More on the Lower East Side

The Museum of Family History has now tripled the number of articles made available to you about the Lower East Side of Manhattan from the late 1800s through the first decade of the twentieth century. Here is the list of the eleven "new" and interesting articles:

--East Side Women Riot.
--East Side Love of Learning.
--East Side Fashions.
--East Side Weddings.
--The East Side Boy.
--A School for Hebrew.
--American Jews Becoming Unorthodox.
--A New Social Centre: The Candy Store.
--In the East Side Cafes.
--A Visit to the Largest Public School in the World.
--New Names for East Siders.

The full list of more than one hundred articles found within the Museum can be found by clicking here.

Life on the Lower East Side of New York, circa 1900

None of us were alive around the turn of the twentieth century, so we've never had the opportunity to experience life within the overcrowded lower East Side of New York City. All we can do is read and listen to stories told about life during this time, and by utilizing our imagination, form a picture in our mind--probably many pictures--of different scenes or events that might have taken place then.

One such avenue for learning about life then is by reading old newspaper articles. After all, they were timely, having been written most often within a short time of any event that might have been written about in an article.

For your perusal then, four more articles have been added to the Museum's ongoing exhibition, "The Lower East Side of New York."

Here is a bit about the four "new" articles, all originally published in the New York Daily Tribune:

--"Playgrounds on the Asphalt," published in 1896, discusses how the asphalt pavement in the city allows for a greater choice of play area's for the city's youth, and in some ways is advantageous;

--"Thursday in Hester Street," published in 1898, talks about the pushcarts and the many street peddlers who once plied their wares on Hester, Essex and Norfolk Streets;

--"East Side Shopping: Where the Delights of Haggling are Practiced...," published in 1901, tells us of the interactions between the buyer and seller and how "haggling" is almost an art form;

--"Rowdies Annoy Jews," published in 1905, explains to the reader how "ruffians," often times local gang members, used to harrass the Jews of the lower East Side as they go to the synagogue and elsewhere to celebrate the Jewish New Year (and how little the local police did about it.)

Links to these, as well as ninety other old newspaper articles, can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/archive-newspaper.htm.

"Not Now, Not Ever" - Jadzia's Story of Survival

You will most likely be interested in reading the story of Jean Klein/Frank (Jadzia), who is a Holocaust survivor; or rather she was, as she passed away in Malibu, California in June of 2009.

She was born in Kalisz, Poland, and during the war traveled to, and lived in, Belchatow, Lodz, Warsaw and finally Czestochowa. I just finished reading and getting her complete book (only seventy-six pages) online. It is a sad story as most of these stories of survival are, yet it is also an intimate and moving account of her life and her survival.

Much of the account takes place in Czestochowa, so this should be interesting for you to read, at minimum those of you who had family there during World War II.

The link to this is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/wims-klein-jean.htm.

The Jews of Asia: Synagogues and Memorials

In the beginnings of this new exhibition at the Museum of Family History entitled "The Jews of Asia," you will over time find a myriad of subject matter that might be of interest to you.

As many of you know, the Asian continent is quite large, with a population of approximately four billion people. Many of you also may know that the population of Jews who live in Asia today is relatively small, yet, in the first half of the twentieth century many Jews immigrated there to escape their lives in Europe for any of a number of reasons.

The Museum will be presenting to you various aspects of Jewish life in Asia, from various perspectives, predominantly historical.

The Museum's first offering to you is an exhibition subsection entitled "Synagogues and Memorials." This offering is yet incomplete, but nevertheless what is available to you now will be worth visiting if only for a few minutes. Currently you can see photographs taken in the 1990s and 2000s in the following locations: Hong Kong and Shanghai, China; Bombay (Mumbai) and Cochin (Kochi) in India; Rangoon (Yangon) in Burma (Myanmar), Singapore and Istanbul, Turkey (i.e. the Asian side of the Bosphorus).

More synagogue and memorial photos will be added over time, along with other relevant information. Of course, if you've visited any such sites not currently included within this exhibition and have photos, video of such sites, please consider contacting me at steve@museumoffamilyhistory.com.

Also in the works are historical accounts--some first-hand accounts--of Jewish life in Asia, and when such material is ready for your perusal, it will be announced on this Museum of Family History blog.

The link to the aforementioned exhibition is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/jasia/jasia.htm

The Pogrom in Gomel, September 1903

For those of you are interested to learn more about the pogrom that occurred in Gomel, Belarus (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1903, you now can read an article from the San Francisco Call newspaper published less than two weeks after the pogrom. The article is based on a report written by an Associated Press correspondent who visited Gomel after the pogrom.

Also included on this webpage is a letter written to the Editor of the Washington Times, published five days after the Call article was published. The letter was written by Rabbi J. T. Loeb of Congregation Adath Israel in Washington, D.C.

The link to the article ane letter is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-pogroms-gomel.htm.

The Museum's Cemetery Project's New Burial Data

The Museum of Family History has increased its offering of burial data and gravestone photographs to include ten more plots from Beth Moses Cemetery and one more from Wellwood Cemetery, both located in Pinelawn, New York.

These society plots are associated with the following towns and countries:

Bitola (Monastir), Macedonia
Divin, Belarus
Khoshchevatoye, Ukraine
Novogrudok, Belarus
Pomoryany, Ukraine
Pukhovichi, Belarus
Raygoroduk, Ukraine
Samokhvalovichi, Belarus
Shargorod, Ukraine
Shumskoye, Ukraine
Stavishche, Ukraine
Voynilov, Ukraine

The information from these gravestones has not yet been entered into the Museum's database, but hopefully this will be done within the next two to three months. If your family genealogical research involves any of these towns, please let me know (along with the surname associated with the specific town), and I will keep an eye out for you.

Once databased, you will be able to check an alphabetized list of unique surnames for each plot. Just visit the Museum's Cemetery Project and look at the list of towns and simply click on the name of that town. The link for the Project is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/cp-main.htm.

Liberation of the Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, as told by a G.I. who was there....

Every day that he served overseas, for fifteen months, (with a very few days exception due to conditions and movements in the Battle of the Bulge), Carl Henry used the office typewriter from his desk job as Warrant Officer Junior Grade and then Chief Warrant Officer to write to his wife - one, two, three or four pages a day. The letters are preserved in books assembled by his wife Edith, one book for every month of his service overseas.

These letters are typed on onion-skin paper and with very few excisions from the censors, since he knew how to censor himself, contain detailed, sometimes intimate, record of the experiences, sights, and feelings of a literate and affectionate man. His somewhat obsessive personality serves to increase the detail of the description, both about war-shattered Europe and his own feelings and those of his buddies. From “Somewhere in England” to “Somewhere in Germany”, here then is an enthralling document of the Third Army’s liberation of Europe.

The first letter to be presented to you is dated April 11, 1945, a week after the camp was liberated. Henry describes the horrific scenes he witnessed.

The link to this letter is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-rm009-ohrdruf-henry.htm. The Museum hopes to present more such interesting letters in the future.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 1904

For those of you with at least a passing interest in the history of Brooklyn, New York, you should read the Museum's newest article entitled "New Hebrew Quarter Across New Bridge." This article originally appeared in the New-York Daily Tribune in April of 1904, not longer after the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge, which connects Manhattan with Brooklyn.

The article discusses the transformation of Williamsburg (referred to as "Dutchtown"). This transformation was inevitable once the bridge was built, as it connected the overcrowded and more expensive island of Manhattan with one of its outlying boroughs, Brooklyn, which was back then "bucolic". Also, since it was now easier to get to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, it should be a surprise to no one that real estate prices went up and a boom occurred.

You will get a flavor of the neighborhood if you visit www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/bklyn-williamsburg-dt.htm .

A link to this article, along with more than eighty other interesting articles, mainly published in the early years of the twentieth century, can be found within the Museum's Newspaper Archives at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/archive-newspaper.htm .

More on the Bialystok Pogrom of June 1906

As a follow-up to the recenty announced article on the pogroms that befell the Jews of Europe between 1903 and 1906, the Museum of Family History now makes available an article that appeared in the June 29, 1906 edition of the San Francisco Call newspaper. As some of you already know, the Bialystok pogrom occurred just two to three weeks before this, between June 12 and June 14, 1906.

You can read this article which also contains reports from a correspondent who went to Bialystok after the pogrom. While censored, he reported back on what he found.

The link to this article is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-pogroms-bialystok-sfcall.htm .

Letters from Leipzig

Within the six years preceding the start of World War II, a non-Jewish German woman named Ilse Gerngrofs wrote four letters to a Jewish friend in New Zealand. The Museum presents these to you now so that they may serve as an example of the anti-Semitic sentiments that existed in Germany before and after Hitler came into power.

You will most likely feel offended as I do by her remarks, but nevertheless it will give you some insight into the mind of many who lived in Germany during these pre-war years.
The link is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/as-letters-leipzig.htm .

From Kishineff to Bialystok: A Table of Pogroms From 1903 to 1906

The Museum of Family History would like to announce the presence on its site of an important report and a table of pogroms committed between 1903 and 1906.

First, you will be able to read over the introduction and commentary to all of this as published by the American Jewish Committee in their American Jewish Year Book, Volume 8 (1906-1907).

Secondly, you will be able to peruse a table of more than two hundred and fifty towns and cities in Europe where pogroms occurred. Within this table is a listing of the damage caused in these locations (when available), as well as some general remarks made about each pogrom. You will also find for each pogrom event listed, the date of occurrence, the name of the town or city, the gubernia, the overall population of the location and the Jewish population, though numbers are not given for every town or city. There is also a supplemental table of pogroms in other locations in November 1905 not included in this larger table.

To make your town search easier, there is also a table that lists alphabetically all the locations with a reference made with each to the entry number in the large table. There is also a table that lists the gubernias in which pogroms occurred, and their overall and Jewish populations.

Most interestingly, though thoroughly depressing, is the Report of the Duma Commission of the Bialystok Massacre that occurred in June 1906. A goodly report is presented to you here as it reviews in detail many incidents that occurred during the pogrom, especially to the Jewish population. Those of you who might have had families that lived in Bialystok may wish to read the report thoroughly to see if any family names are mentioned. For those of you who have an interest in a particular town, this report and its included tables are for you.

Lastly, the debates that occurred in the Duma as the report was being presented is interesting to read too. You can also read of the resolutions proposed and passed within the U. S. Congress from 1905-1906.

It should be mentioned that all this is being presented to you at the Museum courtesy of the American Jewish Committee Archives.

All of the aforementioned information can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ajc-yb-v08-pogroms.htm .

Please send all comments via the Comments section of this blog. I hope all this is helpful and informative to you.

From the East Side to Jerusalem and Return: Wearers of the "Mogen David" Enlisted in a British Contingent to Fight the Turks

Reuben Bushmitz, a Jew from the Lower East Side, was recruited by and fought with the Brits against the Turks in 1918.

You can read Bushmitz's story at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/jim-bushmitz.htm . This article falls within the purview of the Museum's "The Jew in the Military" section.

The article reads in part:

The British Canadian Recruiting Mission...became the objective for these young men who wanted to win back from the infidel the land sacred to Abraham and Isaac and David....

The World of the Yiddish Theatre, cir 1903-10

For those of you who are interested in the Yiddish Theatre, the Museum now presents to you five new articles first published between 1903-10. One can imagine one's Yiddish-speaking ancestors at least once attending one of these performances for entertainment and perhaps an escape from their daily grind.

Included within this set of five articles is an article about famed Yiddish actress Berta Kalich (from Lviv) and this article talks about her, her acting ability and the play she performed in, Jacob Gordin's "Kreutzer Sonata."

Another article about Yiddish actors and theatre houses in 1903, another one about a Yiddish actors studio that was opened up in 1906 in hopes of creating versatile Yiddish actors.

There is another interesting one about the "Yiddish Rialto" (which encompassed a number of theatrical cafes between Grand and Canal Streets in lower Manhattan) and about the politics of the Yiddish theatre, and the many characters who hired actors here and did business.

You might also be interested in the article about Russian playwright Leonid Andreyev who penned the play "Anathema" which was then translated into Yiddish.

All very interesting articles; hope you like them. The links to these five articles can be found under "Lives in the Yiddish Theatre" in the Museum's Newspaper Archives page at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/archive-newspaper.htm.

Israel Zangwill and the "Children of the Ghetto": A Real Portrayal of Jews

In 1909 in front of the Beth Israel Literary Society in Houston, Texas, a Miss Sara Segal spoke about writer Israel Zangwill's true portrayal of Jews in his popular book "Children of the Ghetto: A Study of a Peculiar People," which was written in 1892. Zangwill subsequently turned his book into a play that was performed in New York City seven years later.

Miss Segal remarks that for the most part Jews had not to that point been portrayed in literature in some fictionalized way, not as they truly are. In his book, Zangwill describes a myriad of interesting Jewish characters who more truly represent what the Jew is "in fact; not in fiction." She recites several passages from the book to illustrate what she believes presents the Jew in a more realistic light. According to Miss Segal, "The book consists of a mass of human interest as varied in its fun and sadness as life itself."

You might like to enhance your experience by imagining, if you wish, that you are in Houston, Texas during the latter part of winter in 1909, attending this Literary Society talk. You may also like to read aloud to yourself her talk as if you were the presenter, which might perhaps help you to more fully appreciate her words.

You can find the transcript of her talk as found in Houston's Jewish Herald at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/wjw-zangwill-cog.htm.

Through the Eye of the Needle: Fabric of Survival--An Exhibition of the Art of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz

Esther Nisenthal Krinitz, along with her sister Mania, were the only members of their family, and among the few Jews in their Polish village, to survive the Holocaust. At the age of fifteen, Esther refused the Nazi order for the Jews to report to a nearby railroad station for relocation. She and her sister separated from their family and never saw them again.

In 1977, at the age of fifty, Esther began creating works of fabric art to depict her stories of survival. Trained as a dressmaker but untrained in art, she created a collection of thirty-six needlework and fabric collage pictures in strong, vivid colors and striking details with a sense of folk-like realism. Meticulously stitched words beneath the pictures provide a narrative. While the pictures are visually pleasing, almost cheerful, a closer examination reveals the stark incongruity between the pastoral surroundings and the human violence, terror and betrayal that are their subjects.

Bernice Steinhardt and Helene McQuade, Esther's two daughters, have honored their mother's life and memory by creating a website called Art & Remembrance, which is designed to help combat racism and social injustice. The Museum of Family History proudly presents all three dozen of Esther's works, replete with Esther's own words as well as sound narrations provided by her daughters.

In addition to this gallery of Esther's works, you will also find within the Museum's Education and Research Center an educational aspect of her exhibition. The introduction to the educational aspect of the exhibition is presented to you by the Museum, with links provided to their Art & Remembrance website that are necessary to fully partake in this exercise, including a thirteen-minute interview with Esther who talks about her life in her hometown in Poland.

This exhibition, along with that of artists Mayer Kirshenblatt and Martin Kieselstein, join the exhibition of renown artist Max Weber under the umbrella of "Reflections of Memory: Jewish Expression Through Art," which in every case will display the products of creativity and thought based on the author's experience, whether it be for instance from the experience of living in a small town in pre-war Europe or by surviving the Holocaust.

You can see the introduction to the "Reflections of Memory" exhibition by visiting www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/rom.htm . Just visit the Table of Contents for the links to each of the four exhibitions.

Exhibition of Esther's work: www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/krinitz/krinitz.htm
Educational activity: www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/krinitz/erc-krinitz.htm

The State of French Jewry at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

Most of us already know about the persecution of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Jewish background who was in advanced training with the Army's General Staff. He was falsely accused of treason. You can read more about this "Dreyfus Affair" in a previously presented webpage at the Museum of Family History at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-dreyfus-affair.htm .

To go along with this, the Museum now presents to you an article presented in a December 1899 issue of the New-York Daily Tribune about the state of French Jewry, French anti-Semitism, the French press, etc. You might also be interested in what was written about M. Zadoc Khan, the then Grand Rabbi of France as well as the Jewish temple on the Rue de la Victoire in Paris. Photographs of both the rabbi and the synagogue interior are included in this article.

This article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/jof-dt-frenchjews.htm.

The Dish Lender of the East Side, 1905

A reporter from New York's Daily Tribune visited the East Side of New York City in order to do a story about a "novel industry" that once existed there.

It seems that one could visit tiny shops, often located in the cellars of Ghetto tenement houses, and rent dishes there. The reporter, who was not Jewish, visited at least two such shops. The author of this article also portrays different characters he met along his journey.

None of us lived on the East Side in 1905, so perhaps you might enjoy reading this article and visualizing the reporter's journey as he paints for us a colorful picture of one aspect of life on the East Side of Manhattan.

You can find this article at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/les-hww-dishlenders.htm .

The Russian Jew in the United States

This past summer the Museum introduced the first of three sections of a book published in 1905 entitled "The Russian Jew in the United States" (also entitled "The Immigrant Jew in America" in a later 1907 edition.) Now the second section, about the Russian Jews of New York, has been readied for you.

It should be noted that the editor of this book makes a distinction between the three major Jewish populations that have lived in the United States over the past two and a half centuries (i.e. from 1655): The Spanish-Portuguese, the German and the Russian population. Thus, some of you who have limited or no interest in the lives of Russian Jews, but who are interested in the Jews of such regions as Lithuania, Volhynia, Bessarabia, Galicia, Poland or Romania, might be misled by the term "Russian Jew" and disregard this book because you think it doesn't apply to your interest or research. In the case of this book, "Russian Jews" include all Jews that lived within the Russian Empire in 1905.

