The National Jewish Welfare Board, formed in 1917, was created to support Jewish soldiers in the U.S. military during World War I after the U.S. declared war on Germany. The Army-Navy Division is the branch of the National Jewish Welfare Board that intercedes for the needs and interests of Jewish military personnel. The name was officially introduced in 1941.
This collection from the AJHS archives consists primarily of minutes, surveys, reports, photographs, and correspondence of JWB personnel and U.S. military chaplains; directed towards or concerning Jewish men in the Armed Forces. Materials can be found on topics such as arrangements for holidays (primarily the High Holy Days and Passover), food needs, services, furloughs, prayer books, budgeting and staffing, registration and marking of Jewish graves, anti-Semitism in the military, communication between the men and their families, and general recreation and entertainment.
The Army-Navy Division Records I-180, contain greeting cards and correspondences in celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The cards are dated between the years of 1943-1948, during and in the immediate years after World War II. The greeting cards depict religious drawings and symbols, iconography from various deployment areas, and messages from military personnel to each other and their families in Hebrew and in English from around the world.
