September 3, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, a visitor to this museum today would never guess that it began with a single closet of donated records - truly growing from the ground floor! Longtime archivist Sandy Berman and Founding Executive Director Jane Leevi tell the story of their museum.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
And we returned to our American stories. And up next
a story from one of the first museums dedicated to
Jewish history and heritage in the United States South, the
Bremen Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The museum's archives
contained countless oral and written histories of Jews in Georgia
and Alabama, and we happened to visit when they were
(00:33):
celebrating their twenty fifth anniversary and putting on the Hutzpa Exposition,
the celebration of Jewish Stories from the South. He is
our own Monte Montgomery with a story.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
In Atlanta, Georgia, close to downtown and right next to
the Center for Papetry Arts is the Breman Jewish Heritage Museum,
one of the few museums dedicated to Jewish history in
the Deep South Wealth. Here's Jane Levy, the founding executive
director of the Bremen, with more.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You know the Jewish history in this country most people
think of as the big city of North and so
Southern Jewish history for people who weren't Jewish history scholars
is something of Oxymoor.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
But how long have Jewish people been in the South
and in Georgia here's the Bremen's founding archivist, Sandy Berman,
with the answer to that question.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Since seventeen thirty three, right after Oglethorpe came to settle
the colony, Jews were on the next ship and they
were at first not entirely welcome. The charter said, and
it was only for Christians. But there was a physician
on board and there was an illness going around and
(01:58):
they needed help. Physician helped. His name was doctor Nunia
Samuel Juniez, and he was one of this group of
Jews who were coming and he helped the colony, save
the colony from all this death, and they allowed the
Jews to come in. And the rest is sort of.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
History, a very rich history, but Atlanta didn't have a
museum dedicated to it into the eighties. It was an
interesting process to get to that point too, and it
started with an exhibition then an idea.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
It was two hundred and fifty years of Jewish Life
in Georgia and it was at Emory's Shatton Gallery.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
In doing that first exhibition, we had volunteers who had
ties to all the small towns in Georgia, which is
where Jewish history started, and they uncovered all this wonderful
stuff from family businesses that you know existed in the
(03:04):
seventeen eighteen hundreds, photographs of peddlers and wonderful memorabilia.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
And that exhibition closed and they had all this stuff
that they didn't know what to do with.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So I had this idea that there should be a
Jewish museum in Atlanta. And I was sitting on the
beach in Hilton Head with my yellow legal pad, which
I wish we still used, and I wrote a proposal
(03:40):
for a Jewish museum. We were working for the Jewish Federation.
So the Federation board passed the proposal in concept, which
as you know, means great idea, no money. If you
can figure out, you can figure out how to do it,
(04:02):
be my guest. So it actually began when Sandy came
and we got a gift of twenty five hundred dollars
to buy archival boxes and folders.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
And the volunteer little job turned into let's have a
do affair, let's have a show. It was like, let's
make an archive, let's make a museum. And they put
me in a closet, literally a closet. It was the
smallest space, and we started to collect and we collected
(04:44):
the papers of Rabbi Harry Epstein, who was the rabbi
of a conservative congregation here in Atlanta for over fifty years.
His papers could have gone to any repository in the country, really,
but for some reason he trusted this little closet archive
and that was really the foundation that and the Federation's
records that went all the way back to nineteen twelve.
(05:06):
So we had these two very very strong collections to
get us started, and then we just started to slowly
collect in versus Atlanta. And then as we grew and
we got grants to include the state of whole state
of Georgia because all of these things were being lost.
And then we realized no one was collecting in Alabama.
(05:27):
And so there was all of these small little communities
in Alabama where there was a Jewish presence and great
stories about the people who made history in Georgia and
in Alabama, and we just expanded to Alabama then. And
if it wasn't for if it wasn't for museums and archives,
(05:48):
those stories would be forever lost. And we have so
many examples of people and their stories that have been forgotten.
And I will just tell you one very quickly. So
there was a man by the name of Albert Steiner.
There's a building on the campus of Emory University in
Atlanta called the Steiner Building. And you would ask who
(06:12):
was Albert Steiner? What is the Steiner Building? And not
one person would be able to tell you. No one
would be able to tell you why they have a
building name for Steiner and what it was. He was
a brewer and was president of Atlanta Bottling an ice
company well at the early part of the century. His
son died of cancer, his wife died of cancer, and
(06:34):
then he got cancer. And when he died, he gave
over six hundred thousand dollars, which if you can imagine
what that money is in terms of today's money, to
Grady Hospital and establish the Steiner Cancer Clinic. Cancer clinics
across the country were modeled after it. And he was
so well loved and well liked by the people in
(06:56):
this company that they named a brew for him. It
is called the stein Brew and it was around for
a very very long time. And we have a beer
bottle label, We have a bottle of beer, and we
have a corkscrew from the Atlanta Ice and Bottling Company
all in memory of Albert Steiner and the philanthropy he did.
