UK: Manchester's rich Jewish history

Manchester (UK) has a rich Jewish history, now documented in a new book - "Jewish Manchester" - by Cheetham Hill's Jewish Museum founder Bill Williams. It examines the community's impact on the city's culture and economy.

He said: "Most of the book focuses on Cheetham Hill. That's where the community began and grew from the early 19th century until the Second World War; it was the 'Jewish Quarter'."

Bill, of Park Avenue, Levenshulme, said some of the book's key figures hail from the Cheetham area.

He said: "Nathan Laski came from Cheetham Hill and was essentially the leader of the community from the 1920s to his death during the war when he was knocked down on Cheetham Hill Road.

"He was a giant in the community, someone who helped shape it. One of his sons, Neville, became the president of the Jewish Board of Deputies in London, while his other son, Harold, became Chairman of the Labour party and an important figure in British communism."

Bill is still the honourary president and historical advisor at the museum and helps to lead its historical walks once a month around the old Jewish Quarter.

"The museum helped shape the book a lot" he said. "Most of the photos I've included come from its collection of over 10,000 pictures.

"I'm not Jewish myself, but I admire the community's ambitions and aspirations, and this book is my acknowledgement."

Published by Breedon Books (£16.99), read more here.

Coming to America: Galveston, Texas

In 1907, American Jewish leaders developed a plan to encourage Eastern European immigrants to leave the northeast's crowded, unhealthy cities for the wide-open spaces of the west. Through 1914, some 8,000-10,000 immigrants responded to the call.

Back in the Old Country, about 100 agents didn't always find it easy to convince immigrants to spend even more time travelling out west by boat or train, and it was even more difficult to get them to give up familiar city life - despite bad living conditions - for strange lands filled with cowboys, native Americans and wild animals.

The Forward's recent story by Jenna Weissman Joseelit on The Galveston Plan termed the experiment a model of creative thinking.

Giving Galveston Its Day in the Sun: The Wonders of America

Of all the current national issues that seem to vex us a lot, immigration is surely at or close to the top of the list. Some Americans extend a welcome hand to those who would like to call the United States their home; others turn their backs on them, and still others talk incessantly about boundaries and fences, driver’s licenses, Social Security and workers’ visas. In each instance, what’s most striking is the constancy of the discussion: Immigration has long been a hotly contested issue. Over the years, for every American who spoke lyrically of the potential that would accrue were the nation to welcome immigration, an equal number warned darkly of its consequences.

But some citizens actually did more than talk about immigration; they did something about it. Way back when, in 1907, a number of American Jewish philanthropists, prompted by the redoubtable Jacob Schiff, sought to ameliorate the lot of would-be immigrants by pointing them in the right direction: away from overcrowded and blighted urban areas and toward the wide-open spaces of the West, whose “nature and uncontaminated atmosphere tend to build up constitutions instead of undermining them.”

Determined to alleviate the congestion characteristic of the Northeast’s “great ghettos” and to minimize, avant la lettre, the possibility of antisemitism, Schiff and his associates attempted to prevail on those traveling to the New World to enter its precincts via Galveston, Texas, rather than land in New York or Philadelphia. And then, once in that “part of the country in which opportunity still knocks at every man’s door,” the new arrivals were encouraged to start afresh by taking a train to and settling in Omaha, Neb., and Kansas City, Mo.; Des Moines, Iowa, and Texarkana, Ark.

Read more here about who was recruited, the warnings they received, and why Galveston declined.

Zembrover Society 'back from dead'

If the northeastern Polish town of Zembrov (Zembrove) figures in your family history, read The New York Jewish Week's story by Stewart Ain on the United Zembrover Society, one of the last landsmanshaftn, as it retools for a new generation.

Landsmanshaftn were organizations of immigrants from specific geographical areas who joined together for numerous reasons. These benevolent organizations supported such social, religious and cultural activities as burial plots for members, may have supported synagogues, made loans to members, and generally assisted members in their new lives.

The story mentions online Museum of Family History founder Steve Lasky, who said about 70 percent of immigrants who entered via Ellis Island stayed in New York, and that the majority of society burial plots were owned by the landsmanschaftn.

None of the 45 people in the kosher Chinese restaurant on Flatbush Avenue had ever been to Zembrov, a town in northeast Poland, and some even had trouble spelling it. But all had relatives who came from there, and they gathered two weeks ago to keep their memories alive.

The United Zembrover Society is believed to be one of only about 20 surviving New York-area landsmanschaften, fraternal organizations founded in the late 1800s here by immigrants who shared East European hometowns, according to Isaac Pulvermacher, chairman of UJA-Federation’s Council of Jewish Organizations.

