Photograph of Rachel Calog sitting in a chair. Rachel Bella Calof is the author of "My Story", an autobiographical account to her marriage to Abraham Calof and their efforts to homestead and raise a family on the plains of North Dakota at the turn of the century. Despite desperate hardships, the Calof's raised nine children, and Rachel was a driving force in the establishment of the regional school district. After 23 years outside Devil's Lake, the Calofs moved to St. Paul in 1917. Rachel begin her autobiography in 1936, which she wrote in longhand. The manuscript was "discovered" in the American Jewish Archives in the early 1990s, and published in 1995 as "Rachel Calof's Story".
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Rabbis Abelson and Aronson lead the Beth El congregation during the years that the congregation was located on Penn Avenue. The photograph with Senator Humphrey was taken at the Penn Avenue building. Aronson especially worked closely with Humphrey, during Humphrey's tenure as Minneapolis mayor, to improve North side inter-community relations during the late 1940s and early 50s.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A portrait photograph of Rabbi Samuel Deinard. Deinard was Rabbi at Shaari Tov, later known as Temple Israel, and a committed Zionist. He also served as the editor-in chief of the American Jewish World, the Twin's Cities foremost English-language Jewish newspaper; and in the Department of Semitics at the University of Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A portrait photograph of Rabbi Albert Minda. Rabbi Minda succeeded Rabbi Samuel Deinard at Temple Israel after Deinard's death in 1921. Minda was a graduate of Hebrew Union Collage, and served Temple Israel until his retirement in 1963. Minda was an exceptional leader, presiding over the construction of a new synagogue in 1929, the founding of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation in 1949, the Minneapolis Urban League and The Minneapolis Roundtable of Christians and Jews. In Minnesota's Centennial year--1949--he was designated as one of the "Hundred Living Great [sic] of Minnesota."
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Members of the Schwartz family posed on an outdoor porch. The Schwartz's lived at 1101 Upton Avenue N. Max Schwarz owned Schwartz Used Cars on N. 7th St.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Jonathan, Judy, and David Lebedoff stand behind a display of folded paper animals. Judy holds an instruction book on how to make the paper animals. Martin and Mary Lebedoff lived on the North Side of Minneapolis. The triplets were born in April of 1938.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A portrait of Robert Lazarus, who played violin with both the Chicago and Oakland (CA) Symphony Orchestras during the 1920s. After his professional playing career ended, he opened a violin repair shop in downtown St. Paul.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Portrait photograph of Ida Cook sitting in a chair. The Cook family, headed by Rabbi Isaac Cook and his wife Ida, arrived in Duluth in the 1880s from Lithuania. They organized minyans and their home served as a welcoming center for new immigrants coming to the city. Ida Cook spearheaded the establishment of Duluth's first Hebrew school.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Harry Goldie posed in fighting stance wearing boxing uniform. He was an exceptional boxer; the first boxing coach for the University of Minnesota; and the developer for the Calhoun Beach Club, a Minneapolis architectural landmark.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Etta Zrive and Abraham Bearman were born in different Lithuanian shtetls in the 1870s. Their clothes and home furnishings suggest they were economically comfortable by the time that this photo was taken in the early 1900s.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Portrait photograph of the Minneapolis, Mars basketball team with Max Winter as coach. Max Winter coached a variety of Minnesota sports teams, and later in his career co-owned the Minnesota Vikings and the Minneapolis Lakers. Winter was born in Austria: his family immigrated in 1913 and settled on the North Side of Minneapolis. Winter is on the left in the back row.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A woman stands in front of a microphone, while Hurbert Humphrey sits at the table next to her at a Hadassah Supply Shower luncheon. Hadassah promoted health and welfare services to Jewish women and children in Palestine. By the end of WWII, the Minneapolis chapter of Hadassah was 1900 members strong. This photo taken at the Supply Shower luncheon at the Nicollet Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. The luncheons helped collect goods such as layettes and linens to be sent to hospitals and clinics in Palestine. Minnesota dignitaries like Humphrey spoke to show their support for Palestine relief, and by extension, a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A member of the B'nai B'rith synagogue Women's War Service Committee serves sandwiches to three smiling male servicemen at a Hanukkah Party given by the committee. This event was likely co-sponsored by the University of Minnesota chapter of Hillel, founded in 1940 to assist Jewish college students away from home.