So that's just one small story. And there are so
(07:20):
many patriotism and perseverance of Jews who conform to the
mores of the South, the culture of the South, and
those who perhaps not to just life and benevolence and
giving back and the community. And do you want to
tell a story? Okay?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
So there was a man named Isidor Strauss who emigrated
from boh He wound up in Talboton, Georgia. He was
too old to fight in the Civil War, so he
went to England and helped with the blockade of ships
(08:03):
on the southern shore of England. Then he and his
brother wound up in New York and they opened a
business called el Strauss Glass and Jewelry, which was part
of R. H. Macy's. They eventually bought R. H. Macy
(08:24):
and he Isador Strauss is also remembered, as with his
wife Ida, as the loving couple that went down with
the Titanic when it sank. If you saw the movie Titanic,
there was one scene where this couple, you know, when
(08:49):
there is this frenzy of pushing women and children into
the lifeboats Ida. His wife turned around to him and said,
if you can't come, I'm not going. And his house,
the family home, is still exists in Talboton. I'll tell
(09:13):
you a personal story. When our oldest son was three
and one chocolate chip cookie and I said to him,
we don't have anymore. They're all gone. He said, show
me the all gone. And that's you know, right, There
(09:34):
is really the purpose of an archive. Some people look
at museums a stuffy old places. You hang stuff on
the wall, you put stuff in a case, and you
walk away. You're done.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
But museums are important because without them, people are forgotten.
And without archives, people are forgotten. And it gives voice
to those people, so it brings them back. It's all
about Jewish life and what has transpired in Georgia and
Alabama since seventeen thirty three until now.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
And a superb piece of storytelling by Monty Montgomery. And
we love visiting museums of all kinds on this show.
It's all about storytelling and preserving the past. That's what
museums do and thank God for them. And a special
thanks to see Andy Berman and to Jane Levy. Check
out their Hutzba exhibition at the museum. It's a truly
(10:34):
special one created by the people behind the founding of
this wonderful place in Atlanta, Georgia. The story of Jews
in the South. Here on our American story.
And we returned to our American stories. And up next
a story from one of the first museums dedicated to
Jewish history and heritage in the United States South, the
Bremen Jewish Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. The museum's archives
contained countless oral and written histories of Jews in Georgia
and Alabama, and we happened to visit when they were
(00:33):
celebrating their twenty fifth anniversary and putting on the Hutzpa Exposition,
the celebration of Jewish Stories from the South. He is
our own Monte Montgomery with a story.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
In Atlanta, Georgia, close to downtown and right next to
the Center for Papetry Arts is the Breman Jewish Heritage Museum,
one of the few museums dedicated to Jewish history in
the Deep South Wealth. Here's Jane Levy, the founding executive
director of the Bremen, with more.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You know the Jewish history in this country most people
think of as the big city of North and so
Southern Jewish history for people who weren't Jewish history scholars
is something of Oxymoor.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
But how long have Jewish people been in the South
and in Georgia here's the Bremen's founding archivist, Sandy Berman,
with the answer to that question.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Since seventeen thirty three, right after Oglethorpe came to settle
the colony, Jews were on the next ship and they
were at first not entirely welcome. The charter said, and
it was only for Christians. But there was a physician
on board and there was an illness going around and
(01:58):
they needed help. Physician helped. His name was doctor Nunia
Samuel Juniez, and he was one of this group of
Jews who were coming and he helped the colony, save
the colony from all this death, and they allowed the
Jews to come in. And the rest is sort of.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
History, a very rich history, but Atlanta didn't have a
museum dedicated to it into the eighties. It was an
interesting process to get to that point too, and it
started with an exhibition then an idea.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
It was two hundred and fifty years of Jewish Life
in Georgia and it was at Emory's Shatton Gallery.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
In doing that first exhibition, we had volunteers who had
ties to all the small towns in Georgia, which is
where Jewish history started, and they uncovered all this wonderful
stuff from family businesses that you know existed in the
(03:04):
seventeen eighteen hundreds, photographs of peddlers and wonderful memorabilia.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
And that exhibition closed and they had all this stuff
that they didn't know what to do with.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So I had this idea that there should be a
Jewish museum in Atlanta. And I was sitting on the
beach in Hilton Head with my yellow legal pad, which
I wish we still used, and I wrote a proposal
(03:40):
for a Jewish museum. We were working for the Jewish Federation.
