Series 5: Philanthropy The extensive files in this series describe Jacob Blaustein’s generosity to local (Baltimore), national, and international agencies. Significantly, Blaustein’s contributions were not just financial, as the correspondence, reports, and annotations in these files reveal his personal attention to all aspects of the charitable groups and Jewish life. Blaustein served as president of the Associated Jewish Charities (AJC) from 1936-1940 and chaired the Baltimore campaigns in 1936 (Box 5.8) and 1938 (Box 5.9). Under Blaustein’s leadership, the 1938 campaign sought to raise $550,000, a significant sum for that time. Each of his compelling letters to donors and organizers of the campaign reveals slight variation and personalization rather than being boilerplate reiterations. Additionally, in his capacity as president of the “Associated” (Boxes 5.8 – 5.13), Blaustein spoke annually at Mt. Pleasant (Jewish Home for Consumptives) and at Levindale (Hebrew Home for the Aged and Infirm). Having previously been a committee member to study the financing and function of the Graduate School for Jewish Social Work, Blaustein also served as a member of the Board of Jewish Education and chaired the deficit campaign of the Baltimore Hebrew College. Blaustein also received numerous poignant, handwritten letters requesting monetary assistance from desperate local citizens in dire financial straits as well as from overseas Jews attempting to escape from Germany. Blaustein was a member of the Coordinating Committee of the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, which planned fund-raising for these organizations through the Joint Defense Appeal (Box 5.22). He also served on the boards of the Joint Distribution Committee, American Friends of Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute of Science (Box 5.18), American Fund for Palestinian Organizations (Box 5.22), and the United Service for New Americans (Box 5.21). As a director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Association (Box 5.11), Blaustein’s persuasiveness in collecting overdue pledges earned him the name “Houdini” by one admirer. In a thank you letter to Blaustein for his “Voice of Reason” article, Everett R. Clinchey, president of The National Conference of Christians and Jews, Inc. (Box 5.20), hailed Blaustein as “an American of great stature and a Jew of fine quality.” Blaustein was also a member of the sponsoring committee for “The Eternal Light,” a series of half hour radio programs designed for the Jewish and general community and featuring Jewish literature, history, and music. Presented by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, it was the first dramatized religious program on the air in 1944 (Box 5.18). |