Interview with Doug Holder
While I was having my usual bagel at the Bagel Bin on Shirley Ave., city councilman Ira Novosesky told me about an event that will be presented by the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center. The event will be a presentation regarding Jewish life and history in the city of Revere. Here are the details:
The Center generously agreed to answer a few of my questions.
You are having an event this month that will deal with Jewish life in Revere. Why is Revere so important to Jewish history in New England?
The Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center (JHC) preserves several collections about families, synagogues, and businesses based in Revere in the early and mid-20th century. Revere had a strong Jewish community throughout the 20th century, and some descendants of those families still live there today. And many older Jewish Bostonians—who may have grown up in other cities and towns in the area—still recall their summers on Revere Beach with fondness and nostalgia; it was a beloved summer destination for Jews to gather, enjoy recreation, and escape urban life within a safe Jewish enclave.
I am told Shirley Ave. in Revere was the epicenter of the Jewish community. Do you have a lot of materials in your archive concerning this vital avenue?
We have several collections documenting Jewish life in Revere, including the records of Congregation Tifereth Israel, which was located at the corner of Shirley and Nahant Avenues. There are also a number of specific mentions of Shirley Avenue in the oral histories collected for our "Jewish Neighborhood Voices."
. The center asks for archival donations, but it is limited to New England. Why?
The Jewish Heritage Center's archive is specifically focused on New England Jewish history and is the only archive of its kind.
As background: the JHC began as part of the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) when it was located at Brandeis. When AJHS moved to New York in 2000, it made an agreement with a group of Boston-based supporters and board members for the New England collections to stay in Boston and to be known as the American Jewish Historical Society-New England Archive (AJHS-NEA). In 2009, AJHS-NEA began a collaboration with American Ancestors (then known as New England Historic Genealogical Society); this partnership was formalized in 2015 with the creation of the Jewish Heritage Center at American Ancestors, a vital center with a mission to preserve New England Jewish history, support scholarly and genealogical research, and offer educational programming about Jewish history and heritage. It was renamed for the Wyner Family, longtime supporters, in 2018. The Jewish Heritage Center continues today to add new collections of Jewish families, businesses, institutions, and communities in New England.
Much of New England Jewish history reflects themes in the wider story of American Jewish life, but there are also unique stories to be told across the Jewish diaspora, including here in New England. American Jewish life and culture does not solely exist in New York or L.A., and we have the privileged opportunity to preserve the stories of families and institutions in Boston and beyond. Their stories matter.
What other cities besides Revere had thriving Jewish communities. Are there such communities today? I can think of Coolidge Corner in Brookline.
Though Jews have had a presence in Boston for much longer, the largest influx of Jewish immigrants came to this area from Eastern Europe in the late-19th century and settled largely in the North End, West End, and Chelsea (with an honorable mention of Lynn). Chelsea, in particular, was densely populated with Jewish immigrant families in the early 20th century and had the second highest per capita Jewish population in the United States, after New York.
In the next generation, many families moved to Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan, where they built thriving Jewish communities anchored by synagogues and Jewish businesses. Toward the mid-20th century, many Jewish families on the North Shore with access to upward mobility moved to Swampscott and Marblehead, while many in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan moved to Brookline and Newton—all of which still have thriving Jewish communities to this day.
The highest concentration of Jews in Greater Boston today is in Brookline, Newton, and Brighton; there are thriving Jewish communities within, and beyond, these three neighborhoods. The fabric and atmosphere of most of these communities look different than the tight-knit immigrant neighborhoods of 100 years ago, for many reasons, including acculturation.
The Jewish Heritage Center has many resources available to learn about the history of Greater Boston Jewish neighborhoods. One lively source is the JHC's online exhibit, "Jewish Neighborhood Voices," For researchers interested in studying the demographic and geographic shifts of the Greater Boston Jewish community from the mid-20th century onwards, CJP has conducted community surveys every decade since the 1960s; these can be found in the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston Records preserved in the JHC archives.
The Jewish Heritage Center continually seeks to add the history of more communities—both geographical and identity-based—to its archives, to further represent the rich diversity of the Jewish community in this region. We invite individuals, families, and organizations to consider donating materials representing the fullness of Jewish heritage, identity, and experience.
Do you collaborate with other centers, such as the Yiddish Book Center in Western, Mass.?
We have many partnerships and collaborations with other Jewish organizations. The “Jewish Stories of Revere Beach” event featured the following partners: Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, Congregation Shirat Hayam, Temple Emmanuel of Chelsea, Walnut Street Synagogue, and Temple Tiferet Shalom. We have had collaborative projects with the Yiddish Book Center, including recording oral history interviews in partnership with the Wexler Oral History Project. We are also part of the New England Jewish History Collaborative, a consortium of Jewish history and genealogy organizations from New England states, whose goal is to raise awareness of the history of Jewish New England and the resources available to study it.
In Greater Boston, the Walnut Street Shul and Temple Emmanuel in Chelsea are regular collaborators, as are educators at Jewish Day Schools like Epstein Hillel and Gann Academy. We hold institutional papers for many local institutions, including Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Jewish Community Relations Council, and the Worker's Circle, and many synagogues.
We also have materials on loan at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the West End Museum. There will also be Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center materials on display in the new Holocaust Museum opening in 2027.
Other organizations we work with include Lehrhaus, Mayyim Hayyim, Keshet, the Jewish Women's Archive, and more. We are always excited to have opportunities to connect with local and national institutions on programming and archival projects!
Why should a person visit your center. What will he or she take away from their visit?
There are many wonderful things to see and learn at the Jewish Heritage Center! We have materials on exhibit throughout the building, and our parent organization, American Ancestors, offers a "Family Heritage Experience" that introduces visitors to the exploration of family history and identity through interactive displays and exhibits. Visitors and researchers can also make an appointment to explore collections from the Jewish Heritage Center's archives, which are filled with fascinating historical documents, photos, and artifacts about Jewish individuals, families, and institutions in New England. These tell the story of Jewish life in our area—and contribute to the larger story of the American Jewish experience. We also host events for the public throughout the year at our beautiful historic building on Newbury Street, along with online programs and educational presentations in day schools and synagogues.
***Thanks to Sarah Quiat for arranging this interview
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