NMAJH E-newsletter
February 21, 2007
Enews February 2007
Greetings
Welcome to the electronic newsletter of the National Museum of American Jewish History. This newsletter is designed to keep you informed of exhibitions, programs and other activities of the NMAJH, the only Museum in the country exclusively presenting educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore and celebrate the history of the Jews in America.
___________________________________
1. EDUCATION DEPT. HAS PROGRAMS TO ENHANCE MUSEUM VISIT
Tours and More Bring History to Life
Enter the world of a Jewish immigrant through dramatic storytelling. Or, take a walking tour that explores Colonial Jewish life. These are two of the many programs offered by the Museum’s Education Department that allow visitors to delve into American Jewish history through rich, interactive experiences.
The newest program offered by the Education Department is “A Taste For,” a dramatic presentation that takes place in the exhibition, Forshpeis! A Taste of the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana. The all-ages presentation connects visitors to the themes, environments and artifacts of Forshpeis!
The Education Department’s program, “HIStories, HERstories, YOURstories, OURstories” allows visitors to enter the world of the Jewish immigrant through first-person historical readings. Among the themes addressed are immigration, prejudice, family life, assimilation and tradition.
Visitors can step outside the walls of the Museum by taking the J-tour, which explores the Colonial Jewish experience, stories of Philadelphia’s Jewish community, and the roles these early Jewish Americans played in the city and the emerging nation. The Education Department also offers a special lunch and dinner package in conjunction with a kosher Chinese restaurant.
To schedule a visit call the Education Department at 215.923.5984. The Education Department webpage also has more information about Education Department programs and booking tours.
Click here to see a MySpace slideshow of artifacts from the Forshpeis! exhibition.
Admission to the Forshpeis! exhibition, where the pickle jars shown above are displayed, is free.
Forshpeis is Yiddish for appetizer.
The Forshpeis! exhibition was made possible in part through the generous support of the Independence Foundation, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. The Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
2. DON’T PASS OVER MUSEUM SHOP SALES FOR YOUR SEDER
Special Sunday Events to be Held at Museum Shop
From pewter and ceramic Seder plates to an extensive selection of Haggadot, the Passover items for sale at the Museum Shop are sure to make your Passover table the talk of the town. Additionally, on three upcoming Sundays, the Museum Shop is offering shoppers sweet incentives to come in and browse. On Sunday, March 18, Sunday March 25 and Sunday, April 1, visitors will be offered cookies and coffee while they shop.
Passover, which begins with the first Seder on Monday, April 2, is the most widely observed Jewish holiday, and the Seder table serves not just as the gathering place for family and friends, but as a setting for valued ceremonial objects collected throughout the years.
Anyone wishing to add to their collections or give the gift of tradition to others this holiday season will find a wide array of selections in the Museum Shop. Items available in the shop include dozens of varieties of Haggadot and matzoh plates, including the one shown, which is hand-painted in vibrant colors with two layers of 22K gold.
The Museum Shop has many Passover objects, reflecting a wide variety of artists’ styles. Visit the Museum Shop online to browse and buy many of the large assortment of items in all price ranges. For more information email Eva Schlanger or call the Museum Shop at 215.923.0262.
Proceeds from the Museum Shop support the National Museum of American Jewish History.
3. MUSEUM WINS NEH GRANT TO PRESERVE ARTIFACTS
The Museum has been awarded a prestigious Preservation Assistance Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the purchase of metal file cabinets and map file folders. Recent donations to the Museum’s permanent collection have created the need for the additional specialized storage furniture, according to Museum Registrar Claire Pingel.
Pingel said the cabinets and file folders will be devoted to oversized materials and will ensure their proper preservation and accessibility to future researchers and curators. Among the artifacts to be housed in the flat file cabinets are World War I and World War II war relief posters, such as the one shown, as well as political campaign posters of Jewish candidates; hand painted ketubot from the seventeenth century; military service commemorative certificates and honor rolls; and historic newspapers, including a rare edition from the Civil War era and another that predates the American Revolutionary War. Additionally, portions of the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana and a large collection of prints and drawings by portraitist Harry S. Moskowitz will be stored in the cabinets.
The $5,000 grant was designated a NEH “We the People” project, an initiative to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture through the support of projects that explore significant events and themes in United States history and culture and that advance knowledge of the principles that define America.
4. SUBSCRIBERS IN LINE FOR DISCOUNT TO “CAROLINE, OR CHANGE”
Race, rage and civil rights are at the heart of Caroline, or Change, a gorgeously sung, deeply personal story by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner in its Philadelphia debut at the Arden Theatre Company, March 8 through April 8.
