1. WO - World ORT Document Collection
Level: | Collection |
Dates covered: | 1880-present |
Extent: | 100 linear metres |
Description: | Records of World ORT (formerly World ORT Union), its governing bodies and associate organisations world-wide. This includes records of its predecessor organisation, [Russian] ORT. Includes minutes of meetings, reports, correspondence, fund-raising and PR, research and development, administrative and financial records. |
Administrative History: | ORT (initials of Russian Obshestvo Remeslennogo i Zemledelcheskogo Truda sredi evreev v Rossii, originally meaning The Society for Trades and Agriculture among the Jews in Russia) was established in Russia in 1880 by a group of prominent St Petersburg Jews. Between 1880 and 1906 the Provisional Committee for the Establishment of the Society for Trades and Agriculture among the Jews in Russia operated with an uncertain legal status. Its stated aim was "to collect a fund for a philanthropic purpose... to support and develop the existing vocational schools for Jews, to help open new schools, to help the Jewish agricultural colonies, model farms, and agricultural schools". It received regular legal authorization and registered as the Society for Trades and Agriculture among the Jews in Russia on 5 September 1906. In July-August 1921 ORT was established in Berlin as an international organisation with the name World ORT Union. Subsequently it was active in the areas formerly within the Russian Empire-Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Bessarabia-as well as in Germany, France, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. In the Soviet Union ORT continued to operate under special agreement with the Soviet authorities (1925-1926 - approval by the Soviet government given on 25 March 1926; supplementary agreement 24 May 1928). In 1930 Soviet ORT amalgamated with OZET, a voluntary Soviet agency for agricultural settlement. ORT activities in the Soviet Union were disbanded in 1938 when the agreement with the authorities was not renewed. During the 1920s and 1930s ORT organisations were established in Britain (1920), the United States (1922), South Africa (1936), Canada (1925), South America (1935) and other European countries. These were mostly concerned with fund-raising for the organisation's activities in Central and Eastern Europe, with the exception of South America, where various operational activities were formed. In the 1930s and 1940s World ORT Union's headquarters moved from Germany to France (1933) and then several times within France during the Second World War, finally settling in Geneva in 1943. World ORT Union continued its operations in war-torn Europe wherever possible, with some programmes operating within ghettos and camps in Poland, Lithuania and occupied France. After the war ORT was active in providing vocational skills to Jewish displaced persons and refugees throughout Europe. In the 1950s and 60s its operational focus shifted to vocational and technical education programmes in Israel, North Africa and Asia. World ORT Union's Technical Assistance department (renamed International Cooperation 1984) was set up to provide technical training programmes to disadvantaged communities outside the Jewish world in 1960. In 1979 ORT moved its administrative office to London, but the headquarters formally remain in Geneva. In 1991 ORT resumed operations in Russia. Programmes were also established in other countries of the CIS and Baltic States during the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2000 World ORT Union changed its name to World ORT. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into the following sub-collections: |
Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1880-2000s |
Description: | Records relating to the processes, policies, rules and institutions affecting the management, administration and running of ORT/World ORT. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into the following series:
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Extent: | c. 83 boxes |
Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1930s-2000s |
Description: | Records of the activities involved in overall management and oversight of World ORT & high-level liaison with governing bodies, ORT national organisations, lay leadership and external bodies and governments. Includes mainly Director General's subject files of correspondence with individuals, organisations, World ORT departments and local ORT offices. |
Arrangement: | The files comprising this sub-collection were originally created, kept and maintained by several Director Generals and their assistants, resulting in several different filing schemes for the same sequence of records.
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Extent: | 120 boxes |
Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1920-present |
Description: | Records relating to the processes and activities leading to the raising of funds, donations, grants, etc. for World ORT. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into the following series:
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Extent: | c. 13 boxes |
Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1906- |
Description: | The activities involved in managing and running World ORT's programmes around the world. Includes a small amount of material from pre-World ORT operations (1906-1921) in Eastern Europe. For ORT's International Cooperation activities (IC; formerly ICD and Technical Assistance) see WO/10. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into geographical series by country of operation, thereafter thematically. Series 44 includes general correspondence relating to operations. |
Extent: | 16 boxes |
Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1921- |
Description: | Records relating to the activities involved in developing World ORT programmes, projects, staff knowledge & skills, educational projects, resources, websites, learning aids and curricula. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into the following series:
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Extent: | 7 boxes |
Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1921- |
Description: | The activities undertaken to support, promote and publicise the World ORT's fundraising and membership initiatives. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into the following series:
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Extent: | 33 boxes |
Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1930s- |
Description: | Records resulting from the activities of recording, preserving, organising and disseminating World ORT's history and documentary heritage and of fostering and promoting current recordkeeping. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into the following series:
*WO/7/4 includes material collated and assembled by Dr Leon Shapiro during his research for his book The History of ORT (1980). This contains material from ORT's archives as well as copies of ORT records held in other repositories globally. The Shapiro files were kept by American ORT following the publication and a finding aid was printed. These have subsequently been transferred to the WOA and are kept in the order received. |
Extent: | c. 45 boxes |
Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1921- |
Description: | Records relating to the activities of administering World ORT's financial affairs and managing its accounts. Please note: most of World ORT's more recent financial records are still kept by the Finance Department due to operational and confidentiality reasons. Only a small selection is available through the archive. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into the following series:
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Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1921- |
Description: | Records relating to the activities involved in managing the smooth day-to-day running and maintenance of the organisation, its headquarters building, other real estate and assets; its infrastructure (including IT and communications); and its staff (including HR responsibilities). Please note: most of World ORT's more recent administrative and HR records are still kept by the relevant departments due to operational and confidentiality reasons. Only a small selection is available through the archive. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into the following series:
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Level: | SubCollection |
Dates covered: | 1960-2015 |
Description: | Records relating to the activities involved in managing and running World ORT's International Cooperation department. Records relating to IC activities may also be found in the Director General’s files in WO/2; publicity & PR in WO/6; finance records in WO/8 and PC/ICD and FC re photographs and films respectively. |
Arrangement: | Arranged into the following series:
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Extent: | 211 boxes |