December 15, 2024

Vol. 5, No. 50



The Early 1970s:

Camp Stone

Jewish Encyclopedia:

Young Women's Hebrew Association

Family Clubs:

Rosenfeld-Cohen Cousins Club

Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life

B'nai Israel mantles

Exhibits:

A Woman's Place

Calendar:

TODAY: Shaping Family Stories

Dec. 16: Rodef Shalom Archives



Community:

URA photographs

SHHS archives

JCBA "Road-Trip"

Research Tools:

Newspapers, Cemeteries,

Memorial Plaques, Books,

Population Figures, Synagogues, Newsletter Archive,

Shul Records America

The Early 1970s:

Camp Stone

[LEFT] Black and white photograph of Camp Moshava campers and a counselor—1960s.

—Fogel and Riemer Family Papers [2022.0089]

[RIGHT] Advertisement for Camp Stone—Feb. 20, 1969.

—Jewish Chronicle

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

Camp Deer Run began placing advertisements in local Jewish newspapers in early 1946, promoting its 200-acre co-ed camp in Sugar Grove, Pa. Camp Deer Run continued to recruit in Pittsburgh for the next 23 years. It was one of many summer camps that predominately recruited Jewish campers but rarely if ever included any explicitly Jewish activities in its promotions.

That changed in February 1969. Camp Deer Run became Camp Stone. The new camp was sponsored by Young Israel of Cleveland and promoted “Hebrew speaking with stress on Jewish Living and the values of tradition and Zionism.”

In the years before Camp Stone was established, some Pittsburgh families who wanted a summer camp grounded in traditional Jewish observances gravitated toward the Bnei Akiva Camp Moshava network, specifically its camp in Beach Lake, Pa. and later in Indian Orchard, Pa. (Bnei Akiva had formed its first Pittsburgh branch and associated McKeesport branch in late 1956.) Before the start of the 1972 summer camping season, Bnei Akiva and Young Israel announced that Camp Stone would be joining the Bnei Akiva network.

All year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting stories of Jewish life in Western Pennsylvania in the early 1970s. If you would like to donate a material from this time period, or any historic materials documenting Jewish life in this region, contact the archive or call 412-454-6406.

Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania:

Young Women's Hebrew Association

Snippet from “Hebrew Association Arouses Enthusiasm,” Pittsburgh Post, Aug. 6, 1911, believed to be the earliest reference to the Young Women’s Hebrew Association.

—Newspapers.com

The Young Women’s Hebrew Association was established in late 1911, the year following the formation of the local Young Men’s Hebrew Association.

The YWHA initially held meetings at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement House before moving to various locations, including the vestry rooms at Tree of Life Congregation in Oakland, the Fort Pitt Hotel, and the Hotel Schenley. The group held a business meeting and a social meeting every other week but saw membership lag year by year due to the lack of proper accommodations.

The YWHA returned to the Irene Kauffman Settlement House in January 1915 as part of reorganization efforts under the presidency of Miriam Schoenfield. Between 1915 and 1917, the organization grew to 165 members up from 38 and added a Junior Y.W.H.A. with 110 members. The organizations primarily raised funds toward a “Home for Jewish Working Girls,” which would have provided living quarters for Jewish domestic workers who were employed at the homes of non-Jewish families. The project never actualized.

The YWHA remained a distinct entity until 1919 or 1920, when it partnered with the YMHA to support a building fund campaign. With the cornerstone laying for the new building on Bellefield Avenue in Oakland in 1924, the entities became known as the Young Men’s & Women’s Hebrew Association.

Family Clubs:

Rosenfeld-Cohen Cousins Club

Notice of meeting of the Rosenfeld-Cohen Club—November 20, 1953.

—Jewish Criterion

Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project

Rebecca ROSENFELD and Lena COHEN were sisters.

Rebecca and Abraham Rosenfeld had six children: Sidney Rosenfeld, Sarah MAGLIN, Meyer Rosenfeld, Samuel Rosenfeld, Jacob Rosenfeld, Rose GOLDHAMER. Lena and Bernard Cohen had five children: Samuel Cohen, Fanny SOLOMON, Myer Cohen, Harry Cohen, and Sidney Cohen. These children started the Rosenfeld-Cohen Cousins Club no later than November 1953 and were still meeting by early 1969, according to newspaper notices.

Known surnames include Cohen, Felman, Goldhamer, Gusky, Helfer, Hersh, Maglin, Morritt, Rosenfeld, Rubenstein, Sales, Schwartz, Solomon, Soltz, Sosniak, and VeShancey. Known meeting places include 2336 Tilbury St. (Sam Cohen residence); 2565 Mt. Royal Rd. (Meyer Rosenfeld residence); 1136 McCabe St. (Morris Rubenstein residence); Holiday House; 5408 Guarino Rd. (Jake Soltz residence); Jack Sosniak residence; 2661 Beechwood Blvd. (Myer Cohen residence); Dohlman's Grove; Sam Rosenfeld residence; Sidney Rosenfeld residence; Harry Solomon residence; 5547 Raliegh St. (Miriam and Cecil Schwartz residence); 5832 Darlington Rd. (Morris Goldhamer residence); Joseph Gusky residence; 5559 Hobart St. (Meyer Maglin residence); Shaare Zedeck; Civic Light Opera; Park Schenley; Murray Ave. (Wm. Felman residence); Shaaray Tefilah; Canter's Restaurant; and Phillips Park. 