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Hubert Humphrey standing behind a podium and speaking into a microphone during a Hadassah luncheon. Hubert Humphrey was one of several prominent Minnesotans invited to speak at Hadassah luncheons held in downtown Minneapolis. The setting and prominence of the speaker suggests the organization's political clout.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Leonard Levy, better known as "Butch", was a football and wrestling standout at the University of Minnesota. He served in the Navy during World War II, and afterwards played football for the Los Angeles Rams. His athletic versatility enabled him to wrestle professionally during the off-season. When his athletic career ended, he went on to be a successful insurance agent and securities salesman.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Judge Mendow sits behind his desk at his law office. The desk had previously belonged to Governor Bob Lafollette of Wisconsin. Judge Mendow continued to practice law until the age of 102.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Joseph Schanfield was born in Romania, and became successful in Minneapolis' booming turn of the century real estate and insurance markets. At 23, he became the head of the Adath Jeshurun congregation on Minneapolis's South Side. During his years of service to the community, there were few leadership positions he did not hold, including president of the Jewish Sheltering Home and the Jewish Home for the Aged, as well as the Adath Cemetery Association.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Joe Numero and his business partner, Fred Jones, were responsible for the creation of the first refrigerated truck. Their invention, financed by Numero and engineered by Jones, revolutionized interstate commerce. A trucking company could deliver perishable products to far-flung markets without fear of spoilage en route. The invention happened at a fortuitous moment--the beginning of WWII, when the country had need of moving large quantities of produce and meat across long distances to feed hungry troops.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Jesse Codden stands holding the reins of a pony while her four younger brothers sit on its back. The Codden family of St. Paul were one of the founding families of Sons of Jacob Synagogue.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
In this interview, Walter Schwarz gives an account of his life as a Jewish World War II veteran. He was born in Romania, 1921. Schwarz gives family background in Europe, explaining that his father had ties to Czechoslovakia in the textile industry. He describes his childhood in Europe and teenage years at high school in Czechoslovakia, where Nazi violence and intimidation found him after Germany invaded the country. Schwarz and his family ultimately leave to the United States through Italy destined for New York. Wishing to fight Germany, he attempts to enlist and is later drafted. Schwarz discusses his training in the United States, which involved learning how to interrogate prisoners. He discusses his activity overseas was mainly in France and Germany at the end of the War. Schwarz was able to visit relatives who survived Auschwitz, and concludes with explaining his post war life and connection to Minnesota. This interview was conducted by Linda Schloff as a part of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest World War II Veterans Oral History Project.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
In this interview, Theatrice "T" Williams (1934 - ) gives his personal background and reasons for arriving in Minneapolis in the 1960s as a social worker on the North Side. Williams describes his relationship with the Phyllis Wheatley Center (director from 1965 - 1972) within the context of the American civil rights movement. The race riots on Plymouth avenue and other issues are explored in the context of the Jewish community, local politics and community organizations or initiatives such as the Urban Coalition. The interview concludes with a reflection on the North Side of Minneapolis as it is today and the construction of I-94. This interview was conducted by Jeff Norman, oral historian from California. "Urban Exodus: The Saint Louis Park Oral History Project" explores the post-World War II migration of Minneapolis's Jewish community from the city's North Side to the western suburb of Saint Louis Park. The 35 oral history interviews, representing diverse perspectives from within and beyond the Jewish community, tell the complex story of how, from 1945 to 1970, Saint Louis Park became a major center of Jewish life in Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
