Big things are afoot today.  When I finished writing my history thesis back in April, I thought (rather wistfully) that I was putting historical detective work behind me, at least for a little while.  Little did I know when I woke up this morning that I would once again become a history detective.

Among the many hats that I wear here at JPS is that of “Twitterer”.  That’s right, I twitt (tweet?) for JPS.  So this morning, when I opened up Twitter to check out what’s happening in the Jewish Twitterverse (oy, all these bizarre terms…), I noticed that JewishEvents tweeted the following: “Today in Jewish History (1888): Rebirth of Jewish Publication Society, oldest publisher of Jewish books in English.”  So of course I got excited, and immediately retweeted the tweet (honestly, someone needs to revamp the Twitter lingo – I’m getting a headache).  Then I paused for a moment – really?  Today marks the anniversary of JPS’ rebirth?  Where did JewishEvents get his information from?  I then did a quick Google search, and stumbled upon a great blog called “This Day… In Jewish History.”  It was under their posting for “This Day, June 3, in Jewish history” that I found the following:

1888: The Jewish Publication Society of America (JPS) was founded. Its purpose was and is to publish in English books of Jewish interest.  Among its hundreds of publications are Graetz’s, Dubnov’s and Baron’s Histories of the Jews, and Ginsburg’s Legends of the Jews.

Lovely!  So JPS was “founded” today.  But what does that mean?  I’m pretty sure that I learned in my Jewish American history class a few years ago that JPS went through several different manifestations before it reached its final incarnation in 1888.  So what exactly happened 121 years ago, on June 3^rd?

To find the answer, I turned to Jonathan Sarna’s “JPS: The Americanization of Jewish Culture, 1888-1988“.  (We had plenty of copies in our book room, so I filched one and brought it over to my desk.)  Sure enough, Chapter 1, entitled “False Starts,” details how, in the mid-19^th century, JPS went through two failed incarnations.  The first Jewish Publication Society, established in 1845, suffered financial and organizational difficulties before its entire stock was destroyed in a fire in 1851.  The American Jewish Publication Society was then established in 1871, but folded only a few years later as a result of an economic downturn and organizational neglect.

But the story doesn’t end there.  Sarna’s next chapter is entitled “A Real Beginning” (hooray!).  According to Sarna, the 1880s saw an “awakening of interest in Judaism and Jewish culture of the part of young Jews… [and a] growing sense of American Jewry’s destiny on the world Jewish stage.”  So, refusing to accept defeat, rabbis and lay leaders of the American Jewish community met on June 3^rd, 1888 at a national convention in Philadelphia to discuss the re-founding of a national Jewish publication society.  It was on that day, after many squabbles, debates, and political maneuverings, that the Jewish Publication Society was “gaveled into being.”  So happy anniversary, JPS!  And thanks for giving me the opportunity to dig a little into JPS – and American Jewish – history.

-Naomi