Congregation

The records of Temple Beth El of Rutherford, New Jersey (MC 735), span the years 1920 to 1985, with the bulk of the documents falling between 1950 and 1978.

Materials covering the period from the Temple's inception in 1919 until the early 1950s when the congregation moved from East Rutherford to Rutherford is extremely sparse except for FINANCIAL RECORDS, 1920-1965, which show a contrary emphasis on the early years with very little material from the period following the move.

The most substantial record series in volume and completeness are Board of Trustees' MINUTES, 1948-1950 and 1958-1975, and the congregation's NEWSLETTERS, 1950-1962 and 1972-1985. The FINANCIAL RECORDS, also of considerable volume, are a good source of information about early members, there being no membership lists of the full congregation present in the collection. The congregation's ADMINISTRATIVE FILES, 1934-1981 with gaps, are a fairly miscellaneous gathering of materials found together, but lacking a common theme. Other congregation records include a 1927 CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS, PRINTED MISCELLANY, 1954 and undated, and UNITED JEWISH APPEAL DRIVE MINUTES, 1941-1943.

The records of the Sisterhood are not extensive, but provide a good glimpse of its vigorous character and its zeal in recruiting new members. Mention is made within the Sisterhood's MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE GENERAL FILES, 1959-1972, of various meetings, but no minutes of such meetings are present in the collection. Also missing from Sisterhood files is a complete set of CONGREGATION CALENDARS, which the Sisterhood prepared for many years prior to the examples for 1974/75-1975/76 and 1977/78 which are in the collection. Additional series present in the Sisterhood's records are MEMBERSHIP LISTS, 1970/71-1971/72, ACCOUNT BOOKS, 1955-1957 and 1961-1962, and an undated PHOTOGRAPH. A cookbook compiled by members of the Sisterhood was removed from the collection and cataloged individually; it is available in the Sinclair New Jersey collection (call number: SNCLNJ TX724 .N673 1971).

Records of the Religious School are sparse in all aspects, with BOARD OF EDUCATION MINUTES covering only 1961 to 1973. The lack of earlier minutes may be accounted for by Board of Education topics being addressed at meetings of the Temple's Board of Trustees (see MINUTES of that body); later Board of Education minutes are not available. Related series for the Religious School include GENERAL FILES, 1959-1970, ROLL BOOKS, 1953-1954, and an ACCOUNT BOOK, 1928-1934.