Memoirs: Your Story
1936 Flood
The Russian School
The Pav-Life Family Club
Calendar
Community News
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All year, we’re sharing memoirs from the archives. We hope these stories will not only entertain and inform you but also inspire you to chronicle your life.
A blank page can be daunting, though. And so periodically we’ll break from sharing old memoirs in order to encourage you to write a new one. We’ll do that by sweeping away some of the obstacles that keep people from writing.
The first is humility.
People often wonder, “Who am I to write a memoir?”
That question hangs over every memoir. We recently featured Israel Oseroff’s 1976 memoir “I Was There.” Here’s how he begins: “Who? Me? Who am I, I thought, when my wife and sons suggested that I write an autobiography.”
The question is understandable but flawed. It assumes that only certain lives are worth documenting: those that guided communities, cities, and nations.
Yes, some of the memoirs in the archive fit those criteria. The memoirs of William Frank and Annie Jacobs Davis help us understand the origins of some of the institutions that still animate the Jewish community today.
But as you will see this year, most memoirs have a different goal altogether: they are trying to give future generations a chance to understand their roots.
If you would want to read an account by a distant ancestor, then it stands to reason that distant descendants would want to read an account by you.
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Next week: Not All Memoirs Need Words
All year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting memoirs of Jewish life in Western Pennsylvania. If you would like to donate a memoir, or just chat about the stories you've read, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.
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New Collection:
1936 Flood letter [2017.0242]
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Letter, "Eve" to "Dorothy," March 27, 1936
—1936 Flood letter (2017.0242)
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The St. Patrick’s Day flood of 1936 is one of the best-documented events in Pittsburgh history. It occurred just as cameras were becoming household objects, allowing regular people to photograph the damage to low-lying areas all throughout the region.
We have hundreds of flood images in the archive. Rarer are first-person accounts. Several years ago, we acquired a letter written by “Eve” to “Dorothy” on Friday, March 27, 1936—about 10 days after the flood.
We don’t know the identity of the sender or the receiver, but the letter suggests that Eve lives in Squirrel Hill and works at Kaufmann’s Department Store downtown. She describes the scene at both locations in the days immediately following the flood. “If I write at great lengths as I usually do, it’ll be another few days before I can finish, since the afternoon is drawing to a close and ‘Shabbos’ here cannot be defiled by writing,” she notes.
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Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania:
The Russian School
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Russian School notice, American Israelite, Jan. 7, 1892 |
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The Russian School was an adult education program in Pittsburgh for Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. It was established around 1890 by Dr. Lippman Mayer of Rodef Shalom Congregation and overseen by a small group of volunteers. As the Jewish immigrant population of Pittsburgh increased in the early 1900s, the Russian School gave way to larger educational initiatives overseen by the National Council of Jewish Women—Pittsburgh Section. |
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The Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania brings together numerous online resources into a clearinghouse for conducting research about Jewish history in this region. As we migrate information to this new website, we’ll be announcing new entries and resources in this section of the newsletter. |
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Clubs:
The Pav-Life Family Club
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Pav-Life Family Club notice, Jewish Criterion, May 10, 1957 |
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The Pav-Life Family Club was organized in December 1947, about two and a half years after the death of matriarch Ida Pavloff. The club held regular meetings at the social hall of B’nai Zion Congregation in Homewood until around 1958, when it began meeting in the homes of members. Special events throughout the years were held at the Schenley Park Bowling Green, Gateway Plaza, the Penn Shady Hotel, Webster Hall, and New Light Congregation.
The Pav-Life Family Club not only included members from Squirrel Hill and East End but also Monessen, Beaver Falls, Youngstown and places outside the region. Surnames in the club include Barish, Bernstein, Boodman, Cantelou, Canter, Caplan, Carloff, Colker, Forman, Froimson, Glass, Goddy, Goodman, Pavloff, Pavlov, Portnoy, Rosenthal, Rosenzweig, Rudof, Siegel, and Unatin.
The club was still holding regular meetings as late as April 1967, according to newspaper records. No known archival records exist for the club.
