Call Number:

SCRC 647

Repository:

Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center

Extent:

24.42 linear feet (25 boxes)

Language:

English, Hebrew, Arabic, and French

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Jerome J. Shestack Papers, SCRC 647, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1940s-2011 (inclusive)

Creator:

Shestack, Jerome J.

Form:

Clippings, Correspondence, Diaries, Logs, Manuscripts, Minutes (administrative records), Newsletters, Periodicals, Photocopies, Poems, Reports, and Speeches (documents)

Abstract:

Jerome J. Shestack was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on February 11, 1923, to Isidore Shestack and Olga Shankman. His grandfather was an Orthodox rabbi who encouraged in Shestack a love of his Jewish faith. When he was a child, his family moved to Philadelphia. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with his bachelor's degree in 1943, Shestack joined the United Stated Navy. During World War II, Shestack fought in the Pacific theatre. After leaving the navy, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating in late 1949. Shortly after graduation, Shestack taught law at Louisiana State University. He then moved back to Philadelphia, where he would continue to work throughout his life. Throughout the 1950s, Shestack served as the City of Philadelphia's First Deputy City Solicitor. There, he worked for desegregation as well as modernizing public transportation in the city. In the early 1960s, he worked pro bono for the Lawyers Committee of Civil Rights Under Law as First Executive Director. Shestack served as chair of the ABA's Section on Individual Rights. There, he helped create multiple human rights committees. He created the ABA Center for Human Rights and was the chair for the International Bar Association Standing Committee on Human Rights. He also served as president of the Philadelphia Bar Association decades before becoming the president of the ABA in 1996. In addition to the American and International Bar Associations, Shestack brought his human rights work to the government sphere when he worked for the Carter administration and the United Nations in 1976-1978. In 2000, he was appointed to the White House Committee on the Holocaust and he joined the Executive Council of the National Holocaust Memorial and Museum where he served as president of the Museum's Committee on Conscience. In addition to his law and human rights work, Shestack served many Jewish organizations and publishing organizations. He was president of the Jewish Publication Society, chair of the American Poetry Review, and worked with University of Pennsylvania Press. Shestack also was on the board of governors of Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University. He also worked for many decades with the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, and the American Jewish League for Israel which he helped create in response to what he saw as extreme views of other organizations. In the 1960s and 1970s, Shestack served as president to Congregation Har Zion, the largest Conservative Jewish synagogue in Philadelphia. Shestack married Marciarose Schleifer in 1951. The couple raised daughter Jennifer and son Jonathan in Philadelphia, and have five grandchildren. Jerome Shestack passed away at home on August 18, 2011 at age 88.

Collection documents Philadelphia lawyer, Jerome J. Shestack's activities at local and national organizations promoting Jewish affairs and interests such as the American Jewish Committee, United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Federation of Jewish Agencies of Greater Philadelphia, and Har Zion Temple; editorial and administrative activities in publishing at the Jewish Publication Society, University of Pennsylvania Press, and Louisiana State University Law Review; development within the legal profession at local, regional, and national bar associations in support of legal aid services, human rights, and mental health advocacy; local city government service as Philadelphia First Deputy City Solicitor; and personal materials including a transcription of his WWII diary and memoir of his early childhood.

The collection is arranged into 3 series as follows:

Series 1: Professional papers, 1944-2009, undated

Subseries 1.1: American Bar Association, 1951-1999, undated

Subseries 1.2: American Jewish Committee, 1953-2001, undated

Subseries 1.3: City of Philadelphia, 1944-1983, undated

Subseries 1.4: Boards, committees, and law firms, 1948-2008, undated

Subseries 1.5: Jewish Publication Society, 1951, 1961-2009, undated

Subseries 1.6: Advocacy, 1956-2004, undated

Series 2: Writings, 1950-2011, undated

Subseries 2.1: Articles and research, 1950-2007, undated

Subseries 2.2: Booklets and pamphlets, 1950-2007, undated

Subseries 2.3: Essays, manuscripts, poetry, and speeches, 1951-2011, undated

Subseries 2.4: Publishing, 1950-2002, undated

Series 3: Personal papers, 1946-2011, undated

Subseries 3.1: Awards and accolades, 1993-2009

Subseries 3.2: Correspondence, 1946-2011, undated

Subseries 3.3: Education and family materials: 1946-2005, undated