January 26, 2025

Vol. 6, No. 4



Jewish Artists:

Martha Levy

Jewish Encyclopedia:

Esther Society

Article:

Stanton Heights

A Patchwork Life:

A Wise Woman Ritual

Calendar:

Feb. 6: "Teach Them to Your Children"

Feb. 6: Righteous Among the Neighbors

Jewish Genealogy Society:

Feb. 16: Jane Neff Rollins



Community:

URA photographs

SHHS archives

JCBA "Road-Trip"

Research Tools:

Newspapers, Cemeteries,

Memorial Plaques, Books,

Population Figures, Synagogues, Newsletter Archive,

Shul Records America

Jewish Artists:

Martha Levy

"Men Working in Slate Quarry," 1939.

Slate Valley Museum

America is dotted with Works Progress Administration murals from the 1930s depicting local culture. (One can be found in the Squirrel Hill Post Office). 

In the Slate Valley Museum in the village of Granville in upstate New York is a mural titled “Men Working in Slate Quarry.” Martha Levy painted the mural in 1939 for the study hall of Granville High School. It was removed during renovations at the school in 1959 and then restored in the mid-1970s and installed at the Granville town hall. It was given to the Slate Valley Museum in 1995 and has been the subject of ongoing research in the decades since.

Levy appears to have been born in Western Pennsylvania. She attended religious school at Rodef Shalom Congregation as a child, studied at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House Neighborhood Art School, and graduated from Schenley High School in the 1910s before enrolling in the Department of Painting and Design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in the early 1920s. While in college, she was assistant art editor for the Thistle yearbook in 1921 and 1922. She exhibited locally in the late 1920s, showing her work in the 1927 and 1929 annual exhibitions of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. 

After her early training in Pittsburgh, Levy studied in Europe, including stops in Paris and Florence. She also studied at the Art Student’s League in New York from 1926 to 1932 and attended its summer school in Woodstock, New York. 

She appears to have later relocated to Woodstock. She worked for the Public Works of Art Project in 1933 and 1934. The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds two of her paintings from his era, both depicting winter scenes depicting life in the rural parts of New York where she lived. She later worked for the Federal Art Project, producing “Men Working in Slate Quarry” during that time.

Records of her exhibitions and commissions continue into the mid-1940s.

Martha Levy, Unidentified, Winter Scene, 1934, oil on fiberboard, 21 1⁄2 x 27 3⁄8 in.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.215

All year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting stories of Jewish artist in Western Pennsylvania before World War II. If you would like to donate a material from this time period, or any historic materials documenting Jewish life in this region, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.

Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania:

The Esther Society

Notice of upcoming President's Day celebration of the United Daughters of Israel Esther Society at the Temple Restaurant.

—Jewish Criterion, April 13, 1934

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

In an April 1934 notice in the Criterion, the Esther Society of the United Daughters of Israel claimed to be “Pittsburgh’s oldest ladies’ organization.” 

The United Daughters of Israel began in Baltimore in 1890, creating a structure where groups of ten women would gather to undertake communal service projects of their choosing. The Esther Society began in Pittsburgh no later than 1894. That was long after the Hebrew Ladies Aid Society had been founded in the 1850s but about the same time as the founding of the National Council of Jewish Women and before the Tree of Life Sisterhood in 1899.

The Esther Society had 120 members by 1907 and met through the mid-1930s. It held social gatherings and raised funds. In the early years of World War I, it regularly contributed to the Pittsburgh Jewish Relief Committee.

Article:

Stanton Heights and the Shul that Wasn't There

Newspaper photograph of Dr. Barbara K. Shore (at podium) with (seated, left to right) Dr. Leonard A. Cohen, Norman Krochmal, and Arthur Abelson, presenting the findings of the Stanton Heights Self-Study Committee at a community meeting at Sunnyside Elementary School on April 25, 1956.

American Jewish Outlook

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

“If you were born on the day the stock market crashed on Oct. 24, 1929, you would have been nearly 16 years old when the Japanese surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945—not quite an adult but certainly old enough to have opinions about the world and your place in it. 

“After a decade and a half of restraint, you can imagine the yearning to build. And, in fact, 1946 was probably the single-most active year locally for synagogue developments...

Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life:

Rituals

Color photograph of the Wise Woman ritual accompanying the "Pieces of Memory" exhibit at the Jewish Community Center of Pittsburgh—2000

Louise Silk Papers

[“Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life” is featured in the current issue of Hadassah magazine. In her article, “A Fabric Artist on Quilting Jewish Identity,” Louise provides her perspective on the development and implementation of the exhibit. You can read more at the Hadassah magazine website.]

As she was developing her one-person show “I Was There, I Am Here” at the Jewish Community Center in 1994, Louise Silk felt that a traditional wine and cheese opening was inappropriate for an exhibit of deeply personal Jewish quilts. She instead devised an opening performance building on the themes of the exhibit. “Kol Isha: Hearing Women’s Voices” brought together 36 women of various ages and backgrounds, giving each a quotation from a notable Jewish woman of the Torah, history, and contemporary life. She called it a “mid-life ritual,” marking the transition into a new phase of life and work.

With her “Pieces of Memory” show in 2000, she again used the opening event as a way to expand on the themes of the exhibit. “Pieces of Memory” was developed as Louise was navigating the death of her parents and the demands of closing their estate. She kept all their clothing as material for her art. 

The act of creating and displaying these works was part of her grieving process. Under the advice of Rev. Kyoki Roberts of the Pittsburgh Zen Center, Louise decided that her opening performance would “unmake a quilt.” She asked dozens of friends to given her precious objects from their lives. She wove these onto giant peacock features forming the skirt. One by one, each feather was returned to its original owner, until nothing remained. 

The next installments of our Gut Yontif! series will be Thursday, Feb. 13 with an intimate Tu B’shvat seder from Lydia Rosenberg, and Wednesday, March 12 with an all-embracing Purim party from Olivia Devorah Tucker. 

The “Gut Yontif!” series is made possible thanks to a generous grant from the SteelTree Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Feb. 6:

"Teach Them To Your Children"

Since the times of the Talmud, Jewish education has been a communal responsibility. How has Western Pennsylvania met this challenge? 

In a fast-paced and engaging monthly series “Teach Them To Your Children,” Rauh Jewish Archives Director Eric Lidji will cover 150 years of Jewish educational initiatives in Western Pennsylvania, showing how our community has perpetuated Jewish knowledge from generation to generation. 

This series will take place monthly in the Community Day School library (2743 Beechwood Blvd.) on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m.

Jan. 9—The 19th Century

The series continues Feb. 6 with a review of local Jewish educational initiatives between 1900 and 1910. Amid the wave of Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe, Jewish educators tried to adapt the centuries-old cheder system of Europe to the American scene and the Reform movement began addressing educational gaps in neighboring small towns throughout the region.

The schedule for the rest of the year includes:



March 6—The 1910s

April 10—The 1920s

May 8—The 1930s

June 12—The 1940s

July 10—The 1950s

Aug. 14—The 1960s

Sept. 11—The 1970s

Oct. 9—The 1980s

Nov. 13—The 1990s

Dec. 11—The Future

"Teach Them To Your Children" is presented by Community Day School, Hillel

Academy of Pittsburgh, and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh.

Feb. 6:

"Righteous Among the Neighbors"

Righteous Among the Neighbors is a project of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh that honors non-Jewish Pittsburghers who support the Jewish community and take action to uproot antisemitism. One of this year’s honorees is Terri Baltimore, who was nominated by the Rauh Jewish Archives for her work over the past decade to co-create and lead an ongoing joint Black-Jewish history tour of the Hill District and for helping to preserve an important Jewish community artifact: the cornerstone of the former Labor Lyceum.

In partnership with the LIGHT Education Initiative and Mt. Lebanon High School, student journalists have written profiles about each honoree. You can read about Terri Baltimore in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

The Righteous Among the Neighbors 2024 Cohort Celebration will be held at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.

Jewish Genealogy Society

Feb. 16:

"We Never Heard from Them Again"

Researching Relatives Who Died in the Holocaust

with Jane Neff Rollins

This talk puts the systematic murder of Jews and other persecuted populations during World War II into historical context before showing attendees how to research the fate of long-lost relatives. Resources to be covered will include the JewishGen Holocaust database, the U.S. Holocaust Historical Museum, Yad Vashem, the Arolsen database, collections of oral history recordings, Yizkor (memorial) books, newspapers, and more. Also included will be the intellectual and emotional challenges genealogists will face in doing this kind of research.

