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ased on a file of correspondence between his uncle Erwin—a German Jewish refugee who managed to immigrate to the United States in 1939—and Professor David Riesman (1909–2002), a noted sociologist and highly regarded academic. During World War II, Riesman was active in The American Committee for the Guidance of Professional Personnel, an organization that assisted refugee professionals in finding gainful employment. For a year and a half, the author’s uncle corresponded with Riesman who tried to help him find permanent employment. This correspondence, commonplace in so many ways, serves as a compellingly and informative case study on the lives of thousands of refugees who were painfully disrupted by what Schmerl properly calls “enormous events … the war, the subsequent turmoil, the Nazis …” On one hand, this brief exchange of correspondence, preserved in the New York Public Library, constitutes the mostly prosaic and voluntary efforts of an established American academic trying to assist a German Jewish refugee who is struggling to find his way in a new and unfamiliar world. On the other hand, the contents of these letters—so movingly supplemented by the author’s very personal description of his relationship with a much-beloved and respected uncle—drives home a powerfully immense lesson: “what matters is people’s loyalty to one another, not to abstractions from history.” The brilliant Scottish educator and writer, Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881), famously asserted: “The history of the world … [is but] the biography of great men.” 6 Most historians would argue that, at best, Carlyle overstated. The history of the world is not merely the biography of great men. It is not even the collective accounts of great men, great women, and great events. The history of the world is the story of the lives and experiences of the everyday people who struggle to sustain themselves as they confront life’s daily challenges. As the articles in this particular issue of our journal demonstrate, when capable researchers examine small events and set them into their proper context, we enhance our understanding of the broad, unifying themes that give the historical enterprise its coherence. G.P.Z. Cincinnati, Ohio xii • American Jewish Archives Journal
Notes 1Paul Mason, Napoleon’s Hemorrhoids: And Other Small Events That Changed History (New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2009), vii. 2David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 5. 3Lewis F. Allen, “The City of Ararat on Grand Island—By Mordecai M. Noah,” Buffalo Historical Society Publications 1: 305–328. For quotation, see 322–323. Allen also provided an enthralling history of Ararat’s “corner-stone.” Before it found a place of honor in the Buffalo Historical Society, the “corner-stone” had a rather inglorious existence. It was moved from farm to farm on Grand Island and, according to Allen, the venerable monument actually did a stint in an outhouse. Ibid., 326. 4Ibid., 312. 5Haig A. Bosmajian, Burning Books (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2006), 7. 6Thomas Carlyle, On Heroes, Hero-Worship and the Heroic in History (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1905), 18. Volume LXII Number 1 • xiii
Page 1 and 2: The American Jewish Archives Journa
Page 3 and 4: VoLuME LXII NuMBER 1 (2010) A Journ
Page 5 and 6: To Our Readers CONTENTS Gary P. Zol
Page 7 and 8: Ari Y. Kelman, Station Identificati
Page 9 and 10: Miriam Intrator City University of
Page 11 and 12: TO OUR READERS… For those looking
Page 13: of the journal’s issues in an eff
Page 17 and 18: ARTICLES “Revive, Renew, and Rees
Page 19 and 20: Ararat cornerstone reproduction (Co
Page 21 and 22: The mere name of the planned city,
Page 23 and 24: presidency. If Noah were appointed
Page 25 and 26: and the willingness to serve the pu
Page 27 and 28: Yet some of the critique of Ararat
Page 29 and 30: town or city that would serve as a
Page 31 and 32: By the time the New York legislatur
Page 33 and 34: Conclusion On 26 October 1825, a mo
Page 35 and 36: 10 For a recent analysis of colonia
Page 37 and 38: The Excommunication of Mordecai Kap
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Page 45 and 46: publication, Kaplan asked Finkelste
Page 47 and 48: pick up Kaplan’s siddur because o
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Place of Birth 1 Rudolf B. Schmerl
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Erwin Schepses with his wife Ruth a
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In 1914, when Erwin was eighteeen,
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Riesman’s acquaintance with Pruss
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in the spring and even if approval
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still in need of assistance. I seem
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lieu of or as an explanation of the
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of Correction through which my main
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untimely death had played in his de
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with an emphasis on difference rath
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BOOK REVIEWS Jeanne E. Abrams, Dr.
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Lila Corwin Berman, Speaking of Jew
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joined restrictionist groups. Eisen
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the north to the Mexican border on
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Jonathan Sarna’s American Judaism
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in to Yiddish radio to “hear them
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Fred Rosenbaum, Cosmopolitans: A So
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Marc Saperstein, Jewish Preaching i
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The Educational Advisory Council Pr
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The American Jewish Archives Journa
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L Lamm, Norman, 39 Laws of Prayer (
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The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of th
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American Jewish Archives Journal

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