Our stories give us hope in challenging times. Support JWA by Dec. 31.
Close [x]

Show [+]

Elisabeth Israels Perry

Elisabeth Israels Perry holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles. Among her recent books are Belle Moskowitz: Feminine Politics and the Exercise of Power in the Age of Alfred E. Smith; The Challenge of Feminist Biography: Writing the Lives of Modern American Women; and American Women in Political Parties, 1880–1960. She has also published articles on Eleanor Roosevelt’s early career, American Girl Scouting, and the political choices of women in post-suffrage New York. She was on the Editorial Advisory Board of Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia (1997).

Articles by this author

Caroline Klein Simon

Attorney Caroline Klein Simon’s long career included state office and judicial posts. She was a fierce advocate for gender and racial equality and made the first laws against real estate brokers using “blockbusting” tactics to force sales of homes.

Belle Moskowitz

Belle Moskowitz served for two decades as a settlement worker, social and civic reformer, and labor mediator. In the early 1920s she became one of New York governor Alfred E. Smith’s closest advisers.

Ruth Messinger

Following successive careers as a New York City politician president and director of a major Jewish organization, Ruth Messinger has become nothing less than an icon of American Jewish progressive leadership. She became Manhattan borough president in 1990. After losing the 1997 mayor’s election to Rudolph Giuliani, she became the president and CEO of the American Jewish World Service, a position she held from 1998 to 2017.

Pearl Bernstein Max

Pearl Bernstein Max, as the first administrative director of New York City’s Board of Higher Education, directed the staggering work of fusing four different colleges—City, Hunter, Brooklyn, and Queens—into the unified system of City University of New York (CUNY). Later, she became the founding coordinator of CUNY’s Office of Institutional Research.

Edith Somborn Isaacs

Edith Somborn Isaacs made an impact on New York City both through her own volunteerism and by successfully running her husband’s campaigns for public office.

Helen Lehman Buttenwieser

As a lawyer, Helen Lehman Buttenwieser fought to protect children in the foster care system. Throughout her life in the law she served as an important role model for many women attorneys.

Donate

Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women.

donate now

Listen to Our Podcast

Get JWA in your inbox

Read the latest from JWA from your inbox.

sign up now

How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Elisabeth Israels Perry." (Viewed on December 13, 2024) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/perry-elisabeth>.