Skip to main content

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: 

  • WO/1/1 Registration 
  • WO/1/2 Constitution and By-Laws 
  • WO/1/3 Governing Bodies (transcripts of meetings, minutes, reports to governing bodies, and administrative records of  governing bodies) 
  • WO /1/4 Strategic Planning & Monitoring  
  • WO /1/5 Director General’s Speeches & Reports 
  • WO/1/6 Director General’s Correspondence 
 
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. 


During Max Braude's time in office (1957-1980), files were arranged into two main series: Private and Confidential Correspondence, and General Correspondence. Within these two series they were usually arranged into files alphabetically by subject and/or correspondent's name. The arrangement of these two main series has been kept as originally filed and they are currently described at the series level. 


During Joseph Harmatz's time in office (1980-1993) and thereafter no differentiation between private and general correspondence was made in terms of filing. The thematic file scheme was kept but, with the exception of a small number of files carried over from his predecessor, files were arranged into boxes by year. This resulted in a physical arrangement whereby the natural thematic series were split up by date/box order. Due to the fact that many of the files still maintained the same thematic titles throughout and well into the 1990s and for ease of access, it was decided to arrange these into thematic series, then by date. 

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: 

  • WO/3/1 Strategy 
  • WO/3/2 Legacies & Endowments  
  • WO/3/3 Project Portfolio Management 
  • WO/3/4 Liaison with ORT Fundraisers, Fundraising Countries and Agencies
  • WO/3/5 Campaign Design & Management 
  • WO/3/6 Director General's Fundraising Correspondence & Papers 
  • WO/3/7 Reporting 
  • WO/3/8 Background Information
 
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: 

  • WO/5/1 Technical and Pedagogical Commission
  • WO/5/2 Jewish Education 
  • WO/5/3 Jewish Education Commission 
  • WO/5/4 Research 
  • WO/5/5 Teacher Training, Seminars & Visits
  • WO/5/6 Proposals 
  • WO/5/7 Reports 
  • WO/5/8 Student Body 
  • WO/5/9 Scholarships, Competitions, Prizes and Awards
  • WO/5/10 ORT Textbooks and Study Aids 
  • WO/5/11 Collected Publications
 
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: 

  • WO/6/1 Press Releases 
  • WO/6/2 Press Briefings/ Conferences 
  • WO/6/3 Press Cuttings 
  • WO/6/4 ORT Serials (Includes serial publications published by member ORT organisations and collected by World ORT) 
  • Publications (Includes books, publicity brochures, pamphlets, leaflets, speeches & talks, published articles and prospectuses produced/published and/or collected by World ORT and its staff. Also includes material produced by ORT affiliate organisations globally. These materials have been produced mainly for PR purposes. For publications about ORT's history see WO/7.) 
  • WO/6/5 Branding 
  • WO/6/6 Publicity Photographs (Photographs collected by the PR and Publications teams during the course of their work for specific projects. Please note: the bulk of World ORT's photographs are catalogued under the photograph collection (PC).) 
  • WO/6/7 PR & Publications: Papers & Correspondence 
  • WO/6/8 Personal Profiles of ORT-Related Individuals 
  • WO/6/9 Commemoration & Obituaries 
  • WO/6/10 Exhibitions: documentation and publicity 
 
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/7/1 Foundation of the World ORT Archive (WOA) 
  • WO/7/2 World ORT Archive (WOA): Administration & Management 
  • WO/7/3 World ORT Archive (WOA): Catalogues & Finding Aids 
  • WO/7/4 Collected Material Relating to ORT's History 
  • WO/7/5 Publications and Prepared Information about ORT's History and Past Activities  
  • WO/7/6 Exhibitions 
  • WO/7/7 Former Staff and Students' Donated Material (Includes papers, certificates and photographs received from former ORT staff, students and members of their families). 
  • WO/7/8 Former Staff and Students' Memoirs and Publications 
  • WO/7/9 Oral histories 

*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: 

  • WO/8/1 Financial Planning & Monitoring Accounts
  • WO/8/2 Financial Reporting 
  • WO/8/3 Audit 
  • WO/8/4 Procurement & Contracts Payroll 
  • WO/8/5 Correspondence 
 
    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: 

    • WO/9/1 Human Resources (HR) 
    • WO/9/2 Inter-office memos 
    • WO/9/3 Insurance 
    • WO/9/4 Information Technology (IT)
    • WO/9/5 ORT Administration Ltd 
    • WO/9/6 Building & Facilities Administration
    • WO/9/7 Administration, general 
     
      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: 

      • WO/10/1 IC strategy documents 
      • WO/10/2 Reports and fundraising activities files
      • WO/10/3 Correspondence 
      • WO/10/4 Marketing material 
      • WO/10/5 Contracts 
      • WO/10/6 Finance
      • WO/10/6 IC Operational countries 
       
      Extent: 211 boxes