The Museum then has now put online the second of three sections of this book--the first part was about the Russian Jews of Philadelphia; the third part is of the Jews of Chicago--hopefully this part will be placed online within the next few months. The second part now online is that of the Jews of New York and covers such topics as general aspects of the population, philanthropy, economic and industrial condition, religious activities, educational influences, amusements and social life, politics, health and sanitation and law and litigation.

This section on the Jews of New York is a nice tie-in with the number of articles the Museum has recently presented to you about the immigrant Jews who came to New York during the years of high immigration, i.e. from the late 1880s to 1910. The link to the main exhibition is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ija-main.htm. Just click on the word "enter" to view the table of contents.

Israel Zangwill on Theodor Herzl

On July 3, 1904, Theodor Herzl, the father of modern political Zionism, passed away at the young age of forty-four. He was buried at the Döblinger Friedhof (the Döbling Cemetery) on July 7. On August 16, 1949 his body was disinterred and reburied in Jerusalem on Mount Herzl.

On the day of his burial author and orator Israel Zangwill (author of the informative and influential novel "Children of the Ghetto") gave a eulogy to Herzl at the Great Assembly Hall in London. In this latest article introduced at the Museum of Family Hisory, the transcript of the eulogy Zangwill gave can now be read. It was reprinted in a front-page article in a Jewish Herald edition (a Houston, Texas newspaper) in 1908.

It was Theodor Herzl who wrote in April 1896, in Der Judenstaat (The State of the Jews):

The Jewish question persists wherever Jews live in appreciable numbers. Wherever it does not exist, it is brought in together with Jewish immigrants. We are naturally drawn into those places where we are not persecuted, and our appearance there gives rise to persecution. This is the case, and will inevitably be so, everywhere, even in highly civilised countries—see, for instance, France—so long as the Jewish question is not solved on the political level. The unfortunate Jews are now carrying the seeds of anti-Semitism into England; they have already introduced it into America.

The article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/zionism-zangwill-herzl.htm .

Origins of the Yiddish Language, 1904

For those of you who are interested in learning a bit about the origin of the Yiddish language, at least as explained in a 1904 edition of Minnesota's St. Paul Globe, please visit www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/hyl-origins-globe.htm.

The article states in part:

"As the municipal campaign progresses and political "literature" becomes more abundant, all West Side residents, all visitors at the court house will encounter handbills printed in strange characters. Most Americans will fail to recognize the language of the bills. Some disappointed readers will call the printing Greek; others will say it's merely Syrian or Arabic; for St. Paul has its representatives from Athens, Beirut and Damascus.

The better informed will make a closer guess and call the curious language Hebrew. And, finally, one man in ten will know the truth. He will say 'It's Yiddish.'

Ask him, however, what is Yiddish? He'll probably tell you it is modern Hebrew, or that it is simply Russian or Polish printed in Hebrew characters. He knows, at any rate, that Yiddish is the language of several thousand St. Paulites; that it is spoken constantly among themselves by numerous Russian, Polish and Roumanian Jews in this city; that it flourishes especially among the many Jews of West St. Paul.

Yiddish, indeed, is the language of all the multitude of Russian, Polish and Roumanian Jews that have immigrated to America in recent years. Not a few of these immigrants know other languages, including the language of the countries where they've lived. But Yiddish is the popular medium, the language of the home, the shop, the synagogue, Yiddish newspapers are published in several American cities. In Greater New York Yiddish is the language of influential journals and of more pretentious literature. A writer of Yiddish novels who lives on Gotham's East side, was lately described as the most prolific of modern romancers.

Yet this favorite tongue or Russian Hebrews, of Polish Hebrews, of Roumanian Hebrews, is not Hebrew; neither is it Russian nor Polish nor Roumanian. Chiefly it is German, old German, medieval German, popular German, German not merely "broken," but shattered, torn, pulverized--a veritable linguistic mincemeat."

Be sure to visit the Museum's Yiddish World at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/y.htm when you have the time. It is a "virtual potpourri of Yiddish culture."

The Museum will also feature more about all things Yiddish in the future, e.g. Yiddish theatre, language and literature.

A Memorial Book from Telekhany

In 1932 a memorial book was created, mostly of views of the town of then Telechany, Poland, now Telekhany, Belarus. For those of you with an interest in this town, or for those of you who would like to see more than ten views of Telekhany as it appeared in 1932, please visit this small exhibition.

The introduction to this memorial book reads:

"This album reminds us of our old, forgotten home. It's good to take an occasional look at the past, but it's certainly hard for each of us to make the trip to Europe. Here we're sparing you this [journey] by bringing you pictures of Telekhany and your friends and close ones. That's why, dear friends, you must buy this remembrance book. The money you pay for the album will help your relatives and acquaintances.

Be united, landsleit, because a united body can accomplish a lot."

The memorial book for Telechany can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/telekhany/telekhany.htm.

Holocaust Memorials in Cuba

Most of us have never visited Cuba, whether it was because our government didn't allow us to or for some other reason. Some of us, including my own great uncles and other cousins, traveled to Cuba from various European countries, waiting in limbo during these arduous times when immigration was very restricted and entry to the United States was extremely difficult. Eventually, my two great uncles somehow found their way into the United States; others who had immigrated to Cuba stayed there and created a life for themselves and their family.

The Museum has just added six photographs from Jewish cemeteries in Havana (Ashkenazic and Sephardic) and Santa Clara, Cuba. For each cemetery there is a photograph of the front gate and also of a single Holocaust memorial. The memorial inscriptions are written in both Hebrew or Yiddish and Spanish. Included with these photographs is the English translation of each Spanish inscription.

These memorial photos fall under the aegis of the larger exhibition within the Museum entitled "World Holocaust Memorials." The Museum of Family History contains the largest number of photographs on the Internet of Holocaust memorials from around the world. These photographs on the Museum's site are from eighteen countries in Europe, as well as from North America, i.e. both the U.S. and Canada, and Israel. This larger exhibition can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/whm.htm. Certainly if you have photos of memorials not shown within this exhibition and can email them to the Museum, please do so at postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com .

The link to the page that includes the Holocaust memorials from Cuba can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/whm-morememorials.htm.

Lost Journalists of the Ghetto: Buried Geniuses on the Great East Side, 1903

In Czarist Russia, many of the great Jewish talents were repressed and not fully allowed to express themselves. Such was the case of the Yiddish writer and scholar, many of whom felt compelled to immigrate to such countries as the United States during the late nineteenth and very early twentieth century. Such talent during this time found work as journalists, writing for the Yiddish newspapers, especially those in New York.

The newest Museum article begins:

That the most neglected and unhappy portions of the slums of the city number among their inhabitants men and women who under different conditions and happier fortunes might have been counted among the great names of the world in art, poetry and music is a fact not unknown to the outside world. Almost proverbial are the stories of musicians, scholars and artists who are buried under the slum life of each great city. Yet there is in the East Side of New-York a realm of unexplored extent peopled by those who may well be numbered among the buried geniuses of the slums. The lost journalists of the Ghetto, those authors and scholars whose immigration to a strange land has dried their springs of genius, numbed their finer senses and reduced them to the unhappy necessity of earning a living through "jargon" papers, one of the most interesting phases of Ghetto life.

The article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/wyw-buried-genius.htm.

Are Jew and Gentile Nearer? cir 1910

Curious about what was said about intermarriage in New York one hundred years ago?
In this article from the Sun, a New York City newspaper, the relationship between Jew and Gentile is discussed, as is intermarriage.

Opinions in this article come from a variety or sources, e.g. a retired Episcopal minister; Rabbi Isaac S. Moses of Ahawath Chesed Shaar Hashomayim; Bishop Greer of the New York Episcopal diocese, a Presbyterian minister; Rabbi Schulman of Temple Beth-El; Rabbi H. Pereira Mendes, president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of the United States and Canada and minister of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation, et al.

The article begins:

Are the two races being brought closer together in other ways than in business and social relations?-- A discussion of the idea of “The Melting Pot” in actual life—Some of the Rabbis emphatic in their opposition to marriages of persons of different faiths—Their objections both social and religious—Christians who agree with them—Amalgamation of the races that is going on in New York. “Are the Jew and gentile nearer together to-day or are they further apart? Is intermarriage between them more prevalent?”

These questions have become especially of present interest here in New York, which city, it has been said, the advanced Jew looks upon now as the Promised Land rather than Palestine. They have been laid before many of the leading Christian ministers and Jewish rabbis of New York. The Answers given to them are printed below.

The link to this article is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-jew-gentile.htm.

The Museum's Newspaper Archives

Old newspaper articles often give us insight into the thinking of the times. Today we have many ways to learn about what's going on in the world and many ways to learn the opinion of others, but in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the choices were limited. Today we can be informed not only through the newspaper, but also by television, radio and the Internet, for example. One hundred or more years ago, the average person mostly read newspapers to get their news. Thus, newspapers often had a great influence on the sentiment of its readers.

Within the many exhibitions of the Museum of Family History you will currently find sixty-five articles that have been extracted from a number of mostly defunct newspapers, e.g. the New-York Daily Tribune. These articles cover a range of topics, whether it be about the concern over excessive immigration, the lives of Jewish farmers, life on the Lower East Side of New York, Ellis Island and Castle Garden, and even New York's Yiddish Theatre. Those of you who are subscribed to this blog, or who visit it frequently on their own, know that many announcements have been made as to new articles that have been readied for your perusal.

You can now pick and choose any of the aforementioned articles and more on the Museum's new Newspaper Archives page. Each article is listed according to the Museum exhibition it is associated with. It is also listed by its title, by the newspaper it appeared in, and the year the article was published. Most of the articles currently available at the Museum were first published between the early 1880s and 1910, important years for both European and American Jewry. Additionally, each article is linked to the webpage on which it appears. So you easily peruse this list and simply click on the link of the article you wish to read. The list will be added to each time a new article is placed online by the Museum.

You can find the Newspaper Archives page at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/archive-newspaper.htm. The only links on the Museum website to the Newspaper Archives page can be found in the right-hand column on the Museum's front page and on the Site Map page.

A Multitude of Immigrants: Three New Articles

There are now eleven articles that can be found within the Museum's "A Multitude of Immigrants" exhibition. Two of the latest articles ran five days apart in 1903 in the New-York Daily Tribune about the large number of immigrants that should be expected to be landing on U. S. shores. This was right after the Kishinev pogrom, and it was suspected that a lot of these new immigrants would be paupers, undesirable, etc.

Thoughts were also expressed in these articles about the steamship lines who employed agents to recruit potential immigrants, etc.

Reading the third article--entitled "Immigrants Patched Up: Trachoma Getting In," I learned something new, that at least during the time of the article in 1905, there were "clinics" set up in such locales as Marseille, at stations along the Russian and Austrian borders, as well as at theRussian-Polish border, that promised the potential immigrant a cure for his orher trachoma. At that time, trachoma was considered incurable, and ship passengers were turned away at such ports as Ellis Island. Whatever "cures" might have been offered to those afflicted might have worked only for a night or for a few weeks, but perhaps this was long enough to pass inspection--or perhaps not. I also learned that for a time steamship companies were fined one hundred dollars for every diseased passenger who arrived in the U.S. for inspection. This was not much of a deterrent for the steamship companies. Read the entire article at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-multitude-immigrants-1905.12.18.htm.

You can find links to each of the eleven articles at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-multitude-immigrants-toc.htm.

250 Years in America: Parts II and III

The second and third parts of the Museum's short series of articles published in 1905 is now available. These three articles commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Jewish presence in the United States, one article specifically discussing the contributions of the Jews of New York.

The first article of the three (announced one week ago) was written by Oscar S. Straus, who was U. S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Teddy Roosevelt (the first U. S. Jewish Cabinet secretary) as well as a Minister to Turkey. Straus wrote about the early history of the Jewish immigration, and the presence of Jews in the U.S. in such cities as Newport, Rhode Island; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and several states and cities to the South, such as Georgia, Charleston, Maryland, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia. He also wrote about the early Jewish presence in the Ohio Valley, Chicago and California. This article, previously announced on this blog, can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-250-sfcall.htm.

There was actually a second article published in this same edition of the San Francisco Sunday Call (on the opposite page) entitled "The Future of Judaism in America: What Leading Hebrew Thinkers Prophesy For the Race," partly written by the Rev. Mendola de Sola. This interesting article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-250-sfcall-future-judaism.htm.

The third article in this triad is from April 1905 and is entitled "Jews in New York 250 Years." This article talks about the early history of the Jewish people who lived in New York and the contributions they've made. The article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-250-nydt-ny.htm.

All three articles, of course, are educational. None of us were alive in 1905, so reading the opinions of Jews and non-Jews alike on what the Jewish contributions had been to that point to the well-being and prosperity of the U.S. and more specifically New York is important, or at least should be. We can't actually go back a hundred years in time to experience what Jewish life was like back then; we can no longer speak to anyone who used to live in the U. S. during that period, but at least we can read what others read during 1905 about our collective Jewish contributions, and then use our imagination and analytic thinking to 'paint a picture' in our own minds of a society that our parents, grandparents, or great grandparents once lived in and helped build.

A Multitude of Immigrants: American Newspapers and How They Addressed the Immigration Issue

Obviously back in the 1890s and first decade of the twentieth century, there was no television, and radio wasn't yet available to the general public. During that time people received their news, at least commercially, via the local newspaper. These newspapers then affected public opinion.

The English language newspaper was readily available to all during this time. The general public would get their news by reading newspapers. This newest Museum exhibition "A Multitude of Immigrants: American Newspapers and How They Addressed the Immigration Issue" gives you just a small glimpse into the portrayal of the immigration question, especially how it relates to Jewish immigration.

This exhibition is a series of eight articles from three New York City newspapers--The New-York Daily Tribune, The Sun and The World--all published between 1891 and 1910. As we know, between these years, immigration to the U.S. was extremely high, and politicians and the public alike were split on what the policy of the U.S. should be toward immigrants, especially the uneducated and unskilled ones, not wanting the immigrants to become "pauperized." What kinds of restrictions should be imposed, not just on Jewish immigration, but on other nationalities?

I would urge you to read each article; more such articles may be added to this exhibition in the future.

The exhibition can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-multitude-immigrants.htm. Just click on the "enter" link at the bottom of the page, and in order to proceed from one article to the next, simply click on the "next" link at the bottom of each page.

The Galveston Immigration Movement

The Galveston Movement was a program operated between 1907 and 1914 to divert Jews fleeing Russia and eastern Europe away form crowded East Coast cities. Ten thousand Jewish immigrants passed through Galveston, Texas during this era, approximately one-third the number who migrated to Palestine during the same period. New York financier and philanthropist Jacob Schiff was the driving force behind the effort, which Schiff supported with nearly $500,000 of his personal funds. B'nai Israel's Rabbi Henry Cohen was the humanitarian face of the movement, meeting ships at the Galveston docks and helping guide the immigrants through the cumbersome arrival and distribution process.

Read about the Galveston Movement below in two articles that appeared in Houston's "The Jewish Herald" in 1908 and 1909. Learn about the movement and read the words about the movement as told by Rabbi Henry Cohen.

Rabbi Cohen writes in part:

In the spring of 1907 the Jewish immigrants' information bureau was opened in Galveston to supply that machinery which would advise intelligently the already carefully selected alien how to work at his own trade or profession--or at general labor necessary for his livelihood--thereby serving two purposes: his own maintenance and the crying need of American industries. The present was all-important--the future would take care of itself. For just as soon as a man would save sufficient from the work of his hands to bring his family or his friends to his side, he would do so, and this committee knew by experience. A thousand immigrants the first of the year meant 5,000 a few years later. The un-uttered prophecy has been verified, for although our first group of immigrants arrived on July 1, 1907, and subsequent groups at three weeks' interval, family, relatives and friends have already joined the pioneers; the traveling expenses having been paid by the latter. The Galveston movement bids fair to remain a success as long as the powers that be think its continuance a necessity; and apart from such financial crisis with its consequent depression, as now obtains, there is no reason to believe but that its work will be uniformly appreciated.

The articles about the Galveston movement can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/imm-galveston.htm.

Thomas Jefferson High School database addition

For those of you who had family in Brooklyn, New York, who lived there between 1924 and 1987, the Museum has a searchable database of more than 46,000 names of graduating Seniors, encompassing more than seventy graduating classes (they graduated two classes a year, in January and June).
You can search by name, school year, even by home address (at least for half of the students).
This is a useful genealogical tool, not to mention and educative one, as one can also browse any of the yearbooks from cover to cover--a virtual "time capsule."

Today another six hundred names have been added, from the graduating class of January 1946.

The link is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/Jefferson/yearbooksearch.html.

250 Years in America: The Jewish Contribution

This is the first in a short series of articles published at the end of 1905, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Jewish presence in the United States.

The first "Hebrew" (at least some of the newspapers during this time referred to Jews as “Hebrews”) who stepped foot on American soil was one Jacob Bar Simson, who came from Holland, followed the next year by a “band” of twenty-three refugees, probably from Brazil.

These articles are generally praiseworthy, and list the contributions that the Jews have made to the U.S. from 1655 to the time of the article in 1905.

You can now read the first such article (though in all there are three articles on this one newspaper page, published in the San Francisco Sunday Call newspaper.) The first of these articles was written by Oscar S. Straus.

Oscar S. Straus (1850-1926) was U. S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor under President Teddy Roosevelt (the first U. S. Jewish Cabinet secretary) as well as a Minister to Turkey.

