Demographic Studies of Jewish Communities in the …americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1980_32_01_00...Demographic Studies of Jewish Communities in the United States:

Demographic Studies of Jewish Communities in the United States:

A Bibliographic Introduction and Survey

JOHN M. COHN

Introduction

Coinciding with America's Bicentennial celebration in the decade of the 1970's has been the pronounced surge of ethnic con. sciousness and pride among the country's minority groups. For worldwide Jewry, such self-awareness has always been present-an intrinsic part of a long, proud and often tumultuous history. However, in the United States, there is an ever-growing concern for examining the Jewish experience in the specific context of the American milieu-for enumerating and analyzing problems, and for reflecting on the future direction and prospects of this nation's six million Jews. Students of American Jewry who have de- voted themselves to these questions have long sought a demo- graphically comprehensive and systematic treatment of the subject from a broad, national perspective. Although efforts in that direction have borne fruit, perhaps the major source of information about Jews in the United States remains a myriad of community studies and surveys of Jewish populations conducted primarily by or for local Jewish organizations and having essentially local or regional concerns as their underlying motivation or generating force. The findings of selected reports appear from time to time (in the American Jewish Year Book, for example), but no

John M. Cohn is Director of Library Services at the County College of Morris, Dover, New Jersey.

36 AMERICAN JEWISH ARCHIVES, APRIL, 1980

bibliographic guide to them as such has ever been prepared. In part, this may be explained by the mimeographic format and re- stricted circulation of much of this material. However, the in- creased demand for ethnically-related sources in our libraries and schools makes it imperative that we learn more about this wealth of primary data on the Jews of America. This essay and bibliography represent a m-odest introductory effort to that end.

From the standpoint of categorization, these studies are charac- teristic of "demography" in both the narrow and broader senses of the term. Narrowly defined, demography is the quantitative study of human populations using censuses, vital statistics, and sample surveys to measure and analyze the basic processes of human birth, death, population movement, and population growth. The primary concern here is with population structure- that is, the age, sex, and marital composition of the population. However, a wider definition encompasses the treatment of demographic variables in their social contexts as well as their biological contexts, and considers socio-economic characteristics such as language, religious belief, education, occupation, and income in their own right or in relation to factors such as birth rate, death rate, and migration.' The reports and surveys discussed here consider some or all of these demographic factors as they are manifested in individual Jewish communities around the country.

Beyond their demographic focus, however, there are certain distinctions among the many existing studies. As noted, most of these reports are produced by or for Jewish federations and community organizations-bodies concerned with fund raising, planning and coordinating services, and even occasionally directly ad- ministering local projects and programs. Thus, while a few surveys are undertaken simply for the purposes of general information or community enlightenment, many more are geared towards very specific community planning needs. This explains why many of the studies concentrate on a given aspect of Jewish community life such as family services, health care, recreational and educational

I For a fuller discussion, see Dudley Kirk, "The Field of Demography," in the Interna- tional Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, volume 12 (New York: Macmillan, 1968). pp. 342-49.

JEWISH COMMUNITIES 3 7

facilities, pre-school programs, services for children or the elderly, vocational training, community center development-or a combi- nation of these concerns. Many studies, incorporating opinion surveys in their analyses, seek to identify individual and group perceptions of economic and political issues, the extent of personal religious commitment or conviction, attitudes towards intermarriage and conversion, relations with non-Jewish neighbors, anti-Semi- tism, and similar themes. In terms of methodology, these reports reflect a broad spectrum of types: many, particularly those prepared after the 1940's, employ accepted scientific methods for the compilation and analysis of data, while others present what are lit- tle more than rough estimations or projections. The difference de- pends upon such things as the manner by which the sample population is selected, the quality and training of the interviewers and analysts, and the care with which the mass of findings is inter- preted.

The mixed quality and varied objectives of these demographic surveys and the reluctance of scholars t o draw national conclu- sions from local or regional data have been contributory factors in the quest for a study of America's Jewish population undertaken from a national perspective. It is generally conceded that scholar- ship in this area has been hampered by the absence of a single authoritative source of information on American Jewry. Because of the doctrine of church-state separation in this country, the United States decennial census counts have never included a ques- tion on religion, although they do contain valuable data on mother tongue, country of birth, and country of origin. For some time, the closest thing to a national view was data collected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census in a voluntary survey of some 35,000 households in 1957-and tabulations of these data first made public a decade later.' More recently, there has been the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds' National Jewish Population Study (1973-75), a series of sample survey reports dealing with

U.S. Bureau of the Census, "Religion Reported by the Civilian Population of the United States, March, 1957," Current Population Reports, Series P-20, No. 79, Washing- ton, D.C.: G.P.O., 1958). In 1967, the Bureau made available upon request unpublished tabulations derived from the 1957 survey: U.S. Bureau o f the Census, "Tabulations of Data on the Social and Economic Characteristics of Major Religious Groups" (Washing- ton, D.C.: G.P.O., March, 1957.)


various aspects of Jewish life in the United States.' The NJPS is considered a major step forward in the goal of learning more about the condition and attitudes of Jews in contemporary American society.

