JHSUM’s Judges and Lawyers Exhibit in the News
Posted by Julie | Filed under JHSUM in the News-People Are Talking!
Click here to read AJW’s article “Jewish lawyers from the Twin Cities recount their experiences over recent decades”.
Guest Contributor: Steve Hunegs
Posted by Julie | Filed under News
The Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest held its “Taste Touchdown” last Saturday (October 16) at TCF Bank Stadium. I attended along with Jenifer and Dinah who appreciated the opportunity to play on the field and cross the goal line with regularity – a sadly rare feat for this year’s Gopher squad. Thanks to Katherine Tane, the JHSUM’s executive director and Jamie Heilicher, the JHSUM’s president, I had a couple minutes to schmooze with the large crowd in the company of Peter Levy, the emcee of the evening. Peter is part of the Levy Minnesota football legacy. His father, Butch Levy (see below) was a starting guard on Minnesota’s national championship teams of 1940 and 1941.
Peter was all-Lake Conference of St. Louis Park and played college football for Hamline. Below are some thoughts about the intersection of Minnesota’s 1941 football season and the portentous year of 1941.Amid the culinary memories of the Lincoln Del, Nanking and Cecil’s at the TCF Bank Stadium for the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest’s “Taste Touchdown”, there was an evocation of the Jewish connection to Gopher gridiron glory and the Fin de siècle season of 1941.
The Jewish communities have had a long, productive and occasionally glorious and sometimes jarring relationship with the University of Minnesota. Jews and football at Minnesota stretches back to Sig Harris (1902-1904), Sholly Blustin (1926-1927), Leonard “Butch” Levy (1939-1941) and Bob Stein (1966-1968) as well as many more players and generations of stalwart fans and contributors.
In the shadows of Greater Northrup Field (1899-1923) and Memorial Stadium (the home of Gopher football from 1924 to 1981), we heard Peter Levy (son of Butch Levy and St. Louis Park and Hamline University football star) talk about his father and the legacy of Gopher football.
I couldn’t help but bring a prized item of Gopher memorabilia – an autographed football of the 1941 National Championship, Big Ten Championand undefeated Minnesota Gophers. Heisman trophy winner Bruce Smith and All Americans Butch Levy, Dick Wildung, and Smith, along with Neil Litman and assistant coach Sig Harris were among the signators. The other side of the football is inscribed with the scores of the 8-0 season – victories over: eastern power Pittsburg; the rising west coast team Washington; top Ten Western Conference (not yet the Big Ten) titans Michigan and Northwestern (with their future Hall of Famers Tom Herman and Otto Graham); and fierce border rivals Iowa and Wisconsin.
Indeed, it was a perfect season with the Gophers outscoring their opponents a combined 186-38; securing the Little Brown Jug, Floyd of Rosedale and the Slab of Bacon (the predecessor of Paul Bunyan’s Axe); and national acclamation of Minnesota’s fifth national championship in eight seasons under coach Bernie Bierman. The 1940 and 1941 teams were undefeated national championships anchored by guard Butch Levy, graduate of Minneapolis North High School.
The drama of the 1941 season – the Northwestern game was won with the “Talking Play”, arguably the most famous play in Minnesota football history – unfolded against a backdrop of national and international events portending a world changed forever.
As fall practice began (all games but the opener were played in October and November), the American struggle between internationalists and isolationists reached an ugly and anti-semitic crescendo. Charles Lindbergh, on September 11, 1941, spoke to a national radio audience as he addressed the American First Committee on Des Moines’ WHO. Lindbergh warned the American Jewish community against “agitating” for the United States’ entrance into World War II. He said menacingly of the American Jewish community: “Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our radio and our government.” Meanwhile, the Einsatzgruppen had begun their systematic massacre of Russian Jews following the evidence of the Wehrmacht into the Baltic states and Ukraine.
On October 31, 1941, the day before the Minnesota-Michigan game, a German submarine torpedoed and sunk the USS Reuben James, an American destroyer on convoy escort patrol near Iceland, drowning 115 sailors. Direct American involvement in the armed conflict of the Battle of the Atlantic had begun.
On November 22, 1941, Minnesota completed its championship season with victory over Wisconsin at Memorial Stadium – a stadium dedicated to Minnesota’s World War I fallen. On November 26, 1941, the Japanese Attack Force departs from Tankan Bay in northern Japan to attack Pearl Harbor. Among the first killed in action at Pearl Harbor is Ensign Ira Weil Jeffrey from Minneapolis, Temple Israel Family and graduate of the University of Minnesota.
