G. M. PRAYS (GEORGE M. PRICE)

G. M. PRAYS (GEORGE M. PRICE) (1864-1942)

            He was born in Poltava, Russia.  In 1882 he came to the United States and completed his studies to be a doctor.  He worked as an inspector for the New York Department of Health.  In 1913 he became the head doctor of the health center for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.  He was the first historian of the Russian-Jewish immigration to America.  In 1891 he published in Odessa a Yiddish pamphlet on the life of Jewish immigrants, entitled Di yuden in amerika (The Jews in America), 205 pp.  He wrote correspondence pieces for the Russian Jewish journal Voskhod (Sunrise).  He wrote in Russian a book entitled Russkie Evrei v Amerike (Russian Jews in America) (St. Petersburg, 1893).  He also published his memoirs for the years 1881-1891.  He died in New York.

Sources: Elye (Elias) Shulman, Geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur in amerike (History of Yiddish literature in America) (New York, 1943), p. 18; Leo Shpall, ed., “The Diary of Dr. George M. Price,” American Jewish Historical Quarterly 40 (December 1950).

Yankev Kahan