February 9, 2025

Vol. 6, No. 6

Jewish Artists:

William Robert Shulgold

Jewish Encyclopedia:

Pittsburgh Chapter Women's American ORT

Calendar:

Feb. 13: Gut Yontif: Tu B'shvat

Mar. 6: "Teach Them to Your Children"

Jewish Genealogy Society:

Feb. 16: Jane Neff Rollins



Community:

URA photographs

SHHS archives

JCBA "Road-Trip"

Research Tools:

Newspapers, Cemeteries,

Memorial Plaques, Books,

Population Figures, Synagogues, Newsletter Archive,

Shul Records America

Jewish Artists:

William Robert Shulgold (1897-1989)

William Robert Shulgold, “Portrait of Samuel Pierpont Langley,” 1926 [86.1.64]

Gift of William H. Stevenson

Why did William Robert Shulgold leave Pittsburgh?

Shulgold (1897-1989) immigrated to Western Pennsylvania from his native Ukraine around 1899 with his family. He enrolled at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in the mid-1910s with the intention of becoming a commercial artist but transitioned to fine art, studying for a time under Arthur Watson Sparks. He left Carnegie Tech to enlist during World War I and resumed his education in 1920 at the National Academy of Design in New York. 

He returned to Pittsburgh in the early 1920s to become an art instructor. He worked under Samuel Rosenberg at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement’s Neighborhood Art School for five years in the 1920s. He became a part-time instructor in painting and decoration at the Carnegie Institute of Technologies’ Night School in the late 1920s. In the early 1930s, he taught an etching class at the Young Men’s and Women’s Hebrew Association. Among his students at these three institutionos were Edward Goodman, Charlotte Reizenstein, and Milton Weiss—all of whom we plan to profile over the course of this year.

Shulgold was part of a small group of Pittsburghers exhibiting outside the city in the 1920s and 1930s. He exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. in 1926 and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1935. He was invited to join the Old White Art Colony at the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. in 1934. He exhibited in the Carnegie International in 1926 and 1933, one of only a few Pittsburghers included.

Shulgold was also a successful portrait painter. His local subjects included Carnegie Museum of Art Director Homer Saint Gaudens, Department Store Executive Oliver Kaufmann, University of Pittsburgh Chancellor John C. Bowman, University of Pittsburgh Football Coach Dr. John B. “Jock” Sutherland, Rodef Shalom Congregation’s Dr. Solomon B. Freehof, and famed composer Stephen Collins Foster.

The Rauh Jewish Archives holds four Shulgold of portraits: YM&WHA Director Herman Passamaneck and his wife Dolores Passamaneck, aviator and scientist Samuel Pierpoint Langley, and a self-portrait. 

William Robert Shulgold, “Portrait of Dolores Passamaneck,” 1942 [2018.63.2]

Gift of Evi Pazmanczyk

And yet, despite this success within the Pittsburgh art community, Shulgold relocated to New York by 1937 and then Los Angeles, where he remained until his death (although he maintained close ties with Western Pennsylvania).

If you look through the list of the most prominent Pittsburgh artists of the mid-20th century, you find that many were either professors at local universities (like Virgil Cantini, Jerry Caplan, Samuel Rosenberg, and Douglas Pickering) or they had an additional source of income in their family. Although no existing sources explain why Shulgold left a prominent career in his hometown, it may have been as simple as an inability to land a full-time teaching position that would allow him to make a predictable living. 

All year, the Rauh Jewish Archives is highlighting stories of Jewish artist in Western Pennsylvania before World War II. 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:

Pittsburgh Chapter Women's American ORT

Black and white photograph of members of South Hills ORT renaming Bower Hill Road, "ORT Road," to announce the start of the South Hills ORT Spring Membership Campaign, 1967.

Marga Silberman Randall Photographs [MSP 543]

The international World ORT program was founded in 1880 to provide job training for displaced and unemployed Russia Jews, and eventually the organization expanded its programming around the world. American ORT began in 1922 and the Women’s American ORT auxiliary began in 1927. The name ORT stands for “Organization for Rehabilitation through Training.” 