If you have information about the Pav-Life Family Club, please email the archive or call 412-454-6406. To learn more about the many Jewish family clubs of Western Pennsylvania, view our always-expanding database.
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Calendar—Past and Present |
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March 20
The Bat Mitzvah Centennial Celebration
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Dress worn by Nancy Moidel Ciccone at her bat mitzvah ceremony on May 24, 1963, at the Aliquippa Jewish Community Center.
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In March 1922, Judith Kaplan celebrated what is widely considered to be the first modern bat mitzvah.
Today, bat mitzvah ceremonies are commonly celebrated across the Jewish world. In honor of the centennial of this milestone, Congregation Dor Hadash is hosting a celebration and symposium, co-sponsored by Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh, Rodef Shalom Congregation, and the national Reconstructing Judaism.
The March 20 symposium features a keynote address by Rabbi Dr. Deborah Waxman of Reconstructing Judaism, and three local workshops looking at various aspects of the bat mitzvah: the history of bat mitzvah ceremonies in Western Pennsylvania from the Rauh Jewish Archives, an overview of the experience of adult bat mitzvah ceremonies, and the emerging "b'mitzvah" as a non-binary approach to this rite of passage.
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March 27
JGS Pittsburgh Presents: Mona Freedman Morris
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The release of the 1950 Census this year will provide genealogists with an important tool for researching ancestors. In her talk “Getting Ready for the 1950 Census," Morris will provide a hands-on, step-by-step introduction to the 1950 Census. She will include stories about the social and economic changes documented in the decade after the 1940 Census. She will also provide detailed instructions on how to use SteveMorse.org “One-Step” website to find Enumeration Districts and how to use City Directories to find where people lived at the time the census was taken.
This is a virtual program. It will be recorded, and the recording will be made available for JGS-Pittsburgh members who are current on their dues.
This program is possible through the support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation.
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Mona Freedman Morris is an energetic, informative, and inspirational speaker with more than 40 years experience. She is a professional genealogist with memberships in the Association of Professional Genealogists, Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, and Jewish Genealogical Society-NYC. She is the founder and President Emerita of the JGS Palm Beach County, Fl. She has spoken on many genealogical subjects relating, and her reviews have always been outstanding whatever subject she is chosen to speak about. She has appeared in many newspapers and is well known in her field. She is the author of Scattered Seeds: A Guide to Jewish Genealogy.
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March 29
Jewish Exodus from the Hill
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RESCHEDULED FROM MARCH 15
As part of Rodef Shalom Congregation's popular Jewish Pittsburgh History series, Rich Brean will discuss the Jewish outmigration from the Hill District in the mid-20th Century. Brean previously presented a two-part talk on the Jewish history of the neighborhood, told through historic research and personal experience. You can view those presentations here and here.
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Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project |
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The home page of the new Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project website, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University Libraries. The redesigned website is launching this month. |
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By now, you're probably expertly zipping around the new Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project platform. But if you still need a little help navigating the features and tools of the website, the Rauh Jewish Archives recently contributed a brief explanatory article to the Jewish Chronicle. It provides some basic tips and techniques for conducting research using the new site.
We plan to provide a live virtual training workshop in the near future to review the website and its functionalities. Until then, we are here to help you troubleshoot problems. You can contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.
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[IMAGE: Marian Schreiber and employees at the Schreiber Trucking Company, c.1943—from Schreiber Family Papers and Photographs, MSS 846.]
If you like this newsletter, why not forward it to a friend? We want to share the story of Western Pennsylvania Jewish history with as many people as possible.
If you've received this newsletter from a friend or neighbor, and you want to read more, just click on the link below to start receiving future editions.
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The Rauh Jewish Archives was founded on November 1, 1988 to collect, preserve, and make accessible the documentary history of Jews and Jewish communities of Western Pennsylvania. You can help the RJHPA continue its work by making a donation that will directly support the work being done in Western Pa. |
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Plan a Visit
Senator John Heinz History Center
1212 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222
412-454-6000
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A proud affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the Senator John Heinz History Center is the largest history museum in Pennsylvania and presents American history with a Western Pennsylvania connection.
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