Drawn from Kushner's Louisiana childhood, Caroline, or Change centers on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced, middle-aged African-American maid who works for a Jewish family in the suburban enclave of Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1963. She finds herself in the middle of a family conflict when eight-year-old Noah Gellman's stepmother allows Caroline to keep any money she finds in the child's pockets while doing the laundry. The show's title references the poignant double meaning of the spare change Noah leaves behind and the vast social changes occurring in 1960s America.
Blending blues, gospel, klezmer and traditional Jewish melodies, Jeanine Tesori's music provides the breathtaking medium for Kushner's provocative and powerful tale. Caroline, or Change opened on Broadway in May 2004 and was called by The New York Times "an extraordinary new musical." Subscribers to the Museum’s E-newsletter receive a $5 discount on tickets to the musical (not valid on Saturday evenings) by calling the Arden box office at 215.922.1122.
The first 5 subscribers to email byeagle@ardentheatre.org will receive a pair of tickets to the show.
Arden Theatre Company is sponsoring a series of free symposia open to the community to discuss civil rights, the Jewish and African American experiences, race relations and the role of women in society as raised in their production of Tony Kushner’s musical Caroline, or Change. The series is called Caroline Conversations and the program topics are “The Face of Judaism”; “Let Us Remember, African American and Jewish Legacies of Genocide and Diaspora”; and “Women in Faith.” Visit the Arden website for for information about times and venues and for more information about Caroline, or Change.
Caroline, or Change was made possible in part by a grant from the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, a program, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts. The Caroline Conversations series is funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. The Philadelphia premiere of Caroline, or Change is sponsored by the Jewish Exponent and inside Magazine. The Arden Theatre is located at 40 N, 2nd Street, Philadelphia.
5. FREE BOOK AVAILABLE TO LIMITED NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS
The Museum and the Jewish Publication Society (website) are joining to together to offer five free copies of American Jewish History: A JPS Guide. A free copy of the book, written by National Jewish Book Award winner Norman H. Finkelstein, will go the first five NMAJH E-newsletter subscribers to reply to alevites@jewishpub.org.
In the recently published book, Finkelstein tells the dramatic 350-year story of the Jewish people in America, from the earliest settlers to the modern successes of Jews in business, politics and the arts. Each chapter focuses on a specific period and examines Jewish life at home, in the community and in American society at large.
Illustrated with more than 70 black and white photographs, maps and charts, as well as timelines, a bibliography, and index, American Jewish History and provides an introduction to understanding the religious, historical, and cultural heritage of the Jewish people who helped shape America.
Finkelstein is the author of more than a dozen books, including the JPS titles Heeding the Call: Jewish Voices in America’s Civil Rights Struggle (a 1997 National Jewish Book Award Winner) and Forged in Freedom: Shaping the Jewish-American Experience (a 2002 National Jewish Book Award Winner). The book can also be ordered at the JPS website.
6. MUSEUM A SPONSOR OF KEYNOTE ADDRESS
The Museum is sponsoring a talk by Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, who will discuss Thursday, Feb. 22, how the completion of the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews, now being planned for Warsaw, may change the itineraries of most Jewish visitors to Poland. Previously, may Jewish visitors to the country have focused on Holocaust-related sites.
Her presentation is the keynote address of the Graduate Humanities Forum of the Penn Humanities Forum, University of Pennsylvania. The presentation is scheduled for Thursday, Feb 22, 5 – 6:30 p.m., for the Rainey Auditorium at the Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia. This talk is one in a series of events in the 2006-2007 Penn Humanities Forum on Travel.
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, who serves as a consultant to the NMAJH, is head of the core exhibition planning team for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. She is a professor in the Department of Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, where she teaches courses on the aesthetics of everyday life, world's fairs, museum theatre, tourist productions, food and performance, Jewish performance, folklore, and ethnography. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is the author of many books and articles about museums and tourism.
The event is free and open to the public. Preregistration is required and can completed online at http://humanities.sas.upenn.edu or by calling 215.573.8280.
___________________________________
On March 14, 1879 Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany. Einstein was perhaps the leading and most well known scientist of the 20th century due to his theories of special and general relativity, together with his work in particle and energy theory, that helped make possible quantum mechanics and, ultimately, the atomic bomb. In 1933 Einstein renounced his German citizenship following Hitler's rise to power and settled in the United States. He accepted a position at Princeton University where he remained for the rest of his life. Einstein became a U.S. citizen in 1940 and died in Princeton, N.J., in 1955.