But unlike the other societies, sustained by the aging immigrants from Eastern Europe, the United Zembrover Society is the only one being kept alive by the second and third generation, he said.

In an indication of how difficult it might be to sustain the society and attract third-generation members, Amy Rublin, 22, of Wynnewood, Pa., who attended the meeting with her grandmother and other family members, said the gathering’s emphasis on cemeteries was a turnoff.

But she seemed to offer a blueprint for how to keep young people’s attention. “Discussions of people’s stories,” is what Rublin wants to hear.

“I am passionate about history, and I really value my family,” she explained. “What keeps me and my family connected to the society is the memory of my grandfather. What I’d love is to sit through a meeting and learn about the people from whom we descend. Each meeting could talk about a handful of people — where they’re from, memories of the place, whether or not they were impacted by the Holocaust and how, what the reputation of the town was in Poland [and] how Zembrove is emblematic of the Jewish experience in Poland/ Europe.”

This new group, should it take hold, would be a far cry from the landsmanschaften of old.

Pulvermacher, 88, said that 20 years ago there were some 3,000 societies. Of the remaining groups, nearly all are weak, although the Krakover Benevolent and Lodzer Young Men's Benevolent societies still meet.

The Zembrover Society, founded more than 100 years ago, has struggled in recent years to stay alive. In 2005, only 13 people showed up for a meeting. When it met again in 2007 after The Jewish Week publicized its meeting, 32 people came. After a more extensive outreach using Internet searches, 20 new members joined in the last year.

The group voted two weeks ago not only to remain in existence but also to expand its activities beyond simply maintaining its burial grounds at two local cemeteries. And members agreed to meet at the same kosher Chinese restaurant next May — if not before. “We should meet again in December just to get to know each other,” one woman suggested.

The group attracted people from age 5-83, who lived from Boston to Philadelphia.

Pulvermacher is not optimistic and things it will all disappear, because of the effort involved. Only the cemeteries hold them together. However, younger members felt it could survive if they discussed other relevant issues.

Younger attendees wanted answers to questions about food, marriage, children, education, interactions with non-Jewish citizens, occupations, etc. and were looking for the society to provide a roots connection. They stressed the importance of learning family stories and memories before it is too late, and suggested that some group funds should be earmarked for a town research project to supplement oral histories or perhaps even a roots trip to Zembrove.

According to Professor Jonathan Sarna of Brandis University, these societies were strongest during waves of immigration and after World War I when they raised money for those back home. After the Holocaust - in the 1940s-50s-60s - the societies produced yizkor books (memorial books) about the "disappeared" communities in the Holocaust.

A copy of the Zembrover Society yizkor book was brought by Ronald Miller, whose grandfather came from the town: “I’m surprised this group still survives and is still trying to survive,” he said. He joined the society after another genealogist told him about it.

The group has restored the town's Jewish cemetery and is translating the 650-page yizkor book from Yiddish and Hebrew into English.

Read more here.

Conference: "Hebrew Sources," March 2009

Genealogists and family historians may find some aspects of this future conference very interesting.

The call for papers is out for the Renaissance Society of America event, March 19-21, 2009 at UCLA and The Getty Museum. Under "Hebrew Sources" - a catch-all phrase for literature and culture of the Jews and the relations between these and other aspects of Renaissance history - some new topics (there are more) to be emphasized include:

-The converso diaspora, "crypto" literatures, assimilation, and identity.

-Cultural transmission in general through education, emigration of teachers, methods of teaching and their influences, printing and printers.

-The cultural function of glossaries, dictionaries and their circulation among scholars of different cultures; the influence of Latin and the vernacular languages on the development of Hebrew and non-Hebrew Jewish literatures in the Renaissance.

For more information, or to send proposals, 200-word abstracts and brief CVs, email Ilana Zinguer, zingueri(at)research(dot)haifa(dot)ac(dot)il

YIVO: Research Fellowships

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research accepted applications (the deadline is today, May 16) for six research fellowships with the Milstein Family Jewish Communal Archive Project. This three-year pilot project - "New York and the American Jewish Experience" - focuses on preservation and exploration of the Jewish communal archival heritage in the New York region.

Although the deadline has passed, I believe it is valuable to show readers what resources may be coming down the family history road in the future.

