Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Papers Open to Researchers

The Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Papers in UNO Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections have been arranged and described by repository staff and are now available for public use. The collection documents the Goldsteins’ political activism, including international humanitarian work especially on behalf of Soviet Jewish emigres as well as Cambodian refugees and others. The collection also contains extensive materials about the life of Shirley and Leonard Goldstein and their family.

The collection was donated to UNO Libraries in honor of Shirley and Leonard Goldstein by Gail Raznick, Donald E. Goldstein, and Kathy Goldstein, the children of Shirley and Leonard Goldstein, in 2019. The donation followed the exhibition "Shirley Goldstein's Immigration Rights Legacy: Operation Exodus in Omaha" curated by Jeannette Gabriel, Ph.D. and sponsored by the Leonard and Shirley Goldstein Center for Human Rights, held in Criss Library’s H. Don and Connie J. Osborne Family Gallery.

The earliest documents are from Shirley's parents Ben and Selma Gershun in the early 20th century and Shirley’s childhood in Council Bluffs. Shirley and Leonard Goldstein were married during World War II and the collection holds their extensive correspondence of letters Leonard sent to Shirley when he was in training and stationed overseas. The collection also features Leonard's photo albums and scrapbooks from his service in the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Pacific theater, two of which have been digitized and are available online. The World War II letters have also been digitized and will be made available online in the future.

In the 1970s, Shirley Goldstein made several trips to the Soviet Union where she met with dissidents and witnessed firsthand the oppression of Soviet Jews. Goldstein smuggled in products the dissidents could sell until she came under scrutiny of Soviet authorities and was denied visas to visit. In 1973, Shirley and her friend, Miriam Simon, founded the Omaha Committee for Soviet Jewry, which sponsored the program, Freedom for Soviet Jews.

A grant from the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Supporting Foundation allowed for the employment of UNO students to work on the arrangement and description of the collection, including the digitization of the World War II letters. Student employees Anneliese Dunn (2023), Anabel Hazelton (2023-2024), and Sean Summerfelt (2024) processed the collection along with Lori Schwartz, Hagel and Technical Services Archivist. The finding aid, or inventory, to the Shirley and Leonard Goldstein Papers is available online. Items from the Goldstein collection that have been digitized by Archives and Special Collections staff can be accessed through the finding aid.

The collection is available in UNO Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections, located on the first floor of Criss Library, and is open to the public. Researchers who are unable to visit UNO may contact Archives and Special Collections for assistance in accessing the collection.

About the University of Nebraska at Omaha Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library

UNO Criss Library fulfills the UNO mission through dynamic services, highly qualified and adaptive personnel, unique and extensive collections, and accessible learning spaces and environments. Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library provides UNO students, faculty and staff, and the Omaha community with the resources and materials needed to excel academically and professionally.