The NCCJ, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, was an organization formed in 1928 to facilitate cooperation between religions on civic and social justice issues and to promote understanding and mutual respect through education and dialogue. A Chicago office was opened in the 1930s and its work focused on facilitating dialogue and understanding between major religions, providing consulting, education, and workshops on challenges related to bias, bigotry, and racism, and promoting religious freedom and tolerance, racial justice, and cultural understanding. The organization also established National Brotherhood Week and other events, workshops, and conferences. Records of the organization’s founding in New York are held at University of Minnesota’s Social Welfare History Archive.

The Chicago-based office records contain more than 300 linear feet of material, including materials about the founding of the national office and the Chicago regional office that complement the University of Minnesota collection. It also contains a rich audiovisual collection of tapes, records, photographs, reel-to-reel, and 16mm films and documents. The Chicago office records also hold material on programs, workshops, speeches, projects, publications, and other materialproduced locally, however which relate to the work of the national organization.