Nonetheless, it seems fair to argue that, in their totality, surveys of local communities and populations still represent the greatest depth of available information on the Jews of America. It is hoped that this bibliographic introduction can serve as the basis for a more complete and comprehensive inventory of all that has been produced in this area. More importantly, a useful purpose would be served if a means for systematically and regularly monitoring the research efforts of local Jewish organizations could be devised so that a continuing awareness of newly-published reports may be achieved.

Bibliography

The bibliography which follows is divided into two parts: Part 1 is a selected listing of related or ancillary writings which would interest readers of the community surveys. Thus, for example, Horowitz (1961), Rosenwaike (1963 & 1974), and Seidman (1962) discuss the various demographic techniques which are used for making estimates of the Jewish population; R. Goldstein (1967) and S. Goldstein (1971) present national composites of the Jewish population based essentially upon the local studies; Massarik's article (1966) deals with the manifold intellectual and practical problems of doing research on American Jewry. Part 2 consists of the population surveys themselves. The listing is not a comprehensive one but includes a representative selection of some eighty or so titles which have appeared within the last thirty years, principally in the 1950's and '60's. Communal or social histories, broadly ethnographic treatments, and personal accounts in which the presenta- tion of demographic data is of secondary concern are ~ m i t t e d . ~

See part 1 of the bibliography which follows for further details of the NJPS. The celebrated World of Our Fathers by lrving Howe (NY: Harcourt, Brace, Jovano-

vich, 1976), which focuses on East European Jewry in New York during the half century beginning in the 1880's, exemplifies the social-historical approach, while George Kranzler's Williamsburg: A Jewish Community in Transition (NY: Phillipp Feldheim, Inc., 1961) characterizes the ethnographic "participant-observer" approach to what Herbert J. Gans

JEWISH COMMUNITIES 39

While many of the community population studies are more or less readily available-in large research collections such as that of the Library of Congress or the New York Public Library, for example-still more are not obtainable even in major libraries. Perhaps the major source for these reports is the library of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds in New York City. The library does not seek to maintain a comprehensive collection as such but gathers whatever is sent by the local federations and whatever is discovered through sources such as the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's weekly Community News Reporter. The library's holdings are, for the most part, recorded, and a catalog, with entries arranged geographically (including both the United States and Canada), is a~a i lab le .~

Part I : Related and complementary works

The American Jewish Year Book. New York: The American Jewish Committee (co-sponsored by the Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.) Vol. 1. 1899-.

The AJYB includes a regular feature on "Jewish Population in the United States" (by Alvin Chenkin) which breaks down the Jewish population by region, state and local communities with 100 or more Jews, and also includes occasional articles on "Jewish Population Studies in the United States" which review the demographic data presented in community population reports.

The AJYB also contains a directory of local community organizations which, in almost all instances, are affiliated with the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. Most of the community studies cited in this bibliography have been sponsored by these Council affiliates.

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. National Jewish Population Study. 8 volumes. New York: The Council, 1973-75. 135 pp. Under the direction of Dr. Fred Massarik, this constitutes the first comprehen-

sive national study made of the American Jewish population. The NJPS was based on a sample of 25,000 Jewish households chosen so as to be representative

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called the "informal community" over a span of time. Irving L. Goldberg's "The Chang- ing Jewish Community of Dallas," American Jewish Archives 11 (April, 1959), 82-97, is an example of largely personal reflection on Jewish life and attitudes. ' I am grateful to the council's librarian, Ms. Susan Grossman, who discussed the

library's holdings and made the collection available in the midst of preparations for a move.


of the total U.S. Jewish population: The sample included communities of all sizes and in all parts of the country, with random samplings to include Jews not on any organizational lists as well as those who were.

