APRIL 2024
der zamler
JPL’S NEWSLETTER FOR ALL THINGS
ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
This past March saw several collaborations with our colleagues at McGill University. The Outreach team, Ellen and Ezell, organized "Thou Hast Need of Them: Historical Minorities in the School of Medicine" with the Osler Library of the History of Medicine and the Maude Abbott Medical Museum. Each institution chose to highlight a graduate from the McGill School of Medicine who faced systemic barriers in the field. In the case of the JPL Archives, we chose Dr. Abraham Bernard Illievitz, a physician who overcame quotas against Jewish students and became a renowned doctor to high-profile celebrity clientele.
Attendees of "Thou Hast Need of Them" event engaging with archival material from the JPL Archives, Maude Abbott Medical Museum, and Osler Library of the History of Medicine. McGill University, March 26, 2024.
Our team also visited the Marvin Duchow Music Library, who just recently unveiled their exhibit on violinist and conductor Ethel Stark… featuring material from our archive! More about this exhibition can be found below.
Materials from the JPL Archives' Ethel Stark Fonds (1271) on display at the Marvin Duchow Music Library at McGill University.
Our Reference Archivist Sam worked with Radio-Canada, who came to film the Louis Rubenstein Collection for an upcoming news story “Louis Rubenstein et les championates du monde de patinage.” We'll keep you posted when this is published!
sPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
RE:COLLECTIONS PODCAST
May 2024 marks the 110th anniversary of the Jewish Public Library.
Our opening season of the re:collections podcast is a celebration of our Jewish leftist roots in Montreal. Re:collections weaves together interviews with scholars, activists, teachers, and fellow archivists that discuss topics such as Jewish immigration to Canada, Jewish languages and culture, labour and feminist movements in the 20th century, and the diversity of political ideologies that existed within the 'left'.
FOR THE RECORD:
A BLOG ABOUT THE WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE, AND HOW (OF ARCHIVING)
Peter Thomas and Donna Thomas, A Story of Life (1994). Jewish Public Library Special Collections, Daisy Gross Collection G1.26.
Celebrating the Small Things
McGill University practicum student Jenna Coutts shares a selection of favourite miniature books from the newly catalogued Daisy Gross Collection.
Snapshot of Tressa and friend atop tandem bicycle by the beach. Image courtesy JPL Archives, Tressa Jacobson Fonds (1068).
CURRENT IN-HOUSE EXHIBITION
Tressa Jacobson Crowned Queen Esther, 1933
March 21, 2024 - April 30, 2024
Born to Romanian immigrant parents in 1908, Tressa (nee Schwartz) Jacobson grew up to be an active member of the Montreal Jewish community. She was a founding member of the Ein Kerem chapter of Montreal Hadassah, a lifetime member of Canadian-Hadassah WIZO, and a member of the National Council of Jewish Women. She also served on the Jewish Music Council of Montreal.
In 1933, Tressa donned a stunning gown, and was coronated Queen Esther at the Queen Esther Ball held at the Mount Royal Hotel Ballroom. Her prize was a trip to Palestine, whose ephemera includes a travel book, her passport, and an article she penned in the Canadian Jewish Chronicle recounting her arrival in Tel Aviv, and her tour of the colonies and plush Jewish settlements. Through her correspondence, we learn that she travelled aboard the ‘Good Ship Patria,’ made fast friends, and was even propositioned by a film crew in Palestine to play the heroine in their upcoming movie!
The photographs from her trip show Tressa aboard the ship and later sharing a tandem bike on the beach. Our gaze is then directed to what she sees: a Naqab man (Bedouine) herding sheep in the Negev; a classic palm tree panorama; and documentation of a country in political transition: a great procession of Palestinians at the Damascus Gate, East Jerusalem, and the cooperation of Jewish Supernumerary Police (‘Notrim’) and the British colonial police, the Palestine Police Force. Though historically 1933 is rife with Palestinian riots, Tressa’s trip appears unaffected. Her tone is sun-kissed and excited.
Esther Megillah donated by Irwin Tauben, and gragers from the Jewish Canadiana Collection. Materials from the JPL's Special Collections and Archives' Photography Collection.
CURRENT IN-HOUSE EXHIBITION
Purim and the Story of Esther
March 21, 2024 - April 30, 2024
Every Purim, Jews read Megillat Esther – the story of a Jewish woman in Persia who is crowned Queen by King Ahasuerus, and thwarts the genocide of her people attempted by Haman, his minister.
Through materials from the JPL Archives & Special Collections, we raise our gragers to Haman and our glasses to Esthers – women who foster allyships, tell our stories, and risk self preservation for greater social good.
CURRENT OFF-SITE EXHIBITION
ETHEL STARK,
THE MONTREAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, AND THE PRESERVATION OF AUDIO HERITAGE
February 1, 2024 - July 31, 2024
Marvin Duchow Library, Music Building, McGill University
The Marvin Duchow Music Library’s new exhibit in collaboration with the Jewish Public Library Archives explores the professional achievements of Ethel Stark (1910-2012), a pioneering violinist and conductor who forged new paths for women with the creation of the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra (1940-1965), as well as the role libraries and archives play in preserving audio heritage.
want more?
Do you want to know more about what is going on with the JPL’s Archives and Special Collections? Check out our highlights on JPL Curates.
Der zamler is a Yiddish term meaning “the collector” and is related to the verb zamlen, which means “to gather.” In using this name, we join a long history of people dedicated to gathering and preserving Jewish culture around the world. A heartfelt thank-you goes to Sam Bick for the initial idea and to Anna Fishman Gonshor for providing the cultural context.
All non-archival photography, unless otherwise credited, by staff of the JPL Archives.
Please click here to support the work of the Jewish Public Library.
subscribe
Not registered for our monthly newsletter? Sign up with your email address for insights into JPL’s Archives and Special Collections.
Jewish Public Library
5151 Chemin de la Cote-Sainte-Catherine
Montreal, QC, H3W 1M6
Canada