Harry Schimmelman abandoned his family in the South Bronx in 1920, prompting his wife Sarah to seek help from the National Desertion Bureau (NDB), an agency founded to track down Jewish husbands who left their families.

The exhibit "Runaway Husbands, Desperate Families: The Story of the National Desertion Bureau," showcased at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, delves into the lives of early 20th-century Jewish immigrants in the U.S., highlighting stories of abandonment by husbands and the efforts to track them down.