The Study's various parts include the following: "Demographic Highlights" (no date, 29pp.); "Methodology" (n.d., 42pp. + appendices); "National and Re- gional Population Counts" (Dec., 1974, 6pp.); "Mobility" (May, 1974, 6pp.); "Intermarriage" (n.d., 18pp.); "Jewish Community Services" (June, 1975, 1 lpp.); "Jewish Identity" (Dec., 1974, 18pp.); and, "The Jewish Aging" (1973, ~ P P . )

Goldstein, Ronald M. "The Nature, Character and Trends of Post World War I1 American Jewry as Reflected in Communal Surveys." M.A. thesis, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1967. This study's data are "indicative of selected trends and characteristics of

American Jews during the past twenty years. Tlie sources utilized here have been the available population studies of local Jewish communities" (Preface, p.ii.) The study treats nativity, marital status, intermarriage, occupational status, secular education, religious education, congregational affiliation and organizational affiliation.

An abbreviated version of the author's thesis is his "American Jewish Popula- tion Studies Since World War 11," American Jewish Archives 22 (April, 1970), 14-46.

Goldstein, Sidney. "American Jewry, 1970: A Demographic Profile." American Jewish Year Book. Volume 72 (1971). New York: American Jewish Commit- tee, 1971. Pp. 3-88. The author discusses community population studies under the heading of

"sources and limitations of data," and goes on to evaluate the existing status and future prospects of the Jewish community in the United States through an analysis of the group's demographic structure. He considers the factors of population size and growth, mortality, fertility, marriage and family, intermarriage, population distribution, suburbanization, migration, generational change, age composition, education, occupation, and income.

Horowitz, C. Morris. "The Estimated Jewish Population of New York, 1958: A Study in Techniques." The Jewish Journal of Sociology 111 (December, 1961), 243-53. The author describes and evaluates techniques used for Jewish population

estimates, among them the master list approach, the Jewish-names method, birth and death rate techniques, interpolation from census data, sampling, and the Yom Kippur or school-attendance method. The last of these is recommended as most effective for a study of New York City's Jewish population.


Massarik, Fred. "New Approaches to the Study of the American Jew." The Jew- ish Journal of Sociology VIII (December, 1966), 175-91.

The writer discusses obstacles to systematic empirical research on the American Jew, namely: the lack of relevant census data, problems in arriving at an opera- tional definition of Jewishness, the relatively high level of socio-economic well- being of the American Jewish community, the absence of organizational commitment to abstract research as opposed to fund-raising for various causes, and the personal identity conflicts of American Jewish scholars.

Empirical and retrospective levels of analysis are considered and a "research plan that facilitates the design of sampling surveys of Jewish populations by the use of the distinctive Jewish names device" is proposed.

Massarik, Fred, and Alvin Chenkin. "Uniied States National Jewish Population Study: A First Report." American Jewish Year Book. Volume 74 (1973). New York: American Jewish Committee, 1973. Pp. 264-306.

Massarik, Fred. "National Jewish Population Study: A New United States Esti- mate." American Jewish Year Book. Volume 75 (1974-75). New York: American Jewish Committee, 1974. Pp. 296-304. These essays should be read in conjunction with the NJPS Reports themselves.

Massarik and Chenkin (1973) review the NJPS sampling survey, then present basic demographic and socio-economic data and findings on intermarriage emerg- ing from the study. Massarik (1974) presents the over-all estimates for the 1970 Jewish population derived from the NJPS and discusses the distinction between 1.) the population in Jewish households (defined as having at least one Jewish person), and 2.) the number of Jews in such households.

Robison, Sophia M., ed. Jewish Population Studies. (Jewish Social Studies Pub- lications #3.) New York: Conference on Jewish Relations, 1943. This volume includes population studies of Jewish communities, undertaken

during the 1930's, which may be compared to later ones cited in the bibliography which follows in Part 2. The cities covered include Trenton, Passaic, Buffalo, Norwich and New London (a comparative study), Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco. An essay by the editor discusses "methods of gathering data on the Jewish population" (pp. 1-9.)

Rosenwaike, Ira. "Estimating Jewish Population Distribution in U.S. Metropoli- tan Areas in 1970." Jewish Social Studies XXXVI (April, 1974), 106-17. The author describes a technique for converting Yiddish mother tongue statis-

tics (from the 1970 U.S. census) into a portrait of the geographic distribution of the Jewish population within an American metropolis. He then applies the technique to four specific metropolitan areas-the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) of Washington, D.C., Baltimore, St. Louis, and Cleveland-and evaluates the resulting estimates.


For a study on the reporting of the Yiddish mother tongue at earlier censuses, see Rosenwaike's "Utilization of Census Mother Tongue Data in American Jewish Population Analysis," Jewish Social Studies XXXIII (April/July, 1971), 141-59.

