The History of American Jewish Life, from the Colonial Period to the Twenty-First Century | Teacher Seminars Online

This seminar examines the ways in which Jews in America, since the earliest days of the mid-seventeenth century into the present, have responded to the multiple forces which in turn shaped their communities. Having arrived in insignificant numbers in the 1650s, immigration from abroad and changing political and social conditions in America impacted them tremendously. How did American and global matters both leave their indelible marks? How did they interact with their neighbors and with the American state? The seminar will survey these matters from the very beginning of their American history into recent times.

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Hasia R. Diner, Lead Scholar

Hasia R. Diner is a professor emerita at New York University, where she was the Paul and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History. She is the author of numerous books in the fields of American Jewish history, American immigration history, and American women’s history. Diner is a former Guggenheim winner as well as three-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award. 

American Jewish Historical Society

This seminar is held in partnership with the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS), the oldest ethnic, cultural archive in the United States. AJHS provides access to more than 30 million documents and 50,000 books, photographs, art, and artifacts that reflect the history of the Jewish presence in the United States from 1654 to the present.

Established in 1892, the mission of AJHS is to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation, and dissemination of materials relating to American Jewish history. At its home on West 16th Street in downtown Manhattan, AJHS illuminates American Jewish history through many archival treasures, scholarship, exhibitions, and public programs. Among the treasures of this heritage are the handwritten original of Emma Lazarus’ “The New Colossus,” which graces the Statue of Liberty; records of the nation’s leading Jewish communal organizations; and important collections in the fields of education, philanthropy, science, sports, business, and the arts.

Read this Q&A with AJHS Executive Director Gemma Birnbaum for more information on the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s collaboration with AJHS.