Gershom Mendes Seixas Papers
Item
Country
US
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
3101 Clifton Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220
Contact information: phone number
001 513 487 3000
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
Reference number
MS-134
Type of reference number
Call number
Title (official language of the state)
Gershom Mendes Seixas Papers
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Gershom Mendes Seixas
Date(s)
1773/1821
Language(s)
eng
Extent
1 box
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection comprises copies (photostats, photocopies and transcriptions) of documentation related to Gershom Mendes Seixas, whose originals are part of several collections from the American Jewish Historical Society, the Newport Historical Society and the Rosenbach Collection. The collection comprises the following records:
Folder 1: “Sermons. Discourses and Epistolary opinions on religious matters by Gershom Seixas”, undated [1803]. It includes a sermon of thanksgiving for escape from yellow fever in New York. Copies and transcriptions.
Folder 2: Thanksgiving sermon on November 28, 1799 (copy and transcription) and another sermon in 1805 (copy).
Folder 3: Printed eulogies on the occasion of Seixas’ death, namely: Jacob de la Motta. Funeral Address, pronounced in the synagogue before the internment of the relics of the Rev. Gershom M. Seixas, who resigned his soul into the hands of his God, July 2, 1816. New York, 1816; Naphtali Phillips. A Eulogium to the memory of the Rev. Gershom Mendes Seixas, pronounced in the synagogue in the city of New York, on Saturday, July 13, 1816, at the request of the Trustees of the Congregation, Shearith Israel. New York, 1816; Emanuel Nunes Carvalho. A Sermon, preached on Sunday, July 7, 1816, on the occasion of the death of the Rev. Mr Gershom Mendes Seixas, pastor of the Hebrew Congregation at New York […] Philadelphia, 1816.
Folder 4: Fragments of Seixas’s sermons (copies and transcriptions), including a sermon Seixas pronounced at the parnas’ request in 1784 and an explanation of Daniel VII: 25.
Folder 5: Printed and manuscript sermons, including the following materials: A Discourse delivered in the synagogue in New York, on May 9, 1798, observed as a day of humiliation, &c., &c. Conformably to a Recommendation of the President of the United States of America. New York, 1798 (printed); A Religious Discourse delivered in the synagogue in this city, on Thursday, November 26, 1789. Agreeable to the Proclamation of the President of the United States of America, to be observed as a day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer […] New York, 1789 (printed); “Address to the Scholars of Polony’s School of Talmud Torah” [1803-1808] (manuscript).
Folder 6: Form of prayer during the revolution, enclosed by Gershom Seixas and addressed to Isaac Moses.
Folder 7: “A charity sermon preached in the Synagogue in New York by Gershom Mendes Seixas in compliance with request of the Trustees, for the [?] of the institution of the [the fund appropriated to private charity] on Sunday the 2d of Shebath 5567 & the January 11”. 1807. (copy and transcription).
Folder 8: “Discourse delivered in the synagogue by G. Seixas on Thursday the 18th of Tebet 5565 & December 20, 1804, by appointment of the Direction of the funds appropriated to Private Charities, being the same day recommended by the Corporation of the City of New York, at the instance of the Rev. Clergy, to be observed as a Day of Public Thanksgiving & Prayer” (copy and transcription).
Folder 9: Family correspondence, 1813. Letters from Gershom Mendes Seixas to his daughter Sarah Seixas Kursheedt: March 22, 1813; November 4, 1813; November 10, 1813; November 18, 1813; November 24, 1813.
Folder 10: Family correspondence, 1814. Letters from Gershom Mendes Seixas to his daughter Sarah Seixas Kursheedt: January 23, 1814; February 4, 1814; March 22, 1814; April 15, 1814; May 5, 1814; May 15, 1814; August 8, 1814; July 11, 1814; September 25, 1814. Letter from Grace Nathan Seixas to her niece Sarah Kursheedt. November 14, 1814.