In the first of the three articles on this page, Straus discusses the early history of the Jewish immigration, and the presence of Jews in the U.S. in such cities as Newport, Rhode Island; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and several states and cities to the South, such as Georgia, Charleston, Maryland, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia. He also talks about the early Jewish presence in the Ohio Valley, Chicago and California.

The other two articles within this triad are entitled “What American Hebrews Have Done” and “Hebrews in Philanthropy and Society.”

More articles will appear in the near future about the Jewish presence in the U. S., and one at least about the contributions at this 250th anniversary of Jews to New York City.

The link to these articles is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-250-sfcall.htm .

The Jews in Russia, 1907: An Interview with Aleksey Suvorin

Aleksey Suvorin (1834-1912) was a very rich newspaper and book publisher and journalist who had a good deal of influence within the Russian Empire. His views were very nationalistic, as well as anti-Semitic. In 1874 he acquired a Russian newspaper in St. Petersburg called Novoye Vremya, which was in dire straits, and he made it profitable.

In this article, reprinted in the New-York Daily Tribune from an interview published in the "The American Hebrew," a weekly journal, Suvorin expounds on his views of the Jewish people, the pogroms and the Revolution. It is an interesting read, as it gives us a glimpse into the Russian nationalistic and anti-Semitic mind that existed at the time.

Here is one exchange between the interviewer for "The American Hebrew" and Suvorin:

Interviewer: "According to you, then, the Jew's love for his country should be expressed in kissing the knout with which he is being beaten, in embracing the Cossack or policeman who has violated his wife or his daughter?"

Suvorin: "Why should the authorities like the Jews, who are their enemies? The Jews are positively a troublesome element. They undermine the foundation of the church and the government....The Jews are to blame for the revolutionary movement in Russia. Pleveh once showed me the statistics of political criminals, and would you believe it, 72 per cent of them were Jews....Which government in the world would protect a nation which produces such an enormous percentage of enemies? Of course, the revolution is advantageous to the Jews. Seizing the reins of government in their hands, they would rule Russia as they please....Therefore the native Russian resists the Jews in the form of pogroms. The struggle is beyond question a savage one, but then our people are savages....And now, give freedom to such savages...."

The interview can be read at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/as-jews-in-russia-suvorin.htm.

Paint What You Remember: The Memories of Mayer Kirshenblatt of Opatów, Poland

Mayer Kirshenblatt left his hometown of Opatów, Poland in 1934 at the age of seventeen for a new life in Canada. With him he not only brought some of his physical possessions, but also a storehouse of memories that he would carry with him bittersweetly for many decades to come. Thanks to his daughter Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett and his wife, both of whom urged him to put to canvas what he remembered, Mayer took up painting in 1990, and to date has created more than three hundred paintings, each one a memory of life in a town that once contained thousands of Jews and that he called "home."

In two "sister" exhibitions we will hear from Mayer and see dozens of his paintings (acrylics on canvas) that deal with his family life, as well as the Jewish communal life that existed in his hometown (in Yiddish called "Apt") in the 1920s and 30s. He will also talk about Shabbat, as well as a number of other Jewish holidays. By seeing his works and by hearing him tell his story in his own words via nearly twenty audio clips, a wonderful picture is painted for us of what life was like in Opatów for the Jews who once lived there.

Mayer says that "every Jewish town is the same," so perhaps we wouldn't be taking liberties to imagine that our families, our ancestors who also lived in Europe at one time, in a town also populated with thousands of Jews, might have very well lived in a town just like this one.

If a visitor to these exhibitions once lived in pre-war Europe, perhaps Mayer's paintings and accounts of life there might evoke similar or other long forgotten memories. That would be something!

Perhaps Mayer's works will compel us to think about our own Jewish upbringing and the neighborhoods we once lived in. How was his life in Poland similar to our own, and how was it different? How was living in a Jewish community such as Apt similar to living in a Jewish neighborhood, among the tenements or brownstones of Brooklyn or perhaps on the Lower East Side of the 1930s, 40s or 50s?

Maybe after viewing these exhibitions you will consider drawing or painting the memories of your own childhood, writing them down for posterity, or at the very least telling these precious stories to your children or grandchildren.

You can visit the first exhibition, "Paint What You Remember: The Memories of Mayer Kirshenblatt" at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/kirshenblatt/kirshenblatt.htm. Included within this exhibition are many sound clips and three video clips from YouTube.

You can visit the second exhibition which is now part of the larger "Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays" exhibition at the Museum, containing photographs of Mayer's paintings and the artist's comments at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/kirshenblatt/jholidays-kirshenblatt.htm.

Your comments are always welcome, though please send them via the Comments feature of the blog.

The Jew in Europe, 1937

Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933. From that point to the beginning of World War II, life for the Jew in Europe became increasingly difficult, especially for the Jews of Germany.

Each European country affected by Hitler's views on the Jewish people and the anti-Semitism that continued to grow manifested this anti-Semitism in different ways. Actions were taken and laws were passed that were meant to restrict and isolate the Jew in such a way as to make any kind of 'normal' life impossible.

This article, presented to the public by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in late October 1937 in successive editions, came from Associated Press reports from three locations: Warsaw, Vienna and Berlin. Each of these three reports gives the reader an idea of what the Jewish citizen in Europe was forced to deal with during the nearly two years up to the Second World War.

The article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/as-jews-in-europe.htm.

Yiddish Theatres: Classic and Romantic Drama in East Side Jargon, 1900

For those of you who have at least a passing interest in the history of the Yiddish theatre, this next article may delight you--and at least educate you a bit.

For those of you who aren't interested, it still will be worthwhile to read this article because it paints a picture of what our parents or grandparents might have experienced, attending the performance of a Yiddish play after a long day's work.

Remember that in many of the towns in which our family members lived in Europe before World War II (and even World War I), Yiddish plays were frequently performed. Perhaps these Yiddish plays performed, in their native tongue where they now lived, served to remind them of their former home--their lives, their community--albeit bittersweetly.

In this New-York Daily Tribune article of January 1900, you can learn a bit about how a Yiddish theatre was generally run, as well as its appeal, especially to blue-collar Jewish families.

The article begins by talking about the unionization of Yiddish actors and then talks about the goings-on in the Yiddish theatre and those who attend the performances. Remember now that in 1900, Yiddish theatre was very popular (at least among Jews), with bona fide stars such as Boris Thomashefsky and Bertha Kalish.

The article says in part:

"To gain a correct idea of the Yiddish theatre one must see it, and that it may be thoroughly appreciated [by] other senses than that of sight must be drawn upon. The crowds in the lobby resemble those which are seen in the clothing district when a strike is on, and the air is thick with cigarette smoke. Inside, men and women are talking and visiting and paying little attention to the orchestra. Boys with trays of candy, cakes, fruit and "soft drinks" do a paying business, and sell their wares in the body of the house. The opening lines of the actors are usually lost, except to those people who sit far in front, and demands for silence come from all parts of the auditorium. Sometimes these are in the form of the hissing "Pst! pst! which one hears in all European theatres, and sometimes the more imperative "Ruhig," "'Smaul halten!" or "Still!" are heard. Then comes the play, and close attention on the part of the audience, frequent applause and boisterous laughter and sniffles are sure to reward the efforts of the actors."

The article can be found by clicking at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt-bs-nydt-01.htm.

Getting the Jew out of the Ghetto and on to the Farm

Here is the next article about how Jews bought land in such states as New Jersey and became successful farmers.

In this 1906 article, a non-Jew is walking along aimlessly through the streets of the Lower East Side during the time of Sukkot, and he happens upon a sign that seemed to stand out among the many tenement houses that surrounded it.

The article continues:

" The sign was the announcement of an exhibition showing what had been accomplished by Jews in this country as farmers, and the opportunities in this direction open to the East Side Jew. It was to open in the building of the Educational Alliance on that day--the day on which a comparison of the joys of a life in the country with the close, steamy atmosphere of the sweatshop and three-room tenement apartment would most appeal to the minds of the Jews of that quarter. The sign, in relation to the question of the success of the Jew as a farmer, was like Philip's answer to Nathaniel's query of long ago, 'Come and see.'"

This Gentile had been wondering whether the Jews had it in them to be successful farmers. He decided to ascend the staircase to the exhibition where he met with some Jewish farmers, saw the fruits of their labors, along with photographs of their land and toil, and talked with them. He came away convinced that indeed the Jew could be a successful farmer.

The article is an interesting read, and is a good "sister piece" to the two articles put online by the Museum previously about Jewish farmers.

The link to the article is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-hww-farmer-ghetto.htm.

Some Traps Which Are Baited for Unwary Immigrants, 1906

Yet another article for you from the archives of the defunct New-York Daily Tribune.
This one is about the traps that were laid by swindlers et al for the unwary and unsuspecting immigrant who entered the United States through Ellis Island.

The article states in part:

" It is this innocent childlike dependence upon any one at hand that makes the immigrant such an easy mark. Within the last two or three years every safeguard imaginable has been thrown about him. Still he goes astray. The resourceful runner is rigidly excluded from Ellis Island. Not an immigrant is permitted to depart without official escort, or absolute assurance that he is able to take care of himself or in the hands of his friends. He is personally conducted to the railway station or to his destination if intending to stay in New York. Missionaries distribute leaflets in the different languages describing the pitfalls that await him. Yet he is still captured by the sharps."

Though the article isn't specifically about Jewish immigrants, it nevertheless is interesting because it "paints a picture" for us of just one of the trials and tribulations that many immigrants--perhaps one of our family members--were forced to deal with as they began their life in America.

The link for this article is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ija-immigrant-traps.htm.

Anti-Semitism in Vienna at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

This 1899 article appeared in the New-York Tribune and talks about the impending demise of Vienna's anti-Semitic city government. It also discusses some of the history of anti-Semitism in Vienna and elsewhere in Europe.

It begins:

"Vienna is still the stronghold of anti-Semitism, and Dr. Carl Lueger, the Burgomaster, its most notorious exponent in Europe. For nearly three years the administration of the Austrian capital has now been in the hands of the anti-Semitic party, but the signs of its approaching collapse are increasing....."

This article will be of special interest to those who are interested in the history of anti-Semitism in Europe, or to those who had family members who lived in Austria, particularly Vienna, during this time.

The article can be found by clicking on www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/as-nydt-vienna-1899.htm .

New Jersey Jewish Farming Colonies (1902)

Here is another article to you from 1902 about the various Jewish farming colonies in New Jersey. The first article about these colonies written in 1890 was presented to you nearly two weeks ago and dealt with a particular colony named Alliance.

In the late 1800s, Russian Jews were encouraged to live in such "wilderness areas" in New Jersey and the West and work the land, thus being productive members of society.

During this time there was vast overcrowding in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and there was a push to relocate many of the unskilled or semi-skilled Russian Jews who were living or might live on the Lower East Side to more rural areas.

This newest article follows up on the former and discusses other such New Jersey farming colonies and their successes, e.g. Rosenhayn, Carmel and Woodbine. At that time, believe it or not, half of New Jersey was considered wilderness!

The link to this article is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-hww-colonies-nj.htm.

Jewish Life in Eastern Europe versus the U.S. (1903)

The newest article on display within the Museum of Family History's "Jewish Immigrant in America" exhibition discusses the religious, economic and social life of the Jew--especially the Jewish woman--in both the "old country" and after immigrating to the United States, and the conflicts that come about.

The article also informs us that at the time the article was written there were 332 small Jewish congregations east of Broadway and south of Houston Street.

You can read the article in its entirety by clicking on www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ija-no-religious-life.htm.

To Decrease and Clarify Stream of Incoming Aliens, 1910

From the December 18, 1910 edition of the defunct New-York Daily Tribune comes an article of interest to those of us who would like to understand the mindset of those who lived in the U.S. during the years of high immigration, especially those who wished to limit it. In this article the discussion is why the number of immigrants should or should not be restricted, and how it could be done.

The article begins:

"A few days ago, as required by law, the United States Immigration Commission filed a brief statement of its conclusions and recommendations, and announced that the materials it had gathered would ultimately be published in forty volumes. As a result of its labors it has recommended that for economic and social reasons the flow of the stream of immigrants should be reduced. Its investigations showed that, although the standards of living and of wages in the higher forms of skilled labor had not been materially affected, the volume of unskilled labor from Europe was so great that employers were under no compulsion to maintain a standard of wages. The result was that not only were industrial communities congested to a degree that interfered with rapid assimilation, but the unskilled laborer was not able to raise his standard of living.

The various well-known methods of putting on the brakes were suggested as a remedy, and emphasis was laid upon the literacy test. This test, however, was not emphasized without a protest from Congressman Bennet, a member of the commission, who argued that it was illogical as a selective measure.

The question whether to restrict or not to restrict is now squarely up to the American people and Congress. A number of men who have come into close contact with the subject from one standpoint or another have contributed their views in the form of interviews on the question of restriction. Among them are Senator William P. Dillingham, chairman of the United States Immigration Committee, who evidently may be described as a conservative restrictionist, and Congressman Burnett, of Alabama, a Democrat, who is considered the most radical restrictionist member of the commission. The proportion of those favoring restriction is much greater than one would be led to expect, in view of the growing interest in the immigrant as a man."

It was believed that too big a labor pool would drive down wages and thus lower the standard of living for those already living and working in the United States. A literacy test was proposed to weed out the "ignorant" and "illiterate," thereby making immigration a "selective" and not a "restrictive" process.

Reading these articles published within ten years either way of the turn of the twentieth century can be an eye-opener. It can "add meat," so to speak, to what we already understand about the immigration policies that were in place (or suggested) during the years of heavy immigration to the U.S.

This article will be included within the Museum's "A Multitude of Immmigrants..." exhibition that will be made available sometime before the end of the year.

The aforementioned article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-multitude-immigrants-1910.12.18.htm.

"Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg": A New Film by Aviva Kempner

The Museum of Family History is very pleased to present to you a film preview of "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg," the twenty-third film preview on display within its Screening Room. "You-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg" is a film created by Aviva Kempner, whose other film credits include "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" and "Partisans of Vilna."

Gertrude Berg became a cultural icon against the backdrop of the twentieth century’s most difficult years for American Jews. Berg’s radio show, The Goldbergs, which she created, wrote, and starred in, premiered a week after the stock market crash of 1929. The show rose in popularity at the same time Hitler rose to power in Germany. She combined social commentary, family values and comedy to win the hearts of America. In 1949, she brought The Goldbergs to television, and it became the new medium’s very first character-driven domestic sitcom. She weathered yet another minefield of American history, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s blacklist, which had a devastating effect on the entertainment industry.

Gertrude Berg became an important public figure at a time when positive images of Jews, especially mothers, were rarely shown in public. The “Oprah of her day,” Berg was a media trailblazer with a cookbook, advice column, and clothing line in addition to popular radio and television serials. Her creation of a specifically ethnic, but far from atypical, American life in The Goldbergs carries through to this day.

Among those interviewed for the film are actor Ed Asner, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, TV producers Gary David Goldberg (Family Ties) and Norman Lear (All in the Family), CBS anchor Andrea Roane, and NPR commentator Susan Stamberg. Those who recall the show will recognize familiar faces from The Goldbergs, including Berg’s talent discoveries, Anne Bancroft and Steve McQueen.

Footage includes short clips from beloved motion pictures, such as The Marx Brothers' The Cocoanuts, Martin Ritt’s The Front, and Charlie Chaplin’s The Immigrant, as well as evocative footage from the Depression, World War II, and the Lower East Side.

The film preview can be seen by clicking on www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/sr-23-goldberg.htm.

The Museum's complete listing and links to all its film previews can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/screeningroom.htm.

Secret of Jews' Success in Trade (1906)

From the archives of the New York Daily Tribune and published in the winter of 1906, an interesting article was found that discusses both why many Jews at that time were becoming successes in the business world, as well as some of the illusions that others had about why this was so.

The article begins as such:

"Zangwill once met the query, "Why do the Jews succeed?" with these words: "I welcome the task of answering the question, if only for the opportunity of explaining that they do not." And he proceeded to argue that even if the Jews succeed as individuals, they fail miserably as a people. The belief that Jews have a monopoly of success has been widely credited and has become almost a superstition. "Rich as a Jew" has grown into a proverb, and at one time called up in the imagination golden argosies and subterranean treasures. It was believed that Jews were natural born merchants, that they possessed the commercial instinct in an unusual degree and their success came to be viewed as something uncanny or inevitable.

This singular illusion dates from those dark ages when Jews were shut out from the arts and crafts, and were forced by direct legislation into a few sordid occupations. The dense ghettos, with their poverty-stricken population, were not known to the world at large–only the few great merchants among them loomed big. Many Christians naturally came in contact only with those Jews who could lend them money. Thus, as the only Jews whom the Christians got to know were rich, it is not so wonderful that all Jews should have been supposed to be rich or that "rich as a Jew" should have become a byword.

Jews were forced out of other vocations and confined to trade and commerce. Being an acute and thrifty people, they did what the shrewd Yankees did in Colonial days–adapted themselves to their work and gave to it all their energy and thought.

The "innate commercial gift" of the Jew is a hoax in which even the Jews joined. It was hard work and an easy pliability to conditions that brought results. Adaptability is the secret of the Jewish people, as can be observed in the immigrants daily pouring into this country. This power of easy adaptation to a new environment is possessed by the Jews to such an extent that they can live and thrive in all climates and under any circumstances.

But when one studies the Jew in America–not the Jewish plutocrat, the scion of a cultured, moneyed family in the old country, but the ordinary steerage immigrant, who comes here to earn the bread he cannot make in his native Russia, Rumania or Austria–one almost becomes reconciled to the antiquated superstition that the Jew, at any rate in America, always succeeds. The remarkable rise of the Jew as a figure in the world of business, especially in New York, seems to prove that the Jew is wonderfully apt in adapting himself to American conditions."

