NEH Chairman's Emergency Grant Request Application

FAIN: PB-262040-18

Rice University (Houston, TX 77005-1827)
Joshua Furman (Project Director: March 2018 to March 2023)

Conservation treatment of materials damaged during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, including photographs, documents, and books documenting Houston's Jewish community, as well as a World War II service flag banner listing more than 200 Jewish men and women from Houston who served in the military.

The Houston Jewish History Archive at Rice University was organized in the wake of Hurricane Harvey to collect, preserve, and make available the documents, photographs, and rare archival materials that tell the story of Jewish life in Houston and South Texas. Many of these records suffered significant damage as a result of Hurricane Harvey’s devastation in late August 2017. In the aftermath of the storm, hundreds of homes and at least three Houston synagogues suffered serious flood damage. The archival collections of United Orthodox Synagogues (UOS) of Houston and Congregation Beth Yeshurun, which include photographs, synagogue bulletins, board minutes, rabbinical correspondence, and rare commemorative books, were severely affected by the several feet of water that inundated each building. Funds from the NEH Chairman’s Emergency Grant will be allocated for the repair, preservation, and storage of these and other valuable records and materials recovered in Harvey’s wake.