August 13, 2023

Vol. 4, No. 33

Restaurants:

Shale's Cafe

Small Towns:

The Krautwirth Collection

Database Updates:

Yahrzeit Plaques

Synagogue Locations

Calendar:

ENDS TODAY: Green Book

Aug. 20: JGS Pittsburgh: Tyler Stump

Community:

SHHS archives

"How We Got Here"

JCBA "Road-Trip"

Mystery portraits

Research Tools:

Newspapers, Cemeteries,

Memorial Plaques, Books,

Population Figures, Synagogues, Newsletter Archive

Restaurants:

Shale's Cafe

Screen capture of Google Street View images of 1208 Fifth Ave., Nov. 2020

For most of the 20th century, the eight blocks of Uptown between Fifth Avenue High School and the Allegheny County Courthouse were a mercantile district populated by hundreds of Jewish wholesalers, clerks, workers, and customers.

And they all needed lunch.

From the teens through the 1950s, the Avenue had some of the most beloved Jewish-owned restaurants in the city, including Al Rice’s, Bubbles & Sherman, Caplan’s, Goldstein's, Reichbaum’s, Richest’s, Weinstein's, and others.

The old world of the Avenue is gone, but faint remnants persist.

There are still a few Jewish-owned mercantile businesses, like National Fabric Co. If you walk down Watson Street, the alley behind Fifth Avenue, you can see handpainted signs for old wholesalers, like Oscar Robbins and Jacob Ash. 

There is also one small vestige of the old culture of Jewish restaurants. 

Advertisement for Shale's Cafe at 1208 Fifth Ave., Feb. 4, 1944.



—from Jewish Criterion

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

At 1208 Fifth Ave. is home to an old Pittsburgh bar called Shale’s Café. It’s the building with Kyle Holbrook’s giant Uptown-themed mural covering one side. The name “Shale’s” reflects a little piece of Jewish history, hiding in plain sight. 

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, 1208 Fifth Ave. was the Fifth Avenue Rail. The owners were Italian, and the menu included spaghetti and ravioli.

Saul Zarkin took over around 1935 and opened Saul’s Café. Zarkin was known as “Shale,” likely a Yiddish inflection on his Hebrew name “Shaul.” He started referring to the restaurant as Shale’s Café in advertisements as early as 1944. 

That year or the following year, Dave Casper and Morris Roth took over. They kept the name and operated Shale's into the late 1970s or early 1980s. It remains open today, benefiting from its proximity to PPG Paints Arena.

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.

Small Town Jewish History Project:

The Krautwirth Collection

Color photograph of the former Sons of Israel Congregation synagogue

in Philipsburg, Pa, June 27, 2002.

—from Rabbi Dovid Krautwirth Collection [2023.0071]

Rabbi Dovid Krautwirth is a sofer (scribe) who regularly travels across the country. Over the years, he has located and documented many former synagogues in small towns, including many throughout Western Pennsylvania.

Earlier this year, Rabbi Krautwirth donated a collection of Western Pennsylvania synagogue photographs to the Rauh Jewish Archives. Some of his photographs are the only images in the archive of particular synagogues. Others show synagogues in earlier and better condition than existing photographs in the archive. We’ve added a collection of these images to the Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania, as well as to relevant entries throughout the website.

Databases:

Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques Project

Western Pennsylvania Synagogues Project

The Western Pennsylvania Yahrzeit Plaques database now contains 2,596 records from 11 institutions.

We recently added 392 plaques from five memorial boards from Temple Beth El in Bradford, Pa. The update includes plaques from Temple Beth El, as well as from its two predecessor congregations: Temple Beth Zion and Congregation Beth Israel. Rauh Jewish Archives volunteer Christine Dietrick transcribed the plaques. 

Color photograph of memorial board from Congregation Beth Israel in Bradford, Pa., currently in Temple Beth El in Bradford.

We are actively transcribing yahrzeit plaques from congregations throughout the region. Each month, we’ll use this space in the newsletter to report on additions to the database. We are currently working through a backlog of nearly 20,000 individual records. The more help we have, the quicker we’ll go. 

We’re currently looking for one or two volunteers who can read and transcribe Hebrew names and Hebrew dates. Work can be completed remotely or in-person at the Archive. To volunteer, email us or call 412-454-6406.

Screen capture from the Western Pennsylvania Synagogue Project,

showing listings for Beit Or Congregation.

The Western Pennsylvania Synagogue Database now includes 61 listings from 19 congregations in 14 different parts of the Greater Pittsburgh area.

Recent additions include the Baal Shem Tov Shul, Beit Or Congregation, Bet Tikvah Congregation, Beth Abraham Congregation, and Beth El Congregation.

LAST DAY

The Negro Motorist Green Book

“The Negro Motorist Green Book” was a travel guide listing restaurants, gas stations, department stores, and other businesses that welcomed Black travelers. In an era of Jim Crow laws and “sundown towns,” the Green Book offered critical, life-saving information and sanctuary for Black individuals and families traveling the country. Harlem postman Victor Green started the publication in 1936, based in part on a similar volume published in Yiddish for Jewish travelers. The Green Book continued annually through 1967.