To read the rest of the article, go to www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-hww-jews-trade.htm.

Art of the Holocaust: The Works of Martin Kieselstein

Please visit the Museum of Family History's newest online exhibition, entitled "The Works of Martin Kieselstein."

Within this exhibition you will see more than two dozen of his sculptures, just a small sampling of his large body of work. Dr. Kieselstein has been a prodigious artist, creating hundreds of emotive works that represent the tragic events that befell the Jews of his hometown both before and during the Holocaust, e.g. life in the ghetto, the transports and Jewish existence within the concentration camps such as Auschwitz. To do this, Dr. Kieselstein has used a wide variety of materials, such as clay, bronze, wood, stone and glass.

His work has been exhibited in many locations, such as Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Beer-Sheva and Safed in Israel; Budapest, Hungary; Helsinki, Finland; Heidelberg, Dachau, Kronach and Worms in Germany; Nijkerk in Holland,Torremolinos in Spain, and Maryland in the U.S.A.

Here is the introduction to the Museum's exhibition of Dr. Kieselstein's works, in his own words:

My name is Dr. Martin Kieselstein. I was born in Romania in 1925, during the Second World War, the area belonging to Hungary.

In 1944 I was deported to Auschwitz, together with all the Jews of my hometown.

Of our family only my father and I survived. My mother and my sister died while doing forced labor. I still suffer due to the lack of knowledge whether they perished during the cold winter, hunger, or the beatings of the Nazis.

After my release I returned to my hometown, studied medicine, graduated in 1952 and worked there as a physician.

In 1959 I came to Israel and worked there as a geriatrician in Jerusalem, because I saw it as my duty to help elderly people, especially those who were Holocaust survivors. In recognition of my activities I was awarded the "Yakir Yerushalayim," ("Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem") award. I am married; we have two sons and five grandchildren.

I don't regard myself as an artist, but feel obliged and duty bound to convey to future generations the awareness of the horror of the Holocaust through creations made from various materials.

You can visit this exhibition using the following link: www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ce/kieselstein/mk.htm.
Your comments are always welcome.

"Entering the New World: When the Immigrants Land"

The Museum presents to you an interesting article published in the Sunday Magazine of the New-York Tribune in July of 1904 entitled "Entering the New World: When the Immigrants Land." It begins:

"The big ship is coming into the harbor. There are gay crowds on the wharf. There are smartly dressed women waving handkerchiefs and parasols, and men are flourishing canes and hats. Lined against the rails on the decks of the ship are tourists in all costumes. Three thousand miles they have sailed across the sea. Those who have come back to their native land look with longing eyes, and those who are strangers with wondering. The home-comers search in the crowds on the pier for the faces of loved ones, and cheery greetings are exchanged as the ship is being warped in by the busy tugs.

She is rubbing against the buffers now. The gangplanks are down. The tourists are streaming forth like an army of ants. Men and women are throwing themselves into one another's arms. Stevedores are driving in and out from the bowels of the leviathan, bringing to light steamer trunks, big chests, casks, boxes, bundles and bales of all sorts and sizes, which are being sorted rapidly, tapped and opened by keen-eyed and keen-witted customs inspectors."

There are numerous examples here of interactions between the inspectors in Ellis Island and the prospective immigrants. You might find this an interesting read.

The article can be found within the Museum's current exhibition "Castle Garden and Ellis Island: Ports of Immigration." The link to the article is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-ellisisland-10.htm.

Will They Make Farmers? Russian Jews Trying a New Occupation in New Jersey (1890)

Especially during the periods of high immigration to the United States, a great deal of anti-immigrant sentiment existed in the United States. There was a fear by some that the immigrant would take away jobs from those already living in the States. Others thought that a certain type of immigrant would bring diseases with them.

Many immigrants were turned away at Ellis Island because they could not show that they possessed enough money or had gainful employment waiting for them. The U. S. Government did not want immigrants to be “public charges.” This anti-immigrant sentiment was especially strong against the Russian Jews, many of whom left Russia after the assassination of Czar Alexander II, as conditions for them deteriorated quickly as the Jews were blamed for the assassination. Many of these Jews who immigrated to the U.S. were considered unskilled or perhaps semi-skilled, and it was feared that if they were admitted to the U.S., they would become “pauperized” and become public charges. They would mostly move, it was said, into the Lower East Side of New York, live in overcrowded, dirty, disease-infested tenements and generally not make a contribution to society.

One suggestion was to send the newly arrived immigrant out to the country, i.e. New Jersey or points west. Perhaps they could be productive citizens by becoming farmers. In the article “Will They Make Farmers?” published in the SUN in 1890, the anti-immigrant sentiments is expressed and explained, and a report is given by a SUN reporter after his visit to a farming colony in New Jersey.

The article states in part:

“Cable dispatches from apparently trustworthy sources indicate that thousands of Russian Jews will be on their way to this country shortly. Banished from the dominions of the Czar, and in many instances deprived of their property, these persecuted wanderers will be brought to America as the only country in which they will be received. Of course, the great majority will be assisted by the various Hebrew societies formed for the protection of the downtrodden race the world over. That means, to state the case frankly, that many of these immigrants will be assisted paupers. Their passage money, baggage, and means of subsistence after landing must be provided by these societies.

Before the United States Government will allow these immigrants to enter its ports, the immigrants will have to furnish ample proof that they will not become burdens on the American people. The only way in which that can be satisfactorily done will be by securing from the New York Hebrew societies interested in this immigration bonds that will be practical guarantees against pauperism….

The only society that can be relied on to help the immigrants to land here is the Jewish Emigration Protective Society. The immigrants are likely to get their chief assistance from the Hebrews of Europe, especially the Paris Hebrew Alliance. It is the purpose of the prominent Hebrews here to prevent the immigrants, if they do get in, from settling in the large cities, especially in New York. The squalor and misery of the east side Jewish quarter is great enough now, and would be much increased if the population were added to by the green and helpless Russians.

The only hope of the latter is to become farmers, but it is no easy task to make them believe this. For centuries the Russian Jews have been compelled to devote themselves to trade. No other source of income was open to them. They have now an unholy idea of the power of money; they want to gather it in the quickest way, and they don't know how to do this better than in barter and trade. They haven't the faintest idea of farming, they are unused to manual labor, and last but not least, they are averse to the discomforts of farm life.

Their own mode of living is not bound up with luxury, but yet it is not so rough and continuously toilsome as the average farmer's. Many attempts have been made to establish them on farms in this country, but very few have been successful. Many colonies have had to be abandoned altogether after much money had been expended in the attempt to establish them; of the others, only two or three can be considered real successes.

Of the latter, the settlement at Alliance, in New Jersey, is an excellent type. In its history are revealed much of the nature and the ideas of these Russian Jews, and in their present condition are manifested the results of a few years of freedom from persecution.”

In this good-sized article the SUN reporter details his visit to the Alliance settlement and tells the reader about the people he meets there, what he sees and what he learns. This is a very interesting read for those of you who are curious about how a certain segment of the Jewish population (Russian Jewish immigrants) lived and worked in a rural setting before the turn of the twentieth century.

The SUN reporter was quite impressed by the Alliance settlement, and I hope you will be too. Please read this article at the Museum of Family History when you can. The article is part of the Museum’s “How We Worked” ongoing exhibition, and it can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-hww-farming-sun.htm .

The Museum of Family History in Bialystok, Poland

This past September 4th, the Museum of Family History made its presence known at the Białostocki Ośrodek Kultury (Bialystok Cultural Center). A Polish language version of its online exhibition, "Max Weber: Reflections of Jewish Memory in Modern American Art," was presented as part of a larger exhibition honoring Jewish artists who once lived in Bialystok as Weber did as a child.

The Polish version of the Museum's Weber exhibition was presented during the Bialystok Cultural Center's opening ceremony for their own larger Weber exhibition. Each page of the Weber exhibition was shown on a large screen by means of a projector, and after the presentation, the attendees were provided with the Internet address of the Museum's Weber exhibition so that everybody could read about Max Weber in the privacy of their own home. More was said about the artist by presenter Joanna Tomalska, who emphasized his significance for the city of Bialystok, the city in which he was born. Ms. Tomalska also presented Max Weber's artistic works from the viewpoint of the art historian.

More on this exhibition will be presented at the Museum of Family History at some time in the future, perhaps including audio (in Polish) and perhaps a video clip or two of the presentation.

The English version of the Museum of Family History's Max Weber exhibition can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mweber-01.htm .

Here are two links to articles (in Polish) about the Bialystok Cultural Center's Weber exhibition:

http://www.wiadomosci.bstok.pl/?news=1944
http://www.bialystok.jewish.org.pl/page3.html

"The Peretzniks (Perecowicze)": A New Film About a Jewish School in Lodz, Poland

The Museum of Family History would like to announce its twenty-second preview of films of interest to the Jewish people.

The Peretzniks' Polish premiere screenings took place in Lodz on August 29, 2009, at the Nowy Theater, during the 65th Anniversary of the Liquidation of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto and in Warsaw on September 2 at The Jewish Theater during the 6th Festival of Jewish Culture "Singer's Warsaw."

The film tells the story of a Jewish school in Lodz, Poland. The school was closed down following the Communist anti-Semitic campaign, which took place in Poland in 1968. As a result of this, the Peretz School graduates are dispersed today between the US, Israel, Sweden, Poland, and other countries. The bittersweet memories of their youth in post-war Poland is what binds the Peretzniks together till this day.

The events of March '68 are still somewhat obscure in Poland. The political background is known, as are the film archives, and press coverage. However, little is known about how it was to grow up in Poland of the sixties as a Polish Jew, or as a Pole of Jewish origin. How it was to be a kid in the heart of a country still recovering from a horrific war, in a family severed by the Holocaust, and then to come of age and experience first loves at the outbreak of the disturbing March events. The experience of the 'Peretz School' pupils in Lodz in some way reflects the experience of the Jewish minority in Poland in the 50s and 60s of the previous century. It is the experience of adolescents nevertheless, who were much more interested in the Beatles than they were in politics. It was the latter, however, which caused for most of them to scatter all over the world, creating a peculiar phenomenon of a Polish-Jewish Diaspora integrated today in so many countries' identities.

You can view the film clip by clicking on www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/sr-22-peretzniks.htm .

Want to Learn More About Ellis Island and Castle Garden?

For those of you who wish to become more knowledgeable about the history of Castle Garden, as well as Ellis Island, this is your chance. If you read through each of the exhibition's pages, you will learn more about Castle Garden including its interesting history (P. T. Barnum brought Jenny Lind to America to perform at Castle Garden in 1850, before Castle Garden became an immigration station).

You can read about the early history of Ellis Island here: the opening of Ellis Island in 1891, the fire that gutted most of the buildings on the Island in 1897, as well as its reopening in 1900. You can also learn a bit about the hospital at Ellis Island as well as the rooftop playground that was created at the immigration station for children to play in beginning in 1904. Also there is an interesting but sad group of stories of immigrants who were rejected and sent back to the port from where they began their trans-Atlantic voyage.

This is an good augmentation of the previous Museum exhibition about Ellis Island, and is filled with interesting articles that were published in such defunct New York City newspapers as the Tribune, the Sun and the World around the turn of the twentieth century.

You can visit the exhibition at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-ellisisland.htm .

Jewish Life in the Russian Empire under Czar Alexander III (1881-1894)

Czar Alexander III who ruled over the Empire of Russia from 13 March 1881 until his death in 1894 was the second son of Czar Alexander II. As Czar, Alexander III engaged in Anti-Semitic policies, passing his "May laws" in May of 1882. His laws were supposed to be temporary but they lasted several decades. Among the restrictions imposed by these laws was the limitation of where Jews could live within the Pale of Settlement. Because of this, Jews were evicted, compelled to move to designated areas within the Pale or they would be jailed. Alexander III also restricted the occupations that Jews could attain, as well as where they could travel or study.

At the Museum of Family History, within its "Emperors and Czars of Europe" exhibition, you can read an article, or rather a letter written by an unnamed author in May 1891 from St. Petersburg, Russia to the Berliner Tageblatt newspaper. It is worth reading because, rather than giving you a dry historical account of these events during this time that deeply affected the life of the Russian Jew, you can hear someone actually give voice to their plight. Here is a short excerpt from the article:

......................................................................................................

"Since 1881, when Ignatieff promulgated the terrible Jewish laws the lives of the 5,000,000 Russian Hebrews who, with few exceptions led a pitiful, beggarly existence, have been passed in unbroken war against the frightful abuse and persecution of the authorities. Eternal lies are the cause of this; false accusations against the Jews of crimes against the State, the authorities, Russian citizens and a Draconic code of laws which robs them of the privileges of honest subjects. A late cause of this inhuman condition is the desire of dishonest Government servants to bent upon the plunder of their fellow citizens. Robbers! Men who are obliged to live crowded together paint the Jews to the Czar as terrible robbers, like so many sheep; who have no whole pieces of clothing upon their backs; men whose rags draw tears to the eyes of the beholder; whose only pleasure is the practice of the commands of their religion!"

......................................................................................................

The aforementioned article appeared in the New-York Daily Tribune on May 31, 1891. Nearly seven months later, and article appeared in the same newspaper explaining the plight of the Jews of Russia, that during that year nearly 7,500 Russian refugees were landing at the Port of New York every month, being forced to by conditions imposed upon them to emigrate. The author of this article is trying to raise funds in order to pay for the fares of the "Hebrew immigrants" who arrived in New York.

..............................................................................................

"The persecution which is driving these people from their homes continues; and the Hebrew community of the city of New York has been, and is, striving to do its utmost in the direction above indicated. It is, however, overwhelmed by the immensity of the task. It feels that the unhappy plight of these refugees, driven out from their once settled, contented homes, for no fault of their own, yet without right of protest or hope of redress, appeals to all the instincts of humanity, and particularly to the love of fair play and liberty innate in every American heart. We, therefore, deem it a duty to lay before our fellow citizens, irrespective of creed, the sad facts herein recited, believing that they will touch a responsive chord and lead many a generous hear to tender substantial assistance."

...................................................................................

These articles can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ece-alexander-III.htm. If you follow the "next" link at the end of the text, you can also read about Jewish life in Zambrow, Poland (then part of the Roman Empire) during the reign of the Czar who reigned after Alexander III died, Czar Nicholas II.

Jewish Hospitals and Societies Which Cared for the Needy in NYC (1902)

ABOUT $1,000,000 A YEAR IS EXPENDED BY PHILANTHROPY TO PREVENT THE NEEDY OF THEIR RACE FROM BECOMING PUBLIC CHARGES....AID THOUSANDS OF POOR.

This is the title of the latest article that can be found within the Museum of Family History's "Living in America: The Jewish Experience" wing. The two-page article appeared in the New York Tribune Illustrated Supplement on October 5, 1902 .

In order to understand the Jewish experience in New York City at the turn of the 20th century, it is important to understand the nature of Jewish philanthropy. Philanthropists helped finance many projects and institutions that helped those in need during those trying times, whether they be infants or children, Jewish or not.

In this informative article you will learn about these institutions, some of which only came into existence in the mid to late 1800s.

Some of the institutions discussed in this article are:

Hospitals: Mount Sinai, Lebanon and Beth Israel.

Homes: Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids, Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews of New York, and the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith.

Orphan Asylums: Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society and the Hebrew Infant Asylum.

Other: Educational Alliance, Clara de Hirsch Home for Working Girls, Gemilath Chasodim Association, and the Baron de Hirsch Trade School.

This article can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/philanthropy-jewish-01.htm.

The Yiddish Theatres of the Bowery, 1900

Let's take a Museum of Family History trip back in time to the Bowery of 1900.

Of course none of us were alive back then, so if we want to gain a sense of what life was like for the Jewish citizen of lower Manhattan, immigrant or not, we need to look at photographs taken during this time as well as read whatever we can about Jewish life then. This will properly feed our imagination.

One question we might wish to ask ourselves and imagine is how Jewish families spent what leisure time they might have had. It seems that for many, the Yiddish theatre was a welcome respite. Around the turn of the twentieth century, one could say that Boris Thomashefsky was the most well-known actor in the Yiddish theatre. Actresses such as Bertha Kalich also excelled on the Yiddish stage, mostly in New York City.

You might like to visit the Museum's single-page exhibition on this subject which will give you a glimpse into Jewish life at the turn of the twentieth century on the Lower East Side and Bowery, and how our families and our fellow Jews spent some of their leisure time.

Here are several excerpts from the exhibition:

The Russian immigrant on the East Side has the help of his family in his work, and his family usually shares his pleasures. He has little inclination in the direction of sprees, and while some of his countrymen frequent the coffee houses where they play games and smoke, and others go to the clubs of which there are many in the district, nearly all the toilers of the sweatshops go to the theatre; and they go not singly or in pairs, but in family groups...For that reason, a Yiddish theatre audience is unlike that of any other playhouse in the city.

The storekeepers close their places of business on Friday at sunset, and after coming from the synagogue they look for amusement. The strictest Sabbatarians see no wrong in going to the theatre.

The East Side pushcart man, the little shopkeeper and the prosperous merchant, the sweatshop worker and the Divisionist milliner, the jewel and gold bedecked wife of the successful ward politician, are all represented in their true colors in these plays; but behind all, pointing a moral and reminding them of their duties as citizens and men, is the rabbi or the religious teacher, pointing out the ills that follow sin, and in some of the popular plays laying particular stress on the crime of apostasy. The "bad man," the "scheming villain," is often an apostate, whose career in the part is made unusually burdensome by the hisses which greet him every time he appears.

The opening lines of the actors are usually lost, except to those people who sit far in front, and demands for silence come from all parts of the auditorium. Sometimes these are in the form of the hissing "Pst! pst!" which one hears in all European theatres, and sometimes the more imperative "Ruhig," " 'Smaul halten!" or "Still!" are heard. Then comes the play, and close attention on the part of the audience, frequent applause and boisterous laughter and sniffles are sure to reward the efforts of the actors.

This exhibition, entitled "The Yiddish Theatre: Classic and Romantic Drama in East Side Jargon," can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yw-yt-bowery-1900.htm .

If you have more than a fleeting interest in the Yiddish theatre of the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, you should consider visiting the Museum's exhibition about the posters or placards that were once used to advertise Yiddish theatrical productions on the Lower East Side and the Bowery. This exhibition, "Placards of the Yiddish Theatre," can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt-placard-toc.htm .

New exhibition: "Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays"

As we approach Erev Rosh Hashanah, it seems an appropriate time for the Museum to announce the "opening" of its newest exhibition, "Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays."

One of the many pleasures of building a website about Jewish history is having the opportunity to go back in time and share with our many "Museum visitors" the wonderful, the beautiful, aspects of Jewish culture and tradition. Surely the celebration of Shabbat, and such holidays as Rosh Hashanah, Purim and Passover, as well as our other Jewish holidays, has often been a source of much "simcha" and family togetherness. Whether an individual or family lived in a town in pre-war Europe, or on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the celebration of Shabbat and the Jewish holidays has always been an integral way in which we've expressed our "Jewishness" and reinforced our Jewish identity.

In this nearly forty-page exhibition of photographs and text, two aspects predominate. First, for Shabbat and for ten other Jewish holidays, a simple explanation of each is presented. Secondly, personal stories from the United States and Europe have been interspersed among the explanations, which make the exhibition even interesting and moving.

Many of us have never had the experience of living in Europe within the first half of the twentieth century. We can only imagine what it was like to live in a shtetl or town where Jewish tradition and rabbinical authority was such an integral part of Jewish daily life. Within "Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays," you will be able to read many personal stories as told by those who lived through and recall these times. You may wish to imagine that you were there....

There is so much more than can be said about this exhibition, but perhaps it is best for you to just visit the exhibition and see what it has to offer you.

Perhaps you will find some material within the exhibition that you'd like to share or read together with your spouse, your parent, your grandparent, your child or grandchild. Such stories are often rare opportunities to pass down family stories--here about the gatherings of families around holiday time. Maybe it will stir up some conversation and some telling of what occurred in your own home growing up when you were a child.

You can find the exhibition "Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays" by clicking on the following link:
www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/jholidays-main.htm. To best navigate this large exhibition, you can simply use the links within the Table of Contents. Alternatively, you may use the "next" links at the end of each page's text (to go from page to page within a particular holiday section), and use the links at the top of the page to go from holiday to holiday.

I hope that you enjoy the exhibition!

May you have a happy and a healthy new year! L'Shana Tova!

L'Shana Tova to All!

To all those who subscribe to the Museum's blog, to all those who follow the evolution of the Museum of Family History, to all my fellow Jews, I want to wish you and your family a most joyous and healthy New Year. L'Shana Tova!

I hope that this coming year brings you new revelations as you pursue your quest to gain a greater understanding of your family's history. May each memory of your family be a loving one and everlasting!

On a personal note, I am often amazed how much more interesting and relevant history seems--particularly world history--when it's seen through the eyes and experiences of our relatives, our ancestors.

Being the main force behind the Museum, I've found a great bit of perspective as I've worked these several years on the Museum of Family History website. With each piece of research I do, with each photo I see and piece of text I read, with each interaction I have with people like yourselves who are also interested in Jewish history, I become more aware of the history of both Western civilization and of the Jewish people. I realize how events can be interrelated (often unexpectedly so) and somehow connected in one great nexus.

Thank you all for your kind words this past year and your encouragement. Thank you for any material you might have sent me that has helped increase the content and quality of my site.
After several years of consideration and development (though still a work-in-progress), I have managed to create several imaginative floor maps for my virtual museum; I've increased its interactivity by making available a greater number of sound and video clips for your pleasure.

May this next year be the best one for both you and for the Museum!

Best,
Steven Lasky
Founder and Director
The Museum of Family History

The Kishinev Pogrom of April 1903

There were two pogroms in Kishinev (now called Chisinau, located in the country of Moldova). The first one, on 6-7 Apr 1903, was said to have begun because of the rumors that were spread that Jews were involved in the murder of a Christian Russian boy two months earlier. Two anti-Semitic newspapers published these rumors, one going as far as saying that the Jews killed the boy so they could use his blood to make matzoh. This was an age-old accusation made of the Jewish people.

I have just amended the Museum's webpage about the Kishinev pogrom, which is part of the Museum's exhibition about the various pogroms that were committed against the Jewish population, not only within the first ten years of the 20th century, but also after World War II in such locations as Kielce.

The amendment to the Kishinev page includes a report of the massacre then, as published by the New York newspaper, The Sun, more than one month after the pogrom. Here is an eyewitness account from a Jew from Kishinev that appears on the webpage:

The first Jewish refugee from Kishineff to reach America and bring a personal account of the recent massacres of Jews by Russian Christians there arrived in the steerage of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which got in Wednesday from Hamburg. He is Jacob Friedman, a retail glass dealer in the riot-ridden city. He fled from Kishineff with his wife and children the second day of the disturbances, after his grandfather had been clubbed to death before his eyes. He hadn’t enough money to bring his family to this country with him, but he will send for them later.

Friedman came from Ellis Island yesterday and was taken to the Jewish Daily News office, where he told of his experiences in Kishineff and his flight.

On Easter Sunday, which was also the last day of the Jewish Passover, Friedman said he, his wife and four children and his grandfather, who was also a partner in business, were seated at a holiday dinner when they heard a great turmoil outside.

“We rushed to the windows,” he said, “and saw a mob coming down the street, breaking and smashing everything as they came. I knew at once that a bloody riot was beginning and, seizing my youngest child, exclaimed: ‘Come, they will kill us; we must hide in the cellar.’
But my grandfather wouldn’t have it so. He said the mob was harmless, that they were only drunk and not dangerous. Finally he said: ‘To show you that they will not harm any one I shall go out into the street and watch as they go by.’

He had only gone a few steps from the door when the mob rushed at him. The first to reach him knocked him down with a club, and then the others closed in around him and struck him many times. I ran out and tried to save him, but had to run for my life without getting to where he lay.

I managed to get away by running through side streets to the house of a Christian who owed me quite a sum of money. I begged him to save me and my family and told him that if he would help us I would free him of the debt.

He hid me in the cellar until the next morning and kept the mob from harming my wife and little ones. Before daylight the next day he got a wagon and took my family from the house to the house of another Christian in a neighboring village. Later the second Christian took us to the railway station and we went first to Grodno and afterward to Sepetkin, where I left my family with relatives.”

Friedman said that as he was hurrying through the side-streets of Kishineff he saw a Jew terribly wounded lying in the gutter.

“When a number of other Jews came creeping out of their houses to try to carry the man away so that he could be cared for,” said he, “the mob rushed down upon them and there was a terrible fight. Several Jews, I think, must have been killed, but I am not sure for we got away as fast as we could.”

You can read the rest of the article by visiting www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-pogroms-kishinev.htm .

Rabbi Lau's New Year's Message from Yad Vashem

Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, speaks (in Hebrew, with English subtitles) about the importance of commemorating the Jews who perished during the Holocaust. Rav Lau, himself a child survivor of Buchenwald, powerfully calls upon Jews across the world to join efforts to recover the names of each individual Shoah victim by filling out Pages of Testimony in their memory and submitting them to Yad Vashem. Search for information or submit names of people you know of who perished during the Shoah on Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names .

Here is the YouTube video:

At the Turn of the 20th Century: Anti-Immigrant Sentiment in Britain and a Fact-Finding Mission Abroad

There were nearly five million Jews who lived in Czarist Russia during the nineteenth century. They were forced to live within a specified area and were subjected to religious persecution and a life of great poverty. Many Jews emigrated during this time, about 150,000 of them immigrating to Great Britain. This wave of immigration peaked in the late 1890s when tens of thousands of mostly poor and semi-skilled and unskilled immigrants settled in the East End of London.

At the turn of the twentieth century, there was a public uproar about the rising tide of immigration that was often fueled by the media. During this period the British Brothers League was formed. Local politicians supported this organization; many anti-immigrant marches and rallies were organized and petitions were signed. They didn’t want Great Britain to become a “dumping ground” for the “scum of Europe.”

William Evans-Gordon was a conservative politician and PM within the British parliament. He also wrote a book entitled 'The Alien Immigrant', which was published in 1903, the year he took a fact-finding tour of Eastern Europe and the Baltic region.

Evans-Gordon travelled from St Petersburg to Krakow, visiting and photographing the major towns of Jewish settlement. It was his sentiment that alien immigration to Great Britain, especially Jewish immigration, should be limited. He called on the Parliament to set up a Royal Commission, and as a result of this, in 1905, the Aliens Act was passed.

The act for the first time introduced immigration controls and registration in Great Britain. The Act was designed to prevent paupers or criminals from entering the country and set up a mechanism to deport those who slipped through. It provided asylum for people fleeing religious or political persecution. Anti-Semitic elements wanted a stop or severe restrictions on Jewish immigration to Britain, but were completely defeated. The 1905 Act did not meet any of the demands of restrictionists who wanted numerical restrictions on immigration.

According to Wikipedia, “Evans-Gordon continued to campaign for further anti-immigration legislation, seeking re-election in 1906. He kept up regular correspondence with Chaim Weizmann who would later write of him:

'Sir William Evans-Gordon had no particular anti-Jewish prejudices...he was sincerely ready to encourage any settlement of Jews almost anywhere in the British Empire but he failed to see why the ghettoes of London or Leeds should be made into a branch of the ghettoes of Warsaw and Pinsk.'"

This one-page exhibition at the Museum of Family History is entitled “At the Turn of the 20th Century: The Jewish Community at Home and Abroad, Anti-Immigrant Sentiment in Britain and a Fact-Finding Mission Abroad, 1903."

By visiting this exhibition (and seeing some of the photographs taken during his visit), you can read what Evans-Gordon wrote about his European travels to Dvinsk, Vilnius, Pinsk, Libau, Lodz, Galicia and Romania. It provides an interesting perspective about how others viewed Jewish life within the Pale of Settlement and elsewhere within the Russian Empire at the turn of the twentieth century.

You can visit this exhibition at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/20c-evans-gordon.htm.

Castle Garden and Ellis Island: Ports of Immigration

If you haven't already visited the Museum's small, seven-page exhibition about Castle Garden and Ellis Island, you may wish to do so now.

You may enjoy the short texts on each page, as well as some photographs which you may never have seen before. Just added today is a page straight out of the Sun, a New York newspaper that last published in 1950. The article is dated May 1887 and is entitled,

NOTED AT CASTLE GARDEN.
A HALF HOUR AMONG A SHIP'S LOAD WAITING TO BE LANDED.
Weeding Out the Ailing and the Friendless and the Very Poor –
An Unhappy Russian Family – A Marriage in the Rotunda.

This article is one of the many one can find by searching in old newspapers, many of which would be interesting for those who enjoy "going back in time" and learning not only what such events as immigration was like for our ancestors, but also what people were likely to read in newspapers. One can only imagine what these people thought about Jews back then, compared to now. It does give one food for thought.

I am currently going through New York newspapers from the late 1800s through 1910, and I find it interesting to see what newspapers said about the Jewish people, about immigration (as well as the fear of too much immigration--especially the Jews!), etc. I will present some other articles along the way that might be of interest to you, and I hope that you will enjoy reading them.

The link to the exhibition "Castle Garden and Ellis Island: Ports of Immigration" is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-ellisisland.htm. Just click on the "enter" link at the bottom of the first page, and subsequently, the "next" link at the end of each page's text.

Three Useful Newspaper Online Search Engines

Many of us already know of ProQuest, an online resource that offers many old editions of newspapers, especially the New York Times. Some public libraries make the ProQuest searchable database available on site, and this of course, is a free service. You may even be able to subscribe to the service for home use. You can learn more by visiting the ProQuest website at http://www.proquest.com/en-US/.

Over the last number of months, for those interested in old New York (City and upstate) newspapers, there's the Fulton History site (found at www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html)where you can "search over 10,258,000 old New York State historical newspaper pages."

I have recently discovered too that the Library of Congress has a searchable database, including old newspapers from twelve of these United States. The search engine can be found at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/.

All these searchable databases can be very useful for genealogical researchers, especially in conducting research of historical events, not only in the United States, but throughout the world.

Sabbath Preparations in Ozarow, Poland

Below is a preview of an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Family History entitled "Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays." The exhibition contains not only basic explanations of ten Jewish holidays, but also photographs of and personal accounts from those who for the most part lived the early parts of their lives in small European towns at some point before World War II.

The following passage was written by Hillel Adler, a native of Ozarow, Poland:

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"Everyone knew that when Shabbos approached, it would not be a day like the others. It was a matter of marking the difference between daily life and the sanctity of that day. Even the poorest people did not depart from the tradition and tried to observe the day in a dignified manner.

We relied on communal solidarity to allow this to happen. On Friday afternoon certain charitable women would knock on the doors to collect egg rolls and bread for distribution to the poorest families. Among these women was Perel Youkef's, whom we named the 'Mother of the Poor.' But the housewives had already been hard at work since Thursday. The kitchens exhaled the pleasant aroma of baking cholents. The meat slowly stewed while the women peeled the potatoes which they would roast in the baking oven for Saturday's mid-day meal. And what a meal it was! Apart from the delicious cholent you could savour the 'dipine kishke' -- a stuffed casing garnished with pearl barley and fine slices of potato.
photo: Perel Youkef's Kestenbaum,The "Mother of the Poor,"and her husband Leibel.

Then came the moment to light the Sabbath candles. The mistress of the house would recite the traditional blessing. Night came, and after the meal interspersed with the 'zemiroth' or traditional Sabbath hymns, the 'Shabbos goy' came to put out the lights. As his name would indicate, this was a Catholic invited to perform tasks forbidden to Jews on the Sabbath. In his fashion, he too played his part i the observance of the holy day. During the winter, for instance, it was he who came around on Saturday morning to light the oven which would heat the entire house, and then he would show up several times more during the day to make sure that the heat was running well. On his last visit, he would receive a large portion of challe, according to custom. He would thank everyone present and wish them, in Yiddish, if you please, 'a gut'n Shabbos,' or good Sabbath. On Monday he would return to pick up his salary. There were a few men who performed this function in Ozarow, and almost all of them expressed themselves very well in Yiddish."

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The exhibition "Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays" is currently composed of thirty-six webpages. These pages provides a simple explanation and significance of each holiday and importantly some stories are told by those who for the most part lived in Europe during the early twentieth century.

Hopefully, just as the Museum's "World Jewish Communities" exhibition does, these stories 'paint a picture' of what traditional Jewish life was like in pre-war Europe--in towns perhaps very much like those our families once lived in--while there still existed many 'vibrant' Jewish communities and where such Jewish traditions flourished.

Jewish Life in a Small North Dakota Town, circa 1940s

I hope those of you who regulary read this blog have already visited the recently announced Museum's exhibition "Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies." The exhibition may be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-jist.htm .

I chose one story from each U.S. state and Canadian province represented in the Howard V. Epstein book of the same name as the exhibition. There are over one hundred stories from the Epstein book that "remain on the cutting room floor," so to speak.

One of them that didn't make the cut came from Gladys Smith of Grand Forks, North Dakota. I thought I would present you with some excerpts from her story here, as you won't find this story within the exhibition, and what she says is interesting.

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"My early memories of Grand Forks and being Jewish there are happy ones. We had a synagogue in town that served the forty families that lived there, plus all the Jews from the surrounding small towns too. We were, for the most part, Orthodox, and the shul was always packed on all the holidays. We had a full-time rabbi and a cantor for the High Holy Days, Sunday school for learning Biblical history, and Cheder during the week for Hebrew lessons, and Bar Mitzvah preparations for the boys.

My mother kept a kosher home, and Yiddish was spoken at home and at both grandparents' homes. Pesach was always spent in Minneapolis (it was an overnight train ride with free train passes, thanks to my dad's job) and there was always a feeling of rightness to everything. There was a rightness to observing Shabbos, to lighting the candles, to opening the door for Elijah on Passover, and to reading the Daily Forward in Yiddish to my grandfather.

When I started school, which came at the same time as World War II and the Holocaust, life no longer felt right. From then on, my family, along with my world, fell apart. Being called a 'Christ killer' and a 'dirty Jew' were things that no one had ever taught me to deal with. It was as if Hitler's madness had reached out to touch all of us.

My parents never taught us how to deal with the anti-Semitism that was so prevalent in that part of the country in those years: the 'No Jews or Dogs' signs in motel windows, being beat up by non-Jewish children, al the things that made us feel like so much less than we really were....

As World War II progressed, and it became evident that whatever family had been left in Russia and Poland no longer existed, my grandparents lost heart. There was a great deal of sickness in the family, and life, as I had known it when I was younger, became nonexistent...

