Vol. 4

No. 3

The October 27 Archive

Restaurants:

Canter's Restaurant

Agudus Achim Congregation at Western State Penitentiary

"An early history of Jewish Pittsburgh, and a hidden one"

Calendar: JGS-Pittsburgh Presents: Judy Russell

The October 27 Archive

Screenshot of the home page of the October 27 Archive website, showing pair of hands holding stones decorated with messages of hope and comfort. Photograph by Brian Cohen.

The attack on October 27, 2018 was a fixed event, with a beginning and an end. Its aftermath will continue forever. In the past four and a half years, the aftermath has already unfolded in so many varied and personal ways.

There have been silent meditations entirely in the minds of individuals. There have been correspondences between confidants. There have been intimate gatherings held within the safety of community. There have been public conversations about the future of America and its Jewish community. As with all of life, many of these moments passed without any documentation.

But some left a trace.

Within a day of the October 27 attack, the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center began collecting these traces in real time, as they were being created at vigils, memorials, and community meetings throughout Western Pennsylvania and all over the world. The Rauh Jewish Archives has since gathered more than 10,000 objects—flyers, programs, bulletins, speeches, reports, signs, posters, news reports, emails, text messages, recordings, photographs, artifacts, oral histories, web pages, and social media posts.

To make these more accessible to the local community and to people all over the world, we have launched a new website called The October 27 Archive.

Example of archival objects presented on The October 27 Archive website. Screenshot of browser window showing program from "AME Church Unity Prayer Service."

The October 27 Archive currently contains 150 objects. There are programs from community gatherings held in the first year following the attack, a comprehensive collection of local media articles from the day of the attack, and historic documentation about the three congregations impacted directly by the attack. The website also includes the first 20 recordings from the Meanings of October 27th Oral History Project. As we catalogue and digitize more of the collection in the months and years to come, we will greatly expand the website. We will announce updates perennially in this newsletter.  

The October 27 Archive was created by staff and volunteers of the Rauh Jewish Archives, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, using funds from the federal Antiterrorism Emergency Assistance Program, as well as support from local foundations and private individuals. 

As this new initiative begins, we want to remember the 11 people who were killed in the attack—Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger. They were cherished as family and friends, as pillars of Tree of Life Congregation, New Light Congregation, and Congregation Dor Hadash, and as contributors to many communities throughout Western Pennsylvania and beyond our region.

Restaurants:

Canter's Restaurant

1200 block Fifth Avenue, looking northeast and showing several local businesses including the Sam Canter's delicatessen (far left) and the Dispatch, June 20, 1911.

—from Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, University of Pittsburgh Archives & Special Collections [715.112080.CP] (online—Historic Pittsburgh)

The Little Hungarian Restaurant ended its 16-year run in Squirrel Hill in late January 1956, when a fire destroyed the southeast corner of Murray and Bartlett. Within a month, Little Hungarian Restaurant proprietors Alex and Ethel Stark announced an affiliation with Canter’s Restaurant in Oakland.  

By then, Canter’s was already a local institution with a half-century of history. Sam Canter had immigrated to the United States from Romania as a teenager around 1901. He soon went into the restaurant business, forming a partnership called Wolfson & Canter. (This was the same Wolfson who later owned 1347 Fifth Avenue, which was an early home to the Starks and the Ungars, as mentioned last week.) Canter went independent around 1906. He ran the White Front Restaurant and Cafe at 1314 Fifth Avenue from 1906-1910 and then he ran Canter’s Restaurant at 1229 Fifth Avenue from 1911-1921. 

Advertisements for a production of "God of Vengeance" at the Schenley Theater, 1920.

—(left) Jewish Criterion, Dec. 17, 1920 [Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project]; (right) Der Volksfreund, Dec. 17, 1920 (University of Pittsburgh Archives & Special Collections)

In addition to being a restaurateur, Canter was a leading promoter of Yiddish theater in the city. He brought Rudolph Schildkraut to Pittsburgh in 1920 for a production of Sholem Asch’s “God of Vengeance” at the Schenley Theater. This was three years before the infamous New York City production that lead to an obscenity trial. Canter typically sold tickets to his productions at his restaurant. Throughout the 1920s, Canter’s Restaurant was located at 624 Penn Avenue downtown, next to the new Penn Theater (now Heinz Hall).

Advertisement for Canter's Restaruant with photograph of Jack Canter.

—Y Weekly, Dec. 30, 1955 [Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project]

Canter’s Restaurant relocated to Atwood Street in Oakland in the 1930s. Sam Canter died in 1937, and the business went to his son Jack E. Canter. He expanded the restaurant several times, eventually occupying 209-213 Atwood Street. He died in 1972, and the restaurant closed around 1974 or 1975.

All this history comes from city directories and newspaper advertisements. We have found very little documentation of the menu of Canter’s Restaurant, from either its the Uptown or downtown locations. Slightly more exists for the Oakland location, in the form of advertisements and a later restaurant review.

Throughout its decades in Oakland, Canter’s regularly and joyfully touted the Jewish character of its menu and often punctuated its advertisements with Yiddish expression like “tahm” and “geshmak.” Over time, though, its menu gradually expanded to include contemporary American fare.

