The Landmark Society of Western New York presented their annual Preservation Awards at a ceremony at the Rochester Academy of Medicine on Sunday afternoon. Awards were presented to twelve projects, buildings, and individuals that have contributed to historic preservation in the region. [Read more…] about Landmark Society of Western NY Presents Annual Preservation Awards
Jewish History
The Odd Couple: Yussel the Muscle & Maximilian Schmeling
Joe Jacobs was born in 1896 to Hungarian Jewish immigrants. He grew up in the neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown Manhattan, then a bastion of poor Irish Americans, where his father ran a tailor shop.
For many young males living in that tough setting, boxing was both a badge of identity and a means of survival. Every immigrant neighborhood had its own champions and heroes. Boxing was a flag of ethnic pride, attracting a large and loyal local following. [Read more…] about The Odd Couple: Yussel the Muscle & Maximilian Schmeling
Marty Glickman: American Jewish Sports Legend
The book Marty Glickman: The Life of an American Jewish Sports Legend (NYU Press, 2023) by Jeffrey S. Gurock takes a look at Marty Glickman, who for close to half a century after World War II, was the voice of New York sports. [Read more…] about Marty Glickman: American Jewish Sports Legend
Catskills’ Brickman Hotel Story Told in New Book
Shortly after emigrating from Russia in 1908, Abraham and Molly Brickman fled the overcrowded tenements of New York City and purchased land in the Catskills just outside South Fallsburg, in Sullivan County, NY. [Read more…] about Catskills’ Brickman Hotel Story Told in New Book
Sigmund Freud, Adirondack High Peaks and American Colitis
The modern era has produced a number of great speeches that have withstood the test of time. Amongst them are Winston Churchill’s “Fight on the Beaches” (June 1940), John F. Kennedy’s “Ich bin ein Berliner”(June 1963) and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” (August 1963), but the speech that may have had the biggest impact in the history of political thought was Abe Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” (November 1860). [Read more…] about Sigmund Freud, Adirondack High Peaks and American Colitis
Deciding Vote: Film Tells Story of George Michaels Deciding NYS Abortion Vote
The Cayuga Museum’s Carriage House Theater will screen a new documentary from Wheelhouse Creative, “Deciding Vote”, which explores the story of former New York State Assemblyman George Michaels, a prominent member of Auburn, NY’s Jewish community and a veteran of World War Two.
Michaels entered politics in the tumultuous era of the 1960s, and became a central figure in paving the way for abortion rights in the US when his switched vote barely passed New York’s law legalizing abortion in 1970. [Read more…] about Deciding Vote: Film Tells Story of George Michaels Deciding NYS Abortion Vote
The Story of Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream
Many people have heard of and enjoyed Haagen-Dazs ice cream, but the story of its beginning is equally cool. A headline in JGirls+ Magazine from 2022 says it all: “Haagen-Dazs: A Jewish Story of Immigration, Entrepreneurship, and Ice Cream.” The story began with Reuben Mattus (originally Nifka Matus), born in Grodna, Poland in 1913 who arrived in New York City in 1921 with his widowed mother and older sister. [Read more…] about The Story of Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream
A Saratoga Man’s Role in Evacuating Americans from Europe in 1939 & 1940
Over 100,000 Americans were traveling or residing in Europe in 1939. As the threat of war became ever more ominous, in August the United States Department of State created a new office to facilitate the evacuation of these Americans.
The war began with Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1. By the end of the year 75% of the Americans in Europe were either home or on their way home. Many American ships and men were involved in this evacuation. One of those sailors was my uncle. [Read more…] about A Saratoga Man’s Role in Evacuating Americans from Europe in 1939 & 1940
An English Gambler, A Jewish Butcher & The History of Pastrami on Rye
The term sandwich bread (loaf) started circulating in the United States during the 1930s. It followed a revolution in the manner the product was presented to customers, no longer homemade but mass produced. After a decade of trial and error, the bread slicing machine was introduced and soon widely used. The sandwich was about to conquer the American and European markets. Grabbing a sandwich came to symbolize the rush of an urban society. [Read more…] about An English Gambler, A Jewish Butcher & The History of Pastrami on Rye
What Do We Tell Our Children about the Holocaust?
This week on The Historians Podcast, Meryl Frank in her book Unearthed: A Lost Actress, a Forbidden Book, and a Search for Life in the Shadow of the Holocaust (Hachette Books, 2023) tells the story of her cousin Franya Winter, a celebrated Yiddish stage actress in Vilna in Eastern Europe who died in the Holocaust. [Read more…] about What Do We Tell Our Children about the Holocaust?