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Exhibitions
Future Exhibitions
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Proposed Future Exhibitions for 2013-2014
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For
a period of time in the early twentieth century, more than 540,000
people lived within an area of one and a half square miles that was
then called the Lower East Side. Though the borders of this section
of Manhattan might have changed somewhat over the years, if one
takes a stroll among many of its historic streets, one can easily
imagine that once these
streets were filled with a great deal of hustle and bustle. Within
these streets stood a great number of
pushcarts from which vendors sold their wares. There were stores and shops
run by immigrants who had come from many parts of the world in order
to begin a new life. The denizens of the Lower East Side and others would stroll
through the streets, perhaps pushing a baby carriage
or with child in hand... There are so many images that may come to
mind, based either on our own personal experiences in similar
locations, or from what we might have seen or
heard through films or books or television documentaries.
Whichever the case, we know that
approximately seventy percent of immigrants who came to America did
so through Ellis Island, located on the southern tip of Manhattan
island, and that most of these new immigrants remained in New York
City on the Lower East Side. Upon their arrival, they might
have been met by family members who found them a place to live; if
they were fortunate, they would find them a job too. Life on the Lower East Side was not
easy for our family members who were part of this experience, and we
must be thankful to them for all their efforts as they strove to earn enough of a living
to ensure their own survival, the survival of their children, and
perhaps earned enough money to send for one or more family members
still living in a
country that they desperately wished to leave.
The Museum is still seeking such
photographs, stories etc. for
this exhibition. If you are
willing to contribute material
to this exhibition, please
contact the Museum at
postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com.
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The Museum's
Cityscape
Presents
Thomas Jefferson
High School
The Pride
of
East New York
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Thomas
Jefferson High School, located on the corner of Dumont and
Pennsylvania Avenues in the East New York section of Brooklyn,
New York, opened for its first school term in September of 1924.
At the time, due to an ever-increasing population and
overcrowded conditions at other public schools in Brooklyn such
as Boy's High, there was a great need for new schools that could
accommodate the growing number of young people.
Although times
have changed, during the early decades of Jefferson's existence,
the high school was considered to be one of the best in New York
City. Its collective student body boasts a litany of famous and
otherwise well-known personalities, not only in the field of
entertainment, but in sports, politics, science and government
as well.
Its first
principal, Elias Lieberman, was not only an educator but a poet
as well. His words written so eloquently in the Jefferson student
yearbooks for each graduating class inspired his charges, encouraging them to be proper
citizens and spoke of the bright future that awaited them with
the proper attitude and effort. He
wrote to the graduating class of January 1929:
What are the things that
matter in life? Even great sages are not in complete
agreement. Let me put down for your consideration what I
regard as worth-while. These are the things by which I set
great store:
Faith in God and in the ever-ascending place of man in His
scheme.
The chance to do good on a small scale or on a large scale--a
justification for one's life in terms of some achievement for
humanity.
Culture, another word for efforts at complete adjustment with
the best thought and the finest contributions of man in the
arts, in literature, in science and in the difficult art of
human relations.
Abounding good health, a joy in living, the possession of a
machine that hits buoyantly on all cylinders and keeps going
until it must stop.
When the sun finally sets below the horizon for you and me,
may we meet the unknown with no regrets. Perhaps, to our
surprise it won't be night at all over there, but another more
beautiful day.
Please read more
about Brooklyn's wonderful Thomas Jefferson High School --
not only about its first principal, but about the teachers
and students, many thousands of whom were the children of
immigrants -- when this exhibition opens sometime in 2011.
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The Museum's
Immigration Department
Presents
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HIAS
The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society |
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HIAS, the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society, is America's oldest international migration
and refugee resettlement agency. Dedicated to assisting persecuted
and oppressed people worldwide and delivering them to countries of
safe haven, HIAS has rescued more than 4.5 million people since
1881. Growing from organizations founded in the 1870s and 1880s to
assist Jewish migrants arriving in America, HIAS is responsible for
the rescue and resettlement into the United States of noted
academics, artists, athletes, entertainers, scientists, mayors,
governors, and members of United States Congress, as well as
everyday people. Its operational goals are based on Jewish religious
teachings.
Many immigrants who entered countries such as the United States
sought assistance upon their immigration, e.g. food, housing,
etc. Aid societies, such as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society,
founded by Russian Jewish immigrants in New York City in 1881,
often had a representative stationed at the major ports of
entry, waiting to help each and every immigrant they could. The
founding of HIAS was in response to the huge wave of immigration
that occurred following the assassination of the Russian Czar
Alexander II in 1881 and the subsequent pogroms. Many Jews were
forced to flee Russia and immigrate to the United States, the
majority entering via the port of New York. There, HIAS would
provide food and shelter to the new immigrant, and try to find
them a job. In 1911, HIAS even provided a kosher kitchen at
Ellis Island and fed more than half a million meals between 1925
and 1952.
The Museum is still
seeking such
photographs, stories
etc. for this HIAS
exhibition. If you are
willing to contribute
material to this
exhibition, please
contact the Museum at
postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com. |
The Museum's
Great Artists Series
Presents
SOPHIE TUCKER
The Last of the
Red Hot Mamas |
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Sophie Tucker (13 January
1886 – 9 February 1966) was a Russian/Ukrainian-born
American singer and actress. Known for her stentorian
delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the
most popular entertainers in America during the first
two-thirds of the 20th century. She was widely known by
the nickname "The Last of the Red Hot Mamas."
Tucker was born Sonya Kalish to a Jewish family
in Tulchyn, Ukraine. Her family emigrated to the
United States when she was an infant, and
settled in Hartford, Connecticut. There the
family changed its name to Abuza, and her
parents opened a restaurant. At her family's
restaurant she started singing for tips.
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Tucker played
piano and sang burlesque and vaudeville tunes,
at first in blackface. She made her first
appearance in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1909, but
did not last long there because Florenz
Ziegfeld's other female stars soon refused to
share the spotlight with her because she was so
popular.
Tucker made
several popular recordings which included "Some
of These Days", which came out in 1911. In the
mid-1920s, she first sang "My Yiddishe Mome" for
which she explained, "Even though I loved the
song and it was a sensational hit every time I
sang it, I was always careful to use it only
when I knew the majority of the house would
understand Yiddish. However, you didn't have to
be a Jew to be moved by 'My Yiddish Momme.'
'Mother' in any language means the same thing."
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AFTER THE WAR
Our Families
in the
DP Camps |
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When World War II ended,
many of those who survived the war found themselves in camps for
"displaced persons," traumatized by wartime
events and facing an uncertain
future.
Allied military and civilian authorities
who were in charge of these D.P. camps faced considerable
challenges in their attempts to solve the problem of displaced persons,
who waited there, often for too long a time, hoping to either immigrate
to another country, or try to return to their home town in hope that
they might find a family member there that was still alive.
Within this exhibition you will be
introduced to a brief history of life in the D.P. camps. The exhibition
will include family photographs taken in these camps, a memorial album
created for the camp in Hof, Germany, as well as personal testimony from
those who once resided there.
The Museum is still seeking such photographs, stories etc. for this
exhibition. If you are willing to contribute material to this
exhibition, please contact the Museum at
postmaster@museumoffamilyhistory.com.
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