Embracing World of Our Fathers: The Context of Reception

Leaving the Enclave: Historical Evidence on Immigrant Mobility from the Industrial Removal Office

“…Raising awareness for these efforts, Cyrus Sulzberger, the president of the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society, addressed the National Conference for Jewish Charities in 1901, saying, “go back to your communities and tell them…. to take these thousands of newcomers off New York’s hands” (Diner 2000, pp. 151, 200) 12…”

“…IRO participants were assigned to more than 1,000 locations around the country, although participants were not compelled to stay in their assigned location, and our longer-term follow-up suggests that few of them did. Diner (2000, p. 152) summarizes these scattered locations, writing “The IRO sent Jewish immigrants to small communities—Champaign, Illinois; La Crosse, Wisconsin; Gary, Indiana; Galveston, Texas; Cedar Rapids, Iowa—all places quite unlike the Lower East Side in terms of Jewish numbers, density, and diversity. But the IRO also sent New York’s Jewish newcomers to Cleveland, St. Louis and Chicago, places that had attracted immigrant Jews directly from eastern Europe.” 26…”

“… 15 Diner (2000, p. 42) emphasizes that the boundaries of Jewish enclaves were not entirely clear. She cites the WPA Guide to New York City from 1939 as defining the neighborhood as “Fulton St. (South St. to Pearl St.) and Franklin St. (Baxter St. to Broadway) on the south to 14 th St. on the north; from the East River west to Pearl St. and Broadway; excluding Chinatown.”…”