Memoirs: Mel Pollock
Tri-State Appeal program
United Hebrew Relief Association
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Memoirs:
Melvin Pollock: "Could You Believe"
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Samuel Pollock (center, in bow tie) and his wife Lena Hollander Pollock (center back) with their children, Arthur (standing, front) and Melvin (in the arms of his grandfather Jacob Hollander) and store employees in front of Pollock’s Department Store, c. 1915.
—Pollock Family Papers [MSS 1031]
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The title of Mel Pollock’s memoir “Could You Believe” sounds like a question, but it has no question mark. It’s not a question. It’s a statement of disbelief.
It’s a statement Mel associates with his father and uncles. They came to Western Pennsylvania from Europe in the early 20th century and were perpetually amazed at America’s opportunities. His father Samuel bought a brass bed, and he said, “Could you believe.” His uncle Ben installed a giant sign on his Manhattan shoe store, and he said, “Could you believe.”
“In retrospect, I can understand my Father’s behavior as he reached goals in life,” Mel wrote in his 14-page memoir, from 2001. “He went to the barbershop for a hot towel and a shave every day and took extra time to nap there. That seemed like a foolish waste of money to me but I understand now that this was a status that he reached here in America. Could you believe?”
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Samuel Pollock and Lena G. Hollander marriage certificate, 1914.
—Pollock Family Papers [MSS 1031]
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Samuel Pollock grew up in a shtetl on the border of Russia and Poland. The town had “no running water, no toilet facilities and little to no heat and sparse amounts of food,” Mel writes. “What they did have a lot of besides poverty was quite a bit of harassment from Cossacks in the frequent pogroms.”
Samuel was jailed for hanging around with Communists, but he escaped. He made it to the United States in 1907 and tracked down a landsmen who owned a store in tiny Irvona, Pa. One day, on a buying trip to Altoona, Samuel Pollock met his future wife Lena Hollander. She was a bookkeeper for one of the big wholesalers in town. As a wedding gift, the wholesaler gave the couple $500 in credit and a tip about a vacant storefront in nearby Gallitzin, Pa.—a mining town with a few thousand people and barely enough Jews for a minyan.
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Promotional tape used to close packages at Pollock's Department Store. Text reads, "I came from Pollock's. Have you been there? Gallitzin, Pa." in four fonts.
—Pollock Family Papers [MSS 1031]
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They opened Pollock’s Department Store, which sold “Everything to Wear for Men, Women and Children.” They immediately began bringing over family.
Within 15 years, they were able to buy the three-story Weston’s Department Store. “In my mind it was like buying the Macy’s of Gallitzin,” Mel writes.
He continues: “That was quite the thrill for me at about age 14 or 15 to have my father hand me the keys to the padlocked mammoth building and tell me to go in and look around all by myself and see what I thought. This was a great day for a family show of affection. The building went from Main Street to Jackson Street in the back and was three stories high. It had a grocery department that I headed to first. I remember opening those Oneida Biscuit boxes with the glass lids and ate a sample of each cookie out of every box. My father’s intention was to give me a taste of retailing not knowing where my tastes really were… I guess that was my own first ‘could you believe.’”
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Next week: Another childhood in small-town Pennsylvania
All year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting memoirs of Jewish life in Western Pennsylvania. If you would like to donate a memoir, or just chat about the stories you've read, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.
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New Collection:
Tri-State Appeal program (1957) [2020.0108]
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Tri-State UJA program [2020.0108] |
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Paul Shapiro recently donated this program from a Tri-State United Jewish Appeal banquet held at the Penn-Sheraton Hotel in 1957.
The cover of the program features signatures from two guests that evening: Pittsburgh Mayor David L. Lawrence and Lord Mayor of Dublin the Right Honorable Robert Briscoe.
Briscoe was an Irish war hero and the first Jewish mayor of Dublin. (Technical point: a Jewish politician named Lewis Wormser Harris had been elected in 1876 but died before taking office.) Briscoe's appearance at the banquet capped a weekend of activities around Jewish Pittsburgh.
The evening also featured a celebration of the ninth anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel.
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Mayor David L. Lawrence, Louis Caplan, Lord Mayor of Dublin the Right Honorable Robert Briscoe, Judge Samuel A Weiss and others at a United Jewish Appeal banquet in April 1957 marking the ninth anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.
—Corinne Azen Krause Photographs [MSP 113]
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Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania:
United Hebrew Relief Association
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"Minute Book of the United Hebrew Relief Association of Allegheny County," 1880.
