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¶ … Jewish Women's Archive. "This Week in History - "The American Jewess" begins publication." Accessed 6 March 2010. http://jwa.org/thisweek/apr/01/1895/american-jewess

This editorial article describes the foundation and early years of the magazine the American Jewess, including commentary regarding the forces (and people -- specifically Rosa Sonneschein) that led to it creation and the impact that this unique publication had on Jewish, feminist, and American society. The main points that the article makes lie in noting the difference of this publication's background, as well as the prominence and qualifications of its founder and editor, Ms. Sonneschein. This article makes it clear that though short live, the American Jewess had a large impact on its readers and the prevailing culture in America and in the Jewish as well as feminist communities at the sunset of the nineteenth century.

Rothstein, Jane H.. "Rosa Sonneschein." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 20 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. Accessed 6 March 2010. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/sonneschein-rosa.

Jane Rothstein presents a broad yet highly relevant overview of Rosa Sonneschein's life and accomplishments, tying her private (or semi-private) life to the more public events and accomplishments for which she is remembered. Most apparent in this biography is Sonneschein's fierce independence -- from her husband, the eventual owners of the American Jewess, and even from groups she generally supported like the National Jewish Council for Women. The author makes it clear that Sonneschein thought and spoke (quite loudly) for herself.

Sarna, Jonathan and Golden, Jonathan. "The American Jewish Experience in the Twentieth Century: Anti-Semitism and Assimilation." National Humanities Center. Accessed 6 March 2010. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/twenty/tkeyinfo/jewishexp.htm

In this article, Jonathan Sarna and Jonathan Golden describe the changes that were occurring in the American Jewish community at the turn of the century and into the twentieth century. Though much of the article is devoted to history occurring after the research period, there is a great deal of useful information regarding the effects that immigration in the 1890s had on the Jewish population and its sense of identity. The authors point out a growing nationalism and cultural unity among American Jews during this period.

The American Jewess, 1895-1899. Accessed 6 March 2010. http://quod.lib.umich.edu

This primary document (or documents) contains a wealth of information regarding the concerns and viewpoints of many Americans, and particularly American Jewish women, in the final years of the nineteenth century. Edited by Rosa Sonneschein and written primarily (as far as can be determined by name alone) by the editor and other Jewish-American women, there are tips for daily living, strident political calls to action, and theological ponderings all contained within the issues of this magazine. It will be sued throughout the research project as the primary means of tracking changes in attitudes and concerns, which will then be correlated to historic events and analyses of the late nineteenth century.

Research Questions

-- What was the effect of the American Jewess on the concerns, perceptions, and attitudes of the Jewish-American community, specifically on those of Jewish-American women? This question might be somewhat difficult to answer directly, as there is likely no one who was in their adolescence or adulthood (and thus more aware of social issues and capable of dissecting them) during the magazine's publication still living today who could be interviewed to determine the scope and degree of the magazine's effects. Indirectly, the effect of the magazine may be measurable in examining other publications and their seeming agreements with/reactions to articles and ideas in the American Jewess, but it would be difficult to establish a causal relationship here.

-- What was the effect on changes in the Jewish community on the American Jewess' articles and content? This question is really just the reverse of that above, but conclusions and conjectures composed in response to this question will have a higher degree of certainty and reliability, as the forces and influences from society on the publication would almost necessarily have been greater than vice-versa in order to keep the publication in print. The fact that it did not stay in print very long, of course, might suggest that the publication did not change enough with the times in order to maintain a stable readership and thus the economic means to continue, but this, too, would represent an answer of sorts to the research question. At any rate, this question more accurately positions the American Jewess as the voice of a select community within the country during a time of change.