Why clubs matter
The oldest Jewish building
in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Jewish Newspapers
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The Titans
—from Y Weekly, January 4, 1963
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All year we’ve been looking at Jewish club life in Western Pennsylvania.
We’ve looked at youth and adult clubs, athletic, dramatic and debating clubs, family, garden and political clubs, city clubs and country clubs, clubs that lasted for decades and clubs that dwindled to obscurity after a few years.
The era of Jewish clubs in Western Pennsylvania lasted about six decades. It began in the 1910s and started evolving into something else in the 1970s. All segments of the Jewish community participated in it: old and young, women and men, religious and secular, community leaders and everyday folks.
This year, we profiled about 50 of these clubs. But we found literally hundreds of them. We intend to keep studying this rich subject for many years to come.
For now, here are four reflections:
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(Above) Aaronian Mothers and Sons, 1941
—from Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Photographs, MSP 389
(Below) Aaronians in the 1970s
—courtesy Renee Abrams
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One, clubs brought people together in common cause. It could be any cause: gardening, politics, sports, family ties, or childhood friendships.
But an intense feeling of belonging is why clubs were so beloved by their members and why some clubs continued to meet for decades.
The boys in the Aaronians (seen here) started getting together in high school. Their wives and girlfriends kept the club going during World War II. After the war, all the husbands and wives remained close friends their entire lives, as did many of their kids.
It is probably no coincidence that the club era thrived at a time when Jews were actively excluded from many parts of society: from institutions like the Duquesne Club and from certain universities and some professions.
Clubs were a way for Jews to remind themselves that they mattered and belonged. And while Jewish clubs dwindled in popularity for many reasons, it’s notable that the decline started as some of society's long-closed doors began opening for Jews.
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Two, that deep sense of belonging can also create an air of exclusivity.
For many people, clubs were the best part of growing up in Squirrel Hill and the East End during the 1950s and 1960s. Clubs created lifelong bonds. If you know where to look today, you can see the benefits of those bonds all over the local Jewish community.
But you can also find pain. Many decades later, there are those who harbor resentments over the way clubs chose members, leaving some kids feeling left out and friendless.
Certain adult clubs fostered a similar dynamic. The Mercantile Club was created in direct response to the Concordia Club freezing its membership rolls in the early 1920s. It's generally thought that the freeze had to do with divides between the German and Eastern European wings of the Jewish community at that time.
Figuring out how to have it both ways—how to foster strong bonds without causing harm, how to define a group without exclusion—is a never-ending challenge for all communities.
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(Above) A four-man singing group from the Sigma Kappa fraternity performing at a Y-IKC singing event in the late 1950s
—from Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Photographs, MSP 389
(Below) The Mercantile Club
—from Jewish Criterion, May 11, 1928
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(Above) Gavel used during meetings of the Spiegel Cousins Club, undated.
—from Paula Sittsamer Reimer Papers and Photographs [2021.0003]
(Below) Cake from Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Club picnic, 1992.
—from Z.L. and Dora Weiss Family Papers and Photographs (2018.0072)
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Three, clubs have formalities.
That’s the difference between a group of people getting together as a club and that same group of people getting together outside of a club.
Those formalities include drafting bylaws, holding meetings and taking minutes, electing officers, initiating members, collecting dues, renting venues, organizing events, submitting publicity notices to local newspapers, and making newsletters for members.
Why bother?
What’s the difference between a bunch of teens hanging out together and a youth club meeting at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House?
What’s the difference between a big family supper at bubbe and zayde’s house and a family club holding its “annual dinner” at the Holiday House?
When used thoughtfully, by people who appreciate them, those formalities can make relationships look as important as they feel. In making those feelings explicit, clubs can encourage a sense of responsibility to a common cause.
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Four, clubs were training grounds.
The Jewish kids who ran youth clubs in the 1920s and 1930s brought those skills to larger organizations in the 1940s and 1950s. Whether they realized it or not, many Jewish kids in this region arrived at adulthood knowing more or less how to run a meeting, how to host an event, and how to share information with the people who cared to know it.
Without the clubs, those things still happened. Some people are just naturally good at organizing groups of people. But the club era fostered a culture of participation and set a high baseline for certain communal skills. Every Jewish organization in the region benefitted to some degree.
Communal skill building still exists today, without the club system. It’s just less formal and less widespread.
It remains to be seen whether that matters. Perhaps a new system is better suited to the attitudes of a new generation. Or perhaps something fundamental is being forgotten.
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(Top) Bill Clovsky, Ed Davidson, Eddie Lauten, Bill Shapiro, Marshall Shorin, Mark Schwartz, Aaron Caplan, Jerry Silvers, Jack Davis, Zane Hepner, Arnold Young, and Sheldon Canter.
—from Y Weekly, March 8, 1963.
(Bottom) Sumer Somerman Club scrapbook.
—from Sumer Somerman Club Scrapbook, MFF 261.
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All this year, the Rauh Jewish Archives highlighted 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.
Next week: We announce the 2022 community collecting theme.
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The oldest Jewish building in Pittsburgh |
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Shaaray Tefillah synagogue, undated
—from Gerald Sapir Photographs [MSS 775]
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What is the oldest surviving Jewish building in Pittsburgh proper?
Existing records suggest it's this former synagogue on Miller Street in the Hill District, built 1905.
Let's go inside, and learn its secrets: the name it never used, the hidden mural in its balcony, the tragedy in its past, the mystery in its cornerstone.
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Help the 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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The Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project is likely the most widely used resource for conducting research about Jewish history in this region.
Launched in 2007, and expanded over a period of years, it now includes digital reproductions of four English-language Jewish newspapers—The Jewish Criterion, The American Jewish Outlook, the Jewish Chronicle, and the Y Weekly. These searchable issues begin in 1895 and continue through 2010, creating an invaluable tool for studying Jewish history and Jewish genealogy.
Carnegie Mellon University Libraries created the website, using materials and resources from the Rauh Jewish Archives, Rodef Shalom Congregation, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.
CMU recently moved the Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project to a different online platform. As with any change, this one will require people to learn a new system: the site will look a little different and will act a little different than the one we have all become accustomed to using for many years.
The new system will be an improvement in some ways. But as with any change, it will also create new quirks and shortcomings to navigate.
At this early stage in the transition, CMU is asking for help. They want you to try out the new site and to let them know what you think about it.
These transitions can be exciting, and they can also be frustrating. The Rauh Jewish Archives is currently learning the new system, in order to help researchers make the switch over the coming months. We are always available to help you troubleshoot problems, and we hope to provide training workshops in the near future. 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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