When I think back on the friends I had during my growing up years, I realize that whoever befriended me probably had no idea of what a Jew was. I can't recall any conversations about religion, Jesus, or even the Holocaust. I don't recall any discussions of the Holocaust in any school class. It was always as though what was happening in the world could never touch us and, therefore, why even talk about it. Everyone was very patriotic and danced in the streets when the war ended, but the idea of people like us being starved, beaten, demeaned, gassed, and put into furnaces was just beyond anyone's--especially a child's--conception.

My parents declined to answer whatever questions I may have had, and it wasn't until I started to haunt the library that I began to put the pieces of this puzzle together. If anything, I can recall a feeling of, 'Keep your mouth shut, hold your breath, and pray it doesn't touch you...'

...Growing up Jewish in a small town left scars that I now realize can never heal. I'll always look over my shoulder and wonder if I'll wake up some morning with a swastika painted on my front door."

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Interesting food for thought, isn't it?

In the future, more excerpts from this book may be included within this blog.

A Lexicon of Pre-World War I European Photographic Studios

Within the Museum of Family History’s “vault” lies a couple of hundred studio photographs, mostly taken in towns and cities in pre-World War I Europe; only a portion of these are on display. Many of these photos (mounted on cardboard) contain what could be important genealogical information, especially if one is trying to date a family photograph taken in a studio nearly one hundred years ago.

What information can be found on such a photo? The name of the photographic studio is most often imprinted under the photograph; usually a lithographic design covers most of the photo backing. Many of these designs contain attractive graphics, and include medals (with the names of the "fathers of photography" displayed on each medal) the studio supposedly won at some exposition, or perhaps medals that were awarded by a European monarch. Perhaps there will be an indication that the photographer is the "official" photographer of a particular monarch.

After World War I, however, the mood in Europe changed—especially in Eastern Europe—in such a way that those attractive lithographic designs disappeared for the most part. After 1914, these attractive designs were generally replaced with a simple, non-descript stamp imprint with the name of the studio and the studio's address.

The Museum of Family History’s collection of fronts and backs of such studio photographs is nothing when compared to the collection of over 3500 photos that can be found at http://www.fotorevers.eu/. This Polish and German language website documents the activities of photographers and their studios mostly during the years 1850-1914.

On this site, you can search for a particular photographer and studio by the surname of the photographer. If successful, you will be given a list of what photos exist on the site for a particular photographer. Then you can see if one of the surnames listed is the one you’re looking for.

There were many hundreds of photographic studios that existed during the pre-World War I years in Europe, and this website certainly doesn’t have every one represented. However, they do have a lot. Whereas the Museum of Family History only holds images of studio photographs of Jewish individuals and family groups, this site makes no such distinction.

To read more about this site and learn what information can be gleaned from this listing of photographers and their studios, click here.

The Jewish Side of Jolson

More on Al Jolson (Asa Yoelson).

There is much to be said about Jolson's Judaism. It was, in many ways, so much a part of his identity. Though he was never an observant Jew, he would assault--verbally or otherwise--anyone who made an anti-Semitic crack.

Jolson was, as his biographer Herb Goldman wrote, the first Jewish-American entertainer who did not hide his roots. There are many references to Yiddish and Jewish tradition in his films and radio shows.

Yiddish was a second language to him, of course. The greatest influence on his Jewishness was his father, Moshe Reuben Yoelson. Moshe was a rabbi, a cantor and a mohel.

It should also be noted that Jolson recorded the songs "Israel" and "Hatikvah" with Decca Records in May 1948 and donated all the royalties to the United Jewish Appeal.

Two days after recording the songs, he sent a master copy to Israel's new president, Chaim Weizmann (who at the time was visiting President Truman at the White House.) The story made the front page of "Variety."

Jolson also did radio shows for the United Jewish Appeal in 1947 and 1948 and paid for a two-page ad in "Variety," urging funds for Jews in Europe.

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It should be noted that an estimate of Al Jolson's estate, in 1950, was some four million dollars. That would be equivalent, in 2007 currency, of about $35 Million.
Al Jolson took to heart the essential Jewish mandate of tikun olam, perfecting the world. It is a belief rooted in Jewish liturgy and practice to leave this world a better place than when you entered it, and from the variety of causes helped by Jolson's wealth, I think he helped significantly in completing this task. Here is a listing of the charities which benefited from bequests in Jolson's will. Wherever possible, I have provided web links to sites maintained by those charities or successors. --according to the International Al Jolson Society

Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies of New York
Free Synagogue Child Adoption Committee
Hebrew National Orphan Home
Society of St. Vincent de Paul
Orphans Home and Asylum of Protestant Episcopal Church
Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews of New York
New York Association for the Blind
Palestine Light House
Hadassah
Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society
American Red Cross
Memorial Hospital
Actors Fund of America
Columbia University
New York University
City College of New York

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The "Immortal Al Jolson" exhibition can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ajolson.htm .

The International Al Jolson Society Presents

When I was just a couple years from becoming a bar mitzvah, I became enamored with the singing of the immortal Al Jolson. I used to tell everyone who'd listen that I watched the first Jolson bio pic "The Jolson Story" twenty-nine times on television. These were the days when "Million Dollar Movie" showed a film two or three times a day. After attending today's 13th annual Jolson festival on Long Island, New York (attended by more than 180 Jolson devotees), I don't think I was the only one.

Also there was a great Jolson sound alike named Tony Babino who did a wonderful Jolson. He regailed us with many a Jolson song.

I'd also like to remind those of you who haven't yet visited the "Immortal Al Jolson" exhibition at the Museum of Family History, to do so. There are nearly thirty web pages to this large online exhibition, which is replete with dozens of photos of Jolson, seventeen video clips and more than forty sound clips from all aspects of Jolson's personal and professional life. There's even a page entitled "The Jewish Side of Jolson" where you can hear Jolson sing "Hatikvah," "Kol Nidre," "Cantor on the Sabbath," and "Israel."

In gathering material for my Jolson exhibition, I first heard Jolson sing the aformentioned Jewish songs. Had I heard Jolson's version of "Kol Nidre" during those immediate years before I became a Bar Mitzvah, I wonder whether my Haftorah reading might have had a Jolson "lilt" to it...

"Cantor on the Sabbath" ("a chazend'l ofn shabbos"), sung in Yiddish by Jolson and mimed by Jolson portrayer Larry Parks, was originally to be part of the first Jolson bio pic "The Jolson Story," but the powers-that-be decided it was too ethnic and cut it from the film. And they say "the rest his history."

The Jolson exhibition can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ajolson.htm .
The Jolson society website can be found at http://www.jolson.org/ .

New Exhibition: "HIAS: The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society"

More for you at the ever-expanding Museum of Family History.

Many Jewish immigrants who entered countries such as the United States sought assistance upon their immigration, e.g. food, housing, etc. Aid societies, such as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, founded by Russian Jewish immigrants in New York City in 1881, often had a representative stationed at the major ports of entry, waiting to help each and every immigrant they could. The founding of HIAS was in response to the huge wave of immigration that occurred following the assassination of the Russian Czar Alexander II in 1881 and the subsequent pogroms. Many Jews were forced to flee Russia and immigrate to the United States, the majority entering via the port of New York. There, HIAS would provide food and shelter to the new immigrant, and try to find them a job. In 1911, HIAS even provided a kosher kitchen at Ellis Island and fed more than half a million meals between 1925 and 1952.

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I am the immigrant.
Since the dawn of creation my restless feet have beaten new paths across the earth.
My uneasy bark has tossed on all seas.
My wanderlust was born of the craving for more liberty and a better wage for the sweat of my face.
I looked towards the United States with eyes kindled by the fire of ambition and heart quickened with newborn hope....

-- from the book "The Immigrant: An Asset and a Liability," by Frederick J. Haskin, an excerpt from the poem "The Immigrant."

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In this exhibition you can read about HIAS cir 1913, its objectives and its accomplishments. You can also read some of the content that appeared in a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on December 28, 1913, as it appealed to the public for financial support.

You will also find an example of a HIAS immigration card which was filled out by HIAS officers and the immigrant when they first arrived in the United States. In this page from the Museum of Family History's ERC (Education and Research Center), you can learn what information can be gleaned from such cards.

To access this exhibition, please visit www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-hias.htm and follow the "next" links at the bottom of each web page.

Take a Virtual Tour of the Museum's "World Jewish Communities"

Some months back, the Museum of Family History created its very own, unique "World Jewish Communities" exhibition. The purpose of this permanent exhibition is not merely to create a page about a shtetl, town or city, but to "paint a picture" of the town--not how it is today of course, but how it might have been when once there existed a strong and vibrant Jewish population.

The one requirement for becoming one of the Museum's "World Jewish Communities" had been the inclusion of some multimedia aspect, i.e. some audio or video, as opposed to just text and photographs. However, with the availability of so much more material, e.g. that which exists in such resources as the Yizkor book and other books and memoirs, much more is possible and required.

Much of what has been put together to date has been for three Jewish communities: Czernowitz, Ukraine; Ozarow, Poland; and Zambrow, Poland.

Visit any of these World Jewish Communities at the Museum and take a "virtual tour." When you do, just imagine that each web page is a station or stop along the tour if you were taking this audio walking tour on your own within a "real" museum, while you're wearing a headset and carrying around some sort of IPod or infrared device.

You will be sent from room to room or station to station, and as you go, you will be learning as about each town. As you do, a picture will be painted of the town.

This exhibition is ongoing and ever evolving; more content will be added to each Community in the near future, and more communities will be added.

All the town links can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/wjc.htm .

New exhibition: "Anti-Semitism in Europe: The Pogroms Against the Jews"

A pogrom is a riot that is perpretrated against a particular group; the term is used most often when talking about the history of the Jewish people. Pogroms are usually characterized by acts of violence, whether they be killings or other types of assault; also destruction of homes, businesses or synagogues.

Sometimes pogroms happen spontaneously; other times they are planned. What role governments played in pogroms has not always been clear. What is clear, however, is how often these governments did little to prevent or stop such wanton acts.

The Museum of Family History has created a small exhibition that it hopes will evolve and grow over time as more material becomes available. At present, within the aforementioned exhibition, you may read about the pogroms that occurred in Kishinev, Bialystok, Siedlce and Kielce.

The exhibition, "Anti-Semitism in Europe: The Pogroms Against the Jews" can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-pogroms.htm.

Q & A: Interview with a Cemetery Manager

For the last twenty-four years, Todd Ivler has been the General Manager of Mount Judah Cemetery, located in Ridgewood, Queens, New York. He is a man who is very dedicated to his work. He is affable and extremely helpful to those who need his assistance. In essence, he is the model of what a cemetery manager should be.

Todd sat down for an interview with the Museum of Family History last summer and most graciously answered every question put to him . You can read the entire interview online within the Museum's "Q & A: Interview with a Cemetery Manager."

It is important to note from the outset that every cemetery is different. Each has its own policies (although their policies may be similar or the same), whether it has to do with how they care for their grounds, how they might number a grave or row or grave in a particular plot, or even how their searchable database (if they have one) may be structured, etc.

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The Museum asked Todd about the procedure that takes place once someone who has a plot at Mt. Judah passes on, from the moment the family or funeral director calls his cemetery office:

"... A lot of times we get a call directly from the family, saying that my mother died or my father died, for instance. We’ll take some information from them, but ideally we only really take funeral information from a funeral home. Once we get the phone call, we take down some information; there are a certain number of questions that we ask. Once we have the answers to those questions, if they give us the name of the society or a family plot where the person's going to be buried, we’ll go pull out that card or that map...

Basically the only information we need at that point is name of the deceased, and if they know where—or the funeral home knows where—they’re going to be buried. If they don’t know where the deceased is going to be buried, then we go from there. Then we start asking more questions, e.g. family name, next-of-kin name. We might be able to trace it that way. Did the person buy the grave directly from the cemetery? There are a lot of ways of going about finding out where the problem is.

Well, if the information is good information, it makes things very easy for us. A lot of times funeral homes are already pre-prepared, if the family had gone in to see them first, which is something that I highly recommend people doing. At that point, we get out our maps, I send the foreman or the superintendent out to the grounds, he double-checks to make sure the grave is empty, to make sure it is the grave it’s supposed to be. If it’s next to a spouse under a double headstone, the grave is a little easier to find, easier then if it was a single grave in the middle of literally nowhere on a vacant line. When we find the grave, at that point we determine that it’s going to be a good burial. We call the funeral home back and make what we call “final arrangements." We get the next-of-kin’s name and set up the day and the date of the funeral."

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To read more about this and learn more about the inner workings of a typical Jewish cemetery, please read the interview in full at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/qna-cem-mgr.htm.

"Annie's Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret"

At this year’s conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, held recently in Philadelphia, I met Steve Luxenberg, an associate editor of The Washington Post and the author of a fascinating new book, Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret.

Reviewers have raved about the book, which is a compelling narrative, an exploration of family history and a genealogy how-to lesson all at once. Walter Isaacson, biographer of Albert Einstein, described it as “a gripping detective story and a haunting memoir.” Jan Alpert, president of the National Genealogical Society, wrote that the book “is a great non-fiction read for genealogists . . . I believe Annie’s Ghosts will provide you with different ways to look at some of your research problems.”

Employing his skills as a journalist while struggling to maintain his empathy as a son, Steve pieces together the story of his mother’s motivations for hiding her sister’s existence, his aunt’s unknown life, and the times in which they lived. His search takes him to imperial Russia, Depression-era Detroit and the Holocaust in Ukraine.

I asked Steve to provide an excerpt of Annie’s Ghosts for the Museum. You can read an excerpt of his book within the Museum’s virtual Yiddish Vinkl Bookstore by clicking here.

You can also see what other books are featured at the Bookstore by clicking here.

"Great Artists Series: Max Weber" exhibition now in Polish!

In preparation for my online participation in a Bialystok, Poland exhibition beginning September 4, I have completed a Polish language version of the exhibition.

The English language version of the exhibition has been part of the Museum's content for some time now as part of its "Great Artists Series," which is designed to honor those Jewish artists "whose contributions to the world were extraordinary in terms of both the scope and quality of their work." Max Weber, a native of Bialystok, was one such artist.

Now for some background on Max Weber.

Max Weber (1881-1961) is one of America’s most important twentieth century artists. The first American cubist, Weber translated the modern European aesthetic into a truly American style that evolved during the roughly sixty years of his career. He developed a personal expressionism in his mature phase that was influential for the development of Abstract Expressionism.

Weber was raised in an Orthodox home. In 1891 when he was ten years old, he immigrated to the United States with his mother and elder brother. In New York they were reunited with his father, who was a tailor. The Webers settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, which was at the time, a haven for Eastern European Jewish immigrants.

After the death of his parents in 1918 at the end of World War I, Weber briefly turned away from modern art as so many artists were doing. During the twenties he returned to more familiar imagery and began his exploration of Judaic themes. During the thirties Weber’s political views compelled him to address more socially conscious themes. At the end of his career, he returned to the abstraction that had dominated his initial mature work.

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Weber’s inspiration for one of his more well-known Judaic works, "The Talmudists," was recorded in the 1935 article, Max Weber: Hasidic Painter, in Judaism, a quarterly journal published by the American Jewish Congress:

"I was prompted to paint this picture after a pilgrimage to one of the oldest synagogues of New York's East Side. I find a living spiritual beauty emanates from, and over and about a group of patriarchal types when they congregate in search of wisdom in the teaching of the great Talmudists of the past. The discussion of the Talmud is at times impassioned, inspired, ecstatic, and at other moments serene and contemplative…to witness a group of such elders bent on and intent upon nothing but the eternal quest and interpretation of the ethical, significant, and religious content of the great Jewish legacy--the Torah--is for me an unforgettable experience.”

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To see the entire exhibition (in English), which is entitled "Max Weber: Reflections of Jewish Memory in Modern American Art," use www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mweber-01.htm.

If you're a Polish speaker or are just curious and would like to compare both versions, feel free to do so. You can find the Polish language version at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mweber-01p.htm.

New exhibition: "Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies"

The Museum of Family History invites you to the "opening" of its latest exhibition entitled "Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies." It is based on a 1997 book (of the same name) written by Howard V. Epstein, Ph.D. It is an interesting read as we get an intimate look into the lives of Jews who spent part or all of their lives within the small towns (less than 25,000 people) of the United States and Canada.

Epstein writes, "Each individual story reflects the life and times of the author as he or she experienced living as a small-town Jew. For some, this existence could be characterized as 'the best of times,' and for others it was 'the worst of times'.... Perhaps this will have some meaning for succeeding generations. I hope that as these stories are read, they will impart the flavor of a very special segment of the Jewish community of North America."

The book "Jews in Small Towns..." contains one hundred and forty personal experiences; this online exhibition presents to you twenty-nine of them, one from each of the states and provinces represented in this book.

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"Our family emphasized education--especially for my father, who felt being an American was so very important. He taught himself to spell and often would add an extra letter to a word. When I asked why he did that, he replied that in America it's extra good, so I add an extra letter. I never understood how meaningful that phrase was until I read his acount of his miserable, impoverished, and scary childhood in the European Yeshivoth. He felt he had accomplished a great deal because his three children received university educations and higher degrees..."
--Ida R. Shreiber, Shawnee, Oklahoma

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In his book's prologue, Epstein writes, "A knowledgeable rabbi once related that the story of the four sons in the Passover Haggadah referred actually to four generations, beginning with the European Jews who were deeply immersed in the traditions of Jewish life. With each succeeding generation there were fewer questions to ask, because there was greater distance between the tradition of family roots and the socialization into American society, which all too often resulted in cultural distancing and, ultimately, assimilation. Thus the fourth son had no questions to ask because he had no Jewish background on which to base any questions about the significance of the Pesach seder."

