Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1060

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.8 linear feet (2 boxes)

Preferred Citation:

Alvin Goldstein papers, 1951-1956, Ms. Coll. 1060, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1951-1956 (inclusive)

Creator:

Goldstein, Alvin

Form:

Minutes (administrative records), Correspondence, Publications (documents), and Newsletters

Abstract:

The Alvin Goldstein papers document the period during which Mr. Goldstein (1934-2014) attended the University of Minnesota and was involved in student Zionist organizations. The early 1950s were a critical time for Zionists, just years after the establishment of the State of Israel, and on the eve of the 1956 Suez crisis and Israel-Arab war. The collection consists of a diverse yet integrally related group of ephemeral materials. There are newsletters, brochures, pamphlets, reports, correspondence, and convention programs. Notably, there is detailed information about the founding and first two conventions of the Student Zionist Organization (SZO) and their related activities.

Born in 1934, Alvin Goldstein grew up in the small town of Solon, North Dakota, which was located on a Native American reservation and where his father owned and operated the general store. The family went to Bismarck, North Dakota annually for the Jewish holidays in order to have contact with other Jewish families. When Goldstein turned sixteen, his parents became concerned with the lack of Jewish community in the area, so the family (Goldstein had two younger sisters) moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota. There, his family became active members of the Jewish community including membership at the Adath Jeshurun synagogue, where Goldstein was involved in United Synagogue Youth (USY) when it was first being formed.

Golstein attended the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1956 with a degree in soil chemistry and with the intention of making aliyah and using his education to contribute to advances in agriculture in Israel. During his time at the University of Minnesota, Goldstein was both a member and an officer in numerous pro-Israel and Zionist organizations. He traveled to conferences and attended and helped to organize pro-Israel events on campus as a student. While at the university, he met his future wife Judy (who graduated in 1958) at Hillel House on campus.

From 1856 to 1858, Goldstein served in the United States Army and was stationed in Illinois working on missile propellant development. After the Goldstein's marriage, they continued as active members in many Jewish clubs and organizations including those pertaining to the newly established State of Israel. They raised their three children in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Goldstein died in 2014.

The majority of this collection documents the period during which Mr. Goldstein attended the University of Minnesota in the early 1950s and his involvement in student Zionist organizations at a critical time just years after the establishment of the State of Israel, and on the eve of the 1956 Suez crisis and Israel-Arab war.

The collection consists of a diverse yet integrally related group of ephemeral materials. There are newsletters, brochures, pamphlets, reports, correspondence, and convention programs. Notably, there is detailed information about the founding and first two conventions of the Student Zionist Organization (SZO) and their related activities. Golstein's material relating to student organizations covers the period of 1951 to 1955.

There are numerous printed ephemeral items related to the Jewish National Fund; the programs and educational materials prepared for the first two national conventions of the SZO (1954 and 1955), including convention regulations and a list of chapters; information related to the 50th commemoration of the death of Theodore Herzi, the founding leader of political Zionism, in 1955; a list of publications of the Youth and Chalutziut Department of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, in 1955; and efforts by the SZO to support Israel through fundraising in support of the American Friends of the Hebrew University and the Jewish National and University Library.

Among the noteworthy publications in the collection, dating from 1952 to 1956, are issues of the Student Zionist; the Student Zionist Collegiate; the Reconstructionist; the Hadassah Newsletter; the American Zionist; American Jewish World; Israel Digest; Israel Speaks; Mikhlalah (the Hebrew-language newspaper of the Hebrew department of the SZO); 'Iton HaEzor (monthly midwest newspaper published by the Jewish leadership of the Chicago metropolitan area); the Eternal Light; and the Jewish Frontier.