The pre-war football dominance of the University of Minnesota was a tiny casualty of World War II as the conflict changed forever the world, the Jewish people, Minnesota and the Minnesota Jewish community.
Tens of thousands of Minnesotans went off to war. Hundreds were killed in action. Hundreds of Jews from the upper midwest went off to war. According to “American Jews in World War II: The Story of 550,000 Fighters for Freedom” (National Jewish World Book, 1947), 79 Minnesota Jews (and five from North Dakota and three from South Dakota) were killed in action. The hometowns of the Gold Star mothers and fathers included St. Paul, Minneapolis, Crookston, Virginia, Hibbing, Duluth, Hillman, Dickenson,Grand Forks and Fargo; and Huron, Madison and Aberdeen. As with all Americans, the Jews of the upper Midwest came from town and cities, small and large to defend their country.
For the vast majority of military personnel who returned from World War II, Minnesota was vastly changed as a result of the years 1941-1945. In Dave Kenney’s “Minnesota Goes to War: The Home Front During World War II” (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2005), he notes in conclusion the rise of Minnesota companies such as Minneapolis-Moline, Federal Cartridge, Northwest Airlines, Thermo King, Northern Pump and Honeywell. Thousands of returning veterans went to college and built their first home with assistance of the GI Bill. African Americans, Native Americans and women had higher expectations for the future after working in higher paying jobs in defense plants. (My great aunt, Sadie Idelkope, worked at the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant in Arden Hills taking the street car each day from north Minneapolis.
Director’s Dispatch Fall 2010
Posted by Katherine | Filed under Director's Dispatch
Today JHSUM stands as the singular organization in the Upper Midwest dedicated to preserving the unique stories and educating the community about Jewish history in the region because of the vision and hard work of our founders. In 1984 Theresa Berman, along with a dedicated group of JHSUM founders who cherished their memories of families and neighbors, rituals and celebrations, committed time, energy and money to record and preserve them.
Over the course of more than twenty five years JHSUM has built an exemplary collection focusing on the mid 19th century through the post war period, and has made this content accessible to thousands of people, locally, nationally and internationally through an engaging Web site, educational and programming activities and award winning exhibits. The collections have been gathered from hundreds of donors like you – individuals, family and organizations – conveying the story of how Jews shaped the region through their work, family life, institution building, worship and community service.
Today JHSUM is refocusing its collections to incorporate “new’ stories to add to the nineteenth and twentieth century history we have. We want to uncover the stories of the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s told through family and commercial photographs, personal papers, business and organization records, interviews and artifacts illustrating today’s Upper Midwest Jewish experience. Taste Touchdown! is expected to attract the next generation of community leaders who share our commitment to document the pivotal roles Jews play in shaping American culture, business, politics and civic life. Join us as we celebrate our founders and put the spotlight on the next generation of JHSUM leaders. Go to www.jhsum.org/programming or call 952-381-3360 to buy tickets or get more information. All proceeds benefit the Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives located at the University of Minnesota Andersen Library.
Archives Alive Fall 2010
Posted by admin | Filed under Archives Alive
Dear Friends:
I am leaving the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest and beginning a new position as Project Archivist for the “Harvesting Minnesota’s Agricultural History” project based at University Archives at the University of Minnesota. The project entails processing 57 separate historic collections generated by departments and faculty in the University’s College of Agriculture. It is a huge collection: over 2000 cubic feet of materials. Over the next 12 months, I’ll be heading a team of people inventorying, arranging, describing and re-boxing these materials to make them available to researchers.
This position is a natural progression from the work I have been doing at JHSUM. Working first with Linda and then following her in 2008, I have been provided with countless opportunities to learn about and engage with the collection. I have answered reference questions, helped select exhibit content and design, and marshaled our materials for hundreds of scholars, authors, Jewish and non-Jewish organizations and even a couple of nationally recognized production companies. I’ve had a hand in shaping JHSUM collections through the acquisition of papers from Shir Tikvah Congregation, Rabbis Moses Sachs and Stacy Offner and the George Kaplan Foundation. Processing these collections reinforced my love of working with document collections and connecting people to resources that add meaning to their life experience.
Several projects found their way to JHSUM during the last two years that have expanded JHSUM’s profile and allowed us to be better known by people interested in Jewish Minnesota content. The Steinfeldt Photo Collection is up on the Minnesota Digital Library and Flickr, and virtual tours of Jewish Minnesota will be available on Placeography in October. A new and improved version of the JHSUM database will be available for searching in October also, along with easy access to the finding aids for our larger collections. You can be proud of the work that the staff and volunteers have done to keep moving the collections out to a broader audience on the Web.