Rosenwaike, Ira. "Utilization of Census Tract Data in the Study of the American Jewish Population." Jewish Social Studies XXV (January, 1963), 42-56. The author discusses the application of census tract data to the study of Jewish

populations and provides an illustration by presenting some characteristics (residential concentration, etc.) from the 1935 census of Hamilton County, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati), which tabulated religious affiliation by race for small areas. Data are also presented on the Jewish populations of Cleveland, Boston, and San Francisco.

Schmelz, U.O., ed. Jewkh Demography and Statistics Bibliography for 1920-1960. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, Institute of Contemporary Jewry, 1961.

Schmelz, U.O., and P. Glickson, eds. Jewish Population Studies, 1961-1968. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, Institute of Contemporary Jewry, 1970. Both of these bibliographies, international in scope of coverage, include works

dealing with local communities in the United States. Also pertinent here is Schmelz's essay in the 1970 volume, "A Guide to Jewish Population Studies" (Part I, pp. 13-94), which discusses sources, methods and limitations of Jewish demographic research.

Seidman, Herbert, Lawrence Garfinkel and Leonard Craig. "Death Rates in New York City by Socioeconomic Class and Religious Group and By Country of Birth 1949-51." Jewish Journal of Sociology IV (December, 1962), 254-73. The authors analyze mortality rates by sex, age and socioeconomic class among

Jews as compared with the general population. The statistical techniques employed are discussed in a special section on methodology.

The death-rate method is discussed, then applied to another city-Detroit-in S. Joseph Fauman and Albert J. Mayer, "Estimation of Jewish Population by the Death Rate Method," Jewish Social Studies XVII (October, 1955), pp. 3 15-22.

Seligman, ~ e n ' B . "Some Aspects of Jewish Demography." In: The Jews: Social Patterns of an American 'Group. Edited by Marshall Sklare. New York: The Free Press, 1958. Pp. 45-93. This essay is based on data obtained in reply to a 1948 poll made by the Council

of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds of its member agencies, data on other communities obtained in the years since 1949, comparable data on the total white population of those cities for which Jewish data were available, and comparisons with the demographic information in Sophia M. Robison's Jewkh Population Studies (NY: Conference on Jewish Relations, 1943.)


The author discusses the merits and disadvantages of various survey techniques, then considers the following demographic elements: age composition, sex ratios, marital status, family size, fertility, economic status, secular education, and internal migration and length of residence. (Cf. Seligman's article in the same volume, "The Jewish Population of New York City: 1952" (pp. 94-106). which considers many of the same demographic factors.)

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Part 2: The Community surveys

NB. Population references cited below are based on data contained in the American Jewish Year Book, Volume 76 (1976). pp. 233-37 (NY: American Jewish Committee, 1975.)

As previously suggested, the demographic factors treated in these population studies vary from report to report; therefore, in the interest of brevity and to avoid repetitiveness, individual annotations will not itemize all the variables for which data or analysis are provided. The major areas of concentration have been noted elsewhere and may be summarized as follows:

Population structure-size of population; age distribution; sex ratios. Populqtion change-births; deaths; fertility; life expectancy; migration. Nationality-ancestral history; citizenship; language. Residence-home ownership and value; residential history; geographical distribu-

tion. Occupational structure-employment; career patterns; income structure. Education-level of educational attainment; secular education; religious educa-

tion. Marital patterns-family size and composition; intermarriage. Identity and opinion-"Jewishness" and religious philosophy (Orthodox, Conser-

vative, Reform, etc.); attitudes toward intermarriage and conversion, topical issues, communal involvement, Israel, other faiths.

Organizational affiliation-synagogue attendance; organizational participation. Community services-Jewish organizations and agencies; social service pro-

grams.

Antonovsky, Aaron. "Aspects of New Haven Jewry: A Sociological Study." Yivo Annual of Jewish Social Science. Volume 10. New York: Yivo Institute for Jewish Research, 1955. Pp. 128-64. Through census data and interviews, the author presents socio-economic data

and an analysis of attitudes towards Jewishness and Jewish-Gentile relations as manifested by second-generation Jews in the community.


Associated Jewish Charities of Baltimore. The Jewish Community of Greater Baltimore: A Population Study. Baltimore, Md.: Associated Jewish Charities and Welfare Fund, 1968. 107 pp. A sophisticated analysis which employed a marketing and opinion research

firm to establish a data bank with 900 crosstabulations relating dozens of individual and household characteristics.

Axelrod, Morris, Floyd J. Fowler and Arnold Gurin. A Community Survey for Long Range Planning: A Study of the Jewish Population of Greater Boston. Boston: Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, 1967. 229 pp. Based upon data obtained from a sample survey conducted in 1965. Cf. Yona

Ginsberg's book on Mattapan, a suburb of Boston, cited below.

