Detre Library & Archives
The Jewish Social Service Bureau was created in late 1936 through the merger of five local beneficiaries of the Federation of the Jewish Philanthropies of Pittsburgh: the Jewish Family Welfare Association, the Girls’ Bureau, the Jewish Big Brother Association, the Service for Foreign Born, and the Bureau for Jewish Children. The merger was an attempt to expand social services in the Jewish community by reducing duplication. As described in its constitution, the Jewish Social Service Bureau was created to “aid and assist Jewish families, children, young men and women, and immigrants, who may be in need of material or other assistance or advice, with a view of promoting and conserving individual and family life, and improving standards of living.”
The Jewish Social Service Bureau changed its name to Jewish Family & Children’s Service in 1950 and then to Jewish Family and Community Services in 2017.
Among its many activities through the years, the Jewish Social Service Bureau has provided services to children and elderly, counseling services, and vocational training. It was the lead agency locally involved in resettling Jewish refugees to Pittsburgh from Central Europe during the 1930s and 1940s and from the former Soviet Union from the 1970s through the 1990s and expanded to provide these services for other communities.
Bibliography
Rauh Jewish Archives
- Jewish Family & Community Service Records [MSS 1017]
- Jewish Social Service Bureau materials, Health and Welfare Planning Association Records [MSS 158/Box 31, Folder 1] (catalog record).
- Jewish Social Service Bureau materials, Corinne Azen Krause Records [MSS 113/Box 5, Folder 22] (finding aid).
University of Pittsburgh Archives & Special Collections
Collections
- Jewish Social Service Bureau materials, NCJW-Pittsburgh Section Records [AIS.1964.40] (catalog record).
- Division of Social Work, Marion Hathway Files, University of Pittsburgh [UA.90.18.1] (catalog record).
Oral histories
- Nancy Newman Frank oral history (1975), from NCJW-Pittsburgh Section Records [AIS.1964.40] (online—Historic Pittsburgh).
- Lillian S. Freehof oral history (1975), from NCJW-Pittsburgh Section Records [AIS.1964.40] (online—Historic Pittsburgh).
Dissertations
- Bachrach, Kayla S. “A study of 19 clients known to the Jewish social service bureau to whom psychiatric help would have been beneficial.,” 1946 (catalog record).
- Bernkopf, Arthur. “An examination of the history and program of the Sixty Plus Friendship Club with a view towards formulating principles for work with the aged in leisure time groups,” 1948 (catalog record).
- Cooper, Marcella Ruth. “A study of 59 boys known to the Jewish Big Brother Association at the time of the merger with the Jewish Social Service Bureau,” 1938 (catalog record).
- Krasik, Frances Goldberg. “Social case work practice in loans granted by a generic case work agency,” 1941 (catalog record).
- Lapidus, Phyllis T. “The adjustment of refugee adolescents in foster homes : A study of 16 refugee adolescents under the care of the Jewish Social Service Bureau of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1947-1948,” 1949 (catalog record).
- Rennick, Paula P. “Concurrent services given cases carried by the Jewish social service bureau and the Allegheny county board of assistance,” 1947 (catalog record).
- Rosenbaum, Aline M. “An analysis of current practices of the visiting housekeeper service of the Jewish social service association and its relation to the community,” 1941 (catalog record).
- Rothman, George Albert. “A historical account of an experiment in case work and group work cooperation conducted by the Young Men and Women’s Hebrew Association and the Jewish Social Service Bureau of Pittsburgh,” 1941 (catalog record).
- Safier, Sigmund Maurice. “A study of intake in the Jewish social service bureau of Pittsburgh for the month of October, 1939,” 1940 (catalog record).
- Steinberg, Dorothy I. “Concurrent medical social and family case work services : A study of the operation, in nine cases, of the working agreement between the Montefiore Hospital Social Service Department and the Jewish Social Service Bureau of Pittsburgh,” 1943 (catalog record).
- Tarr, Selma. “Adjustments of refugee children in foster homes : a study of 10 refugee children under the care of the Jewish social service bureau, Pittsburgh, 1941-1946.” 1947 (catalog record).
- Weisman, Fanny. “The use of the time limit in cases receiving economic assistance in a generic case work agency,” 1941 (catalog record).
JFCS-Pittsburgh
- JFCS-Pittsburgh Historical Timeline (online—jfcspgh.org).
Exhibit History
- Author: Eric Lidji
- Created: January 20, 2023
- Current: January 20, 2023