JHC02. Family and Individual Papers

Abstract

This collection contains Meyer Pollack’s naturalization certificate, dated August 4, 1924, and an undated photograph of Meyer and his son Raymond.

Abstract

Meyer Seifert was the cantor of Congregation Adath Jeshurun on Blue Hill Avenue in Roxbury, Massachusetts. This collection contains a poem, written in Hebrew, titled, “Song for the Celebration of the Opening of the University.”

Abstract Mildred Minnie Fishman was born Sarah Minnie Greenberg in Leeds, England in 1896 to Isaac and Ethel Greenberg. The family immigrated to Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1922, and in 1939, Mildred married Maurice Fishman and became a naturalized citizen of the United States. She died in 1995, and the bulk of this collection contains documents related to her end-of-life arrangements, including estate planning, burial arrangements, and will execution. The collection also contains vital and immigration...

Abstract The Milontaler family were second- and third- generation Jewish immigrants from Roxbury, Massachusetts. Louis Millionthaler immigrated from what was then Suwalki, Poland to the North End of Boston in the late 19th century. His son Maurice Milontaler was a shop owner and amateur writer who wrote a memoir about Jewish life in the North End. The majority of this collection includes Maurice Milontaler’s notes for his memoir, as well as the finished product. Photographs, correspondence and course...

Abstract

Temple Emanuel Congregation was founded in Newton, Massachusetts in 1935. It is part of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), and has over 1,100 families in its congregation. Morris Finkelstein became president of the Congregation in 1972 and served until 1975. Main material types include correspondence, governance, membership lists and speeches.

Abstract The Morrison family originated in Poland but lived in the Boston area. Morris Morrison immigrated to the United States in 1889, and eventually established his own insurance firm. He married Etta Levin (daughter of Jacob Levin) and was briefly involved in politics at the beginning of the 20th century. His brother, Ralph, was a shochet in Boston. Etta and Morris had three sons, but only two, Robert and Sidney, are represented in this collection. This collection...

Abstract Morton Shanok was the cantor at Temple Beth El in Lynn (and later Swampscott) for 32 years and, after his retirement, High Holiday Cantor at Temple B’nai Abraham and Religious Cultural Coordinator at the Jewish Rehabilitation Center for Aged. He served in the U.S. Army as assistant army chaplain from 1942-1945. He was a founding member of the Cantors Assembly and helped write the curriculum at the H.L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music of the Jewish Theological Seminary....

Abstract Myer Starr was born in Dmitrovka in the Ukraine, which was then part of Russia. As a child he was apprenticed to a tailor and later a bakery before he began work at a dry goods store at the age of 11. After his mother died, Starr and his younger brother crossed the border into Germany and then immigrated to the United States. Starr and his brother sailed on the "Kleist" into New York in February 1913. From there, they traveled to a sister's house in Malden, Massachusetts. Myer later married...

Abstract Oscar and Celia (Kredenzer)Sterman both immigrated to the United States in 1906 from present day Ukraine and settled in Chelsea, Massachusetts after their marriage in 1910. They later moved to Brookline, Massachusetts where they raised their family and became increasingly involved in the establishment of the State of Israel. The Stermans donated funds for the construction of several buildings in Beersheba and Eilat, Israel, including a library, sports center, youth center, and also provided...

Abstract Percy Brand was a violinist by profession and Holocaust survivor. Born in Liepaja, Latvia on April 2, 1908, he began playing violin at the age of ten. In 1941, when the Germans took control of Latvia and other Baltic countries, Brand was concertmaster of the Riga Latvian Symphony Orchestra. After the SS Einsatzgruppen units occupying Latvia killed his first wife and two children, Brand was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. Playing the violin saved his life during the...