Adler, Cyrus (1863-1940)

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Sophonisba P. Breckinridge to Jane Addams, March 15, 1908

Jane Addams to Lillian D. Wald, March 16, 1908

Collated Criticisms of the Draft Resolution, April 1914

Paul Underwood Kellogg to Jane Addams, October 8, 1914

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Birth Date

1863-09-13

Death Date

1940-04-07

Birthplace

Van Buren, AR

Biographical Text

Cyrus Adler was a Jewish religious leader and scholar, who was born in 1863 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1883. In 1887 he received a PhD from Johns Hopkins University, and from 1884 to 1893 he taught Semitic languages at Johns Hopkins. He later worked for the Smithsonian, focusing on archeology and Semitics and serving as its Librarian from 1892 to 1905. Adler was also a founder of the Jewish Welfare Board and an editor for the Jewish Encyclopedia and contributor for the New International Encyclopedia. He participated in the Paris Peace Conference after World War I. From 1908 to 1940, Adler served as president of the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning and Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and from 1911 to 1916 he was the president of Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia. He was also a founding member of the Oriental Club of Philadelphia, the American Jewish Committee, of which he was the chairman of its executive board, and the Jewish Publication Society of America, of which he was the chairman of many of its committees.

Adler married late in life, marrying Racie Friedenwald in 1905 when he was forty-two. They had a daughter named Sarah.