Resource Guide: Latin America and the Caribbean
This guide lists resources related to Latin America and the Caribbean at the JDC Archives. Material in the Text Collection is digitized and available online unless otherwise indicated.
Refugee settlers on horseback at the Sosua agricultural colony, Dominican Republic, c.1940s. Photo: Dr. Kurt Schnitzer, Photo Conrado.
Document Collection (aka Text Collection)
Records in the JDC Archives are organized into artificial collections by date and location of records creation or receipt. Within each span of years, there are four subcollections: Administration, Organizations, Subject Matter, and Countries and Regions. All four subcollections may be relevant to your research.This guide offers a starting point for your research, but is not comprehensive.
Records of the New York Headquarters, 1919-1921
Countries and Regions Subcollection (includes material on Argentina, Cuba, and Mexico)
Records of the New York Headquarters, 1921-1932
Countries and Regions Subcollection (includes material on Cuba and Mexico)
Records of the New York Headquarters, 1933-1944
Countries and Regions Subcollection: Currently accessible only by contacting JDC Archives (includes material on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, British Honduras, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad, Uruguay, and Venezuela and a file on South America as a region).
Note: Access to these files is restricted. Researchers interested in this material may contact us via this online form.
Dominican Republic Settlement Association (DORSA) Records, 1939-1977
The DORSA collection documents JDCs establishment in 1938 of the Dominican Republic Settlement Association, an agricultural settlement for over 700 Austrian and German Jewish refugees in Sosua in the north of the Dominican Republic.
Administration Subcollection (includes general and financial information, agreements with the Dominican Republic, by-laws, minute books, material about property and personnel, and narrative and statistical reports).
Subject Matter Subcollection (includes material about emigration, immigration, and loan kassas and cooperatives).
Organizations Subcollection (includes material about Centro Israelita de la Republica Dominica, Coordinating Foundation, 1939-1943).
Note: Documentation related to JDC’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean is dispersed throughout this record group and requires in-depth searching by the user.
Records of the New York Headquarters, 1945-1954
Countries and Regions Subcollection (includes material on Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, British Guyana, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad, Venezuela, and on South America as a region).
Organizations Subcollection: Intergovernmental Record Group (includes material on various intergovernmental organizations such as the Intergovernmental Committee on European Migration [ICEM] and Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees).
Note: Documentation related to JDC’s work in Latin America and the Caribbean is dispersed throughout this record group and requires in-depth searching by the user.
Records of the Geneva Headquarters, 1945-1954
Countries and Regions Subcollection (includes material on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Dutch Guiana, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay, and on South America as a region).
Records of the New York Headquarters, 1955-1964
Countries and Regions Subcollection (includes material on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay, and on South America as a region).
Records of the Geneva Headquarters, 1955-1964
Countries and Regions Subcollection (includes material on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Mexico, Uruguay, and on South America as a region).
Records of the New York Headquarters, 1965-1974
Countries and Regions Subcollection (includes material on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Curacao, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, Uruguay and on South America as a region).
Records of the Geneva Headquarters, 1965-1978
Countries and Regions Subcollection (includes material on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, and Venezuela).
Note: With the exception of Argentina and Venezuela, documents in this record group have not yet been digitized. Researchers interested in material that has been processed but not yet digitized may contact us via this online form.
Records of the New York Headquarters, 1975-1989
Countries and Regions Subcollection (includes material on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Uruguay and on South America as a region).
Oral History Collection
JDC’ s Oral History Collection contains interviews conducted with JDC staff members and lay leaders from 1961 to the present. Organized in subcollections, the collection contains audio and video recordings and transcripts of interviews. Transcripts may be accessed by contacting the JDC Archives via this online form.
Subcollection 1: Yehuda Bauer Interviews 1966-1968 (includes an oral history interview of James Rosenberg).
Subcollection 2: United Jewish Appeal Oral History Project 1974-1992 (includes an oral history interview of Laura Margolis).
Subcollection 3: Herbert Katzki Oral History Project 1974-2010 (includes oral history interviews of Amy Zahl Gottlieb, Laura Margolis, Harold Trobe).
Subcollection 8: 2021-2022 JDC Archives Oral History Project (includes an oral history interview of Alberto Senderey).
Photograph Collection
The JDC Archives maintains a vast photograph collection of more than 150,000 images. Approximately 70,000 are digitized and available online. Below are curated galleries on our website on topics related to Latin America and the Caribbean.
A basic search of our photo collection is available. To conduct advanced searches, please use our online database.
JDC Archives Public Program Recordings
The JDC Archives website includes video recordings of public programs it has offered. The following are programs covering topics related to Latin America and the Caribbean.
Lorena Cardona González Lectures on “Jewish Refugees from Nazism in Colombia, 1945-1950”
Michael Rom Lectures on “Egyptian Jewish Immigration to Brazil, 1956-61”
Research Assistance
Please reach out with any questions you may have using our online form. We offer research assistance with Archives staff over Zoom as well as via email.