1930s Timeline

1933. The Lord Reading Club was created and named after Lord Reading, England’s greatest Jewish statesman.

The first Jewish social club was established in 1933 amid a period of rising antisemitism in Europe. The club was named after the prominent British Jewish statesman Rufus Isaacs, the 1st Marquess of Reading. The Lord Reading Club became a place for weekly services and other Jewish programming for the still relatively small population of students of the “Hebrew faith” as they were called in The Bugle.

The club was also sponsored by the B’nai B’rith Hillel Association and listed as its mission: “Promote fellowship and
understandings among all students at V.P.I. and to teach Jewish boys how to become better citizens.”