Personally, working at JHSUM has been a great gift. I have learned so much about my Minneapolis and Minnesota world working here. I see deeper into my South Side neighborhood knowing about the histories of Temple Israel and the “old Adath.” I never travel through Virginia Minnesota on my way up North without stopping to appreciate the simple dignity of B’nai Abraham synagogue and the community that built and sustained it. Having generous and talented colleagues like Katherine, Linda and Julie has been wonderful. I’ll say it again—wonderful. Everyone should be so lucky as me in who they share their workdays and ideas with.
And I have been touched by so many passionate, funny, brilliant, and endearing people who walk through the front door. I hope that I have honored everyone that has come to JHSUM/UMJA by being a good listener and service provider.
I’ll keep you all posted about the new project I’m involved in. There are already connections I’ve discovered between local Jewish history and Minnesota agriculture, including the fact that the U’s renowned Plant Pathology Department had a contingent of Jewish graduate students enrolled in the nineteen teens, large enough that an author of a departmental history at the time referred to the “Hebraic tribe” of plant pathology scholars. Who knew? And don’t you want to know more? I’ll keep you posted.
Best, and B’Shalom,
Susan
President’s Post Fall 2010
Posted by admin | Filed under President's Post
As we begin our 26th year serving the community, we find ourselves with new opportunities as well as new challenges. We said goodbye to our archivist of 5 years, Susan Hoffman, who takes on a new position at the University of Minnesota Archives. We are very proud to say she is leaving our collections in tip top shape having instituted many leading edge processing procedures. In fact she was hired by the University to bring these innovations to their collections.
We have an opportunity now to redirect some of our attention from archiving to education and storytelling because our collections are in such great condition. Susan was involved in two projects that will make our materials easier to find on the web. One is a new on line database making our materials easier to find and use. The second puts our photos on the web via Minnesota Historical Society’s Placeography site inviting anyone anywhere to post their stories and memories about places in Minnesota.
We can’t bring our stories to life and make the past a greater part of our future without your help. Our Face The Future endowment campaign is entering its 3rd year and the generous dollar for dollar matching grant from the Sharron & Oren Steinfeldt Foundation is still there to make your contribution even more meaningful. We are so grateful to our stalwart supporters like Sharron and Oren who have been with us since we opened our doors in 1984. Thank you Sharron and Oren for your trust in us to save and retell our shared stories.
We need your help to take full advantage of this wonderful gift for the coming year. A strong endowment is key to our future success. Please help us to maintain a meaningful and robust organization that can continue to provide research materials to educators, collaborative programming with other local agencies, and a home for your family & community stories.
Mark your calendars for our big fall event at the U of Mn TCF Bank Stadium. You don’t want to miss you chance to go to the private DQ Club, sample foods from memorable restaurants selected by Sue Zelickson and tour behind the scenes at the stadium. We are celebrating Theresa Berman’s 98th Birthday. We hope this event will attract the next generation that will take on the commitment of our founders and ensure the story of Upper Midwest Jewish experiences are not lost for future generations.
Did You Know?
Posted by Julie | Filed under Did You Know?
JHSUM contributed to three recent publications:
• Larry Perlman A Memoir includes this acknowledgement: “With gratitude to the staff of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest for their assistance and for their excellent archives on the old West Side of St. Paul.”
• Peg Meier used JHSUM archives to find materials for her newest book, Wishing for a Snow Day published by MHS Press. Ruth Brin and Fannie Schanfield’s childhood reminiscences are featured.
• Rutgers University Press chose one of our photos as the cover for their publication A Jewish Feminine Mystique: Jewish Women in Postwar America.
• A collection of essays, The State We’re In, from Minnesota Historical Press includes one by Linda Schloff about Jewish women in Virginia integrating into the community.
• We won! We have been awarded a Minnesota Cultural Heritage Legacy Grant funded by the Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund to conduct oral histories about Jewish settlement in St. Louis Park. Please help us uncover the stories about life in St. Louis Park in the 1950’s and 60’s. Send names of individuals to interview to history@jhsum.org
• JHSUM was invited by the Midwest Art Conservation Center to participate in their Subsidized Survey Program in October 2009. The Conservation survey is an opportunity for archives and museums to receive a complete conservation audit of collections and facilities at a dramatically reduced rate. The audit identifies an institution’s strengths and problem areas with respect to preservation practices, which then informs the planning and writing process for large, federally funded grant projects. JHSUM jumped on the opportunity based on our 100% success rate receiving federally funded grants.
