View source for Cyrus Adler

{{Short description|American educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar}}
{{Infobox person/Wikidata
| fetchwikidata=ALL
| dateformat = mdy
| suppressfields=citizenship
| nationality = [[United States|American]]
| occupation = educator, librarian, author, religious leader and scholar
}}
'''Cyrus Adler''' (September 13, 1863 &ndash; April 7, 1940<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Dictionary of American Library Biography |year=1978 |editor-first=Bohdan |editor-last=Wynar |title=Adler, Cyrus (1863&ndash;1940) |location=Littleton, CO |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |pages=3–5 |isbn=0-87287-180-0}}</ref>) was an American educator, [[Jewish]] religious leader and scholar.

==Early years==
Adler was born to [[merchant]] and planter Samuel Adler and Sarah Sulzberger<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0800012 |title=Adler, Cyrus |last=Robinson |first=Ira |encyclopedia=American National Biography |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0800012 |isbn=978-0-19-860669-7 |access-date=November 7, 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> in [[Van Buren, Arkansas]] on September 13, 1863, but in the next year his parents removed to [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], and soon he attended the public schools there, and in 1879 he entered the [[University of Pennsylvania]], from where he graduated in 1883.<ref name="BDA1906a">{{harvnb|Johnson|1906|p=58}}</ref> Afterwards, he pursued [[Oriental studies]] in [[Johns Hopkins University]], where he was appointed university scholar in 1884, and fellow in [[Semitic languages]] from 1885 to 1887.<ref name="BDA1906a" /> He earned the first American [[PhD]] in Semitics from the university in 1887<ref>{{cite book|last=Bowden|first=Henry Warner|title=Dictionary of American Religious Biography|year=1993|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Conn.|isbn=0-313-27825-3|pages=8–9|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref name=Schwartz14>{{harvnb|Schwartz|1991|pp=14–15}}</ref> and was appointed instructor in Semitic languages and promoted to associate professor in 1890.<ref name="BDA1906a" /> He taught [[Semitic languages]] at Johns Hopkins from 1884 to 1893.

==Career==
In 1877 he was appointed assistant curator of the section of Oriental antiquities in the [[United States National Museum]], and had charge of an exhibit of [[biblical archaeology]] at the centennial exposition of the [[Ohio valley]] in 1888.<ref name="BDA1906a" /> He was a commissioner for the world's [[Columbian exposition]] to the Orient in 1890, and he passed sixteen months in [[Turkey]], [[Syria]], [[Egypt]], [[Tunis]], [[Algiers]], and [[Morocco]] securing exhibits.<ref name="BDA1906a" /> For a number of years he was employed by the [[Smithsonian Institution]] at [[Washington City|Washington]], with a focus on archaeology and Semitics, serving as the [[Librarian]] from December 1, 1892 to 1905.<ref name="BDA1906b">{{harvnb|Johnson|1906|p=59}}</ref> In 1895, after years of searching, he located the [[Jefferson Bible]] and purchased it for the Smithsonian Institution from the great-granddaughter of [[Thomas Jefferson]].

He was made lecturer on biblical archaeology in the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America|Jewish Theological Seminary]] in [[New York (state)|New York]], president of the [[American Jewish Historical Society]], [[Delegate (American politics)|U.S. delegate]] to a conference on an international catalogue of [[scientific literature]] in 1898, and honorary assistant curator of [[History of archaeology|historic archaeology]] and custodian of [[History of religion|historic religions]] in the [[United States National Museum|U.S. national museum]].<ref name="BDA1906b" />

In 1900, he was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1900&year-max=1900&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-20|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

==Last years==
He was a founder of the [[National Jewish Welfare Board|Jewish Welfare Board]].
He was president of [[Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning]] from 1908 to 1940 and Chancellor of the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]]. In addition, he was a founding member of the [[Oriental Club of Philadelphia]]. He was involved in the creation of various Jewish organizations including the [[Jewish Publication Society]], the [[American Jewish Historical Society]], the [[American Jewish Committee]] (also its president in 1929–1940<ref>{{cite book|last=Sanua|first=Marianne R.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5p_MhA5shT4C&pg=PA399|title=Let Us Prove Strong: The American Jewish Committee, 1945-2006|year=2007|page=399|publisher=[[University Press of New England|Brandeis University Press]]|isbn=978-1-58465-631-9}}</ref>), and the [[United Synagogue of America]].<ref name=Schwartz14 /> Adler served a variety of organizations by holding various offices. For example, he was on the board of trustees at the American Jewish Publication Society and Gratz College, served as vice-president of the [[Anthropological Society]] of Washington, and as member of council of the [[Philosophical Society]] of Washington.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Jacobs|first1=Joseph|title=1906 Jewish Encyclopedia: Adler, Cyrus|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/811-adler-cyrus|website=Jewish Encyclopedia.com|publisher=The Kopelman Foundation|accessdate=30 April 2018}}</ref>