Folder 11: Family correspondence, 1815-1821. Letters from Grace Nathan Seixas to her niece Sarah Seixas Kursheedt on March 28, 1815; August 26, 1816 (about Gershom’s death); March 27, 1817; December 7, 1817; June 5, 1820; June 4, 1821. Letter from Gershom M. Seixas to her daughter Grace Judah in May 1815, enclosing another letter to Grace by her brother H. M. Seixas, together with a letter by Gershom M. Seixas to her daughter Sarah Kursheedt.
Folder 12: Congregation Shearith Israel (salary and activities), 1783-1795. Extract of the Shearith Israel Minute book regarding the duties and services to be performed by the hazzan. November 8, 1795. Transcriptions of letters from Seixas to the Shearith Israel congregation (February 15, 1784; September 22, 1785; September 28, 1786; September 29, 1786; August 13, 1789); and letters from Hayman Levy to Seixas (December 21, 1783; and March 15, 1784).
Photographic copies of letters from Seixas to the trustees of the Shearith Israel (October 25, 1792; August 18, 1794; August 21, 1794; August 2, 1795; September 8, 1795); and a report of Ephraim Hart and Jacob Hart, a committee appointed to wait on Hazan Seixas, on September (?) 5, 1794.
Folder 13: Letter by Gershom Mendes Seixas to Aaron Lopez on November 27, 1774.
Folder 14: Correspondence of Gershom Mendes Seixas with the Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1783-1784). Copies of letters from Seixas to the Parnas and Mahamah of the Congregation Mikveh Israel on November 1773; February 15, 1784; March 15, 1784 (typescript); and March 22, 1784.
Folder 15: The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America; the Independence; the Declaration of Independence; the Articles of Confederation Between the Said States; the Treaties between His Most Christian Majesty and the United States of America. Philadelphia: Francis Bailey, 1781. Copy with annotations by Gershom Mendes Seixas. The original is part of the Rosenbach Collection.
Folder 1: “Sermons. Discourses and Epistolary opinions on religious matters by Gershom Seixas”, undated [1803]. It includes a sermon of thanksgiving for escape from yellow fever in New York. Copies and transcriptions.
Folder 2: Thanksgiving sermon on November 28, 1799 (copy and transcription) and another sermon in 1805 (copy).
Folder 3: Printed eulogies on the occasion of Seixas’ death, namely: Jacob de la Motta. Funeral Address, pronounced in the synagogue before the internment of the relics of the Rev. Gershom M. Seixas, who resigned his soul into the hands of his God, July 2, 1816. New York, 1816; Naphtali Phillips. A Eulogium to the memory of the Rev. Gershom Mendes Seixas, pronounced in the synagogue in the city of New York, on Saturday, July 13, 1816, at the request of the Trustees of the Congregation, Shearith Israel. New York, 1816; Emanuel Nunes Carvalho. A Sermon, preached on Sunday, July 7, 1816, on the occasion of the death of the Rev. Mr Gershom Mendes Seixas, pastor of the Hebrew Congregation at New York […] Philadelphia, 1816.
Folder 4: Fragments of Seixas’s sermons (copies and transcriptions), including a sermon Seixas pronounced at the parnas’ request in 1784 and an explanation of Daniel VII: 25.
Folder 5: Printed and manuscript sermons, including the following materials: A Discourse delivered in the synagogue in New York, on May 9, 1798, observed as a day of humiliation, &c., &c. Conformably to a Recommendation of the President of the United States of America. New York, 1798 (printed); A Religious Discourse delivered in the synagogue in this city, on Thursday, November 26, 1789. Agreeable to the Proclamation of the President of the United States of America, to be observed as a day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer […] New York, 1789 (printed); “Address to the Scholars of Polony’s School of Talmud Torah” [1803-1808] (manuscript).
Folder 6: Form of prayer during the revolution, enclosed by Gershom Seixas and addressed to Isaac Moses.
Folder 7: “A charity sermon preached in the Synagogue in New York by Gershom Mendes Seixas in compliance with request of the Trustees, for the [?] of the institution of the [the fund appropriated to private charity] on Sunday the 2d of Shebath 5567 & the January 11”. 1807. (copy and transcription).
