Accession Number

1988-11-13

Material Format

textual record

Physical Description

30 cm of textual records

Date

1976-1982

Scope and Content

Accession consists of records relating to the regional, national, and internationall Bible contests sponsored or co-sponsored by the Toronto Board of Jewish Education.

Name Access

Board of Jewish Education (Toronto, Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

Part Of

Dr. Alexander Brown fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

95

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

Date

1934-1982

Physical Description

58 cm of textual records

125 photographs

1 print

Admin History/Bio

Dr. Alexander Brown (1909-1984) was a leader in the field of Jewish education in Toronto. He held various positions with Toronto’s Board of Jewish Education (BJE) and the Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto, and was actively involved with other Jewish organizations, such as the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) and the United Jewish Welfare Fund (UJWF).

Brown was born in the Ukraine on 14 February 1909 to Louis and Bessie Brown. The family immigrated to Canada in 1920. Brown attended the Simcoe Street Talmud Torah and studied under Rabbi Jacob Gordon. He continued his education at the Hebrew Theological College of Chicago and returned to Toronto in 1933. Between 1934 and 1936 Brown served as the first executive secretary of the CJC, Central Region. From 1936 to 1937 he was an announcer for the Jewish Radio Hour, where he read the News of the Week. In 1945 he graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA and then again in 1948 with an MA in Oriental languages. Brown was married to Dorothy Mercovitch (1912-2009) of London, Ontario, and together they had two children: Martin and Paul.

Brown entered the field of Jewish education as the principal of Shaarei Shomayim Hebrew School from 1942 to 1948, as a principal of the AHS of Toronto and as dean of the Midrasha L'Morim. From 1957 to 1964 he worked as a consultant with the BJE in Toronto and then became the BJE's associate director until the early 1980s. He also was a member of the UJWF’s Study Committee on Jewish Education, the National Council of Jewish Education, the Toronto Zionist Council, and the Educational and Cultural Committee of the CJC. In 1969, he received an honourary doctorate in Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois.

Dr. Brown died on 15 September 1984 at the age of 75.

Custodial History

Records were in the possession of Paul Brown, Dr. Brown's son, until their donation to the OJA.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of textual and graphic material documenting the professional activities of Dr. Alexander Brown. The bulk of the material relates to his involvement with the BJE and the Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto. Included are meeting notices, agendas, and minutes, reports, studies, speeches, proposals, constitutions, correspondence, financial records, publications, questionnaires, photographs, booklets, articles, biographies, press releases, newspaper clippings, programmes, invitations, flyers, lists, applications, statistics, and a directory.

Records have been arranged into the following four series: 1. Board of Jewish Education; 2. Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto; 3. United Jewish Welfare Fund Study Committee on Jewish Education; and, 4. Jewish communal activities. Two files are attached directly to the fonds level. Records are described to the file level with a selection of item level descriptions.

Notes

Fonds was reduced from approximately 1.2 metres to 0.74 metres. Records that were culled include duplicate or damaged photographs, duplicate graduation programmes and invitations, duplicate UJWF Study Committee Interim reports that are located elsewhere in OJA's holdings, and other duplicated material. Also removed were American and other non-Canadian booklets.

Photographers and photography studios are identified on the photographs.

Name Access

Brown, Alexander, 1909-1984

Gordon, Jacob, Rabbi

Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto

Board of Jewish Education (Toronto, Ont.)

United Jewish Welfare Fund (Toronto, Ont.)

Subjects

Education

Physical Condition

The photographs are in poor condition. They have begun to curl and have become stiff from being stored in a dry environment. They should be flattened through humidification and encapsulated in mylar to prevent re-curling.

Related Material

See: Oral history interview with Dr. Brown (AC 140), Board of Jewish Education fonds 48, United Jewish Welfare Fund fonds 67, AHS of Toronto MG2 G-1E, accession 1981-11-4, United Synagogue Day School accession 1990-5-2, accession 1991-12-5, and accession 1988-11-3. For photographs of Jewish schools see Gordon Mendly fonds 18, series 3.

Arrangement

Arrangement has been created by the archivist since there was no discernable original order.

Creator

Brown, Alexander, 1909-1984

Accession Number

2009-7-9

2010-12-9

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

2013-7-4

Material Format

textual record

Physical Description

3 cm of textual records

Date

1950-1989

Scope and Content

Accession consists of records related to the Bureau of Jewish Education (later the Board of Jewish Education). Included is the inaugural meeting invitation, general correspondence, commencement and festival programmes, newsletters, a report on the schools of Beth Tikvah Synagogue and a BJE Dropouts' Study performed in 1989.

Custodial History

There is no acquisition information for these records. Cantor Stolnitz's stamp is visible on many of the records and some of the correspondence is addressed to him.

Subjects

Education

Name Access

Board of Jewish Education (Toronto, Ont.)

Stolnitz, Nathan

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2016-2-9

Material Format

textual record

Physical Description

45 cm of textual records

Date

1977-1996

Scope and Content

Accession consists of records related to the Board of Jewish Education. Included are records related to the Audio-Visual and Resource Centre, the National and Regional Bible Contests, the Meyer W. Gasner scholarship and an Association of Jewish Day Schools Administrators meeting in June 1996.

Name Access

Board of Jewish Education (Toronto, Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions