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The Charles I. Aaron Club
Here the members of the Charles I. Aaron Club are about to have their graduation banquet at the Morrowfield Hotel on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill.

It is the only surviving image of the club, and also the last known piece of documentation about the club. After 1929, its affairs become a mystery.

[IMAGE: Charles I. Aaron Club graduation banquet, 1929 (PFF 0034)]
The Charles I. Aaron Club was formed in 1921 by teenage boys at the Hebrew Institute. The Hebrew Institute had been established in the Hill District five years earlier. It was the first community-wide Jewish educational center in Pittsburgh.

The leaders of the Hebrew Institute encouraged its students to form clubs. Through these clubs, students learned leadership and organizational skills and fostered communal pride.

Charles I. Aaron was an active director of the Hebrew Institute in its early years and a son of its leading financial benefactor, Louis I. Aaron.

[IMAGE: Charles I. Aaron portrait, from "Notable Men of Pittsburgh and Vicinity," 1901]
The Charles I. Aaron Club was a literary, dramatic, and athletic club.

Some 1,200 people attended its Chanukah play in 1921, and several hundred were turned away at the door, according to the Jewish Criterion. The Club followed that success with a Passover play and then with a Shavuout play in early 1922.

"The Dreamer" was a benefit performance held in May 1924. The Club was raising funds to start a summer camp in Ligonier.

[IMAGE: Jewish Criterion, April 28, 1924, page 29.]
The Charles I. Aaron Club was instrumental in starting a Jewish debating league in Pittsburgh in early 1924. Like social dances and basketball games, the league was one way that various Jewish youth clubs could interact.

A debate between the Charles I. Aaron Club and the Hilary Club on Jan. 5, 1927 was a big event in the world of Jewish youth activities. It was touted in local newspapers for weeks beforehand. The two clubs debated the question: "Resolved, That the United States Should Cancel the French War Debt Immediately." The Charles I. Aaron Club won, arguing in the affirmative.

[IMAGE: Jewish Criterion, April 4, 1924, page 34.]

In the next issue of the newsletter, we'll look at another club sponsored by the Hebrew Institute in the early 1920s: the legendary Enoch Rauh Club.
Throughout this year, the Rauh Jewish Archives will be highlighting stories of Jewish club life in Western Pennsylvania. If you would like to donate records of a local Jewish club, please contact the archive or call 412-454-6406. 
PHMC approves Pauline Hanauer Rosenberg Monument
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission recently unveiled a monument to Pauline Hanauer Rosenberg outside her former home on the North Side.

The effort to honor the Jewish social worker was led by Preservation Pittsburgh President Matthew Falcone, who currently occupies the home.

Among her many accomplishments, Rosenberg was a founder of the National Council of Jewish Women.

We congratulation Falcone on his advocacy and thank the PHMC for recognizing this local Jewish legend.

[IMAGE: Pauline Hanauer Rosenberg portrait, 1904, (Corinne Azen Krause Photographs, MSP 113)]
The Rauh Jewish History Program & 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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Senator John Heinz History Center
1212 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, Pa. 15222
412-454-6000
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.