The 2003 Concurrent Resolution of Congress to Commemorate the 350th Anniversary of the American Jewish Community (Part Three: New Documents for the Study of American Jewish History‪)‬

Fifty years from now, when the American Jewish community begins to contemplate the 400th anniversary of Jewish settlement on these North American shores, researchers will inevitably compare and contrast the evolving character and content of the historical commemorations that shaped previous milestone occasions. In doing so, they will likely take careful note of one particular phenomenon that distinguished the commemoration of the 350th anniversary (2004-2005) from its two commemorative predecessors, the 250th anniversary (1905) and the so-called tercentenary (1954-1955). The feature that distinguished the commemoration of the 350th from its forerunners was the establishment of a Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History, specifically recognized in a concurrent resolution of the United States Congress honoring the 350th anniversary of American Jewish history. The Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History (hereafter referred to as the Commission) was comprised of four national research institutions, two Jewish and two sponsored by the United States government: The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA), The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS), the Library of Congress (LC), and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Collectively, these four research centers offer the general public access to a significant proportion of the collected records that document the history of American Jewry.