• Iric Nathanson, a JHSUM member and past contributor to several JHSUM publications and programs has recently published a new history of Minneapolis featuring two chapters on Jewish community relations. The book, entitled Minneapolis in the Twentieth Century: The Growth of an American City is published by Minnesota Historical Society Press.
• Our Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives will have materials in the upcoming exhibit “Below the Surface: Ten Years of Archive and Special Collections in Elmer Andersen Library” running from March 29 to June 25 in the Library Gallery. The show looks at universal themes, including power, death, love, faith war and beauty through the lens of archival materials.
• Selected JHSUM photos and descriptions of those photos are now available on Flickr Commons, an extension of the popular Flickr web site that pioneered photo sharing. For a look, go to http://www.flickr.com/commons/
• JHSUM received prominent thanks in their 100th anniversary publication from Jewish Family and Children’s Services for help provided with organizing JFCS historical materials for their year long centennial celebration. Congratulations to the JFCS staff and administration for a century of extraordinary service to the Minneapolis community.
Archives Alive Spring 2010
Posted by Susan | Filed under Archives Alive, News
Susan Hoffman, Archivist
JHSUM is well into the second year of a big push to insure our collections are well preserved and easy to use.
Last year’s grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Minnesota Historical Society, totaling $10,000, allowed us to purchase new shelving for our entire Kaplan Family History Center collection and a state of the art photo storage cabinet, insuring that historic materials diligently collected for the last 25 years will be well-maintained far into the future. This year, JHSUM turns towards technology, upgrading and enhancing our database with the intention of making it easier for everyone to find out what we have in the collection. We are also taking advantage of existing web technology by putting our materials on popular web sites and opening them to commentary from community. Read the rest of this entry »
President’s Post Spring 2010
Posted by admin | Filed under President's Post
Jamie Heilicher, JHSUM President
Have we got a gift for you!
For over 25 years JHSUM has been the singular cultural organization gathering, protecting and presenting the stories of Upper Midwest Jewish life . We have won accolades from none other than Brandeis Professor Dr. Jonathan Sarna, who calls us “one of the best local Jewish historical societies in the county”. This year it has been particularly challenging to maintain our activities and excellence with dwindling resources. We scaled back on exhibits and publications. Rather than taking the lead on programming we have sought out partnerships that keep us in the public eye. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: News, President's Post
Director’s Dispatch Spring 2010
Posted by Katherine | Filed under Director's Dispatch
Katherine Tane, Executive Director
Fall and winter at JHSUM has been anything but quiet. In November we had over 250 people join in welcoming Dr. Guy Stern and Walter Schwartz to the Minnesota History Center screening of “The Ritchie Boys”. JHSUM was a community sponsor of the St. Paul Community wide Hanukah celebration with 500 people attending. Our two Twin Cities Jewish Book Fair events reached 150 people. And there are no signs we are slowing down. As you can see from our front page, we have great spring programming planned for you. We hope you can join us for one or more of these events in the upcoming months. You may want to take advantage of our offer of a free ticket to the Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival or Rimon’s Artist Salon event when you make a gift to our Annual Campaign.
We are most excited to share with you our success in receiving two highly competitive Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants. These grants were made possible with the passage of the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution in November 2008. Our archivist Susan Hoffman is spearheading the two grant projects. One project will result in a much more informative and satisfying experience for researchers using our collections database and the other creates a number of self- guided web based tours of Minnesota Jewish history.
In our award letter, State Senator Ron Latz noted
“The Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest is a great asset to our community and the state. You were selected for the grant funds for your exemplary history programs and projects that preserve significant historical and cultural resources of our community. Thank you for your dedication and investment.”
It’s always gratifying to have this kind of recognition for our work at the state level.
Julie Tarshish is back with us after delivering twin boys, Charlie and Oscar in September 2009. She is now our Programming and Communications Coordinator, a title that best describes all she does to keep JHSUM activities in the public eye. You can see her work on our newly re-launched web site– jhsum.org — and the many other places we are out there on the web. A list of where our resources can be found is on the back of this newsletter.
You may also have heard a new voice at the front desk. Cheree Cannon, Membership Coordinator, has joined us a few hours a week to keep our membership database current and send out your tribute cards.
We wouldn’t be able to meet head on this challenging economic climate for nonprofits without you. We greatly appreciate the commitment and tireless effort of our staff, Board, volunteers, supporters and friends.
Tags: Director's Dispatch, News