The Pittsburgh Region of Women’s American ORT was established as early as May 1948 as a local affiliate of the World ORT. The Pittsburgh region expanded rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, growing to include at least 16 chapters in Pittsburgh and its eastern and southern suburbs. Pittsburgh hosted the 18th biennial national convention of Women’s American ORT in 1965. The Pittsburgh Region ran a gift shop at 5666 Northumberland St. in Squirrel Hill from 1966 into the late 1970s. The Pittsburgh Region of Women’s American ORT consolidated but continued in Pittsburgh into the early 21st century.

Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life:

Tu B'shv

The Rauh Jewish History Archives will celebrate Tu Bishvat on Thursday, February 13 at 7 p.m. at the Heinz History Center with a one-night only, participatory experience that blends hand-crafted art and tradition.

The holiday of Tu Bishvat marks the birthday or new year for all trees and is how the years of a tree’s life are counted in Jewish tradition. The seder or ceremonial meal for this day takes us metaphorically through the four seasons, starting in winter and moving through spring, summer, and into the bounty of the autumn harvest. Join local artist Lydia Rosenberg for an interactive experience that reimagines the seder meal as sensory display, celebrating this holiday and our relationship to the natural world.

Inspired by the rich colors, textures, and life stories showcased in the "Louise Silk: A Patchwork Life" exhibition, the Gut Yontif: A Patchwork Holiday Experience series invites emerging local Jewish artists to reimagine the themes of Sukkot, Chanukah, Tu B’Shvat, and Purim in new works of art. Often said after the evening service that marks the start of a Jewish holiday, Gut Yontif is a Yiddish greeting that means “have a good holiday!” Experience these holidays like never before through their unique artistic lenses.

The next installments of our Gut Yontif! series will be 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.

March 6:

"Teach Them To Your Children"

Since the times of the Talmud, Jewish education has been a communal responsibility. How has Western Pennsylvania met this challenge? 

In a fast-paced and engaging monthly series “Teach Them To Your Children,” Rauh Jewish Archives Director Eric Lidji will cover 150 years of Jewish educational initiatives in Western Pennsylvania, showing how our community has perpetuated Jewish knowledge from generation to generation. 

This series will take place monthly in the Community Day School library (2743 Beechwood Blvd.) on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m.

Jan. 9—The 19th Century

Feb. 6—The 1900s

The series continues March 6 with a review of local Jewish educational initiatives between 1910 and 1920. The Jewish community created its first enduring educational initiatives, including the Hebrew Institute and the Southwestern District of Pennsylvania Jewish Religious Schools program.

The schedule for the rest of the year includes:



April 10—The 1920s

May 8—The 1930s

June 12—The 1940s

July 10—The 1950s

Aug. 14—The 1960s

Sept. 11—The 1970s

Oct. 9—The 1980s

Nov. 13—The 1990s

Dec. 11—The Future

"Teach Them To Your Children" is presented by Community Day School, Hillel

Academy of Pittsburgh, and Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh.

Jewish Genealogy Society

Feb. 16:

"We Never Heard from Them Again"

Researching Relatives Who Died in the Holocaust

with Jane Neff Rollins

This talk puts the systematic murder of Jews and other persecuted populations during World War II into historical context before showing attendees how to research the fate of long-lost relatives. Resources to be covered will include the JewishGen Holocaust database, the U.S. Holocaust Historical Museum, Yad Vashem, the Arolsen database, collections of oral history recordings, Yizkor (memorial) books, newspapers, and more. Also included will be the intellectual and emotional challenges genealogists will face in doing this kind of research.

Jane Neff Rollins is a professional genealogist who works primarily with clients whose ancestors came from the former Russian Empire, providing research and translation of Russian documents. She has researched in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Washington DC, and Jerusalem. She is an alumna of ProGen Study Group 29, and a multi-time attendee of the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and the Forensic Genealogy Institute.

Jane has lectured at the annual conferences of the National Genealogical Society, the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, the Southern California Genealogical Society, and virtually and in-person for societies throughout the United States.

Jane’s genealogy articles have appeared in NGS Magazine, FGS Forum (for which she won the 2020 Forum Writer’s Award), Crossroads, and Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy: “Researching Jewish Ancestors Who Served in the Civil War.” Other writing has appeared in Roots-Key, the LA Jewish Journal, and medical trade magazines.

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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