The Rauh Jewish Archives hold a small collection of materials about Samuel Cohen, better known locally as “Sam the Umbrella Man.” If you have information about the club or its other members, please contact the archive.

Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life

B'nai Israel mantles

[LEFT] Program from dedication of B’nai Israel mantles, listing stitchers and donors—1990.

[RIGHT] Louise and Sadye Silk with their mantles—1990.

—Adat Shalom Records

Throughout the 1980s, Louise Silk was pursuing careers as a pioneering fiber artist and as a prolific Jewish communal volunteer worker along parallel paths. She began combing the two through a new body of work in the early 1990s, which we’ll review in greater depth a future issue of the newsletter. 

One of her earliest experiments in “quilting Jewish” came in 1988. B’nai Israel Sisterhood in East End commissioned her oversee a congregational initiative to create a series of new Torah mantles celebrating the Jewish holidays. The project included handmade, needlepoint Torah covers with the symbols of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Succot, Simchat Torah, Chanukah, Tu B’shvat, Purim, Passover, and Lag B’Omer. Each cover was handmade by a woman in the Sisterhood and then constructed into a Torah cover by Louise. 

As part of the project, Louise also made quilted covers for Torah scrolls in a B’nai Israel’s smaller chapel. For these, she used a variation on the traditional Baby Block pattern to create a design with telescoping Stars of David.

The next installment of our Gut Yontif! series is Dec. 28 with a fiery Chanukah celebration from Rosabel Rosalind, then on Thursday, Feb. 13 with an intimate Tu B’shvat seder from Lydia Rosenberg, and finally on Wednesday, March 12 with an all-embracing Purim party from Olivia Devorah Tucker. 

The “Gut Yontif!” series is made possible thanks to a generous grant from the SteelTree Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh.

Exhibit:

A Woman's Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh

“How Mrs. Enoch Rauh ushered in the year 1913 — on Dec. 31st 1912.”

—from Richard E. Rauh Papers [MSS 301]

From pioneering investigative journalism to leading their country to Olympic gold, Western Pennsylvania women have made an immeasurable impact in America, but too often, their stories have been overlooked.

The Heinz History Center is taking an unprecedented deep dive into the lives of these fierce and unflappable women who helped change the world inside a major new exhibition, A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh.

Take an interactive, thematic journey through Western Pennsylvania women’s history from the early 1800s to modern day that will showcase the stories of entrepreneurs and activists, artists and athletes, scientists and inventors, and changemakers and barrier breakers. Through more than 250 artifacts, immersive experiences, and striking archival images, A Woman’s Place will reveal how women have made Pittsburgh and the world a better place.  

Dec. 15:

JGS Pittsburgh Presents:

Strategies for Shaping Your Family Story

Using the life of Moische, later known as Morris, Sana Loue will explore various strategies and resources to shape the background of our family stories of immigration and adjustment to life in the United States.

The program is Sunday, December 15 from 1-3 p.m. ET. This is an online program, occurring exclusively on Zoom. The program will be recorded, and the recording will be made available to current JGS-Pittsburgh members. 

“Strategies for Shaping Your Family Story” with Sana Loue is a collaboration between the Jewish Genealogy Society of Pittsburgh and the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center. Please register online. The program is free for JGS-Pittsburgh members and $5 for the general public. To become a member of the JGS-Pittsburgh and receive a free membership code for this program, please visit its website.

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

Sana Loue is a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in the Department of Bioethics. She has been researching her family’s origins for several years, tracking documents and stories through Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, and Russia. Her recent publication, From Public Policy to Family Dynamics: A Case Study of the Impact of Public Policy on Two 20th Century Jewish Immigrant Families, tells the stories of her brother Michael, born with Down syndrome, and the impact of Russian and U.S. eugenics policy on family dynamics, as well as that of her grandfather Moische and the effects of U.S. immigration and welfare policy on family structure and relationships.

Dec. 16:

A Stroll Through the Past:

Stories From the Rodef Shalom Archives

Community

Urban Redevelopment Authority Archives

The City of Pittsburgh Archives has launched a new digital archive containing thousands of photographs and documents spanning more than two centuries. Of particular interest to local Jewish history is a collection of more than 2,000 photographs of properties in the lower Hill District taken by the Urban Redevelopment Authority in the late 1950s prior to demolitions in the area. 

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 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. 

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 2,700 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 90 locations from 2 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.

Shul Records America

Online finding aid from JewishGen listing congregational archival collections held at publicly accessible repositories across the United States. Includes 63 listings from the Rauh Jewish Archives, as well as other repositories with Western Pennsylvania congregational records.

The Rauh Jewish Archives was founded on November 1, 1988 to collect and preserve the documentary history of Jewish life in Western Pennsylvania and to make it available to the world through research assistance, programing, exhibits, publications, and partnerships.

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