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"The event in the Jewish calendar that gives me the fondest memories of Cumberland (Maryland) is Passover. B'Er Chayim strongly believed in organizing the whole congregation into a community seder, always in the vestry room. The sisterhood cooked and served the supper. (My mother, who was always on this committee, saw to it that her brood was served first.) The rabbi and many of the pillars of the congregation read from the Haggadah. Everyone sang the traditional songs, which we kids had practiced for weeks ahead of time in the religious school, while the rebbitzin Hadassah Lefkowitz played the piano. The top Hebrew pupils got their chance to shine in reciting the Four Questions. "Who knows one?" was always comical with the rabbi choosing some of the "characters" in the congregation to answer."
--Perry Peskin, Cumberland, Maryland

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I hope you find reading these personal stories as interesting as I have. "Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies" can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/lia-jist.htm .

The Museum of Family History welcomes more such stories, not just about life in small towns, but also about life as a Jew in bigger towns or cities; not only from the United States or Canada, but from throughout the world. If you have a story, either in form of a written text , or as an audio or video file, and you wish to share it with others who might visit the Museum, please contact me at steve@museumoffamilyhistory.com.

The Museum of Family History on the Radio

I was both surprised and delighted to learn that the Museum of Family History was mentioned on a radio program during the morning of July 12th. The program, "The Radio Rabbi," is on every Sunday morning from 9 to 10 a.m. and is hosted by Rabbi Barbara Aiello.

Rabbi Aiello, who hosts the morning radio program in the Tampa-Sarasota, Florida area, somehow found my website on the Internet and spoke about it (by herself) on her program for more than three minutes. She directly quoted parts of the introduction I wrote for the Yiddish World segment of the Museum (www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/y.htm).

I must admit that hearing someone on the radio speak glowingly about my own work felt very strange. After all, someone was reading directly from my website, reading my sentiments, on the radio yet, for more than three minutes! This was quite a compliment. It goes to show you that with the Internet, word can spread quite quickly (hopefully always in a good way).

I hope, of course, that as many people as possible learn about the Museum of Family History, not just in the United States but all over the world. This can happen in a number of ways: on the radio, in the print media, and most often by word-of-mouth, email and the Internet.

Interestingly enough, Rabbi Barbara is the rabbi of the first active synagogue in Calabria, Italy, in over 500 years, and she is director of the Italian Jewish Cultural Center of Calabria (IjCCC), She is also the first woman rabbi and first modern liberal rabbi in Italy.

Here is a transcript of what Rabbi Aiello said about the Museum on Sunday A.M. July 12, 2009:

“Let me tell you a little bit about a wonderful website that I found called 'The Museum of Family History,’ and it is a virtual museum....you click on the website and you take a look at what’s in the museum virtually. And the museum itself is dedicated to keep the Yiddish language and culture alive, and [it is written]:

'As a second-generation Jewish-American growing up in New York, I had relatively little exposure to the Yiddish language. I heard Yiddish spoken at my grandparents' apartment in Brooklyn (especially when they didn't want me to know what they were saying), when they played the occasional recording of Yiddish music on the Victorola, and perhaps some Yiddish conversation in the shul. I have never taken a class in Yiddish, so I do try to study it a bit on my own from time to time.

So for most of my life then, I have had no true Yiddish speakers in my family. All I ever heard during this time from Yiddish and non-Yiddish speakers alike is how sad it was that there were so few Yiddish speakers left, that the language would eventually die out. Some did take pride in the fact that they could speak a few phrases in Yiddish or could understand a little when it was spoken. Others would have a sentimental connection to Yiddish, especially when they heard songs like "My Yiddishe Mame." Certainly, once their Yiddish-speaking parents passed on and the number of Yiddish speakers that they were exposed to diminished, their knowledge of Yiddish diminished too. Even in Eretz Israel, where there are still many Yiddish speakers, the preferred spoken language is Hebrew.

Now Yiddish as we know, is one of the few pan-European languages spoken before the Second World War. It imbued nearly every aspect of Jewish life and culture. And for this reason alone, such a loss of the language and culture would seem like a shanda (a shame) to anyone with a deep appreciation of Jewish history, and that the history of the wonderful world of Yiddish life is definitely worth saving…

Now one of the aims of the Museum of Family History is to keep the Yiddish language and culture alive; and how wonderful it would be to remind us in some small way many of those who were born into Yiddish-speaking families once again of the beauty of the Yiddish language and culture. Perhaps though, it is even more important to make newer generations aware of what role Yiddish played in Jewish life. Making people aware is perhaps all we can do as individuals.” That’s quite a lot. “In the absence of a multitude of Jewish communities that still speak Yiddish, without the hard work of many who could talk about the Yiddish language to their children and grandchildren or speak publicly to Jewish groups about the importance of preserving Yiddish culture, the forecasters of the extinction of the Yiddish language might be right. All we can do however is try however, from the depth of our Jewish souls, each in our own unique and heartfelt way.'"

My thanks to Rabbi Barbara Aiello for thinking enough of my work to mention it "on the air."

How to Become a Citizen of the United States, circa 1916

May I suggest you take a look at one the Museum's newest exhibitions? As part of its "Living in America: The Jewish Experience" collection, you can now read from a book published by the "Immigrant Publication Society," just as one of your immigrant family members might have done circa 1916, if they had entered the United States through a New York port.

Perhaps you'd like to read the book while imagining that you are this family member. Maybe your English is poor; you arrived at Ellis Island with little money and are hoping to quickly find a place to live and a job. You are also not very familiar with the differences between life in the European town in which you lived, and the large metropolis which seems very strange and alien to you. You are concerned, but are nevertheless eager to acclimate to your new surroundings and eventually become a U.S. citizen.

Here is one small section from the publication "Guide to the United States for the Jewish Immigrant":

HOW TO BECOME A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES

"Immediately after your arrival in the United States you should go to a Federal court and make your declaration under oath that you intend to become a citizen. You do not need to be able to speak English to do this. Any immigrant over eighteen years of age may at any time make such declaration. In making this declaration you must give the same name as that on your certificate of landing, and you must remember the name of the ship on which you came, and the exact date of your arrival. To obtain the necessary certificate of this declaration of intention ("the first paper") you must pay a court fee of one dollar.

In many cities of the United States there are societies that help immigrants in the formalities necessary to become a citizen. In New York the Educational Alliance at East Broadway and Jefferson Street gives lectures on this subject and supplies all necessary information. And the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society, at 229 East Broadway, gives lectures to newly arrived immigrants on this subject, assists in securing first papers, gives all needed physical help, assisting in filling out blanks and accompanying the applicant to court, when necessary. If you live in another city, and can obtain help in no other way, you may write for advice to any Yiddish paper that is published in the United States.

After five years of continuous residence in the United States, and after at least two years, and not more than seven years, from the granting of your first paper, you may apply to the court for full citizenship. Producing your first paper, you must then prove by the oath of two citizens who know you that you have lived in this country without returning to Europe at least five years, continuously--the last one of which you must have lived in the state in which you made application for citizenship. You must produce a certificate of landing, which is obtained from the immigration officer in charge at the port where you landed. You must give your approval to our form of government and prove by your witnesses that you are a person of good morals and law abiding character. You must give up all claims of duty to the government of your land of origin and take oath to support the Constitution of the United States. You must be able to speak English. You must prove that you are capable of exercising the duties of citizenship. This means that you must be able to explain the organization of the government and know how the laws are made and administered. The chapters on the Government of the United States, and the State Governments in this book contain information sufficient to enable you to answer nearly all questions that judges usually ask on these subjects. Learn these chapters thoroughly. The list of questions and answers that are sold about the streets are misleading and are of little use. To register this application and for the following hearing, the court fee is four dollars.

Ninety days after this, accompanied by two witnesses, you must visit the court again and declare again under oath the truth of all the statements in your application. If you then prove to the satisfaction of the court that you are worthy to become a citizen, you are granted full citizenship papers. "

Over the many decades that immigrants have arrived at such ports as Castle Garden and Ellis Island, the rules that they encountered along the path to citizenship changed to one degree or another. But here at least, during this period of time, these were the rules that needed to be followed.

To learn more--to get more of a feel of what an immigrant was expected to know--please read through the pages of this exhibition.
The link is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/gus.htm .

Lilke Majzner's Yiddish Lifetime Achievement Award

In July 2009, Lilke Majzner, a Holocaust survivor from the ghetto of Lodz, Poland, passed away. Just nine months earlier, Lilke was given the third annual Lifetime Yiddish Achievement Award by the International Association of Yiddish Clubs. Her acceptance speech, given in Yiddish, was quite eloquent.

While living in Los Angeles, California, Lilke gave of herself quite willingly to works that were involved with the preservation of the Yiddish language. She served as the Director of the Los Angeles Yiddish Culture Club and was a member of the Board of the California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language and Yiddishkayt LA. She will be sorely missed by all who came to know her.
...................................................................................................

"Language is the instrument of creativity. Our creative treasure is collosal. It is not only the legacy, it is the wonderful metamorphosis of the wandering process of now. Our yesterdays must be historically woven into today. The road is hard, not easy. We live in a new technological world.Technology brings both good and bad. But Yiddish vitality and endurance will come to our aid. We must have faith and we must have great stubbornness. Together…together we will preserve our values and build new values. Our language and culture must be a component of our Jewish existence. May the words of our great writer Leivick, 'I rise up again and stride off farther,' become our motto." --Lilke Majzner

.....................................................................................................

The Museum of Family History now offers you three ways to appreciate Lilke's words. You may either:
---watch the complete video of her speech. You will need the proper media player to watch this mp4 video file. Also if you rely on land lines/phone lines for Internet service, you might be waiting a while to see it as it slowly downloads. The video should begin playing on its own soon after the web page appears.
---if you wish instead to just hear her speech (remember the speech is entirely in Yiddish), you can click on the page's audio-only link.
---her speech has also been well-translated into English and can also be found on the aforementioned web page.

The link to the Majzner page is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/iayc2008-majzner.htm.

Do You Know of Any Active Landsmanshaftn?

First, some definition of terms. A landsman is typically someone who comes from one's hometown, most often a town or city somewhere in Europe. A landsmanshaft (pl: landsmanshaftn) society is usually defined as a mutual aid society, formed by landsleit (plural, non-gender specific form of landsman) when they came over to the United States, Canada and elsewhere. They would often help any landsleit that would immigrate, sometimes finding them a place to stay and a job, offering them a way of meeting their landsleit socially or within their own synagogue. Sometimes they would even have a society doctor who would tend to their health needs--this was in the days before Medicare and Social Security, so the landsmanshaft played many important roles during these years. Perhaps the function that the landsmanshaft society is most known for today is that of offering its members a plot in a burial ground that the society owned. This is often the last remaining function of a landsmanshaft society.

While there were very many landsmanshaftn that were active from before the turn of the twentieth century to the 1950s, there are a relatively small amount left. Most of those societies who become "inactive" send out the deeds of burial plots to their remaining members before the society liquidates. The society's papers are then sent to the New York State Liquidation Bureau and the society becomes defunct. The final role then of a landsmanshaft is most often that of a "burial society."

Saying that, there are still some societies that are still quite active; one such society is the one which I belong to. I am First Vice-President and Cemetery Liaison for the United Zembrower Society (Zambrow, Poland). Because my paternal grandfather Michael Laski--who was born in Zambrow--passed away before I was born, I know nothing of his life there. However, I wish to know more about the town in which he was born and lived at least part of his life before his immigration to the United States in 1902.

Our Zembrover society still exists and is "going strong." Our society today has more than one hundred and thirty paid members. Those who can attend our meetings do so once or twice a year when we may lunch together, listen to the occasional speaker, and conduct society business. Though our membership is comprised of few landsleit per se, the descendants of Zembrovers genuinely seek the comraderie that their parents and grandparents once found in large numbers decades before, e.g. in Eretz Israel or on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. They seek to learn more about their "ancestral" town and wish to work to preserve the memory of not only their own family's life in Europe, but the history of the town and its Jewish population as well.

In this vein, the Museum is actively gathering information about whatever landsmanshaftn remain, everywhere in the world. This list will be put online within the Museum's website at some point in the near future, in the hope that it will spur some to join a society of interest to them.

If you know of such a landsmanshaft society, please write to me at steve@museumoffamilyhistory.com . Please answer the following questions:

--name of society, name of contact person, address/email address, phone number (this is not necessary if privacy is a concern)
--year society was established
--number of current members
--range of activities/functions
--how often do the members meet?
--do they have a website? do they publish a newsletter?
--do they own one or more society burial plots? Where are they located?
--any other pertinent information

Hopefully this list will be ever-evolving. When the list is put online, an announcement will be made on this blog.

Lastly, if you have any landsmanshaft material that you believe would be of interest to others, that can be put online within the Museum's website, please contact me at the above email address.

Coming Soon: "Shabbat and the Jewish Holidays"

In this upcoming exhibition, simple explanations of Shabbat and the major Jewish holidays will be given; photographs of Judaica associated with these holidays will be displayed; and when available, stories will be told--by those who once lived in Europe before the Second World War--about Shabbat and the way they celebrated the Jewish holidays in their hometown. More such stories are welcome, so if you have any you wish to submit, or have any questions as to what is being requested, please contact steve@museumoffamilyhistory.com .

1826-1863 Ostrow Mazowiecka Marriage (Alegata) extracts now on JRI-Poland

Posted by Stanley Diamond, Coordinator, Ostrow Mazowiecka Research Family:

On behalf of the Ostrow Mazowiecka Research Family and volunteer Judie Ostroff Goldstein, I am pleased to announce that full extracts of the 1827-1865 marriage alegata records are now online in the Jewish Records Indexing - Poland (JRI-Poland) database.

These indices were created from the alegata rather than the marriage records themselves. Alegata (also known as Marriage Supplements or Annexes) are a group of documents that form a more detailed record of the betrothal than the marriage record alone. In addition to the marriage registration, Alegata files typically include at least the birth records for the bride and groom. Other documents relating to the bride and groom or their parents may also form part ofthe Alegata file, such as the marriage banns, a record of divorce or army record. The marriage banns were typically issued in the town of residence of the groom. When a birth record could not be produced by the bride or groom, a protocol (sworn statement from witnesses with details of the birth) was created. The search results include include the following information for both the bride and groom:

*Type, Year, Akt (record)#
*Surname and Given Name(s)
*Father and Mother'sName(s)
*Father's Father's Name(s) for most entries
*Indication if father is deceased.
*Age, Year and Place of Birth and Birth Akt # in the town of birth
*Current place of Residents
*Occupation
*Remarks (often the name and date of death of previous spouse).

Since marriages were often between individuals not residing in Ostrow Mazowiecka, the information in these records provide invaluable pointers to further research in the records of other towns. For a full description of the Marriage Alegata records extracting project, please go to the home page of the Ostrow Mazowiecka Research Family at www.ostrow-mazowiecka.com/

Thanks again to Judie Ostroff Goldstein for providing us with this invaluable database.

Subscribing to the Museum of Family History Blog

You can subscribe to this blog by email if you wish. By doing so you will be receiving an automatic email daily with all the new postings from the day before (assuming, of course, that a posting has been made during the day).
Here's what you do:
On the right side of the blog you will see "Subscribe Via Email" and there will be a blank field where you need to enter the complete email address that you wish to use to receive Museum updates.

After entering your email address, click on the "subscribe" button. You will then see one or perhaps two screens, one with verification letters which you'll need to fill out (sorry, we want to make sure you are who you say you are), and then "Feedburner" will send you an email to confirm that you indeed wish to subscribe. Click then on the email to confirm that you want to subscribe, and then you'll be set. You must remember to answer the confirmation email, otherwise you won't receive Museum updates.

Memorial Book for the Victims of National Socialism at the University of Vienna in 1938

This memorial book is accessible as an online database (http://gedenkbuch.univie.ac.at/, English version: http://gedenkbuch.univie.ac.at/index.php?id=435&L=2). It contains roughly 2,200 names and short biographies of victims who were persecuted, driven away and/or murdered - as Jews and/or for political reasons, professors, lecturers and students.

Besides the memorial function, the database (a 'work-in-progress') provides important biographical and genealogical information.

By announcing the presence of this database, those associated with this book and database hope to reach more persons concerned, or their affiliates, and then ask them to complete the contained information.

Multimedia Presentations at the Museum of Family History

One of the unique features of the virtual Museum of Family History is its multimedia aspect. Many sound and video clips can be found at the Museum which make a "day at the Museum" a most pleasant experience. Here is a sampling of what can be found within the Museum that contain audio and/or video:

• Great Artists Series: "The Immortal Al Jolson" is an exhibition that could only have been created with the cooperation of the International Al Jolson Society, which has over one thousand members.
  Within this some thirty-page exhibition, you will find seventeen video clips and more than forty sound clips of Jolson, some where he's singing, others where he's being interviewed. You will also find video clips from his films, from newsreels, and even from a home movie (set to music, of course).
  You can also hear sound clips from a number of Jolson's old radio shows--even guest star Fannie Brice appears, singing "My Man." There is one webpage, entitled "The Jewish Side of Jolson," where you can hear Jolson sing four songs including "Hatikvah," "Kol Nidre" (beautiful) and "Chazzan Oyfn Shabbas" (in English, "Cantor on the Sabbath").
  You can also read about Jolson's personal (as well as his professional) life. This exhibition is highly recommended.
  www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ajolson.htm
  The website of the International Al Jolson Society can be found at http://www.jolson.org/ .
  