Suggested topics - from the 1880s to the present - include but are not limited to these: Jewish migration experience; social welfare and philanthropy in Jewish communal organizations; Americanization and acculturation; culture, intellectual life and the arts; youth education and camping; Jewish life in New York during and after World War II: GIs, DPs, and the organized Jewish community; Jews of New York in the McCarthy period; Jews of New York and the civil rights movement; and studying and preserving archival resources on Jewish life in New York

The project is being carried out by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in collaboration with the 92nd Street Y, The Educational Alliance, F·E·G·S Health and Human Services System, NYANA [New York Association for New Americans] and Surprise Lake Camp.

The fellowships are funded by the Milstein Family Foundation and the Howard and Abby Milstein Foundation, and they were open to faculty, post-doctoral scholars, independent scholars and doctoral students researching the history of Jews in the New York region as well as those researching the general American Jewish Experience with focus on New York.

The Fellows will present papers at a major conference on New York and the American Jewish Experience at the Center for Jewish History in fall 2009. When information is made available on that event, I'll inform readers.

Southern Jewish Historical Society: Grant program

The Southern Jewish Historical Society will provide a $2,500 grant to each of two individuals to assist with research and writing outstanding scholarship in southern Jewish history. The Bornblum Foundation of Memphis, Tennessee provided the funding.

The competition is open to any individual pursuing a project substantially enhancing knowledge of southern Jewish history. Graduate students, junior faculty and others are particularly encouraged to apply.

For details write to Dr. Mark K. Bauman, Chair, Bornblum Grant Committee, markkbauman(at)aol(dot)com.

Poland: Wroclaw Jewish Studies Conference

The Fifth Wroclaw International Conference on Jewish Studies is themed "Modern Jewish Culture: Diversities and Unities," and will take place June 24-26, at Wroclaw University in Poland.

It is organized by the Department of Jewish Studies, Wroclaw University (Poland) and Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, with support from the Rothschild Foundation, Taube Foundation, and Pennsylvania State University. There will be tours of Jewish Wroclaw.

International senior scholars will exploring the intersection of modernity and Jewishness in the expression, representation, and construction of culture.

A small sample of programs:

--"How Jews understand they are Jews: Jewish Identities in the Modern World," Mikhail Chlenov (State Jewish Maimonidies Academy, Russia).

--"Representing Jewish Culture: The Problem of Boundaries," Jonathan Webber (University of Birmingham, UK)

--"Mixed Motives: Sustaining And Defining Jewish Heritage In A Small Italian City Today," Steve Siporin (Utah State University, USA),

--"Beyond Virtual Jewishness: New Authenticities, Real Imaginary Places, and The Commodification of Jewish Culture," Ruth Ellen Gruber (Italy)

--"Creating, Displaying, and Depicting Jewish Memory and Culture," Richard I. Cohen (Hebrew University, Israel)

--"Building the Museum of the History of Polish Jews: A Work in Progress," Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (New York University, USA)

--"The Jewish Cemetery Landscape as a Text of Culture," Agnieszka Jagodzinska (Wroclaw University, Poland),

--"Ladino: The Sound That Has Slowly Disappeared From the Wider Soundscape of Turkey," Karen Sarhon (Ottoman-Turkish Sephardic Culture Research Center, Turkey)

--"Culture As Identity Peg: The Role of Culture in the Construction of Jewish Identity," Andras Kovacs (Central European University, Hungary),

--"Migration and Jewish Memory: Means of Transport and Storage in Modern Times," Joachim Schloer (University of Southampton, UK),

--"Poles Rediscovering Their Jewish Roots And Identity: What Does This Mean And How Does It Happen?" Rabbi Michael Schudrich (Poland)

To register and for complete details, email conference coordinator Agnieszka Jagodziñska, conference coordinator, jagodzinska(at)yahoo(dot)com prior to 23 May.

Chicago: Biographic resource online

Did you have prominent ancestors in early 20th century Chicago? You might want to check up on them online in "The Book of Chicagoans: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men of the City of Chicago," with versions for 1905, 1911 and 1917.

It is available here . The book is organized like the Who's Who volumes, and visitors can choose to view text or PDF versions (heavy files: 1905 is 68 MB).

These volumes may have very valuable information for your Chicago ancestors. Details may be very detailed or sparse (it depended on what information the person named decided to supply). Information may contain names of spouse and children, birth dates, education, employment history, home/office addresses and other details. Some entries are much more detailed than others.

From the 1911 edition:

It is known that 841 persons whose names appeared in the previous edition have died and that 408 have removed from the city; consequently their sketches have been dropped, and 729 have been omitted for other reasons. The names, however, have been included in the present edition and reference has been made to the volume in which the sketches may be found.