Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Yefroikin, S.
Title:	Zalman Yefroikin Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1902-1968
Quantity:	5.5 linear feet
Abstract:	Papers of the American educator, author. Yefroikin also used the name S. Efron. Collection includes correspondence, 1912-1966; memorabilia, 1902-1968; and manuscripts, 1920-1968, relating to Yefroikin's writings and to Jewish secular education, particularly the Workmen's Circle schools. Correspondents include Chaim Grade and Melech Ravitch.
Language:	Most in Yiddish, some in English, small amount in Russian.
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

Zalman (or Salman) Yefroikin (1893-1966), also known as S. Efron, educator and author, was born April 18, 1893 in Wekshna, Lithuania, the son of Rafaele Yefroikin. In 1921 after his graduation from the Jewish Teachers' Seminary in Riga, Latvia, Mr. Yefroikin emigrated to the United States where he took up residence in New York City. He taught Yiddish literature and Jewish history in the educational system of the Workmen's Circle, a national Jewish labor and fraternal order. He directed its summer camps and later the Workman's Circle High School. From 1953 until his death Mr. Yefroikin was educational director of the eighty-five Jewish secular schools operated by the Workmen's Circle.

Mr. Yefroikin was the author of many textbooks, a contributor to and editor of the Workmen's Circle publication Culture and Education, as well as a frequent contributor to Zukunft, The Call, Der Wecker, Jewish Daily Forward and other.publications. His book on present-day Jewish life in eastern Europe was published in 1965 and translated into English in 1966 as Jews Do Not Surrender.

He was a member of the board of directors of the Institute for Yiddish Research, the executive board of the Congress for Jewish Culture, the executive board of the General Encyclopedia in Yiddish and the administrative committees of the Jewish Labor Committee and the Jewish Daily Forward.

He and his wife, the former Amy Beresin, had two children, Mrs. Vivian Tucker and Dr. Ronald Efron. Yefroikin died in New York City on October 1, 1966. His widow later remarried and became Mrs. B. Fenster.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Zalman Yefroikin Papers are divided into three parts. Most of the material is in Yiddish, but some is in English and a very small amount is in Russian. Correspondence, 1912-1966, includes incoming and outgoing letters arranged chronologically. Significant correspondents include Chaim Grade, author, 1964 and Melech Ravitch, author, 1966. Memorabilia, 1902-1968, includes biographical material, certificates and diplomas, passports, photographs, a conference program, a signature stamp, and a Workmen's Circle camp advertisement. Writings, 1928-1968, includes manuscripts or printed copies of articles, a book, examinations for Teachers' Seminary, a foreword, letters to the editor, notes for speeches and articles, a postscript, quotations from Mr. Yefroikin's works, a report, speeches and remarks, a syllabus, and textbooks, arranged in that order. Individual articles are arranged alphabetically by title. Bound volumes of Culture and Education, each containing more than one article by Mr. Yefroikin, are arranged chronologically at the beginning of the articles category. Textbooks are also arranged alphabetically by title.

The collection includes 29 published volumes scattered throughout the collection:

• Vol. 1 One hundred years--modern Yiddish literature, 1965, (Box 2)
• Vol. 2 Culture and Education, 1952 (Box 2)
• Vol. 3 Culture and Education, 1963 (Box 2)
• Vol. 4 Culture and Education, 1964 (Box 2)
• Vol. 5 Culture and Education, 1965 (Box 2)
• Vol. 6 Bieter Far Yiddisher Dertsiung, June-September 1951, (Box 3)
• Vol. 7 The Future, March 1946 (Box 3)
• Vol. 8 Convention Journal, April 1937 (Box 4)
• Vol. 9 Culture and Education, May 1950 (Box 4)
• Vol. 10 Yidn Gibn Zich Nit Unter, 1966 (Box 5)
• Vol. 11 Freileche Teg (Box 5)
• Vol. 12 Mayn Folk, 1962 (Box 7)
• Vol. 13 Fifty years of the Workmen's Circle, 1950 (Box 7)
• Vol. 14 Arbeter Ring - its strivings and attainments, 1964, (Box 7)
• Vol. 15 Joseph Baskin an the occasion of his seventieth birthday, 1951 (Box 8)
• Vol. 16 By the well, 1948 (Box 8)
• Vol. 17 Jewish children, 1956 (Box 9)
• Vol. 18 Jewish children, 1961 (Box 9)
• Vol. 19 Jewish children, 1964 (Box 9)
• Vol. 20 The living word, 1954 (Box 9)
• Vol. 21 My language book, 1938 (Box 9)
• Vol. 22 My language book, 1946 (Box 9)
• Vol. 23 My language book, 1948 (Box 10)
• Vol. 24 Our word, 1932 (Box 10)
• Vol. 25 Our word, 1939 (Box 10)
• Vol. 26 A Peretz treasury, 1952 (Box 10)
• Vol. 27 A stop forward, 1953 (Box 11)
• Vol. 28 The Yiddish word, 1947 (Box 11)
• Vol. 29 The Yiddish word, 1965 (Box 11)

