Subject: Disasters

Printed broadside issued by a Baltimore Citizens' Committee, chaired by Mayor General Samuel Smith, on or about December 23, 1835. The broadside appeals for aid for New York City following the Great Fire of 1835, detailing the committee's efforts to offer relief and suggesting Congressional action to alleviate the economic consequences of the disaster. The document is accompanied by two manuscript letters (described below) addressed to U.S. Congressman Gideon Lee, providing firsthand accounts of the fire's devastation and suggesting federal intervention. The letters express the scale of the destruction, the financial ruin of insurance companies, and the need for national support.

A one-page letter written by Israel J. Jones, President of Congregation Sha'arai Shomayim in Mobile, Alabama, to Isaac Leeser on December 16, 1856. Jones informs Leeser about a fire that destroyed the synagogue and requests that a plea for donations be published in *The Occident*. The letter also references an attached newspaper clipping detailing the event. The Sha'arai Shomayim Synagogue, originally a Unitarian church built in 1846, was dedicated in 1853 and rebuilt after the fire with the help of both Jewish and non-Jewish Mobile residents.

Salted paper print photograph depicting the steamship Lady Elgin and the warehouse of Selig & Cohen, clothing manufacturers, importers, and jobbers, located at 104 Lake Street in Urbana, Illinois. The photograph was likely taken sometime before 1860, the year the Lady Elgin sank. The photographer is identified as Samuel Alschuler, a Jewish photographer known for his 1857 ambrotype of Abraham Lincoln.

A pictorial account of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, featuring a full-page image of the Jewish Synagogue on Sutter Street between Powell and Stockton. Published by W.G. Zeilger. Includes images showing the destruction caused by the earthquake and fire.

Sheet music commemorating Mr. and Mrs. Strauss, who perished in the Titanic disaster. Published in New York, New York by the New York Hebrew Publishing Co. in 1912. The sheet music features a blue and white art cover depicting a ship sinking and a picture of the Strauss couple. Text is primarily in Yiddish.

Stereoscopic photograph depicting a street scene in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, following the Johnstown Flood of 1889. The image shows the storefront of Cohen & Marx and the damaged Weaver & Muller Block on Main Street. Published circa 1889.

Pamphlet containing two discourses delivered in Charleston, South Carolina following the great fire of April 27, 1838. The pamphlet lists places burned, including numerous Jewish names and the Great Synagogue. Published in Charleston, South Carolina in 1838.