Eastern European Jewish Immigrant Bankers and the Shaping of American Finance, 1873–1930

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research presents a discussion of “Credit to the Nation,” a history of Jewish immigrant lenders in early twentieth-century New York. The book examines how immigrants from the Russian Empire created informal credit networks to help fellow Jews travel to the United States and secure financial support after arrival. Drawing on multilingual archival sources, the study explores how these practices helped shape both American Jewish life and the broader U.S. financial system.