  
• Also another exhibition found within the Museum's Great Artists Series is "The Great Richard Tucker," who many of us know as a fabulous tenor, but did you know he was also a Cantor too? Within this exhibition you can read about Tucker's family life as well as hear him sing two arias from "Tosca", the aria "Vesti la giubba" from "I, Pagliacci" and "Nessun Dorma" from "Turandot."
  www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/rtucker.htm
  
  
• Screening Room: The Jewish documentary most often thematically deals with the many aspects, events and experiences of Jewish life that exists or existed within the Diaspora. These films attempt to honor and preserve these significant events that have become indelibly etched within the collective Jewish consciousness. It is for this reason that the Museum has created the "Screening Room." The Museum is honored to be able to share with you short previews of twenty such films, in the hope that you will want to see the film in its entirety somewhere, and when you do, consider what the filmmaker is trying to say; why he or she felt it was so important to make their film.
  Lastly, the Museum urges you to support the Jewish documentarian and the work they do in whatever way you can.
  www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/screeningroom.htm
  
  
• World War II and the Holocaust: If you have the stomach for it, you can watch a one-hour film produced by the U.S. Department of Defense as the U.S. Army liberated a number of camps at the end of the War. The camps include Bergen-Belsen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Leipzig, Penig (a subcamp of Buchenwald), Ohrdruf (another subcamp of Buchenwald), Ahlen, Arnstadt, Nordhausen; Breendonck (Belgium) and Mauthausen (Austria). Also included are scenes from Hadamar, the psychiatric hospital in Germany that was used by the Nazis to perform mass sterilizations and mass murder of 'undesirable' members of Nazi society, specifically the physically and mentally handicapped.
  www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/cc/ccamps-us.htm
  
  
• "Seeking Justice! The Nuremberg Trials": A film of one hour and a quarter about the Nuremberg trials.
  www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-rm012a.htm
  
  
• There are many more video and sound clips that can be found within the virtual realm of the Museum of Family History. Just visit the Museum's Multimedia page which contains links to separate pages that list its audio and video collection.
  www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/multimedia.htm

You should be forewarned that, depending on the media player(s) you have on your computer, you may or may not be able to play some of the videos. Also depending on your Internet connection, your download time may be short or long. The Museum, of course, regrets any incovenience or dissapointment that this may cause you.

Look, Listen and Learn Classroom Exercises for Kids

Any good museum will make educational material available for both children and young adults. With that idea in mind, the Museum of Family History has now made available a second way for adults to interact with their children or grandchildren in an educative way.

Part of the process of increasing a young person's awareness of the importance of both family and history (and family history in general) is raising their consciousness, teaching them how to listen to stories told to them by their elders, and creating opportunities for them to think about history outside of their own classroom at school, especially as it relates to their own family's history.

In this vain, the Museum has made available a number of "thinking exercises" based on some of its current online exhibitions. Meant for kids, young adults and their families, this educational resource gives families opportunities to learn and share ideas with each other as they look together at one or more photographs presented to them. Some exercises are more simplistic and may good to use with children; others may require more critical thinking and might be better suited to young adults (some may say even older ones).

These "thinking exercises" may be used on their own, or they may be used in conjunction with other materials or exhibitions on the same or similar topic found elsewhere within the Museum. They may also be used as a basis for further discussions or study; how it's implemented will be up to you if you choose to use them.

These exercises allow children to employ their imagination, to empathize, and to place themselves in various situations in which their ancestors may have found themselves many decades ago. They may get to play the role of one or more people in a particular photograph and both ask and answer the questions that are posed to them by the Museum.

One example of an exercise has to do with immigration at Ellis Island where the young person must imagine that they just arrived at Ellis Island with their family after a long trans-Atlantic voyage, and they are waiting on line to be "inspected." What do they see around them? What languages do they hear? What are they thinking? What might their parents be saying to them? Who in their family now would they like to be waiting for them if and when the pass through the inspection process? These are just some of the questions posed in this particular exercise.

Of course, you and/or your children may wish to make up your own questions based on your own family history, as each family's history is unique. There are no answers supplied to the questions posed, as there are no right or wrong answers.

In these thinking exercises, one has the opportunity to do some creative thinking. Hopefully, the participant(s) in this exercise will find some relevance to their own life as they do these exercises. They may be important in understanding more about the history of their own family and of history in general.

In a similar vein as the Museum's newly featured book and PowerPoint presentation "Kiddish Yiddish" (see previous posting), the "Thinking Exercises" will give adults and opportunity to work closely with their children or grandchildren and it will enable the adult to talk about their life experiences too (or the life experiences of a parent, grandparent or ancestor) as it relates to the specific exercise. Anything to promote intergenerational communication, right?

More such exercises will be added to the Museum's "Look, Listen and Learn" classroom in the future, including audio and video components which will become an integral part of the exercise. This should be very interesting and hopefully give joy to those who participate in these exercises.

The main page for this can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/erc-tex-main.htm.

The Museum welcomes anyone to create appropriate "thinking exercises," though they should contact the Museum first at erc@museumoffamilyhistory.com .

Searching the NYC Area Cemetery Databases

Within the last few years seven searchable databases have been created for Jewish cemeteries within the New York-New Jersey metro area. Since the Museum wishes that everyone has the greatest success when searching these databases, suggestions have been offered on how best to use them. You can find these suggestions and more at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/erc-scdb.htm .

The first searchable database was created for Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Fairview, New Jersey. Their site can be found at http://www.mountmoriahcemeteryofnewjersey.org/. Then the creation of a series of six databases began: Mt. Hebron Cemetery (http://www.mounthebroncemetery.com/) in Flushing, New York; Mt. Carmel Cemetery (http://www.mountcarmelcemetery.com/) in Ridgewood, New York; Mt. Zion Cemetery (http://www.mountzioncemetery.com/); Mt. Ararat Cemetery in Lindenhurst, New York (http://www.mountararatcemetery.com/. Then a database for Mt. Judah Cemetery in Ridgewood, New York (http://www.mountjudah.com/) was created. The latest database was created for Mt. Lebanon Cemetery (http://www.mountlebanoncemetery.com/), in Glendale, New York. The database of Mt. Carmel increased in 2007 when they took over the management of the nearby Hungarian Cemetery. Subsequently, Mt. Carmel Cemetery took over management of nearby Knollwood Park Cemetery. Hopefully at some time in 2009 the data from Knollwood Park will be online (as part of the Mt. Carmel database.)

In all, there are at least 700,000 burials within the combined databases. Though there are many more area cemeteries that don't have searchable databases than do, they are nevertheless a great tool for finding the location of a loved one's "final resting place."

Please visit the Museum's Cemetery Project at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/cp-main.htm where you'll find a cemetery directory, cemetery maps and more.

Coming Soon: "Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies"

Just a note on a future exhibition that should be ready for viewing online by the first week in September. It is entitled "Jews in Small Towns: Legends and Legacies."

In 1997, Dr. Howard V. Epstein, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker from Georgia published a book of short stories or histories written by Jews who lived in small towns throughout the United States and Canada. They are all very enlightening and interesting.

The book itself is a collection of 140 personal experiences. Dr. Epstein discovered that such personal accounts couldn't be found in sociological literature, so he decided to create this project.

These accounts represent Jewish lives in twenty-six states and three Canadian provinces. Each participant was asked to write his or her own story and submit it to Dr. Epstein. At least one story per state or province will be represented in this exhibition, so there should be plenty of good stories for you to read.

When the exhibition has been readied and uploaded to the Internet, an announcement will be made on the Museum's blog.

Search Over 10,258,000 Old New York State Historical Newspaper Pages

The Fulton History website is a great source of newspaper articles (from 1817 to 2007) if you're interested in finding material from New York State newspapers--not just the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, but also newspapers from many towns and cities located in upstate New York.

You can see a list of newspapers that are accessible via their database, as well as find answers to frequently asked questions, by using their FAQ Help Index link. The articles will appear in a PDF format, so you need to be able to read PDF on your computer.

Your blogmaster, with great surprise and delight, found a short article about his paternal grandmother (whom he never knew) in a 1929 Utica newspaper, even though his grandmother always lived in Brooklyn. This means one never knows. It's best to conduct a search and hope for the best, as always.

Such newspapers as the Brooklyn Daily Eagle even listed school graduates, at least for the graduating classes of the late twenties and thirties. This didn't just include high school classes, but also middle school.

The key to searching in this database, as well as other such databases, is how you input your search words. If you're looking for information about a Max Cohen from Brooklyn, search as follows: "Max Cohen" "Brooklyn", making sure you use the quotation marks where appropriate, so that all mentions of Max and all mentions of Cohens and all mentions of Brooklyn don't appear with your search results.

Many researchers use ProQuest to search the New York Times archives, and this Fulton History database is almost as good--plus you can use this from the comfort of your own home (and it's free).

The link is www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html.

Brooklyn High School One-Step Searchable Databases Now Available

For those of you whose family settled in Brooklyn, New York, the Museum of Family History offers you a searchable database of nearly 46,000 graduates of Brooklyn’s Thomas Jefferson High School, covering the years between 1927 and 1987. More will become available as the Museum acquires more yearbooks to scan.

You can either search for an individual photograph of a graduate, or you can simply browse any particular yearbook from cover to cover. Many of these yearbooks also include the home address of each Senior; this can be a useful piece of genealogical information, especially when used in conjunction with a city or federal census report.

If , for instance, you know an ancestor of yours settled in the New York City area or Brooklyn but don’t know where--and you can’t find them on a Census report--why not conduct a search using the Museum's database? Steve Morse also has a similar database for Samuel J. Tilden High School also in Brooklyn--in East Flatbush. Between the Jefferson and Tilden databases, there are nearly 90,000 Seniors listed on the combined databases.

Remember that Federal Census reports came out every ten years, but two classes graduated from Jefferson and Tilden most every year--in January and June--so the addresses might help locate some previously unknown family addresses.

Thomas Jefferson High School: www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/tjhs.htm .

Samuel J. Tilden High School: www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/sths.htm .

If any readers of this blog possess any yearbooks not currently featured on either the Jefferson or Tilden database, please contact the museum at yearbooks@museumoffamilyhistory.com .

ERC Map Room of Interwar Poland

Displayed on five web pages within the Museum's Education and Research Center are more than one hundred topographic maps of various regions in Poland, along with some from Belarus and the Ukraine. Most of these maps have been divided into a right half and left half with the Map Room in order to reduce download time. All of the maps were drawn and produced between World Wars I and II.

It is interesting to note the names of the various towns and villages in the surrounding areas as they appeared before World War II, as well as the varying topography within each region. What kind of region did our ancestors live in? Was it hilly or mountainous? Were there rivers near the town? What were the names of the towns surrounding our "ancestral" town?

Each of the maps are arranged first by latitude, then by longitude. Just click on any of the thumbnail images to see the larger version.

www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/maproom-1.htm

The Lost Synagogues of Europe

Imagine that the Museum of Family History was made of "brick and mortar" (as opposed to existing solely in cyberspace, which it does). A "promenade" exists on its upper floor through which you can take a stroll while viewing various artwork exhibitions, both created by Jewish artists and pertaining to Jewish themes.

Now you can visit the Museum's "Art Gallery on the Promenade." Currently on exhibit are gouaches (on watercolor paper) of fourteen former European synagogues. The synagogues represented in this exhibition once stood in the following locations:

Germany: Aachen, Baden-Baden, Bielefeld, Bochum, Breslau (now Wroclaw), Bruchsal, Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland), Essen and Konigsberg (now Kalinigrad, Russia).

Netherlands: Amsterdam.

Poland: Katowice.

Slovakia: Bratislava.

Ukraine: Belz, Chernivtski (Czernowitz).

There is a plaque next to each gouache which gives information about the history of the particular synagogue.
The Museum thanks artist Andrea Strongwater for her willingness to display her attractive artwork on the Museum's "Promenade."
You can access this at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/prom-lse.htm. Just click on the "enter" link on this page to see the full exhibition of her works.

Also please visit the Museum's other exhibition entitled "The Synagogues of Europe" where you can see photographs or postcards of dozens of former European synagogues from eighteen different countries. The photographs are organized first by country and then by town. The link for this exhibition is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mfh-syn-europe.htm.

ERC Pronunciation Guide of European Towns

To the non-native speaker, the proper pronunciation of words in a foreign language may be a daunting task. Many of us can remember traveling to a foreign country and trying unsuccessfully to communicate with others in their native tongue. Here, at the Museum's ERC (Education and Research Center), an effort has been made to aid those interested in learning the correct pronunciation of various town and city names, as spoken by those native to that particular country. Currently, pronunciation guides are available for Polish, Magyar (Hungarian), Lithuanian and Romanian. Perhaps a Russian language guide will be available at some time in the future.

Just as in a tape you might buy to practice phrases in a foreign language before taking a trip abroad, you can listen to each audio clip for a particular first letter from the beginning, but you may be able to pause, go forwards or backwards, or play it again, depending on your computer's media player. You can choose to repeat the town name each time after the speaker says the name.The particular towns and cities that appear in each guide have been chosen because their names appear within the museum's website. Left-click onto the head letters to begin each clip, e.g. the letter "A" to hear the pronunciation of the towns beginning with the letter "A."

Here are the links to the four pronunciation guides at the Museum of Family History:
Lithuanian
Magyar (Hungarian)
Polish
Romanian

Good luck!

Museum of Family History on Display in Bialystok, Poland

The Museum of Family History will be making a special appearance in Bialystok, Poland beginning September 4, 2009. At this time an exhibition will open, the first in a series entitled "Prominent Artists--Our Neighbors. Max Weber."

Max Weber was a well-known Jewish artist (born in Bialystok) who studied under Henris Matisse and Rousseau, who painted in a variety of styles, who at times painted wonderful works with a variety Jewish themes, usually religious.

Currently, the English version of this exhibition is available for viewing at the Museum of Family History as part of the "Great Artists Series," which is designed to honor "Jewish artists whose contribution to the world were extraordinary in terms of both the scope and quality of their work." Also, the Series features exhibitions about other Jewish "artists" such as the immortal Al Jolson (highly recommended), tenor and chazzan Richard Tucker (hear Tucker sing "Nessun Dorma" and "Vesti la giubba"), Yiddish playwright Dovid Pinski, and Yiddish acting great Maurice Schwartz.

What will be shown to those who attend the Bialystok exhibition will most likely be the same online exhibition currently available on the Museum's website, the only difference being that the text on each page will be in Polish and not in English.

It should also be noted that the current English version has sound clips on every page, i.e. you will have the option to either listen to the text on each of the exhibition's web pages, or read the text.

The Max Weber exhibition (entitled "Max Weber: Reflections of Jewish Memory in Modern American Art") can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/mweber-01.htm.

The Museum's Great Artists Series can be found at www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/gas-main.htm . From this link you can access the other aforementioned exhibitions in this series.

The Museum's ERC presents "Kiddish Yiddish: Jewish Traditions & Culture in Rhyme"

Those who appreciate the value of family history and Jewish traditions must always look for new ways to interest our children and grandchildren in these subjects. With permission of the author Barbara Feltquate, The MFH has put online a PowerPoint presentation of her book "Kiddish Yiddish: Jewish Traditions & Culture in Rhyme." Barbara's book contains a series of more than two dozen illustrations and rhymes that can be used not only to read to a child, but also to bring up a story or two about your own past, e.g. during a family gathering at a Passover seder, etc.
The MFH also supplies you with a link to a free PowerPoint Viewer download, just in case you need it.

The Museum's ERC, i.e. Education and Research Center, strives to provide not only educational materials such as the aforementioned book, but wishes to provide those who have an interest in family genealogy the tools and resources they need.

The link to "Kiddish Yiddish" is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/erc-kiddish-yiddish.htm.

New exhibition: "Guide to United States for the Immigrant Jew"

The Museum of Family History (MFH) would like to announce an online exhibition based on a small book put out by the Immigration Publication Society and translated from a Yiddish edition. It was first published in 1912 and then again in 1916.

Many of us have family members who immigrated to the United States around this time, so the Museum decided that it would be useful and educational to present a publication that might have been given away to immigrants when they first arrived in the United States. According to a NY Times Book Review from 1920 this book “is intended to benefit, dealing with the advantages derived from citizenship and the duties devolving upon those on whom it conferred. In this guide a résumé is given of the early history of the United States and the manner in which Independence was obtained. Immigrants are told of the freedom they enjoy in America, where all that is asked of them is obedience to humane laws. There are also many hints on naturalization and the means of obtaining it and a condensed compendium of laws affecting conduct in public, marriage, divorce, desertion, lotteries, &c.”

The URL for this exhibition is www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/gus.htm .

A Welcome to You from the Museum of Family History

Greetings,

Welcome to the blog for the Museum of Jewish History, a virtual (Internet-only) museum dedicated to preserving the memory of not only Jewish families, but the collective modern history and culture of the Jewish people.

I am currently at the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference in Philadelphia, PA. I gave a talk about my museum entitled "A Day at the Museum: Navigating the Museum of Family History." Considering the early hour of the talk (8:15 a.m.), it was well attended and went well.

At my talk I introduced new and upcoming exhibitions as well as new interactive floor plans/maps. You can access these maps via the front page of the Museum's site at http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/ . Just look for the links in the right-hand column.

This the second way to navigate the Museum. You might also like to find your way around the museum by using the Site Map page which serves as a table of contents for the site.

If any of you would like to contribute to the Museum, e.g. family photos, text, audio or video, please contact me at steve@museumoffamilyhistory.com .

Stay tuned for mention of upcoming online exhibitions.

Steve Lasky
Founder and Director
Museum of Family History
http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/