Autograph book belonging to the journalist Oscar Gruen, with hundreds of entries obtained at the Twentieth Zionist Congress (1937) and the Evian Conference (1938).

Oscar Gruen (1890-1953) was the founding editor of the first Jewish news bureau, the Juedische Pressezentrale, which published a weekly edition in Zurich from 1917 to 1940. Gruen began the Pressezentrale in the wake of World War I in order to counteract what he saw as international agitation against Jews. In 1919, Gruen was a member of the committee which, under the leadership of Louis Marshall, presented the Jewish case to the Paris Peace Conference and secured the inclusion of the "minority rights clause" in the various constitutions of the newly established states in Central Europe. As editor of one of the world’s leading Jewish periodicals, Gruen witnessed firsthand many of the most important Jewish-related events of the time, including the 20th Zionist Congress (1937) and the Evian Conference (1938). This autograph book records more than 300 signatures and inscriptions from the delegates and attendees of these two important conferences. Signatures include: Chaim Weizmann, Marcus Ehrenpreis, Stephen S. Wise, A.S. Yahudah, Abba Hillel Silver, Elias Tcherikower, Cyrus Adler, Judah Magnes, Felix Warburg, David de Sola Pool, Louis Lipsky, Lord Marley, Menachem Ussishkin and a great many others. Also found within the album are many inscribed visiting cards as well as a few candid snapshot photographs of conference attendees.