Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society Records

The Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) was founded in Denver, Colorado in 1904 as a non-sectarian sanatorium to treat tuberculosis patients. At the turn of the century, tuberculosis, or the ''white plague'' as it was commonly known, was the leading cause of death in the United States. Colorado had already acquired its reputation as the "world's sanatorium," and as a result Denver faced a serious social problem when hundreds of severely ill people converged on the young city. The Jewish community erected the first hospital in Denver for tuberculosis victims, the National Jewish Hospital. Generally only patients with incipient tuberculosis were admitted to National Jewish. It was also difficult for Orthodox patients in the early years to observe the laws of kashruth as well as Jewish rituals and holidays at National Jewish, which had been largely organized and funded by German Reform Jews. Soon the need for another institution was felt by the Jewish community on Denver's west side. In 1904 the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society was organized by a group of twenty immigrant tradesmen, primarily to aid Jewish tubercular patients in all stages of the disease. They were assisted by Dr. Charles Spivak, Dr. Philip Hillkowitz, Dr. Adolph Zederbaum, Louis Robinson, Abraham Judlovitz, and noted Yiddish poet Solomon Bloomgarden (Yehoash), as well as many others from Denver's Eastern European Jewish community. Housed originally in wooden "tent" cottages, the patients were given the benefits of fresh air and wholesome kosher food. Spivak, an ardent socialist, emphasized that the hospital was to be a "people's institution" and was proud of the fact that the institution often collected its funds in dollars and quarters. Both the National Jewish Hospital and the JCRS would receive financial support as well as patients from Jewish communities throughout the United States. In 1954 the JCRS changed its mission to cancer research and became the American Medical Center and is now known as the AMC Cancer Research Center.