Baum, Samuel. The Jewish Population of Des Moines. Des Moines, Iowa: Jewish Welfare Federation, 1956. 121 pp. The data in this study are compared with those contained in reports on Canton,

Ohio (1955), and on Washington, D.C. (1957) in: Alvin Chenkin, "Jewish Population in the United States, 1957," American Jewish Year Book, volume 59 (1958), pp. 3-17.

Bigman, Stanley K. The Jewish Population of Greater Washington in 1956: Re- port on an Interview Survey of Size, Social Characteristics, Residential Mobil- ity, Community Participation, and Observance of Some lladitional Jewish Practices. Washington, D.C.: The Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, 1957. 173 pp. A useful appendix, "How the Data in this Report Were Gathered and Pre-

pared," is included on pp. 159-64.

B'nai Jacob Synagogue (Charleston). The Jewish Population of Charleston, West Virginia. Charleston: The Synagogue, 1970. 12 pp. This survey constitutes the Synagogue's 12th Annual Report. For comparative

purposes, the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds' library also has Reports number one, three, and five through ten.

Bronner, James D. The Jewish Community of Pittsburgh: A Population Study, 1963. Pittsburgh: United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh, 1963. 47 pp. Cf. information presented in an earlier (1953) study of this city: in Alvin

Chenkin, "Jewish Population in the United States, 1956," American Jewish Year Book, volume 58 (1957), pp. 65-76.

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. Jewish Communal Survey of Albany, New York. (Final reports of a study made at the request of the Albany Jewish Community Council by the C.J.F.W.F. . . .) New York: The Council, 1947. 105 pp.


This report deals with findings on case-work services, social service programs, Jewish education, fund-raising, and the responsibilities of the Albany Jewish Community Council as a central planning and coordinating agency.

Two other studies by the C.J.F.W.F. in this period, somewhat broader in scope, are: Community Studies of Albany, Camden, New Britain (1953, 82 pp.) and The Jewish Population of Port Chester, New York-1950; a Demographic Study (Ben B. Seligman and Walter P. Zand, consultants; 1950, 31 pp.)

Erickson, Judith B., and Mitchell J. Lazarus. The Jewish Community of Greater Minneapolis; Population Survey 1971-72. Minneapolis Federation for Jewish Service, 1972. 311 pp. (An abridged version, 1 v., var. pp., published in 1973, excludes chapters 12, 13, and 14.) See also an earlier study by the Minneapolis Federation- Work Book for Com-

munity Self-survey of Social, Cultural and Recreational Needs and Service, 1958. A report on the smaller Jewish community of St. Paul, Minnesota (10,000

Jews as opposed to about 22,000 in Minneapolis), is Arnold Dashefsky and Howard M. Shapiro, The Jewish Community of Saint Paul (United Jewish Fund and Council, 1971, 46 pp.)

Fried, Jacob, and Barry D. Lebowitz. The Portland Jewish Community-1971. Portland, Oregon: The Jewish Welfare Federation of Portland, 1971. 26 pp. Compare this report with studies of another northwestern city (Seattle) cited in

the 1967 thesis by Ronald Goldstein (see Part 1 of this Bibliography): Albert N. Schrieber, Basic Facilities Study for the Seattle Jewish Community Center (Seat- tle, Wash.: Seattle Jewish Community Center, 1963. National Jewish Welfare Board, Self-Study of the Social, Cultural and Recreational Needs of the Jewish Community of Seattle, Washington (Seattle: the Board, 1957).

Ginsberg, Yona. Jews in a Changing Neighborhood: the Study of Mattapan. New York: Free Press, 1975. 214 pp. Focusing on a community on the southern border of Boston, Massachusetts,

this book uses interviews and Congressional sub-committee testimony to gauge community perceptions of a "changing" neighborhood. Census and school reports provide data on housing, income, and other demographic factors.

Goldscheider, Calvin. Trendrr and Differentials in Jewish Fertility: a Study of the Providence Metropolitan Area. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms, 1964. 240 pp. (Ph.D thesis, Brown University, Rhode Island, June, 1964.) An analysis of Jewish fertility patterns based on the results of a sample survey

of the Jewish community of Providence, R.I. The author examines fertility differentials by socio-economic status and religious "trends" (Orthodox, Conser- vative, Reform.)


Goldstein, Sidney. A Population Survey of the Greater Springfield Jewish Com- munity. Springfield, Massachusetts: Jewish Community Council, 1968. 181 pp.

