Our Collections

The OJA’s records span all segments of Ontario’s Jewish community. We have records from businesses, families, labour unions, organizations, and synagogues. These records date from the community’s earliest days to its present. What’s more, they come from all over Ontario and in every format you can think of. If you were to lay out all of our boxes, they would stretch from the foot of Yonge Street to Dundas Square!

Below you can find highlights from our newest acquisitions as well as collections that have recently been processed and added to our website search.

Do you have records to donate to the OJA? Click here to learn how.

Acquisition of the Month

This month’s acquisition highlights the artistic legacy of Canadian editorial cartoonist Rubin Robert Kaell, known professionally as James Allen. The donation includes original sketches, printed cartoons, and newspaper clippings produced during Kaell’s years at the St. Catharines Standard, where he worked from 1938 to 1945 and became the paper’s longest-serving staff cartoonist of his time. Also featured are original and printed illustrations from Dear Arthur, the short-lived comic strip Kaell co-created in the early 1950s.

The accession further preserves a home movie showing Kaell exploring familiar Toronto sites—including High Park, Centre Island, and Sunnyside—with his sons Josh and Arthur. Together, these materials offer a vivid glimpse into mid-century Canadian cartooning and the creative life of a Toronto-based Jewish artist.

Thank you to the Kaell family for ensuring these records have found a home at the OJA.