Jacob M. Rothschild papers

The Jacob M. Rothschild papers, made up of correspondence, writings, clippings, printed and audiovisual materials, and memorabilia, are mainly within the period 1942-1973, although there are materials dating from 1933 concerning his education as well as items created after his death in 1973.

Series 1, Personal papers (1933-1946), offers information and perspectives on Rothschild's life before he arrived in Atlanta. The letters Rothschild wrote to his family during his military service in the Pacific (1942-1943) stand out as the most significant portion of this personal papers series.

Rothschild's in-coming and out-going correspondence during his tenure as rabbi of Atlanta's leading reformed congregation is found in Series 2, Correspondence (1946-1973), and contains remarkably complete exchanges between the rabbi and individuals involved in a number of different areas. The correspondence series documents Rothschild's involvement in a variety of activities including the civil rights movement, political events and social issues in Atlanta and Georgia, religious concerns among Reform Jews, and in Jewish/ Christian relations. Selective name and topic indexes to the correspondence in Series 2 are filed separately from this description and are available upon request.

Second only to the correspondence series, the texts and notes for Rothschild's sermons and articles contained in Series 3, Writings (1947-1973), afford a rich source for an examination of the thoughts and expressions of a man involved with various social and political events of his time. Dated 1946-1973, the newspaper clippings (Series 4) document the rabbi's public life as well as provide a contemporary view of his standing in the community. Series 5 (Reference materials and printed memorabilia, 1946-1973) contains printed items that Rothschild used in preparing sermons and articles as well as in support of his committee work. This series also contains miscellaneous printed items and the rabbi's appointment books for the last four years of his life. Rabbi Rothschild's death on 31 December 1973 brought an outpouring of public and private grief. Series 6 (Posthumous materials, 1974-1985), composed largely of sympathy letters to Mrs. Rothschild and newspaper clippings, provides a contemporary summary of the effect his activities had had on individuals, organizations and communities.

Photographic and audiovisual materials in Series 7 ([1942]-1973) document many of Rothschild's public appearances. The family's desire to record significant events in the rabbi's career led to the accumulation of some of this material. Photographs represent the bulk of this series, but among the sound recordings are examples of the rabbi's mode of delivery as well as a complete recording of the remarks made at the 1965 dinner honoring Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King, Jr. Included in this series are videotapes of a 1950 trip to Israel and a brief television interview with the rabbi shortly after the 1958 bombing of the Temple.

Few papers having to do with the institutional life of the Temple appear in the personal papers of Rabbi Rothschild. Temple records that have been placed in an archival repository can be found at the Atlanta Historical Society. Series 8, however, contains the few items that found their way into the Rothschild papers. The records for the building fund campaign for l958-1959 represent the most substantive material in this series, and probably appear because the Rothschilds had begun to build a scrapbook for that campaign when the bombing of the Temple occurred in October 1958 and the two events were merged in the same scrapbook.