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Chag Sameach! Happy Passover from the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives.
Passover is celebrated in the springtime month of Nisan, when we mark one of the four (yes, four) Jewish New Years. It is an occasion for celebrating new beginnings. Passover's central ritual, the Seder, functions as a commemoration and reenactment of Biblical Israelites' enslavement and liberation. It is striking, and deeply Jewish, that a holiday associated with rebirth and renewal should also be so steeped in history and collective memory. There is a wisdom in that pairing that informs our activities at the RJHPA.
We have undergone significant changes during the past several months - even our name has grown by a handful of syllables - and as we grow, we renew our commitment to our mission, our past, and the Western Pennsylvania Jewish experience.
For the occasion of the holiday, the RJHPA has prepared several Passover-themed digital exhibitions and social media offerings. You can check out the blog post "The Heinz Passover Ad Campain't" about the history of kosher food industry and H.J. Heinz's interesting Passover ads, visit our Generation to Generation website's digital exhibit "Passover in Pittsburgh," and view a Passover artifact from the History Center's collection. If you like what you see, pass it along to a friend.
A zisn peysekh - A Sweet Passover, and Beat 'em Bucs,
David Schlitt
Director, Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives
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Exhibitions
Until May 31, 2016, the History Center presents the Toys of the '50s, '60s and '70s exhibition, which showcases many of the nation's most popular toys and demonstrates how these toys reflected three decades of dynamic changes in American life.
In addition to featuring nearly 500 childhood toys and games, Toys of the '50s, '60s and '70s presents the personal perspectives of children, parents, child-rearing experts, inventors, and advertisers that help to place the toys in historical context.
Readers of the RJHPA eNewsletter will be interested to note the many Jewish names among the toymakers featured in the exhibit. Best known may be Ruth and Elliot Handler, creators of Barbie - whom they named after their daughter, Barbara - and the founders of Mattel Toys. But there's also Lionel Weintraub of Ideal Toy Corp., Don Levine, creator of G.I. Joe, Louis Marx & Co., manufacturer of the Big Wheel, Marvin (Goldberg) Glass, founder of toy design studio Marvin Glass and Associates, which employed inventors like A. Eddie Goldfarb, creator of the Yakity-Yak Talking Teeth, and Pittsburgh-born entrepreneur Milt Levine, inventor of Uncle Milton's Ant Farm.
For further discussion: What do you think accounts for the preponderance of Jewish designers, inventors and businesspeople in the toy and novelty industry of the '50s, '60s, and '70s? Send your thoughts and responses to dmschlitt@heinzhistorycenter.org and we may feature them in the next RJHPA eNewsletter.
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Past Programming
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Yoi! Panel, L-R: Bill Hillgrove, Murray Chass, Elizabeth Cope, Joe Gordon, Roy McHugh, Franco Harris, and David Schlitt.
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Yoi! Remembering Myron Cope
On Sunday, Jan. 31, more than 325 people joined New York Times sportswriter Murray Chass, Steelers broadcaster Bill Hillgrove, and a panel featuring Elizabeth Cope, Joe Gordon, Franco Harris, Roy McHugh, and David Schlitt, to honor a true Pittsburgh original, Myron Cope. The program, Yoi! Remembering Myron Cope, hosted by the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives and the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, focused on the lesser-known aspects of the broadcaster's life, including his Jewish identity and early career as a celebrated sportswriter.
Below, find a selection of press coverage for Yoi! Remembering Myron Cope, including a transcript of remarks that Murray Chass has made available on his website.
"'Yoi!' Heinz History Center program to honor Cope," Bob Karlovits, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, January 29, 2016.
"Yoi! History Center Presents A Tribute To Sportscaster Myron Cope," Essential Pittsburgh, WESA 90.5 FM, January 29, 2016.
"Honoring Myron Cope, A Triple Threat," by Murray Chass, January 31, 2016.
"Yoi! Myron Cope remembered at Heinz History Center," Ryan Recker, WTAE Action News 4, January 31, 2016.
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Writer and oral historian Eric Lidji speaking at the
Every Town Had a Community event.
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Every Town Had a Community: Celebrating the Small Towns of Western Pennsylvania
On April 3, the Every Town Had a Community event brought nearly 200 visitors to the History Center, including many hailing from the five towns featured in the program: New Castle, Uniontown, Donora, Farrell and Sharon, and Latrobe. The multimedia program was the culmination of over a year of work by Susan Melnick, Eric Lidji, and others to collect and document the small-town Jewish experience in Western Pennsylvania and launched the new Towns section of the RJHPA's Generation to Generation website.
Below, find a selection of press coverage for Every Town Had a Community:
"Small-town Jewish Life at the History Center," Pittsburgh City Paper, March 30, 2016.
"Exhibition at Heinz History Center celebrates Jewish life in small towns," Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 1, 2016.
"Pittsburgh exhibit to feature New Castle Jewish community," Jessica Shelenberger, New Castle News, April 2, 2016.
"A matter of survival: Every town had a community," Hilary Daninhirsch, Jewish Chronicle, April 14, 2016.
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Collection Highlight
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The Seder Family Passover Seder, 1910. Detre Library & Archives at the Heinz History Center.
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In most of the Jewish world, if you ask someone to describe a Seder you'll get a fairly standard answer. Something like, "A Seder, meaning 'Order,' is an evening filled with symbolic food and drink that's conducted at the beginning of the Passover holiday." If you ask someone with Western Pennsylvania roots to describe a Seder, the answer may be something different altogether:
"Seder? I used to take art lessons there! The Seder Center, that's where I got to study with Samuel Rosenberg."
"I remember Frank & Seder," another might answer. "It was always a special occasion to go there, maybe buy new shoes for the High Holidays."
Or maybe: "Yeah, sure! That big building at the corner of Fifth & Smithfield. What's going to happen with that place, anyway?"
Isaac Seder, an Eastern European Jewish immigrant, opened the Frank & Seder Department Store together with Jacob H. Frank and Bennie Neiman in early 20th century Pittsburgh. After Isaac's sudden death in 1924, his wife Gertrude Friedberg Seder continued his work, especially in the area of philanthropy, when she opened the YM&WHA's Isaac Seder Education Center.
In this image from 1910, the two meanings of Seder collide joyfully at a Seder Family Seder. Gertrude stands at the center of the action as the young matriarch, her husband absent (perhaps Isaac is the photographer). Her expression both mild and confident, Gertrude Friedberg Seder's presence anchors the Passover Seder, foreshadowing the role she would play within the Seder family itself.
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We Want to Hear From You!
If you are considering donating archival material or underwriting our processing and preservation work, if you want to learn more about the work we do, or offer feedback on RJHPA programs or websites, or if you have a response to our Toys exhibit discussion question, we want to hear from you!
And don't forget - we're still looking for a name for the RJHPA eNewsletter! Help us name our publication and you could win a History Center prize package. Successful entries may make reference to Jewish history and culture, Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania, and/or the RJHPA's name. Enter as many times as you like. The winner will be announced in a future edition of the RJHPA eNewsletter.
Send questions, comments, suggestions, and contest entries via email at dmschlitt@heinzhistorycenter.org or call 412-454-6402.
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