In this issue...
Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Club
The Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Club
(Left) Dora and Z.L. Weiss
(Right) Invitation to Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Club picnic, 1992.
—from Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Papers and Photographs (2018.0072)
Dora Friedman (1890-1970) immigrated to McKeesport, Pa. from her native Kishnitza, Hungary by way of South Bend, Indiana and New York City. In 1907, she married Zelman Louis “Z. L.” Weiss (1883-1970), who had immigrated to McKeesport from Holmein, Hungary and ran a Pennzoil service station.

Z.L. and Dora Weiss had 14 children, all but one of which survived to adulthood. Those children and their descendants started the Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Club as early as 1956. The club held meetings, collected dues, organized anniversary parties and reunions, and oversaw the collection and dissemination of genealogical information about the Weiss family.

The Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Papers and Photographs (2018.0072) include minutes, financial records, and information about reunions in 1982 and 1992.
(Above) Cake from Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Club picnic, 1992.
(Below) "Inscription" for Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Club time capsule, written on letterhead from the Third Avenue Service Station, where Z.L. Weiss worked, 1992
—from Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Papers and Photographs (2018.0072)
As part of the 1992 reunion, the club created a time capsule. Housed inside a small Tuperware container, it contained correspondence pertaining to the event, photographs of family members, and a comprehensive genealogical overview of the family.

There are numbers written on the backs of these photographs. They refer to a system used by the club to mark the expansion of its ranks.

As explained by an accompanying genealogical chart, Z. L. and Dora were both number "0." The numbering continued with more than 100 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. You can watch interviews with some of those descendants in Sam Zolten's Missing McKeesport oral histories.

All this year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting stories of Jewish club life in Western Pennsylvania. If you would like to donate records of a local Jewish club, or just chat about clubs, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.
Tell your friends!
[IMAGE: Marian Schreiber and employees at the Schreiber Trucking Company, c.1943—from Schreiber Family Papers and Photographs, MSS 846.]

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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.