the oldest Jewish seminary in the United States for the training of rabbis, long a stronghold of American Reform Judaism. It was founded in 1875 at Cincinnati, Ohio, by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise (Wise, Isaac Mayer), and it became the major training centre for rabbis and teachers of the Reform movement.

In 1950 the college merged with the Jewish Institute of Religion of New York, which was founded (1922) by Rabbi Stephen S. Wise. The California school of the college-institute was chartered at Los Angeles in 1954. A fourth campus, the Hebrew Union College Biblical and Archaeological School, was opened in Jerusalem in 1963 as a postdoctoral institution.

The Klau Library at Cincinnati has one of the most extensive compilations of Hebraica and Judaica in the United States, including outstanding collections on Benedict de Spinoza, Jewish sacred music, and Jewish Americana. The Hebrew Union College Museum was established in 1913. The Hebrew Union College's publications include the Hebrew Union College Annual, Studies in Bibliography and Booklore, Bibliographia Judaica, American Jewish Archives, and Sacred Music Press.