Adler married [[Racie Adler|Racie Friedenwald]] of [[Baltimore]] in 1905, when he was 42. They had one child, a daughter named Sarah.
From 1911 until 1916, Adler was ''Parnas'' (president) of [[Congregation Mikveh Israel (Philadelphia)|Congregation Mikveh Israel]] of Philadelphia.
He died in [[Philadelphia]], and his papers are held by the [[Center for Advanced Judaic Studies]] at the University of Pennsylvania.

==Works==
Adler was an editor of the ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]'' and in collaboration with Allen Ramsay wrote ''Tales Told in a Coffee House'' (1898).<ref name="BDA1906b" /> He was part of the committee that translated the [[Jewish Publication Society]] version of the [[Hebrew Bible]] published in 1917. At the end of World War I, he participated in the [[Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919.

He was also a contributor to the ''[[New International Encyclopedia]]''. His many scholarly writings include articles on comparative religion, [[Assyriology]], and Semitic [[philology]]. He edited the ''[[American Jewish Year Book]]'' from 1899 to 1905 and the ''Jewish Quarterly Review'' from 1910 to 1940.<ref name=Schwartz14 /> He was besides contributions to the ''[[Journal of the American Oriental Society]]'', the ''Proceedings of the [[American Philological Association]]'', the ''[[Andover Review]]'', ''[[Hebraica (journal)|Hebraica]]'', ''Johns Hopkins University Circular'' and numerous reviews.<ref name="BDA1906b" />

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
*{{JewishEncyclopedia|article=Adler, Cyrus|author=Joseph Jacobs|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=811&letter=A&search=Cyrus%20Adler}}
* {{BDA1906 |wstitle= Adler, Cyrus |volume= 1 |pages=58-59 |short=}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Shuly Rubin Schwartz |last=Schwartz |first=Shuly Rubin |title=The Emergence of Jewish Scholarship in America: The Publication of the Jewish Encyclopedia |series=Monographs of the Hebrew Union College |volume=13 |location=Cincinnati |publisher=Hebrew Union College Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-87820-412-1}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Adler |first=Cyrus |title=I Have Considered the Days |location=Philadelphia |publisher=The Jewish Publication Society of America |year=1941}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Abraham A. Neuman |last=Neuman |first=Abraham A. |title=Cyrus Adler: A Biographical Sketch |location=New York |publisher=The American Jewish Committee |year=1942}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|works=or|Cyrus Adler}}
*[http://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?world-exposition-1893 Cyrus Adler Lectures on His Presidentially-Mandated Tour of The Levant] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614033645/https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/world-exposition-1893/ |date=2020-06-14 }} Shapell Manuscript Foundation
* [http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Authored=Cyrus-Adler&AuthorID=3312 Articles written by Cyrus Adler] on the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141222192510/http://www.jtsa.edu/prebuilt/archives/jtsarchives/adler_cyrus.shtml The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York] archival entry on Adler's papers.
* [http://www.digital.cjh.org/109178 Guide to the papers of Cyrus Adler] at the [[American Jewish Historical Society]], New York, New York.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083339/http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/people/A0802511.html Fact Monster Entry] for Cyrus Adler.
* {{Gutenberg author |id=34693| name=Cyrus Adler}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Cyrus Adler}}
* {{Librivox author |id=2297}}

{{American Jewish Committee}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adler, Cyrus}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Van Buren, Arkansas]]
[[Category:19th-century American educators]]
[[Category:19th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty]]
[[Category:Dropsie College faculty]]
[[Category:Gratz College]]
[[Category:Smithsonian Institution people]]
[[Category:Judaic scholars]]
[[Category:Jewish American historians]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American religious leaders]]
[[Category:Translators of the Bible into English]]
[[Category:Librarians from Arkansas]]
[[Category:American anti-communists]]
[[Category:American encyclopedists]]
[[Category:American philologists]]
[[Category:American Hebraists]]
[[Category:American book editors]]
[[Category:19th-century American historians]]
[[Category:Jewish anti-communists]]
[[Category:Jewish translators of the Bible]]
[[Category:19th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century American translators]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Jewish Committee]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]