One of the most detailed accounts of the restaurant’s offerings comes from a review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1971, a few years before Canter’s closed. Alongside traditional Jewish and Eastern European dishes like kishke, potato kugel, calves' tongue, gefilte fish with horseradish, and multiple varieties of herring, the review also mentions American bar-and-grill cuisine such as broiled steak, cheesecake, and explicitly non-kosher items like lobster tail.

Canter's Restaurant advertisement, touting "real Honest-To-Goodness Jewish cooking just like you remember."

—Jewish Chronicle, July 27, 1972 [Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project]

Do you remember Canter's in Oakland, or perhaps even its earlier locations downtown and Uptown? What was the atmosphere? What was the best dish?

Next week: What happened to 1229 Fifth Ave. after Canter's?

All year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting Jewish restaurants in Western Pennsylvania. If you would like to donate a material from a Jewish restaurant, or just reminisce, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.

Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania:

Agudus Achim Congregation at Western State Penitentiary

Program for dedication of Jewish chapel at Western State Penitentiary.

—Jewish Criterion, Dec. 5, 1924 [Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project]

There were at least three congregations in Pittsburgh named Agudath Achim, and more in nearby small towns. The first was a Russian congregation formed downtown in 1890. The second was established in Herron Hill in 1922. The third was Agudus Achim Congregation, created for Jewish men incarcerated at Western State Penitentiary in the Woods Run section of Pittsburgh.

Basic details about this Agudus Achim Congregation are hard to find until December 1924, when the Penal Committee of B’nai B’rith Pittsburgh Lodge No. 44 dedicated a chapel for the congregation and donated a Torah scroll and other synagogue furnishings. The chapel was located on the second floor of the rotunda of Western State Penitentiary, in a room previously used for board meetings. Our entry for Agudus Achim Congregation includes a selection of four newspaper articles about the chapel dedication. Of particular interest is an article by famed lawyer and handwriting analyst Maurice Nernberg, who spent Yom Kippur with Agudus Achim Congregation in 1924.

An early history of Jewish Pittsburgh, and a hidden one

Advertisement for the Jewish Encyclopedia.

—Jewish Criterion, Jan. 19, 1906 [Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project]

The original Jewish Encyclopedia from 1906 contains two histories of the Jewish community of western Pennsylvania. One is what you would expect. The other is a kaleidoscopic snapshot of Jewish life across this region at the precipice of change.

The first can found in Volume 10, on page 63, under the H-less listing “Pittsburg.” It is credited to Dr. J. Leonard Levy of Rodef Shalom Congregation and Dr. Cyrus Adler of the American Jewish Historical Society. They begin with a disheartening caveat: “There are no reliable records of the beginnings of the Jewish community.”

The rest of the story comes at the end of the encyclopedia...

January 29:

JGS-Pittsburgh Presents: Judy G. Russell

Genealogy by its very nature is collaborative. We need to work together and share information with others, both relatives and non-relatives if we’re to succeed in filling out our family trees. But doing family research doesn’t mean giving up all semblances of personal privacy, nor is it a license to invade the privacy of others-family or not. All researchers need to follow the rules, both legal and ethical, when we share genealogical information. In her talk, "Share and Share Alike: The Rules of Genealogical Privacy," Judy G. Russell will provide legal and ethical guidelines for seeking genealogical information.

The program is Sunday, Jan. 29 from 1-2:30 p.m. ET It's free for JGS-Pittsburgh members and $5 for the general public. Please register online. 

All attendees are encouraged to log on 30 minutes early for a virtual open house. It’s an opportunity to share genealogy stories and make new friends.

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.

Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist®, is a genealogist with a law degree who provides expert guidance through the murky territory where law and family history intersect. An internationally known lecturer and award-winning writer, she holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical Lecturer℠ from the Board for Certification of Genealogists®.

Her blog is at www.legalgenealogist.com.

Research Tools

The Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project contains digitized, searchable copies of four local English-language Jewish newspapers: the Jewish Criterion (1895-1962), the American Jewish Outlook (1934-1962), the Jewish Chronicle (1962-2010), and the Y Weekly (1926-1976). It is a valuable tool for researching almost any topic about Jewish history in Western Pennsylvania.

For a primer on using the website, view the video below.

Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project

The Rauh Jewish Archives launched the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project in 1998. The goal was to create a comprehensive collection of burial records from Jewish cemeteries across the region. Volunteers walked through cemeteries, writing down the names and dates inscribed on gravestones. Over a period of fifteen years, the information was compiled into a database of approximately 50,000 burial records from 78 Jewish cemeteries.

Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques Project

The Rauh Jewish Archives launched the Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques Project in 2020. The goal was to create a comprehensive collection of burial records from memorial boards at synagogues across the region. Volunteers are currently transcribing these boards and records are being added monthly to our online database. The database currently contains almost 400 listings.

Rauh Jewish Archives Bibliography

University of Pittsburgh librarian and Rauh Jewish Archives volunteer Laurie Cohen created this comprehensive bibliography of the Rauh Jewish Archives library holdings from 1988 through 2018. It lists nearly 350 volumes arranged by type and then by subject. This a great tool to use early in your research process, as you’re surveying available resources on a given subject.