The Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, Community Relations Committee Collection, Part 4, documents CRC’s activities primarily from 1950 to the late 1970s. In 1959, the Los Angeles Jewish Community Committee (LAJCC) merged with the Federation of Jewish Welfare Organizations (FJWO) forming the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles (JFC). Part 4 continues to document the civic work with the Los Angeles Community Relations Committee (CRC) of the JFC, and the cooperation and divisions within both the Jewish and non-Jewish community of issues and tactics to combat right-wing movements, discrimination, and antisemitism.

This period includes records when there were many organizational changes to the JFC and CRC, including commission structures and their regional work of Area Councils. During this time, practitioners in community relations and civic participation recognized the necessity of adopting joint approaches. The relationships and strategic approaches to unification evolved in organizations working at a national level, like the Anti-Defamation League, B'nai Brith, and the American Jewish Committee, which were unified in the National Community Relations Advisory Council (NCRAC) and in local chapters, like the LA CRC. This period mostly includes records from the CRC leadership of Joseph Roos and Charles Posner. The later years beyond Posner include records under other CRC Leadership like Zane Meckler and Murray Wood. This period includes the Master Files, Roo’s systematic filing system of fact-finding activities, from the early 1940s to the 1960s. It is arranged in four series: Administrative(1950-1980s), Fact Finding(1939-1970s),and Subject Files(1948-1980s), and Audiovisual Materials((1960s-1990s).

Series I, Administrative (1950-1981) includes materials related to the administrative functioning of the LA CRC. This series is divided into three subseries based on administrative functions, and then folders are arranged alphabetically within each subseries. The subseries are arranged into the two CRC Excecutive Director Leadership periods, with some overlap into leadership beyond Posner. The Jewish Film Advisory Committee spans both periods.

Subseries A, Joseph Roos (1945-1969) consists of agendas, minutes, memos and materials, meeting notices, allocations and budgets, correspondence, membership lists, and descriptions of the organization under his leadership. After assisting Fred Herzberg and Leon Lewis, Joseph Roos administered the CRC as Executive Director until his retirement in 1969. Joseph Roos dealt with the LA CRC and the joint staff of leading national organizations. As well as, other joint committees, the Board of Rabbis, the American Zionist Council, and other local Jewish Centers. During this time, the CRC's committees dealt with many issues. These included education, separation of church and state, legal and legislative, motion pictures and television, international relations, civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s, interfaith activities, Soviet Jewry, inter-agency relations, right-wing activities, public officials, and others. This series also contains files for the American Zionist Council (AZC). The LA CRC was their Western States Office. In 1949, AZC formed a local representative body of the Zionist movement concerned with taking action on common interests to Zionist groups. Files contain information on their Los Angeles political interventions, 1950s Arab-Israeli conflict, Egypt-Israel relations, and others. These records continue into CRC part 5 under the Series “Middle East” Commissions. The “Correspondence” files in this subseries contain documents between local communities, national organizations, Otto Schnell (a Nazi party county leader), the Tenney Campaign, Mendel Silberberg, local broadcasts concerning discrimination, CRC Leadership, and others. Most “Committee” files in the finding aid represent "sub-committees" within the CRC. The folder-level grouping “Correspondence, Regional CRCs”, document the CRC’s coordinating actions and civic participation regionally inside and outside California, and Bay Area Cities.

Subseries B, Charles Posner and other Leadership (1968-1980) consists of records after Joseph Roos when Charles Posner administered the CRC as Executive Director in 1968-1976. Posner’s biographical information and leadership transition records are under “Posner personal”. During this time, the Leadership in the CRC, and the whole community-relations field, started to brainstorm new initiatives, meaning, and structures. A commission structure started to be administered within the CRC by the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC). Like the “Urban Affairs Committee” which was established as the “Commission on Education and Urban Affairs”, the “Law and Legislation Commission” (“Government Relations” in CRC part 5), and the Education Commission. Some issues in this period include religion and schools, and racism and discrimination in schools, and community post-war, post-civil rights movements. Also, local and state changes in Urban Affairs concerns, escpecially in relation to education. This series also contains the regional work of the CRC Area Councils, documenting their local groups, activities, and work in Los Angeles. Including the Eastern, Western, and Southern Area of Los Angeles, and the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valley (Eastern Region in CRC Part 5). The San Fernando Valley records include Joy Picus' work as the regional Director. The Area Councils are referred to as “Regions” in the folder names. For example, “Southern Area” is “Southern Region”. This subseries also includes records on Soviet Jewry and related organizations and programs. This includes the Commission on Soviet Jewry, which advocated on behalf of Soviet Jews for their desired resettlement, preservation of their Jewish culture and rights under international laws. These files document news and press releases of the commission, letters to Nixon concerning Soviet Jews in Russia, and Russian culture in Los Angeles from the Commission’s Cultural Exchange. As well as, groups they collaborated with like the Student Struggle and Academic Committee for Soviet Jewry, the Committee of Concerned Scientists, and administrative files of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCAC) and the National Conference on Soviet Jews (NCSJ). Projects sponsored by the NCSJ included Project Yachad that supported relations of people in the U.S. and Jews in the Soviet Union. These records also contain files related to specific Jewish individuals and families known as Refuseniks under the folder name “Individuals”. Many of these files continue into CRC Part 5. This subseries also contains the administrative records of the United Jewish Welfare Fund, a vital fundraising unit for the JFC.

Subseries C, Jewish Film Advisory Committee (JFAC) (1959-1979) was an information agency serving the creators of Hollywood motion pictures and television on behalf of national Jewish religious and communal organizations, and local Jewish communities’ relations councils in the U.S. In 1947, the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council created the Hollywood Motion Picture Project, later known as the Film Advisory Committee and then the JFAC. The JFAC committee advised writers and producers of motion pictures and television on the representation and misrepresentation of Jewish identity. This series includes some materials from when it was the Motion Picture Project. Mostly, it includes materials from when Allen Rivkin was the committee’s director. Rivkin was a mid-20th century screenwriter and co-founder of the Writers Guild of America. Rivkin held many close personal associations with entertainment creators. This series consists of Rivkin’s speeches, JFAC reports, and advisory materials. Rivkin administered reports on a national-level to gain support for advisory. Also, correspondence to and from Allen Rivkin with the CRC, Hollywood film executives and production companies, national broadcasting companies, and the NJCRAC. Also, advisory notes with writers, scripts, discussions from professors at UCLA’s film division. The LA CRC was a consultation committee to the JFAC, and this series has records related to Joseph Roos and Charles Posner.

Series II, Fact Finding (1939-1969) is in two subseries. Subseries A,