Constitution and By-Laws of the American Jewish Publication Society

Isaac Leeser established the American Jewish Publication Society in 1845 in an effort to further Jewish education and defend against Christian missionaries. “The corresponding secretary and real workhorse of the Jewish Publication Society was Isaac Leeser” (Sarna, JPS and the Americanization of American Culture, pp. 1-4). The Society published fourteen works in a series entitled “Jewish Miscellany” before falling subscriptions, a stretched budget, Leeser’s busy schedule, and, finally, a fire brought its activities to an end in 1851. Two more societies with this name were founded by American Jewry (1873-5 and 1888-present). “The American Jewish Publication Society was the first national Jewish organization in the United States dedicated to the advancement of Jewish culture and religion” (Sussman, Isaac Leeser and the Americanization of American Judaism, p. 153). The present copy was part of Isaac Leeser’s library. Leeser bequeathed his library to Maimonides College, which he helped establish in 1867. When the College closed in 1873, Leeser’s library was transferred to the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia. “The library, consisting of some 2,400 volumes of Judaica and Hebraica, was probably the richest private and institutional library of its time. It is a collection steeped in historical associations. Many of Leeser’s contemporaries sent him autographed copies. This collection is extremely abundant in early Jewish Americana, and includes over fifty unrecorded items of Jewish Americana.” (S. I. Wisemon, “The Library of the Dropsie College,” JBA 24 (1996-7) p. 46).