The new exhibit “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” on display in the McGuinn Gallery of the Heinz History Center through TODAY, tells the story of this landmark publication and its impact on the nation’s rising Black middle class in the middle 20th century. The exhibit also reveals the world of the Green Book in Pittsburgh with artifacts from hotels, jazz clubs, restaurants, and more than 30 local businesses listed in the Green Book, including the Terrace Hall Hotel, Harlem Casino Dance Hall, and Palace Hotel. The exhibit features images from the Melvin Seidenberg Photographs at the Rauh Jewish Archives and the Charles “Teenie” Harris Archive at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

August 20:

JGS-Pittsburgh presents:

"Researching Institutionalized Family Members

at the Pennsylvania State Archives"

with Tyler Stump

Color photograph of archivist Tyler Stump discussing a document with a patron.

Since the early 19th century, Pennsylvania has operated nearly 50 different state institutions for people with intellectual and mental disabilities. Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians lived in these institutions. Today, the Pennsylvania State Archives holds the historical records created by these institutions, which are invaluable resources for researchers and genealogists.

Join archivist Tyler Stump to explore this important part of Pennsylvania’s history and to learn about the information in the archives’ collections.

The program is Sunday, Aug. 20, from 1-3 p.m. at the Library & Archives reading room on the sixth floor of the Heinz History Center with a virtual option for those who wish to attend remotely. The program will be recorded, and the recording will be made available to current JGS-Pittsburgh members.

"Researching Institutionalized Family Members at the Pennsylvania State Archives" is a collaboration between the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh and the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center.

Please register online. This program is free for JGS-Pittsburgh members and $5 for the general public. To become a member of the JGS-Pittsburgh and to receive a free membership code for this program, please visit its website.

This program is possible through the support of the William M. Lowenstein Genealogical Research Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation.

Tyler Stump has been an archivist at the Pennsylvania State Archives since 2016. He helps collect and preserve records from state-run institutions such as asylums, prisons, and hospitals as well as many other government offices around the state. Tyler has degrees in history and library science from the University of Maryland. Though he grew up in Baltimore, Tyler has deep roots in Pennsylvania, mostly around York County, that go back to the 18th century. He currently lives in Camp Hill, PA, with his wife Andra who is also an archivist.

Community

Squirrel Hill Historical Society Archives

Squirrel Hill Historical Society has added a collection of 60 historic images of Squirrel Hill to the Historic Pittsburgh website. The collection contains selected images from three organizations: the Squirrel Hill Historical Society, Squirrel Hill Urban  Coalition, and Mary S. Brown Memorial-Ames United Methodist Church. The photographs document many aspects of life in Squirrel Hill, including many beloved businesses from the 1990s that no longer exist.

From the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh

"How We Got Here"

Each family is unique. 

Each family has its own traditions, its own spirit, and its own dynamics. 

Despite all these differences, every Jewish family in Western Pennsylvania has at least one thing in common: They all have a story about how they got here.

Perhaps your family sailed in steerage across the Atlanti in the 19th century.

Or perhaps your family drove the Pennsylvania Turnpike in a station wagon in the 1960s to work for the universities and hospitals during Renaissance.

Or perhaps your arrival into one of the many Jewish communities of Western Pennsylvania involves marriage, or conversion, or a surprising DNA discovery.

Each of these stories is special, and each contributes to the larger story of our community. To collect and honor these origin stories, the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh is launching a new initiative called “How We Got Here.” To participate, just write a short account explaining how you or your ancestors came to settle in Western Pennsylvania. All stories are welcome.

Stories will be eligible for inclusion in the JGS-Pittsburgh’s monthly newsletter Z’chor and also for preservation in the Rauh Jewish Archives. For more information about this initiative, or to contribute, contact Eric Lidji.

From the Jewish Cemetery & Burial Association

"Road Trip: The Jewish Cemeteries of Western Pennsylvania"

The Jewish Cemetery and Burial Association of Greater Pittsburgh has released a new documentary showcasing Jewish cemeteries in Western Pennsylvania.

“Road Trip: The Jewish Cemeteries of Western Pennsylvania” is a one-hour tour of the many cemetery properties overseen by the JCBA, as well as an overview of the organization’s ongoing work to care for these sacred burial grounds. The video is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate these special Jewish cultural sites in our region. The video includes many historic photographs and documents from the collections of the Rauh Jewish Archives. 

From Rodef Shalom Congregation

A mystery in primary colors

The Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle reports on an effort by Rodef Shalom Congregation to identify two people from a pair of mid-19th century portraits in the congregation's holdings. Do you recognize these two people?

Research Tools

The Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project contains digitized, searchable copies of four local English-language Jewish newspapers between 1895 and 2010. It is a valuable tool for researching almost any topic about Jewish history in Western Pennsylvania. For a primer on using the website, watch our video.

Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project

The Rauh Jewish Archives launched the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Cemetery Project in 1998 to preserve burial records from Jewish cemeteries across the region. Over a period of fifteen years, the information was compiled into a searchable, online database containing approximately 50,000 burial records from 78 Jewish cemeteries throughout the region.

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 more than 2,000 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.

Jewish Population Estimates

Looking to figure out how many Jews lived in a certain part of Western Pennsylvania at a certain moment in time? This bibliography includes more than 30 estimates of the Jewish population of Pittsburgh and small-towns throughout the region, conducted between 1852 and 2017.

Synagogues

A database of buildings throughout Western Pennsylvania known to have hosted Jewish worship services. Includes links to photographs and citations with original source material. Database currently includes 57 locations from 18 institutions

Rauh Jewish Archives Newsletter

The Rauh Jewish Archives has been publishing a weekly newsletter since 2020. The newsletter contains a variety of articles about local Jewish history, including much original research not found anywhere else. You can find and read every issue—more than 150!— in our new index.