Papers and Photos
These artifacts are made of paper and ink.
Diploma
Paterson, New Jersey
Miriam Feldman
This High School Diploma is important to my family because my great grandmother Rose Emont was the first member of her family to graduate High School in the United States. It also has a special significance to me because I have her middle name Rose. Education is important and she was very proud of it.
Education is an important value in Judaism. My great grandmother was born in the United States. Education was very important to her family and they were very proud of her accomplishment in graduating High School. Education was highly regarded and she made sure that my grandmother and her sister went to college.
Ship Manifest
originally England; copy from United States
Lyle S
My artifact is a simple piece of paper with a lot of meaning. If you look at number 15 on this ship manifest, my artifact, you will see my great-grandmother's name, Betty Fried. This list includes information such as her hair and eye color, brown; her height, 4 feet and 11 inches tall; her age when she sailed, 25 years old; and her health condition, good. It also included where she was going to stay, New York; who she was going to live with, her brother and sister-in-law; and her birth place, Hungary. Betty Fried and the other people on the SS Aquitania started their journey in South Ampton, England on September 2, 1922. This artifact is extremely important to my family and I because we are able to track my great-grandmother's history and learn more about her.
Millions of people passed through Ellis Island on their way to a new life in America. About 2.3 million of those people were Jews. One was my great-grandmother. Immigration of Jews is an extremely important part of Jewish heritage. Many Jews faced prejudice and had certain restrictions which made Jewish life in other countries hard. As a result, many Jews immigrated to the United States for freedom. Betty Fried, my great-grandmother, was one of those Jews seeking freedom. This artifact is a symbol of my great-grandmother's journey to freedom and probably of other Jewish people's too.
Family Photo
New York
Marni G.
This photograph shows my great-grandparents on their wedding day. They got married in New York. Their names were Janise W. and Herman S. They were immigrants from Austria. Herman fought in World War II. While on the job, he had a heart attack and unfortunately, he died. In the summer of 2009, my great-grandmother passed away. This photo is important to my family because it reminds us of my great-grandfather, who fought in the war and my great- grandmother, who was funny and good-hearted. They are my mom's mom's parents. When their daughter (my grandma) was born, my great grandpa was in the army in Germany.
This photo helps me learn about my Jewish heritage because it was taken on my great-grandparents' wedding day. Every Jew gets married and follows traditions that are passed down from generation to generation. The groom smashing a glass with his foot is an example of one of the many traditions.
Family History Book
New York
Lisa W
In 1998, our family had a reunion (1 year off) to celebrate 100 years in America. At this reunion close to 400 cousins stayed at a hotel to celebrate. Each grandchild of the original family members who came to America were given a few copies of the family history. This book was compiled by first cousins, each describing the branch of the family they came from (for example: my grandmother, Deborah, told about her father and his children, her and her brother). Each of the original 9 children had a child contribute information to this anecdotal history.
This book describes the family history in a shtetl in Europe and the reasons our family emigrated to America, which is similar to many Jewish families in history.
Photograph of Two Sisters
Paterson, New Jersey
This is a photograph of my mother, Anita, age 4, and her sister, Helene, age 2 1/2. The girls are wearing matching dresses made by my late grandfather, Irving Finkelstein, who was a tailor. My Aunt Helene had the original photo restored, and gave us a copy. Both my Grandpa and Aunt Helene have passed away and are greatly missed. This photo is a reminder of the girls' childhood. It was a big deal to go to the studio for formal pictures. Very few people owned their own camera at that time - it was during the Great Depression. I treasure this picture, and hopefully my children will treasure it, too.
This photograph was taken in a studio in Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson was known as the Silk Capital of the World and had many fine silk mills and dye houses. The great waterfall of the Passaic River provided energy for many of the factories.
My grandparents immigrated from Lodz, Poland separately in the early 1900's. They settled in Paterson, where there was a large growing Jewish community. Many Jewish immigrants brought their tailoring skills to the fashion district in New York and to the mills in Paterson. This was a skill that a Jewish person could take with him anywhere. My grandfather worked in a sweatshop in Manhattan. Eventually, he was able to open his own shop in Paterson - the Skirt and Sport Shop - where he sold and altered ready-to-wear clothes and made some some special order dresses. My grandfather continued to work in New York, while my grandmother watched the store. I remember he told me once that he used to hitchhike through the Tunnel to Manhattan!