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Zalman Yefroikin Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mrs. B. Fenster, 1968.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MFA
Date: Jan 1969
Revision history: 1 Nov 2007 - converted to EAD (MRC)

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Inventory

	Correspondence
Box 1		1912-1966

	Memorabilia
Box 1		Biographical material 1921-1968
Box 1		Certificates and diplomas 1902-1922
Box 1		Passports 1915-1921
Box 1		Photographs of Mr. Yefroikin, family and friends 1922-1962
Box 1		Program of Social Service Department Conference, typescript carbon May 4, 1964
Box 1		Signature stamp
Box 1		Vocabulary words, part of textbook 1968
Box 1		Workmen's Circle camp advertisement

	Writings
		Articles
Box 2			Bibliography mentioning Yefroikin articles, One Hundred years--modern Yiddish literature, by Ephim H. Jeshurin (Vol. 1) 1965
Box 2			In Culture and Education (Vol's 2, 3, 4 and 5) 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965
Box 2			"Around our school," Culture and Education March 1947
Box 2			"Assimilation -- factual and disguised," Der Wecker November 12, 1932
Box 2			"The Beaten path," Jewish Daily Forward June 14, 1956
Box 2			"Beginning of a new road," Our School ca. 1932
Box 2			"Blessed be the hands that build," Convention Bulletin
Box 2			"Dr. A. Koralnik and skepticism," Der Wecker July 1935
Box 2			"Eastern states conference -- Workmen's Circle schools," Our School May 1932
Box 2			"Effect of home enviroment on the child's personality," Our School January 1932
Box 2			"Exodus, the book" - holograph
Box 3			"Fear in children," Our School ca. 1932
Box 3			"Fortieth anniversary of the Folksbiene," Culture and Education February 1955
Box 3			"Forty years of Workmen's Circle schools"
Box 3			"The goal of Jewish study," Our School November 1936
Box 3			"Greetings on 10th anniversary of Workmen's Circle School," Souvenir Journal, Toronto Workmen's Circle School April 28, 1929
Box 3			"Guest of Israel," Jewish News, Tel Aviv, Israel July 31, 1964
Box 3			"Heredity and environment," Workmen's Circle School Bulletin October, 1930
Box 3			"A holiday of hope," Der Wecker March 1944
Box 3			"The ideological path of the Workmen's Circle School," Almanac - galley proof, revised
Box 3			"I. L. Peretz, father of Yiddish literature," The Call 1952 - holograph
Box 3			"The individual and the group in Jewish Life," Workmen's Circle Yearbook
Box 3			"Influences on the development of the child," Our School
Box 3			"Institutions do not clear things up -- they lead us astray," The Future March 1963 - original typescript, revised
Box 3			"Is it proper teaching or is it conservation?" Our School ca. 1932
Box 3			"Jealousy and hate, problems of child development," Our School February 1933
Box 3			"A Jewish cry of pain," The Future November 1960
Box 3			"Jewish education and America," The Future June 1943
Box 3			"Jewish education and the Jewish school," Our School November 1933
Box 3			"Jewish education at the present moment," Culture and Education October 1948
Box 3			"Jewish education in America," The Future June 1943
Box 3			"Jewish education in the United States," 1957 - repro. of pr. mat. in General Encyclopedia in Yiddish
Box 3			"Jewish education of our children," The Friend September 1932
Box 3			"Jewish life in America" - holograph
Box 3			"The Jewish school and the Jewish worker," Der Wecker February 23, 1929
Box 3			"Jewish school in American life," Culture and Education May 1946
Box 3			"Judaism and socialism in the Workmen's Circle," Der Wecker May 17, 1930
Box 3			"Language development in the beginner classes," School and Home November-December 1930
Box 3			"Language instruction in our school," School and Home October 1928
Box 3			"Let us build again," Our Yearbook 1954
Box 3			"Must we make changes in our Workmen's Circle school program?" Culture and Education January 1941
Box 3			"Nachum Chanin" - holograph
Box 3			"Ninth Workmen's Circle Conference," The Friend June-July 1935
Box 3			"Notes: Atlee goes to church," Culture and Education February 1953
Box 3			"Our children and America," Culture and Education March 1951
Box 3			"Our ideological problems," Culture and Education January 1956
Box 3			"Our Youth," Der Freund October 1940
Box 3			"Our school problems," Culture and Education May 1948, October 1958
Box 3			"Pages for Jewish education -- the Peretz schools of the Workmen's Circle," Bleter Far Yiddisher Dertsiung (Vol. 6) June-September 1951
Box 3			"Parental pride in achievement of our children," The Friend June-July 1933