So the Federation board passed the proposal in concept, which
as you know, means great idea, no money. If you
can figure out, you can figure out how to do it,
(04:02):
be my guest. So it actually began when Sandy came
and we got a gift of twenty five hundred dollars
to buy archival boxes and folders.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
And the volunteer little job turned into let's have a
do affair, let's have a show. It was like, let's
make an archive, let's make a museum. And they put
me in a closet, literally a closet. It was the
smallest space, and we started to collect and we collected
(04:44):
the papers of Rabbi Harry Epstein, who was the rabbi
of a conservative congregation here in Atlanta for over fifty years.
His papers could have gone to any repository in the country, really,
but for some reason he trusted this little closet archive
and that was really the foundation that and the Federation's
records that went all the way back to nineteen twelve.
(05:06):
So we had these two very very strong collections to
get us started, and then we just started to slowly
collect in versus Atlanta. And then as we grew and
we got grants to include the state of whole state
of Georgia because all of these things were being lost.
And then we realized no one was collecting in Alabama.
(05:27):
And so there was all of these small little communities
in Alabama where there was a Jewish presence and great
stories about the people who made history in Georgia and
in Alabama, and we just expanded to Alabama then. And
if it wasn't for if it wasn't for museums and archives,
(05:48):
those stories would be forever lost. And we have so
many examples of people and their stories that have been forgotten.
And I will just tell you one very quickly. So
there was a man by the name of Albert Steiner.
There's a building on the campus of Emory University in
Atlanta called the Steiner Building. And you would ask who
(06:12):
was Albert Steiner? What is the Steiner Building? And not
one person would be able to tell you. No one
would be able to tell you why they have a
building name for Steiner and what it was. He was
a brewer and was president of Atlanta Bottling an ice
company well at the early part of the century. His
son died of cancer, his wife died of cancer, and
(06:34):
then he got cancer. And when he died, he gave
over six hundred thousand dollars, which if you can imagine
what that money is in terms of today's money, to
Grady Hospital and establish the Steiner Cancer Clinic. Cancer clinics
across the country were modeled after it. And he was
so well loved and well liked by the people in
(06:56):
this company that they named a brew for him. It
is called the stein Brew and it was around for
a very very long time. And we have a beer
bottle label, We have a bottle of beer, and we
have a corkscrew from the Atlanta Ice and Bottling Company
all in memory of Albert Steiner and the philanthropy he did.
So that's just one small story. And there are so
(07:20):
many patriotism and perseverance of Jews who conform to the
mores of the South, the culture of the South, and
those who perhaps not to just life and benevolence and
giving back and the community. And do you want to
tell a story? Okay?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
So there was a man named Isidor Strauss who emigrated
from boh He wound up in Talboton, Georgia. He was
too old to fight in the Civil War, so he
went to England and helped with the blockade of ships
(08:03):
on the southern shore of England. Then he and his
brother wound up in New York and they opened a
business called el Strauss Glass and Jewelry, which was part
of R. H. Macy's. They eventually bought R. H. Macy
(08:24):
and he Isador Strauss is also remembered, as with his
wife Ida, as the loving couple that went down with
the Titanic when it sank. If you saw the movie Titanic,
there was one scene where this couple, you know, when
(08:49):
there is this frenzy of pushing women and children into
the lifeboats Ida. His wife turned around to him and said,
if you can't come, I'm not going. And his house,
the family home, is still exists in Talboton. I'll tell
(09:13):
you a personal story. When our oldest son was three
and one chocolate chip cookie and I said to him,
we don't have anymore. They're all gone. He said, show
me the all gone. And that's you know, right, There
(09:34):
is really the purpose of an archive. Some people look
at museums a stuffy old places. You hang stuff on
the wall, you put stuff in a case, and you
walk away. You're done.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
But museums are important because without them, people are forgotten.
And without archives, people are forgotten. And it gives voice
to those people, so it brings them back. It's all
about Jewish life and what has transpired in Georgia and
Alabama since seventeen thirty three until now.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
And a superb piece of storytelling by Monty Montgomery. And
we love visiting museums of all kinds on this show.
It's all about storytelling and preserving the past. That's what
museums do and thank God for them. And a special
thanks to see Andy Berman and to Jane Levy. Check
out their Hutzba exhibition at the museum. It's a truly
(10:34):
special one created by the people behind the founding of
this wonderful place in Atlanta, Georgia. The story of Jews
in the South. Here on our American story.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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