A multifaceted report based upon a sample survey conducted between October and November of 1966.

See also this author's "Completed and Expected Fertility in an American Jewish Community" (Springfield), in: Jewish Social Studies, 33 (April/July, 1971), pp. 212-27.

Goldstein, Sidney, and Calvin Goldscheider. Jewish Americans-Three Genera- tions in a Jewish Community. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968. 274 PP. The essays in this book, many of which appeared in various journals between

1964 and 1967, are based upon Sidney Goldstein's report on a sample survey: The Greater Providence Jewish Community: A Population Survey (Providence, R.I.: General Jewish Community, 1964. 256 pp.) The book's major focus is the transformation of Jews in the process of their integration into American society.

Gorwitz, Kurt. "Jewish Mortality in St. Louis and St. Louis County, 1955-57." Jewish Social Studies 24 (October, 1962), 248-54.

An analysis of Jewish mortality data in St. Louis by age (compared with the total white population), by principal causes of death and by major types of ac- cidents.

Hauser, Philip Morris. Study of the Jewish Population of Chicago. The Jewish Federation of Chicago, 1954. 17 pp. The author provides an estimate of the Jewish population using the death cer-

tificate method-a tabulation of Jewish deaths from the records of Jewish under- takers and based upon death rates established by census data.

Horowitz, C. Morris, and Lawrence J. Kaplan. The Estimated Jewish Population of the New York Area 1900-1975. New York: Federation of Jewish Philan- thropies, 1959. 384 pp. The book examines general ancl Jewish population trends in the New York

metropolitan area (the City's five boroughs plus Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties) and describes the geographic distribution and socio-economic characteristics of the Jewish population in this region. See Appendix A: "Technical Note o n Methodological and Data Limitations," pp. 82-91.

Jewish Community Center (Wilmington, Delaware.) Study of the Jewish Popula- tion in Northern Delaware-1962; a Report of the Committee on Jewish Population Survey. Wilmington: the Center, 1962. 115 pp. Compare with data in an earlier study: Council of Jewish Federations and

welfare Funds, Wilmington Jewish Community Survey: Report of Survey made at the request of the Jewish Federation of Wilmington by the C.J.F. W.F. (New York: the Council, 1946. 66 pp.)


Jewish Community Council (Rochester, NY). Department of Social Planning and Coordination. The Jewish Population of Rochester, New York (Monroe County), 1961. This report presents the results of a sample survey conducted in this upstate ,

New York city. Reports by various agencies on facilities and activities in another upstate community are gathered in a publication entitled Self-study of the Jewish Community of Utica, New York, prepared by that city's Jewish Community Council (1948, 82 pp.)

Jewish Community Federation of Greater Lynn. The Jewish Population of Greater Lynn, Massachusetts: A Demographic Study. Lynn: the Federation, 1956. 86 pp. Cf. a study on another, somewhat smaller Massachusetts Jewish com-

munity-The Jews of Worcester: a Population Study, prepared by the Worcester Jewish Federation (1958, 14 pp.) (Lynn's Jewish community numbers 18,800; Worcester's 10,000.)

Jewish Federation of Greater Trenton. A Changing Community: A Study of the Jewish Community of the Greater rent on Area. Trenton: the Federation, 1975. Pp. varies. This community has been the focus of continuing analysis; see also the follow-

ing reports: Sophie M. Robison, The Jewish Population of Trenton, New Jersey, 1949: a Demographic Study (New York: Office for Jewish Population Research. 1949.49 pp.); and Richard S. Sterne, A Demographic Study of the Jewish Popula- tion of Trenton, New Jersey and Vicinity (Trenton: Jewish Federation of Tren- ton. 1961, 48 pp.)

For a report on the area just south of Trenton, see Charles F. Westoff, Popula- tion and Social Characteristics of the Jewish Community of the Camden Area, 1964 (Cherry Hill, NJ: Jewish Federation of Camden County. 1965, 100 pp.)

Kaplan, Saul. Report on Jewish Births and Jewish Population in Cook County, Illinois-1963. Chicago: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, 1966. 34 PP. For an earlier study prepared by the Federation, see Esther Beckenstein,

Report on the Jewish Population of Metropolitan Chicago (1959, 51' pp.)

Koslowe, Irving. "The Jewish Community of Mamaroneck." DHL (Doctor of Hebrew Literature) dissertation, Yeshiva University, New York, June, 1962. 216 pp. This work can be considered both a social history and a demographic study. Of

particular interest here are chapters six and seven which contain data on the Jewish inhabitants of this New York community during the 1940's, 1950's and early 1960's.

