Isaac Landman Papers

An inventory of the collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Biographical Sketch

Isaac Landman, rabbi and journalist, was born in Russia in 1880 and was brought to the United States at the age of ten. He was ordained a Rabbi at the Hebrew Union College in 1906. On March 24, 1909, Rabbi Landman delivered "The Call of the Farm" address at Hull-House. In 1911, with the aid of Jacob H. Schiff, Julius Rosenwald, and Simon Bamberger, Rabbi Landman founded a Jewish farm colony in Utah. This farm community helped Jews adjust to their adopted country. During World War I, Rabbi Landman was said to be the first Jewish chaplain in the United States Army to serve on foreign soil. In 1918, he was editor of the American Hebrew Magazine. He served as a representative of the Union of American Hebrew Congregation and the Central Conference of America at the at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. He urged that the covenant of the League of Nations include a clause guaranteeing universal religious liberty. In 1927, Rabbi Landman was chiefly responsible for the organization of a permanent commission on Better Understanding Amongst Catholics, Protestants, and Jews. From 1931 to his death in 1946, Landman served the Beth Elohim congregation. In 1934, he began his work as editor of the New Universal Jewish Encyclopedia which was printed in 1943 in ten volumes.

Scope and Contents

The Isaac Landman papers consist of an abstract of an address, a letter from Jane Addams, and a photocopy of a memorial tribute to Landman.

Detailed Description/Box and Folder Listing