The records of Philadelphia area Jewish beneficial societies are evidence of the fraternal organizations that were founded in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by Jewish immigrants from the same town or shtetl in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition to aiding recently arrived landsleit, these member associations offered social events, medical and death benefits, and arranged for cemetery burial plots. Beneficial society records often include meeting minutes, membership ledgers, newsletters, event programs, correspondence regarding benefit disbursements, and cemetery plot reservations. Many of the early meeting minutes are written in Yiddish or German. Items within these collections with the most genealogical value are typically membership ledgers, roll books, or directories and cemetery grave maps and plot reservations or permits.
American Hebrew Society Collection, 1906-1983, SCRC 184
Association for Jewish immigrants from Romania; collection contains cemetery grave maps, permits and plot reservations.
Boslover Ahavas Achim Belzer Association Collection, 1903-1982, SCRC 183
Association for Jewish immigrants from Bohuslav, Ukraine.
Kaharliker Beneficial Association Minute Book, Charter, and Photograph, 1912-1953,
SCRC 322
Association for Jewish immigrants from Kaharlyk (Kagarlyk), Ukraine.
Krakauer-Yampoler Beneficial Society Records, 1881-2015, SCRC 180
Association for Jewish immigrants from Krakow, Poland and Yampol, Ukraine; collection contains membership book and membership directories.
Prushin-Shershow Beneficial Association Records, 1894-1967, SCRC 182
Association for Jewish immigrants from the Pruzhany and Shereshov, Belarus; collection contains membership ledgers and roll books.
Umanier Verein of Philadelphia (Pa.) Meeting Minutes, 1974-1992, SCRC 278
Association for Jewish immigrants from Uman, Ukraine.
United Jewish Organizations, 1889-1984, SCRC 446
Zitomirer Beneficial Association Records, 1917-1988, SCRC 181
Association for Jewish immigrants from Zhytomyr, Ukraine; collection contains membership ledgers.