Massarik, Fred. "Basic Characteristics of the Greater New York Jewish Popula-


tion." American Jewish Year Book. Volume 76 (1976). New York: American Jewish Committee, 1975. Pp. 239-48. Based on NJPS survey data, this report presents information for the period

1970-71. Cf. Jack Elinson, Paul W. Haberman and Cyril Cell, Ethnic and Educational Data on Adults in New York City 1963-64. New York: School of Public Health and Administrative Medicine, Columbia University, 1967. (226 PP.)

Massarik, Fred. A Report on the Jewish Population of Los Angeles 1965/1968. Los Angeles: Research Service Bureau, Jewish Federation Council, 1968. 58 PP. This study follows up two previous ones on the Los Angeles area prepared by

Massarik for the Jewish Federation-Council of Greater Los Angeles: A Report on the Jewish Population of Los Angeles (1959, 42 pp.) and, a study with the identical title, published in 1953 (127 pp.)

The author is responsible for many scientifically-oriented demographic surveys of Jewish communities in California. See the following. . .

The Jewish Population of Sun Francisco, Marin County and the Peninsula. San Francisco: Jewish Welfare Federation, 1959. 143 pp.

A Report on the Jewish Population of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. Oakland: Jewish Welfare Federation of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, 1970. 80 pp.

A Report on the Jewish Population of Sun Diego, California. San Diego: United Jewish Federation of San Diego, 1975. 88 pp.

A Study of the Jewish Population of Long Beach, Lakewood, and Los Alamitos. Long Beach: Jewish Community Federation, 1962. 77 pp.

Mayer, Albert J. Branches of Judaism, Synagogue and Temple Membership, and Attendance at Religious Services of the Jewish Population in the Detroit Metropolitan Area: 1956. The Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit, 1961. 11 PP. This is one report in two series of reports on the Jews of Detroit done by

Mayer. Among other titles, there are the following, all prepared for the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit:

The Detroit Jewish Community: Geographic Mobility, 1963-1965; and Fer- tility-~ Projection of Future Births. 1966. 27 pp.

Estimate of the Numbers and Age Distribution of the Detroit Metropolitan Area: 1956. 1959. 1 v.

Income Characteristics of the Jewish Population in the Detroit Metropolitan Area: 1956. 1960. 7 pp.

Jewish Population Study: 1963; Number of Persons, Age, and Residential Dis- tribution. 1964. 11 pp.


Movement of the Jewish Population in the Detroit Metropolitan Area: 1949-1959. 1959. 19 pp.

This supersedes a similar item, with the identical title, published in 1958 and covering the years 1949-1958 (10 pp.).

Place of Birth, Educational Level of the Jewish Population in the Metropolitan Detroit Area, 1956. 1962. 6 pp.

Social and Economic Characteristics of the Detroit Jewish Community: 1963. 1964. 65 pp.

Studies by Mayer on cities other than Detroit include the following: Columbus Jewish Population Study: 1969. Columbus, Ohio: Columbus Jewish

Welfare Federation, 1970. 2 v. in 1. (This is the title from the title page. The cover reads "The Jewish Community

of Columbus, 1970: A Population Survey by Dr. Albert Mayor" (sic).) Flint Jewish Population Study, 1967. Flint. Michigan: Jewish Community

Council, 1969. 94 pp. Milwaukee Jewish Population Study, 1964-1965. Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

Jewish Welfare Fund. 1967. 86 pp.

Maynard, Betty J. The Dallas Jewish Community Study. Dallas, Texas: The Jewish Welfare Federation of Dallas. 1974. 176 pp. Cf. studies of another Texas city (Houston) with roughly the same number of

Jews (20,000 and 22,000 respectively): Elaine H. Maas, The Jews of Houston, Ph.D dissertation, Rice University, Houston, 1973, 285 pp.; also, Jewish Com- munity Council of Metropolitan Houston, Population Survey Committee . . . Report on Part I: Survey of the Known Jewish Population of Metropolitan Houston, 1955-56, Houston: the Council, 1956, 39 pp.

Nam, Charles B., and Charles M. Grigg. A Population Survey of the Greater Hollywood Jewish Community. Hollywood, Florida: Jewish Welfare Federa- tion of Greater Hollywood, 1972. 197 pp. This area of Florida has a Jewish population of 25,000. See also two brief

reports on much smaller communities in Tampa (pop. 7,000) and Jacksonville (pop. 6,000): Tampa Jewish Welfare Federation, Study of the Jewish Population of Tampa, Florida, Tampa: the Federation, 1958, 8 pp.; and, Jewish Community Council (Jacksonville), AN About Us! (Jacksonville Jewry is Counted [I954 Cen- sus]), Jacksonville, Florida: the Council, 1954, 16 pp.