—Aaron Family Papers [MSS 248]
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The United Hebrew Relief Association was created in 1880 through the merger of the Hebrew Benevolent Society and the Hebrew Ladies Aid Society. It initially addressed individual cases within the Jewish community and contributed funds and resources to communal causes throughout Allegheny County. The United Hebrew Relief Association changed its name in 1927 to the Jewish Family Welfare Association, to reflect its move toward expanded social service activities. Through a subsequent merger in 1936 with other agencies, it became Jewish Family and Children’s Services, now JFCS Pittsburgh.
Our entry for the United Hebrew Relief Association includes its minute book from 1880, a copy of its 1915 newsletter, a 1916 report on housing conditions in the Hill District, and a profile of the organization as it looked in 1933.
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The Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania brings together numerous online resources into a clearinghouse for conducting research about Jewish history in this region. As we migrate information to this new website, we’ll be announcing new entries and resources in this section of the newsletter. |
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Emanuel Spector standing on Fifth Avenue, where he ran a wholesaling house, 1941.
—Spector Family Photographs [MSP 431]
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The Emanuel Spector Memorial Award is the most prestigious honor in the local Jewish community.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh bestows it each year as something of a lifetime achievement award for volunteer service.
The measure of any memorial is whether it outlasts everyone who knew the thing first hand.
Emanuel Spector died unexpectedly 70 years ago this month, setting in motion an urgent and diverse effort to honor his legacy of community work. There are still a few people who knew him. When they go, will he become just a name?
Who was Emanuel Spector?
How did his award come to be? And why has it remained so prestigious for such a long time?
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Research Tool:
Emanuel Spector Memorial Award winners
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To accompany our new article on the Emanuel Spector Memorial Award, we’ve compiled a list of all the past winners, going back to 1954.
The Rauh Jewish Archives is fortunate to hold the personal and professional papers of almost half of the previous winners of the award. These papers document the creation of committed volunteers: how personal experience, family tradition, and communal values lead people toward service.
Our database includes links to more than 20 biographical exhibits about these winners and their families with more currently being produced.
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Emanuel Spector Memorial Award brochure.
—Spector Family Papers [MSS 431]
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—United Jewish Federation Photographs [MSP 287] |
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On the backs of the photographs is the name of the photographer (Michael Friedlander) and also the year the photographs were taken (1986)—but nothing about the identity of the children or the reason for the photographs.
Seen in this photograph here are four smiling young women, clutched in a group hug. Two of them are wearing matching Bageland t-shirts.
Do you recognize anyone? Do you have one of these Bageland t-shirts?
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March 15:
Jewish Exodus from the Hill
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As part of Rodef Shalom Congregation's popular Jewish Pittsburgh History series, Rich Brean will discuss the Jewish outmigration from the Hill District in the mid-20th Century. Brean previously presented a two-part talk on the Jewish history of the neighborhood, told through historic research and personal experience. You can view those presentations here and here.
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Jewish Women's Archive: Lillian Simon Freehof |
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Lillian Simon Freehof, undated.
—Rodef Shalom Congregation Archives
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The national Jewish Women's Archives has published a new biography of Lillian Simon Freehof, written by Rodef Shalom Congregation Archivist Martha Berg.
The wife of Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof, Lillian Simon Freehof developed a multifaceted career of her own. She was an important rebbetzin and became a successful author, advocate, and Jewish community service leader. Among her many accomplishments, she led the women of her congregation and the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods (now WRJ) in developing Braille transcription services for adults with blindness and visual impairments.
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Dor Hadash calling for Bat Mitzvah photographs |
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Congregation Dor Hadash is asking the community for photographs of bat mitzvah celebrations past and present. The materials will be used as part of an upcoming celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first bat mitzvah in 1922.
The centennial weekend on March 19-20 will include speakers, workshops, and chances for people to share their personal experiences. To contribute or to learn more, contact the congregation at batmitzvah100@dorhadash.net.
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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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By now, you're probably expertly zipping around the new Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project platform. But if you still need a little help navigating the features and tools of the website, the Rauh Jewish Archives recently contributed a brief explanatory article to the Jewish Chronicle. It provides some basic tips and techniques for conducting research using the new site.
We plan to provide a live virtual training workshop in the near future to review the website and its functionalities. Until then, we are here to help you troubleshoot problems. 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.]
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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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