Folder 8: “Discourse delivered in the synagogue by G. Seixas on Thursday the 18th of Tebet 5565 & December 20, 1804, by appointment of the Direction of the funds appropriated to Private Charities, being the same day recommended by the Corporation of the City of New York, at the instance of the Rev. Clergy, to be observed as a Day of Public Thanksgiving & Prayer” (copy and transcription).
Folder 9: Family correspondence, 1813. Letters from Gershom Mendes Seixas to his daughter Sarah Seixas Kursheedt: March 22, 1813; November 4, 1813; November 10, 1813; November 18, 1813; November 24, 1813.
Folder 10: Family correspondence, 1814. Letters from Gershom Mendes Seixas to his daughter Sarah Seixas Kursheedt: January 23, 1814; February 4, 1814; March 22, 1814; April 15, 1814; May 5, 1814; May 15, 1814; August 8, 1814; July 11, 1814; September 25, 1814. Letter from Grace Nathan Seixas to her niece Sarah Kursheedt. November 14, 1814.
Folder 11: Family correspondence, 1815-1821. Letters from Grace Nathan Seixas to her niece Sarah Seixas Kursheedt on March 28, 1815; August 26, 1816 (about Gershom’s death); March 27, 1817; December 7, 1817; June 5, 1820; June 4, 1821. Letter from Gershom M. Seixas to her daughter Grace Judah in May 1815, enclosing another letter to Grace by her brother H. M. Seixas, together with a letter by Gershom M. Seixas to her daughter Sarah Kursheedt.
Folder 12: Congregation Shearith Israel (salary and activities), 1783-1795. Extract of the Shearith Israel Minute book regarding the duties and services to be performed by the hazzan. November 8, 1795. Transcriptions of letters from Seixas to the Shearith Israel congregation (February 15, 1784; September 22, 1785; September 28, 1786; September 29, 1786; August 13, 1789); and letters from Hayman Levy to Seixas (December 21, 1783; and March 15, 1784).
Photographic copies of letters from Seixas to the trustees of the Shearith Israel (October 25, 1792; August 18, 1794; August 21, 1794; August 2, 1795; September 8, 1795); and a report of Ephraim Hart and Jacob Hart, a committee appointed to wait on Hazan Seixas, on September (?) 5, 1794.
Folder 13: Letter by Gershom Mendes Seixas to Aaron Lopez on November 27, 1774.
Folder 14: Correspondence of Gershom Mendes Seixas with the Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1783-1784). Copies of letters from Seixas to the Parnas and Mahamah of the Congregation Mikveh Israel on November 1773; February 15, 1784; March 15, 1784 (typescript); and March 22, 1784.
Folder 15: The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America; the Independence; the Declaration of Independence; the Articles of Confederation Between the Said States; the Treaties between His Most Christian Majesty and the United States of America. Philadelphia: Francis Bailey, 1781. Copy with annotations by Gershom Mendes Seixas. The original is part of the Rosenbach Collection.
Archival history
Received from the American Jewish Historical Society.
Administrative / Biographical history
Gershom Mendes Seixas (1746-1816) was the first native-born minister in North America. During the Revolutionary War, he fled to Stratford, Connecticut, and resided in Norwalk, Connecticut. In 1780, he moved with his family to Philadelphia, where he served as minister and helped to establish the Congregation Mikveh Israel. He returned to New York in 1784, where he may have been present at the 1789 inauguration of George Washington. As Hazzan (prayer leader) of the Congregation Shearith Israel, he also served as the community's mohel (circumciser), teacher, and shochet (ritual slaughterer). He founded the oldest existing Jewish philanthropic organisation in New York, the funeral society Hebra Hased Va-Amet. He also initiated the establishment of the charity society Kalfe Sedaka Mattan Basether and was a trustee of Columbia College between 1784 and 1814.
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Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2022
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