National Jewish Welfare Board. Survey Report on Informal Education and Recreational Activities of the Jewish Community of Indianapolis. (Prepared for the Citizen's Survey Committee; sponsored by the Jewish Community Center Association and the N.J.W.B.), New York: the Board, 1948. 35 pp. For a brief yet broader and more recent study of another Indiana city, see:

Jewish Community Council of St. Joseph County, Indiana, The Jewish Popula-


tion of South Bend-Mishawaka, Indiana: a Demographic Study, 1961. (Title on the cover: We See Ourselves.) South Bend: the Council, 1961, 44 pp. (In- dianapolis has almost 11,000 Jews-South Bend about 2,800.)

Another N.J.W.B. report prepared during the period of the Indianapolis survey is: A Study of the Jewish Population of Atlanta, Georgia, 1947, New York, 1947, 17 pp.

Reissman, Leonard. Profile of a Community: A Sociological Study of the'New Orleans Jewish Community. New Orleans: Jewish Federation of New Orleans, 1958. 144 pp.

For a later discussion of New Orleans Jewry in terms of identity problems and social adjustment within the general community-based on this 1958 study-see Reissman's "The New Orleans Jewish Community," in: The Jewish Journal of Sociology, 4 (June, 1962), pp. 110-23.

See also the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds' The Jewish Population of New Orleans, Louisiana-1953: a Demographic Study (New York, 1954, 47 pp.).

Rosenthal, Erich. The Jewish Population of Chicago. Chicago: College of Jewish Studies, 1952. 128 pp. This report is derived from the author's Ph.D dissertation entitled "The Jewish

Population of Chicago, Illinois: Size and Distribution as Derived from Voters' Lists" (University of Chicago, 1949, 144 pp.)

Shapiro, Manheim. The Bayvilje Survey; a Survey of the Attitudes of Affiliated Jews in Dade County, Florida. Miami: Greater Miami Chapter, the American Jewish Committee, 1961. Unpaged.

Similar surveys by this author sponsored by the American Jewish Committee have been carried out in Baltimore, Maryland (1963), Kansas City, Missouri (1%1), and Southville, Memphis, Tennessee (1959).

Varady, David P. Recent Changes in the Settlement Patterns of the Jewish Population of Cincinnati. Cincinnati, Ohio: Jewish Federation of Cincinnati, 1973. 51 pp. Cincinnati has Ohio's second largest Jewish population (30,000; Cleveland has

80,000, Columbus 13,000.) For reports on some of the smaller communities, see the following:

Jewish Community Federation of Canton, Ohio. The Jewish Population of Canton, Ohio: a Demographic Study. Canton: the Federation, 1955. 1 10 pp.

Jewish Federation of Youngstown. Congregation Ohev Tzedek-Shaarei Torah Population Study. Youngstown, Ohio: the Federation, 1963.

Wagner. Edwin E., Robert Deitchman and David Kapusinski. A Demographic and Attitudinal Survey of the Jewish Population of Akron, Ohio. Akron: Akron Jewish Community Federation, 1970.

JEWISH COMMUNITIES 5 1

Verbit, Mervin F. Characteristics of a Jewish Community: the Demographic and Judaic Profiles of the Jews in the Area Served by -the Jewish Federation of North Jersey. Paterson: Jewish Federation of North Jersey, 1971. 115 pp. This report covers Passaic and Bergen counties in northern New Jersey. For earlier surveys of this area, see: Ben B. Seligman, The Jewish Population

of Passaic, New Jersey, 1949 (New York: Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, 1949, 33 pp.), and, A Survey of the Jewish Population of Bergen County (1963, 25 pp.), prepared by the Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA) of Bergen County.

Werb, Morris R. "Jewish Suburbia-an Historical and Comparative Study of Jewish Communities in Three New Jersey Suburbs." Ph.D dissertation, New York University, 1959. 284 pp. Through questionnaires and interviews, this study investigates the f-esults of

suburbanization on the Jewish inhabitants of three New Jersey communities in Essex County: the Caldwells, Verona, and West Orange. (Essex is south of Passaic and has 95,000 Jews.)

See also Our Life in Our Time (on Newark, New Jersey), prepared by the Jewish Community Council of Essex County (Newark, NJ: the Council, 1948.22 PP.)

Documents

Demographic Studies of Jewish Communities in the …americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1980_32_01_00...Demographic Studies of Jewish Communities in the United States: