All posts by Margery Sly

From the Philadelphia Jewish Archives: Jewish Beneficial Associations of Philadelphia

January 27, 2016History NewsMargery Sly

: Association newsletter, May 1954, Boslover Ahavas Achim Belzer Association Collection, SCRC 183, Special Collections Research Center

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Jewish immigrants arriving in the US from the same town or shtetl in Central and Eastern Europe often banded together to form fraternal organizations. In addition to providing assistance to recently arrived landsleit, these member associations offered social events, medical and death benefits, and arranged for cemetery burial plots. Beneficial society records often include meeting minutes, membership ledgers, newsletters, event programs, correspondence regarding benefit disbursements, and cemetery plot reservations. Many of the early meeting minutes are written in Yiddish or German. The archives of five beneficial association collections housed at the Special Collections Research Center are ready for research use:

American Hebrew Society Collection
The American Hebrew Society was founded in 1901 as the Roumanian Workingmen’s Beneficial Association. The organization was later known as the Roumanian Hebrew Beneficial Association, and later, the American Hebrew Society. The collection includes correspondence, member dues ledgers, meeting minutes, and permits and cemetery plot reservations for Har Jehuda and Mt. Sharon Cemeteries.
Boslover Ahavas Achim Belzer Association Collection
The Boslover Ahavas Achim Belzer Association was organized as the Boslover Beneficial Association in 1903 by immigrants from Bohuslav, Ukraine. In 1952, they merged with the Ahavas Achim Belzer Beneficial Association, a fraternal organization that had merged with the Belz-Bessarabia Beneficial Association in the late 1940s. The collection contains newsletters, photographs, and the Boslover Beneficial Association charter.

Krakauer-Yampoler Beneficial Society Records
The Krakauer-Yampoler Beneficial Society is the merged organization of the Krakauer Beneficial Society and the Yampoler Beneficial Association. The Krakauer Beneficial Society was founded in 1876 by a group of Jewish immigrants from Krakow, Poland. From 1882-1946, the organization was called the Krakauer Beth Elohim Beneficial Society before changing its name to the Krakauer Beneficial Society. In 1997, the Society merged with the Yampoler Beneficial Association, an organization founded in 1925 by immigrants from Yampol, Ukraine. This collection contains correspondence, meeting minutes, membership ledgers, and newsletters.

Prushin-Shershow Beneficial Association Records
The Prushin-Shershow Beneficial Association was organized in September 1889 by immigrants from the modern-day Belarusian shtetls of Pruzhany and Shereshov. The collection contains correspondence regarding benefits and cemetery plot reservations, meeting minutes, membership ledgers, and roll books.
Zitomirer Beneficial Association Records
The Zitomirer Beneficial Association was organized in 1916 by immigrants from Zhytomyr in present day Ukraine. The collection contains membership ledgers and material related to Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, including reservation plot lists and a map.

-Jenna Marrone, Project Archivist, SCRC

AIDS Library Records and LGBTQ Resources

January 19, 2016History NewsHistory News, LGTBQ, Philadelphia History, Top NewsMargery Sly

The AIDS Library, located in Center City, Philadelphia, was founded in 1987. The mission of the library is to provide information and support to those infected by HIV/AIDS as well as to caregivers, other AIDS service organizations, medical practitioners, case managers, hospitals, family members, partners, and friends of those infected with and affected by the virus. The library is a part of Philadelphia FIGHT, a local health services organization working with people with HIV/AIDS, provides resources, internet access, educational programs, and one-on-one assistance to the public.

The AIDS Library Records in the Special Collections Research Center came to Temple in 2007. Byron Lee, a volunteer, processed the records. The collection contains administrative records as well as materials previously used but now withdrawn from the library’s collection–monographs, serials, pamphlets, collections of article and newspaper clippings, collections of community newsletters, and information files. The majority of the collection covers the early years of the AIDS epidemic and early activist and political activities from around 1986 to 1997. Additional transfers from the library are in process.

The collection documents one of the earliest organizations founded to educate those affected by HIV/AIDS and their communities and families. Materials detail the evolution of the library as an organization, and the many pamphlets, reports, and other publications document resources available about the AIDS epidemic. Materials by and about other Philadelphia-area organizations, as well as newspaper clippings, photographs, pins, and other ephemera, provide a glimpse of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in Philadelphia during 1980s and 1990s.

The Special Collections Research Center is fortunate to hold a number of other collections related to the history of the Philadelphia LGBTQ community. These include the Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Task Force Records which contain organization records, educational program records, and videotapes and audio cassettes documenting public service announcements, news reports, and events. The Scott Wilds Papers include articles, clippings, correspondence, magazines, newsletters, and reports from this Philadelphia gay activist, and include information related to political organizations, candidates, and various Philadelphia elections.

The SCRC also holds a variety of newspapers and magazines published by and for the LGBTQ community both in Philadelphia and further afield, including: Philadelphia Gay News, 1973- today; the PLGTF Bulletin, 1978-82; Gayzette, 1974-75; G.L.A.D. Briefs, 1979-1986, New Gay Life, 1977-78, The Baltimore Gay Paper, 1984-87; Common Lives, Lesbian Lives, 1983-1996; The Lesbian Tide, 1971-75 and 1978-80; and Kater Street, 1978-83.

–Katy Rawdon, Coordinator of Technical Services, SCRC

City Parks Association of Philadelphia

December 2, 2015History NewsHistory News, Philadelphia History, Top News, Web ArchivingMargery Sly

The City Parks Association of Philadelphia was chartered on May 23, 1888, to create and maintain open spaces as park areas for the citizens of Philadelphia. Since that time, the association has worked with city government to establish parks such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Park (originally named League Island Park) and Pennypack Park. The association advocated for the city government to pass zoning laws and continues today to work for the improvement and preservation of parks, squares, playgrounds, and waterways in Philadelphia and surrounding areas.

Swimmers at League Island Park, July 1925. City Parks Association of Philadelphia Records, SCRC 86, Special Collections Research Center

The Special Collections Research Center holds the records of the City Parks Association. The collection contains meeting minutes and agendas, annual reports, financial records, correspondence, news clippings, and photographs. There is also information related to various specific parks and the Fairmount Park Commission, as well as correspondence, financial, and property records related to Awbury Arboretum and its historic Francis Cope House in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.

Rose Garden plan for Awbury Arboretum, undated. City Parks Association of Philadelphia Records, SCRC 86, Special Collections Research Center

Also included in the collection are captured websites, a new initiative by the SCRC and the Digital Library Initiatives department. Using the Archive-It service, periodic “captures” of the website are taken, and are available to the public. Captures of the City Parks Association are available from between 2002 to 2015, and will continue to be harvested, preserved, and made available.

The collection’s photographs, with the exception of slides, have been digitized and are available online on the Temple University Digital Collections website.

We celebrate with our Temple Press colleagues the publication of Jim McClelland and Lynn Miller’s City in a Park: A History of Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park System.

–Katy Rawdon, Coordinator of Technical Services, SCRC

Temple Classes Visiting the Special Collections Research Center

November 16, 2015History NewsArtists' Books, History News, Rare Books, Teaching with Primary SourcesMargery Sly

One of our primary missions at the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) is to support research, teaching, and learning through the use of the materials in our collection. This semester we’ve had over two dozen classes and hundreds of students pass through the doors of our reading room, and many more have come on their own to conduct further research on a diverse array of topics and disciplines such as architecture, history, urban studies, visual studies, education, dance, film and media arts, criminal justice, and journalism.

This semester J. Pascoe, a Philadelphia-based artists and instructor at Tyler School of Art, brought her Visual Studies and Graphic Art and Design classes into the SCRC, so that her students could interact with and explore some of our artists’ books and zine holdings.

When asked what value she placed in class visits to the SCRC, Pascoe says that “I bring my students to the SCRC because as an artist, an educator, and–frankly–as a human moving through this world, it behooves me to know what other people around me are making and doing. It’s not enough to pay attention to only what your friends or colleagues are doing. As artists, it’s important to know what’s being made out there and why.”

“More specifically, students come to my class wanting to make books and zines. They want to make things with their hands and they, ideally, want other people to hold finished work in their hands. We talk a lot about hand skills and hand work in my classes, so it’s no surprise I champion taking opportunities with my students to put our hands on other people’s work, too. To be able to hold books and zines and spend time with them–that’s where some real learning happens. I see more ‘light bulbs’ moments happen in collections and archives than in studio spaces.”

Student work inspired by their visits to the SCRC can be found on a class blog for Visual Studies 4554. This is just one example of how the SCRC continues to support teaching and learning on the Temple campus and beyond.
-Josué Hurtado, Coordinator of Public Services & Outreach

National History Day

November 6, 2015History NewsHistory News, National History Day, Philadelphia HistoryMargery Sly

Masterman High School Students doing research at the SCRC

National History Day is a year-long educational program that attracts thousands of middle and high school students, and educators nationwide. Students compete at the local and state levels, which award participants the opportunity to present their work in a national contest held every June at the University of Maryland, College Park.

The competition was established in 1974 by Professor David Van Tassell who was on faculty in the History Department at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Its purpose is to provide invaluable experiences and opportunities for students to conduct historical research and develop critical thinking, writing, and communication skills. Student participants may submit individual or group projects in the form of a documentary, exhibit, paper, performance, or website. The program also offers professional development opportunities for educators through training, and access to varied historical resources that help them to create more robust teaching curricula.

Since 2006, the Special Collection Research Center has participated in NHD programs and has hosted class visits to the archives from Philadelphia area schools including Masterman and Constitution high schools, and LaSalle High School for Boys. Visiting students spend hours combing through the original news clippings and photographs files of Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and Philadelphia Inquirer newspapers for research projects covering a myriad of events such as the integration of Girard College, the 1967 school board riots, the MOVE bombing, and prominent Philadelphia individuals including Father Divine, Frank Rizzo, and Father Paul Washington.

In 2015, students from Masterman placed in local and state competitions: Jenny Chan qualified for the national competition for her documentary entitled “Robert Smalls: Not so Small After All.” This Fall a new group of Masterman 10th graders has been visiting the SCRC to research topics for the 2016 NHD competition theme, “Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History.”

For more information about NHD activities and programs in the Philadelphia area visit the NHD Philly website.

–Brenda Galloway-Wright, Associate Archivist

Votes for Women

November 2, 2015History NewsHistory News, Top News, Women's HistoryMargery Sly

August 26, 2015, marked the 95th anniversary of the Woman Suffrage Movement’s great victory, the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This campaign, which lasted 72 years, was pursued by thousands of persistent women and men who believed that women should have the right to vote in the United States. That right was first won in various states and localities, sometimes on a limited basis. The Nineteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution on August 26, 1920. It states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

Here some are of Philadelphia’s suffragettes heading to Harrisburg to celebrate victory in the state in 1919. Pennsylvania was the seventh state to ratify the national suffragette amendment. While the photograph was taken on June 24, 1919, a 1940 Philadelphia Evening Bulletin caption states “Scenes like this were common in Mother’s day as members of the League of Women Voters explained the mysteries of the ‘Mark X in left hand column’ to the newly enfranchised sex.”

1919 suffragettes — Pennsylvania suffragettes in 1919.

Carlos Roy Lavender and Science Fiction Fandom

October 21, 2015History NewsHistory News, Science Fiction, Top NewsMargery Sly

The Special Collections Research Center is fortunate to hold several collections related to the history of science fiction fandom. In addition to files of ephemera from science fiction conventions and three fanzine collections (the Science Fiction Fanzine Collection, Sue Frank Collection of Klingon and Star Trek Fanzines, and the Women Writers Fan Fiction Collection), we also hold the Carlos Roy Lavender Papers.

Roy Lavender was an aerospace engineer, science fiction fan, frequent convention attendee and organizer, and author of essays describing fan life in the early years of science fiction and the “pulp era.” Lavender was a member of First Fandom – an association of experienced science fiction fans originally limited to fans active prior to 1938 – and a founder of Midwestcon, a science fiction convention held annually in Ohio.

The Carlos Roy Lavender Papers include convention booklets and nametags, fanzines, letters, photographs, ephemera, newsletters, a scrapbook of science fiction writer Harlan Ellison’s column, “The Glass Teat: A Column of Opinion about Television,” and other materials. The many boxes of photographs and slides in this collection contain images of various science fiction conventions, including examples of cosplay.

Cosplayer at the Denvention convention (39th World Science Fiction Convention), 1981

While fans (of anything, but particularly science fiction) are often subject to ridicule, fan studies has grown in recent years. Fandom can be seen as a microcosm of the larger culture, and is intertwined with commerce, economics, entertainment, social connections and structures, and creativity. Documenting fandom has particular challenges for archivists. In addition to the scattered and ephemeral nature of much of what fandom produces, privacy concerns can also be an issue. Some fans do not want to be publicly associated with their fandom or the creative products they make, while others believe that the entire purpose of fandom creativity is to share what they produce with as wide an audience as possible.

Attendee card for the Seacon convention (37th World Science Fiction Convention), 1979.

A pressing current challenge for preserving fandom culture is capturing, preserving, and making accessible digital fandom: online zines, listservs, newsgroup posts, and blogs. These same challenges exist in many other types of contemporary archival collections, and archivists are increasingly well equipped through digital forensics, web archiving (for some of Temple’s contents, see our Archive-It site), and other measures, to provide the same care and access to digital materials as they have done with paper collections.

–Katy Rawdon, Coordinator of Technical Services, SCRC

The Art of the Commonplace Book: An Exhibition of Student Work

October 9, 2015History NewsCommonplace Books, History News, Rare Books, Top NewsMargery Sly

“In conjunction with their reading of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, I asked my students in the Spring 2015 Mosaic I: Humanities Seminar to keep a commonplace book of quotations primarily from the assigned texts and ancillary readings in our Mosaic class, but also from their other classes and any outside reading they may have done during the semester. This could include novels, newspapers, magazines, Twitter, Facebook, or other social media postings, and even popular mediums, such as music, movies, and television.–Richard Orodenker, Assistant Professor, Intellectual Heritage Program

Students from Richard Orodenker’s Mosaic I: Humanities Seminar course in the Intellectual Heritage program visited Temple University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center in March 2015 to learn more about the tradition of keeping a commonplace book. A commonplace book is any book in which extracts from other works, quotations, and comments are written. Designed to be both a compilation of knowledge based on its creator’s interests and a memory aid, a commonplace book often includes a wide range of information on a variety of topics, such as politics, religion, and literature.

“I felt that the assignment was an interesting historical correlation to the current trend of tweeting or ‘facebooking’ famous quotes. In my commonplace book I tried to incorporate text and visuals because the quotes that I chose were those that drew pictures with the beauty of their language. I find that a writer’s ability to translate words into mental images creates a wide range of interpretations and emotions for different readers and I wanted to express those images and emotions.”–Keeland Bowers, student.

McGlinn commonplace book title page — Frank McGlinn’s college commonplace book, circa 1935

Several of the commonplace books kept by students in the class, along with a selection of SCRC commonplace books and related materials, are on display during the Fall 2015 semester in three cases in the lobby of Paley Library. Please stop in and see how a visit to the Special Collections Research Center helped to shape this class project, by making the traditional commonplace book the jumping off point for rewarding student projects that incorporate both the old and the new.

-Kim Tully, Curator of Rare Books, SCRC

Einstein Medical Center History

September 28, 2015History NewsAmerican Jewish History, History News, History of Medicine, Top NewsMargery Sly

Jewish Hospital and Home, 1879 — Illustration of Jewish Hospital and Home designed by Frank Furness and George W. Hewitt, Fourteenth Annual Report of the Jewish Hospital, 1879

On September 23, 1865, Jewish leaders in Philadelphia incorporated the Jewish Hospital Association of Philadelphia, now known as Einstein Medical Center. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the association’s officers, led by Alfred T. Jones, Isadore Binswanger, Samuel Weil, and Mayer Sulzberger, sought to erect a hospital under Jewish auspices in response to the lack medical care afforded to members of the Jewish community and the employment discrimination Jews were subject to at other area hospitals. The preamble to the constitution of the Jewish Hospital Association states “It is the duty of Israelites to take care of the suffering and needy ones among them, and as the sick are especially objects of charity and public solicitude, and since there is no institution now in existence within the State of Pennsylvania under the control of Israelites wherein they can place their sick, and where these can enjoy during their illness all the benefits and consolations of our religion.”

On August 6, 1866, the Jewish Hospital opened for the reception of patients. The original building was located at Haverford Road and 56th Street in West Philadelphia with room for twenty patients–ten for the sick and ten for inmates of the Asylum for the Aged, Infirm, and Destitute. Philadelphia’s Jewish Hospital was the third such hospital to be established in the United States after the Cincinnati Jewish Hospital (1849) and the Jews’ Hospital of New York (1852). In its first five months of operation, the hospital treated twenty-eight patients including three “non-Israelites.” Nonsectarian from its inception, the Jewish Hospital was committed to “reducing or eliminating the attitudes and prejudices that mixed medical practice with religious and moral views.” Unlike other hospitals in Philadelphia at the time, the Jewish Hospital was “was free of charge to all poor and worthy applicants without regard to nationality or creed.”

Jewish Hospital staff, 1896 — Nurses, resident physician Dr. Edwin Jarecki, and Dr. Knipe, Jewish Hospital, York and Tabor Roads, 1896

To learn more about the history of the Albert Einstein Medical Center and its predecessor, the Jewish Hospital, use the hospital archives and these resources in the Special Collections Research Center: Mankind and Medicine: A History of Philadelphia’s Albert Einstein Medical Center by Maxwell Whiteman; Edwin A. Jarecki, M.D. Resident Physician Jewish Hospital of Philadelphia, 1892-1934 by William I. Heine; and History of the Jewish Hospital Association of Philadelphia by Henry N. Wessel.

-Jessica M. Lydon, Associate Archivist SCRC

Cigar Making in Philadelphia

September 18, 2015History NewsHispanic Heritage Month, History News, Philadelphia HistoryMargery Sly

National Hispanic Heritage Month is observed each year from September 15th to October 15th. During this month, the cultures and contribution of Americans whose ancestors come from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America are celebrated. It’s a good opportunity to highlight some materials from the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) that relate to one of the many Hispanic groups that make up the fabric of this country: Puerto Ricans in Philadelphia.

Like many immigrant groups, Puerto Ricans came to the area in search of employment opportunities. Starting slowly in the late 19th century, and accelerating through the 20th century, they immigrated to Philadelphia, a thriving industrial city.

Among the many industries where they found employment was cigar manufacturing. For many years Philadelphia was one of the leading manufacturers of cigars in the United States. Consequently, some of Philadelphia’s Latino communities can trace their origins to enclaves that grew up around cigar factories in North Philadelphia neighborhoods.

T&O Cigar Banding Department, 1900 — T & O Cigar Banding Department, 1900

One such factory, located in the Northern Liberties neighborhood, was owned by the Theobald & Oppenheimer Cigar Company. Founded in 1860, the T & O Cigar Company was one of the largest cigar manufacturers in the city. In 1900, the company opened a new factory at 1147 North 4th Street. To memorialize this opening the company created an album, with over two dozen sepia-toned photographs of the offices, warehouse, factory floor, and workers, who hand-rolled the cigars. (The album was donated to the SCRC in 2012.)

As Puerto Rican immigration to Philadelphia increased throughout the post-war years, organizations such as the Nationalities Service Center (established in 1921) began to respond to the needs of this group, as it had to previous waves of immigrants, by providing information, guidance, and services on such issues as housing, education, and employment. The programs and activities provided by the center were aimed at helping to ease the transition of living and working in a new place. A parallel goal of the center was to promote and conserve the cultural values of immigrant communities for the enrichment of American life. These efforts to aid the Puerto Rican immigrant community, as well as many other ethnic communities, are documented in the Records of the Nationalities Service Center, one of the collection in the SCRC’s Urban Archives.

-Josué Hurtado, Coordinator of Public Services & Outreach