Box 3			"The path we trod," Culture and Education May 1944, January 1953
Box 3			"People in Soviet Russia," Our Voice May 6, 1959
Box 3			"Perspectives of the Jewish secular school in America," The Future (Vol. 7) March 1946
Box 4			"Philip Gelibter" ca. 1935
Box 4			"The place of our school in Jewish life today," Culture and Education November 1956
Box 4			"The positive role of the Workmen's Circle school," Culture and Education May 1941
Box 4			"Problems of child education," Our School
Box 4			"Problems of our school movement," Der Wecker April-May 1932
Box 4			"Respect for parents," Workmen's Circle School Bulletin January 1929
Box 4			"School conference of Workmen's Circle" - holograph
Box 4			"A school to unite generations," Jewish Daily Forward 1968
Box 4			"The Soviet Union and the Workmen's Circle School," Der Wecker October 1, 1943
Box 4			"State, church and federal aid to education," The Future ca. 1966
Box 4			"Tenth annual conference of Workmen's Circle schools," Our School
Box 4			"Thirty-five years -- what further?" - holograph
Box 4			"To the tenth conference of the Workmen's Circle schools," Convention Journal (Vol. 8) April 1937
Box 4			"The today and tomorrow of our schools," Culture and Education May 1953
Box 4			"Today in Jewish education," Culture and Education (Vol. 9) May 1950
Box 4			"Trip to Morocco," Jewish Daily Forward May 1-19, 1965
Box 4			"Twelfth convention of Workmen's Circle schools" April 25 1941
Box 4			"A way out," The Friend December 1943
Box 4			"What type Jewish education for our children," Our School ca. 1932
Box 4			"Why Jewish education?" 1962 - holograph, including note
Box 4			"Why Jewish education," The Call 1962
Box 4			"Why Jewish schools?" Workmen's Circle School Bulletin December 1930
Box 4			"Workmen's Circle school" - holograph
Box 4			"Workmen's Circle school annual conference," Jewish Daily Forward January 22, 1954
Box 4			"Workmen's Circle school in the light of our times," Der Wecker November 24, 1934
Box 4			"Workmen's Circle school survey," Workmen's Circle School Bulletin October 1929
Box 4			"Writing and reading Yiddish," Workmen's Circle School Bulletin April 1929
Box 4			"World conference for Jewish education," Jewish Daily Forward
Box 4			"The Yiddish schools," The Call February 1955
Box 4			"Yiddish secular schools in the United States," Jewish Encyclopedia Handbooks 1948 - repro. of pr. mat.
Box 4			"Yiddish tradition" - holograph
Box 4			Unidentified fragments - typescript carbon
		Books
Box 5			Jews do not surrender, or Yidn Gibn Zich Nit Unter
				Includes the following: Original typescript, revised, translated and edited by Theodore Primack and Eugene Kuilman, in English Printed copy in Yiddish, 1966 (Vol. 10) Book reviews
Box 5		Examinations for Teachers' Seminary 1962-1963 - holograph, typescript
Box 5		Foreward to Freileche Teg by M. Olitsky (Vol. 11)
Box 5		Letters to the editor, Der Tag
		Notes
Box 5			Articles - holograph
Box 6			Articles or speeches
Box 6			Speech he was delivering when he died October 1, 1966 - holograph
Box 6			Speeches 1953 - holograph
Box 6			Teaching or textbooks - holograph
Box 6			Travel - holograph
Box 6			Yiddish seminar - holograph
Box 6			Miscellaneous 1951-1952 - holograph
Box 7			Unidentified, holograph - holograph
Box 7		Postscript in Mayn Folk, by J. Woskowitz (Vol. 12) 1962
Box 7		Quotations from Fifty years of the Workmen's Circle by J.S. Hertz (Vol. 13) 1950
Box 7		Report, "World conference of Jewish education in the diaspora" August 12-17, 1962 - original typescript, revised
		Speeches and remarks
Box 7			Holograph; original typescript, revised; typescript carbon, revised 1957-1966
Box 8			In Arbeter Ring - Its strivings and attainments (Vol. 14) 1964
Box 8			In Joseph Baskin on the occasion of his seventieth birthday (Vol. 15) December 1951
Box 8		Syllabus for Workmen's Circle Sunday Schools
		Textbooks
Box 8			By the well, anthology of literature, ed. with Zalman Kazdan (Vol. 16) 1948
Box 9			Jewish children, with Yudel Mark (Vol. 17, 18, 19) 1956, 1961, 1964
Box 9			The living word, with Chaim Bass (Vol. 20) 1954
Box 9, 10			My language book, with Chaim Bass, 1st edition (Vol. 21, 22); 3rd edition (Vol. 23) 1938, 1946, 1948
Box 10			Our word, literary anthology, ed with H. Besprovsvany (Chaim Bass) (Vol. 24, 25) 1932, 1939
Box 10			A Peretz treasury (Vol. 26) 1952
Box 10			Book reviews 1952
Box 11			A step forward, with Yudel Mark (Vol. 27) 1953
Box 11			The Yiddish word, with Chaim Bass (Vol. 28, Vol. 29) 1947, 1965

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