JHC02. Family and Individual Papers

Abstract Rabbi Aaron Gorovitz was born in Lithuania in 1870. He immigrated to New York at the age of 22. Before moving to Boston, he was one of the founders of Etz Chaim Yeshiva (later the Rabbi Isaac Elchonon Rabbinical College) and Yeshiva Jacob Joseph, organized the St. John, New Brunswick branch of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and served as a rabbi in St. John, New Jersey, North Adams, Massachusetts and Woonsocket, Rhode Island before moving to Boston in 1907. Until the end of his life he...

Abstract Born in Kovno, Lithuania, Abraham Alpert immigrated to the United States, and in 1886 settled in Boston, Massachusetts. He learned English while attending night school and would later become an internationally known writer. Outside of his writing, he also rose to become a prominent Jewish figure and leader, not just in Boston but nationally, as well. One newspaper wrote that there was not a synagogue on the Atlantic Coast that had not heard Alpert talk. He helped organize the Boston branch...

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The Wolpers were a Jewish family from Chelsea, Massachusetts. In 1949, they issued a petition to the school board, raising concerns about Christmas carols and pageants in public schools. The resulting negative criticism from Jews and non-Jews, as well as the anti-Semitic letters sent to the Wolpers, eventually caused them to remove the petition. The collection includes the letters sent to the Wolpers, as well as newspaper clippings and correspondence with the school board.

Abstract Abraham Bornstein was a well-known publisher and collector of art and art books. In 1923, Bornstein founded the Boston Book and Art Shop, which distributed art books from leading publishers of Europe, as well as published books, portfolios and monographs. Abraham and his wife, Rachel, used their publishing house to help encourage and promote many Jewish artists and writers in the United States, among them, Chaim Grade, a Yiddish poet. This collection contains materials from the Boston Book...

Abstract Abraham Captain Ratshesky (1864-1943) was a banker by profession who founded the U.S. Trust Company with his brother Israel in 1895, and also served in a variety of political positions, including the Massachusetts State Senate from 1892-1895, delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1892, 1904, 1908, 1916, and 1924, Assistant Food Administrator for Massachusetts during World War I, and most importantly, United States Minister to Czechoslovakia from 1930-1932. In 1933, Ratshesky was...

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Abraham Kamberg was a Springfield attorney and art collector. The bulk of this collection contains art catalogs, newsletters and prints of artwork donated by Kamberg to museums as well as for local exhibits. Two scrapbooks of news clippings highlighting events in Kamberg’s personal and professional life are also included, as well as some correspondence, photographs, and organizational material.

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Abraham Strauss was a professor of botany and soldier in World War I. This collection contains his professional correspondence and military records.

Abstract Adolph Hubbard was a Boston area lawyer and co-founder of the Zionist Organization of America. In 1918, he was appointed as Administrator of the American Zionist Medical Unit by Louis D. Brandeis, and traveled to Palestine to aid in the provision of medical services and establish the American Jewish Hospital. From the 1930s to 1950s, Hubbard was an active and leading member of Zionist organizations. Following his death in 1971, $10,000 was given in his name to establish a Nahala through the...

Abstract Adolphus Strassman was born in 1848 in Hungary, which was at that time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a child, he immigrated with his family to the United States. They settled in Fall River, Massachusetts, where he lived with his mother, Rosa, stepfather Henry Strassman, and two half-siblings, Etta and Henry. From 1863-1865, he served in the Union Army. He served as a Private in the 2nd Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artillery, Company I, under Captain John D. Parker,...

Abstract The Altman and Spiewak Family Papers primarily document the Altman family of Boston through the lens of Barbara Altman Spiewak. Frank and Ethel Task Altman raised their children, Barbara and Stanley, in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Barbara was a graduate of Simmons College and was a librarian in the Boston area. This collection includes Frank Altman’s Navy records, baby books, yearbooks, family photographs and a memoir written by Barbara Altman Spiewak. It also includes a memoir written by Robert...