This year’s Rabbi Moses Margolis Lecture at Binghamton University will be presented by Dr. Rebecca Kobrin, Russell and Bettina Knap Associate Professor of American Jewish History at Columbia University. Her talk on “East European Jewish Immigrants and American Banking, 1873-1930” will take place on Thursday, October 22, at 7 pm, in Room AM 189 of the Admissions Center Building on the Binghamton University campus. It is free and open to the general public. A limited number of free parking spaces will be marked reserved for community members in Lot T on a first come basis. Paid parking is also available in the parking structure and visitor’s lot; follow posted signage.
Based on her just-published book from Harvard University Press, “Credit to the Nation: Eastern European Jewish Immigrant Bankers and the Shaping of American Finance, 1873-1930,” Kobrin asks, “what if the story of Jews and American banking wasn’t about Wall Street titans, but about immigrant families who built commercial banking businesses that helped others thrive? Indeed, many are familiar with the names of early 20th-century German Jewish bankers such as Jacob Schiff, but far fewer have heard of men like Sender Jarmulowsky, Max Kobre, or Saul Singer. These East European Jewish immigrants helped millions of migrants with a few dollars and a dream buy ship tickets, borrow and save money, and send small sums back home. Millions saw their financial lives shaped by these men whose stories are now in the dustbin of history.” In her talk, Kobrin will share their stories and explain how they reshaped American banking, as well as the businesses of mass migration and real estate development. Signed copies of Kobrin’s book will be on sale at the event.
Kobrin works in the fields of immigration history, urban studies, business history, East European history and American Jewish history, specializing in modern Jewish migration. Her book “Jewish Bialystok and Its Diaspora” (Indiana University Press, 2010) was awarded the Jordan Schnitzer prize (2012). She is the editor of “Chosen Capital: The Jewish Encounter with American Capitalism” (Rutgers University Press, 2012), “Salo Baron: Using the Past to Shape the Future of Jewish Studies in America” (Columbia University Press, 2022) and is co-editor with Adam Teller of “Purchasing Power: The Economics of Jewish History” (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015). In 2015, she was awarded Columbia University’s Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award for her outstanding teaching and graduate student mentoring. She is one of the principal investigators leading the award-winning digital humanities Historical NYC Project, a map that visualizes the demographic and spatial changes wrought in New York City between 1850 and 1940.
The talk is sponsored by the Margolis Family Lecture Fund and the Judaic Studies Department at Binghamton University, and is co-sponsored by Binghamton’s College of Jewish Studies. For more information, contact Kim Schull at 607-777-3070 or jsd@binghamton.edu.