-half boxes
covering Kaplan's career from the late 1920's at Temple Anshe Amunim into the
mid-1960's at the Ohio State Hillel. Included are lectures, addresses, papers,
sermons, and notes dealing with numerous religious, social, and historical
questions. There are three folders of general lectures and sermons followed by
sermons and lectures on a particular topic, which are alphabetically arranged
by topic.

BOX AND FOLDER LISTING top

Box  Folder    Contents

SERIES A. GENERAL

Note:     The contents of folders contain several types of material
(correspondence, nearprint, etc.) for the dates indicated unless specifically
indicated elsewhere.

1    1         Correspondence, 1929-1967.
     2         Central Conference of American Rabbis-Committee on Religious
                    Work in Universities, 1942-1952.
     3         Harlow, Ralph, 1955; 1969; n.d.
               Hillel
     4              Awards, Dinners and Anniversaries, 1945-1965.
     5              Columbus, Ohio-Temple Israel, 1965 Brotherhood Award
     6              Kaplan, Harry, 1960 [Greetings for Twenty-fifth
                         Anniversary at Ohio State University Hillel].
     7              Kaplan, Harry, n.d. [Notes].
     8              Ohio State University Hillel-Hillel Players, 1943-1944.
     9              Ohio State University Hillel, 1948-1975 [Nearprint].
     10             Refugee Fund and Related Activities, 1934-1940.
     11             Roster, 1943.
                    War Service Department, 1942-1948.
     12                  A-H.
     13                  I.

2    1                   I.
     2                   J-N.
     3                   O-U.
     4                   V-Z.
     5              War Service, National, 1943-1945.
     6         Jewish Institute of Religion, 1923-1938.
     7         Jewish Institute of Religion, 1939-1949.
     8         Kaplan, Harry, Biographical material, 1934-1969.
     9         Kaplan, Harry, Memorial material, 1969.
     10        National Jewish Welfare Board, 1943-1945.

3    1         National Jewish Welfare Board-Ohio Colleges Army and
                    Navy Units, 1943-1944.
               Pittsfield, Massachusetts
     2              Jewish Communal Survey-Bureau of Jewish Social
                         Research, 1929-1930.
     3              Jewish Community, 1928-1933.
                    Temple Anshe Amunim.
     4                   Correspondence, 1926-1935.
     5                   Correspondence, 1951-1968.
     6                   Congregational Work, 1927-1932.
     7                   Dues and Finances, 1930-1937.
     8                   Library, 1931-1934.
     9                   Publicity, Notices, etc., 1927-1934.
     10                  Quarterly and Annual Reports, 1927-1935.
     11                  Sixty-Fifth Anniversary, 1934.
     12                  Temple Aid Society, 1928-1931.
     13        Speaking Engagements, 1930-1934 [Correspondence].

3    14        War Correspondence, 1939; 1943-1944 [U.S. Servicemen to
                    Rabbi Kaplan and Ohio State University Hillel].
     15        War Correspondence, 1944-1945 [U.S. Servicemen to Rabbi
                    Kaplan and Ohio State University Hillel].

4    1         Wise, Stephen S., 1924-1937.
     2         Wise, Stephen S., 1938-1948.

SERIES B. SERMONS AND LECTURES

     3-5       General, 1933-1966; n.d.
     6         Abraham Lincoln, 1928-1960; n.d.
     7         Book Reviews, 1942-1947; n.d.
     8         God Concept and Idea, 1931-1950; n.d.

5    1         Israel, State of, 1943-1968; n.d.
     2         Jesus and Christianity, 1931-1965; n.d.
     3         Jewish History Courses, 1930-1966; n.d.
     4         Prayers, 1937-1968 [Invocations; Benedictions].
     5         Religion and Social Movement, 1931-1939; n.d.
     6         Rosh Hashanah, 1929-1968; n.d.
     7         "We Jews," 1934-1947 [Lecture series].
     8         Yom Kippur, 1933-1968; n.d.
     9         Youth and A Changing World, 1933-1938; n.d.

SUBJECT TRACINGS top

Note: The following list of subjects is a selective index to many of the topics and individuals in the GENERAL series of the HARRY KAPLAN PAPERS. It is selective in that it only attempts to draw attention to the more significant items in the collection. It does not attempt to list every subject or individual appears in the collection. When used in conjunction with the Box and folder List, the Subject Tracings should help the researcher locate topics. References are to boxes and folders: e.g., 1/12 means Box 1, Folder 12. Allied Jewish campaign 3/3 American Jewish Congress 2/7; 3/3 Benjamin, Lore 1/9 Bloom, P.H. 2/3 Brandeis, Louis D. 1/12 Cahn, Judah 2/2 Cohen, Jehudah M. 2/2 Ende, George 2/4 Eppstein, Victor 1/2; 2/7 Farber, Bernard Efraim 2/2 Fleishaker, Oscar 2/2 Friedman, Newton J. 2/3 Frimer, Norman E. 2/2 Funk, Julius 2/3 Gelfman, Harold L. 2/2, 4 Gitin, Joseph 1/12 Glueck, Nelson 1/5 Goldburg, Robert E. 2/2 Gordon, Theodore 2/4 Gumbiner, Joseph 1/12; 2/10 Harrison, Bernard 1/12 Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society of America (HIAS) 3/6 Hertzberg, Arthur 2/2, 10 Honig, Herbert 1/9 Holmes, John Haynes 1/1; 2/6 Jewish Institute of Religion-Alumni Association 2/6 Jolt, Harry 2/2 Josephson, Louis A. 2/2 Jospe, Alfred 2/1; 4/9 Kahn, Benjamin M. 2/3, 9 Kesselman, William 2/2 Klein, George 1/9 Krohn, A. Lincoln 1/12 Lebowitz, Arthur B. 2/2 Levine, Harry O.A. 2/2; 3/13 Lorge, Ernst M. 1/12 Marcus, Jacob R. 1/2, 5 Michelson, A. Elihu 1/12 Millgram, Abraham E. 2/2 Morgenbesser, Sidney 2/4 Neuman, Gerard 1/9 Pekarsky, Maurice B. 1/5, 8; 2/2 Polish, Jacob 2/4 Pollack, Herman 1/12, 13; 2/1 Prero, Amram 1/12; 2/10 Rabin, Henry 2/2 Ruchames, Louis 1/12 Rypins, Frederick I. 2/2 Sachar, Abram L. 1/1; 3/4 Salgo, Elmer 1/9 Saperstein, Sanford E. 1/12 Schatz, Maurice H. 2/2 Shapiro, Judah 1/12 Simon, Meyer 2/3 Slonimsky, Henry 2/7 Taubenhaus, Esther (Mrs.) 2/3 Warburg, Felix M. 3/6 War Resisters League 3/6 Wasservogel, Hans 1/9 Zatkis, Heinrich 1/9 Zuckerman, Arthur J. 2/4

top