Jane Neff Rollins is a professional genealogist who works primarily with clients whose ancestors came from the former Russian Empire, providing research and translation of Russian documents. She has researched in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Washington DC, and Jerusalem. She is an alumna of ProGen Study Group 29, and a multi-time attendee of the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and the Forensic Genealogy Institute.

Jane has lectured at the annual conferences of the National Genealogical Society, the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, the Southern California Genealogical Society, and virtually and in-person for societies throughout the United States.

Jane’s genealogy articles have appeared in NGS Magazine, FGS Forum (for which she won the 2020 Forum Writer’s Award), Crossroads, and Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy: “Researching Jewish Ancestors Who Served in the Civil War.” Other writing has appeared in Roots-Key, the LA Jewish Journal, and medical trade magazines.

Community

Urban Redevelopment Authority Archives

The City of Pittsburgh Archives has launched a new digital archive containing thousands of photographs and documents spanning more than two centuries. Of particular interest to local Jewish history is a collection of more than 2,000 photographs of properties in the lower Hill District taken by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in the late 1950s prior to demolitions in the area. 

Squirrel Hill Historical Society Archives

Squirrel Hill Historical Society has added a collection of 60 historic images of Squirrel Hill to the Historic Pittsburgh website. The collection contains selected images from three organizations: the Squirrel Hill Historical Society, Squirrel Hill Urban  Coalition, and Mary S. Brown Memorial-Ames United Methodist Church. The photographs document many aspects of life in Squirrel Hill, including many beloved businesses from the 1990s that no longer exist.

From the Jewish Cemetery & Burial Association

"Road Trip: The Jewish Cemeteries of Western Pennsylvania"

The Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh has released a new documentary showcasing Jewish cemeteries in Western Pennsylvania.

“Road Trip: The Jewish Cemeteries of Western Pennsylvania” is a one-hour tour of the many cemetery properties overseen by the JCBA, as well as an overview of the organization’s ongoing work to care for these sacred burial grounds. The video is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate these special Jewish cultural sites in our region. The video includes many historic photographs and documents from the collections of the Rauh Jewish Archives. 

Research Tools

The Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project contains digitized, searchable copies of four local English-language Jewish newspapers between 1895 and 2010. It is a valuable tool for researching almost any topic about Jewish history in Western Pennsylvania. For a primer on using the website, watch our video.

Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project

The Rauh Jewish Archives launched the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project in 1998 to preserve burial records from Jewish cemeteries across the region. Over a period of fifteen years, the information was compiled into a searchable, online database containing approximately 50,000 burial records from 78 Jewish cemeteries throughout the region.

Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques Project

The Rauh Jewish Archives launched the Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques Project in 2020. The goal was to create a comprehensive collection of burial records from memorial boards at synagogues across the region. Volunteers are currently transcribing these boards and records are being added monthly to our online database. The database currently contains more than 2,700 listings.

Rauh Jewish Archives Bibliography

University of Pittsburgh librarian and Rauh Jewish Archives volunteer Laurie Cohen created this comprehensive bibliography of the Rauh Jewish Archives library holdings from 1988 through 2018. It lists nearly 350 volumes arranged by type and then by subject. This a great tool to use early in your research process, as you’re surveying available resources on a given subject.

Jewish Population Estimates

Looking to figure out how many Jews lived in a certain part of Western Pennsylvania at a certain moment in time? This bibliography includes more than 30 estimates of the Jewish population of Pittsburgh and small-towns throughout the region, conducted between 1852 and 2017.

Synagogues

A database of buildings throughout Western Pennsylvania known to have hosted Jewish worship services. Includes links to photographs and citations with original source material. Database currently includes 90 locations from 2 institutions

Rauh Jewish Archives Newsletter

The Rauh Jewish Archives has been publishing a weekly newsletter since 2020. The newsletter contains a variety of articles about local Jewish history, including much original research not found anywhere else. You can find and read every issue—more than 150!— in our new index.

Shul Records America

Online finding aid from JewishGen listing congregational archival collections held at publicly accessible repositories across the United States. Includes 63 listings from the Rauh Jewish Archives, as well as other repositories with Western Pennsylvania congregational records.

The Rauh Jewish Archives was founded on November 1, 1988 to collect and preserve the documentary history of Jewish life in Western Pennsylvania and to make it available to the world through research assistance, programing, exhibits, publications, and partnerships.

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