National Museum of American Jewish History
Independence Mall East
55 North 5th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-2197
Tel: 215.923.3811 Fax: 215.923.0763
www.nmajh.org
Welcome to the electronic newsletter of the National Museum of American Jewish History. This newsletter is designed to keep you informed of exhibitions, programs and other activities of the NMAJH, the only Museum in the country exclusively presenting educational programs and experiences that preserve, explore and celebrate the history of the Jews in America.
___________________________________
1. EDUCATION DEPT. HAS PROGRAMS TO ENHANCE MUSEUM VISIT
Tours and More Bring History to Life
Enter the world of a Jewish immigrant through dramatic storytelling. Or, take a walking tour that explores Colonial Jewish life. These are two of the many programs offered by the Museum’s Education Department that allow visitors to delve into American Jewish history through rich, interactive experiences.The newest program offered by the Education Department is “A Taste For,” a dramatic presentation that takes place in the exhibition, Forshpeis! A Taste of the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana. The all-ages presentation connects visitors to the themes, environments and artifacts of Forshpeis!
The Education Department’s program, “HIStories, HERstories, YOURstories, OURstories” allows visitors to enter the world of the Jewish immigrant through first-person historical readings. Among the themes addressed are immigration, prejudice, family life, assimilation and tradition.
Visitors can step outside the walls of the Museum by taking the J-tour, which explores the Colonial Jewish experience, stories of Philadelphia’s Jewish community, and the roles these early Jewish Americans played in the city and the emerging nation. The Education Department also offers a special lunch and dinner package in conjunction with a kosher Chinese restaurant.
To schedule a visit call the Education Department at 215.923.5984. The Education Department webpage also has more information about Education Department programs and booking tours.
Click here to see a MySpace slideshow of artifacts from the Forshpeis! exhibition.
Admission to the Forshpeis! exhibition, where the pickle jars shown above are displayed, is free.
Forshpeis is Yiddish for appetizer.
The Forshpeis! exhibition was made possible in part through the generous support of the Independence Foundation, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. The Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
2. DON’T PASS OVER MUSEUM SHOP SALES FOR YOUR SEDER
Special Sunday Events to be Held at Museum Shop
From pewter and ceramic Seder plates to an extensive selection of Haggadot, the Passover items for sale at the Museum Shop are sure to make your Passover table the talk of the town. Additionally, on three upcoming Sundays, the Museum Shop is offering shoppers sweet incentives to come in and browse. On Sunday, March 18, Sunday March 25 and Sunday, April 1, visitors will be offered cookies and coffee while they shop.Passover, which begins with the first Seder on Monday, April 2, is the most widely observed Jewish holiday, and the Seder table serves not just as the gathering place for family and friends, but as a setting for valued ceremonial objects collected throughout the years.
Anyone wishing to add to their collections or give the gift of tradition to others this holiday season will find a wide array of selections in the Museum Shop. Items available in the shop include dozens of varieties of Haggadot and matzoh plates, including the one shown, which is hand-painted in vibrant colors with two layers of 22K gold.
The Museum Shop has many Passover objects, reflecting a wide variety of artists’ styles. Visit the Museum Shop online to browse and buy many of the large assortment of items in all price ranges. For more information email Eva Schlanger or call the Museum Shop at 215.923.0262.
Proceeds from the Museum Shop support the National Museum of American Jewish History.
3. MUSEUM WINS NEH GRANT TO PRESERVE ARTIFACTS
The Museum has been awarded a prestigious Preservation Assistance Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the purchase of metal file cabinets and map file folders. Recent donations to the Museum’s permanent collection have created the need for the additional specialized storage furniture, according to Museum Registrar Claire Pingel.Pingel said the cabinets and file folders will be devoted to oversized materials and will ensure their proper preservation and accessibility to future researchers and curators. Among the artifacts to be housed in the flat file cabinets are World War I and World War II war relief posters, such as the one shown, as well as political campaign posters of Jewish candidates; hand painted ketubot from the seventeenth century; military service commemorative certificates and honor rolls; and historic newspapers, including a rare edition from the Civil War era and another that predates the American Revolutionary War. Additionally, portions of the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana and a large collection of prints and drawings by portraitist Harry S. Moskowitz will be stored in the cabinets.
The $5,000 grant was designated a NEH “We the People” project, an initiative to encourage and strengthen the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture through the support of projects that explore significant events and themes in United States history and culture and that advance knowledge of the principles that define America.
4. SUBSCRIBERS IN LINE FOR DISCOUNT TO “CAROLINE, OR CHANGE”
Race, rage and civil rights are at the heart of Caroline, or Change, a gorgeously sung, deeply personal story by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner in its Philadelphia debut at the Arden Theatre Company, March 8 through April 8.Drawn from Kushner's Louisiana childhood, Caroline, or Change centers on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced, middle-aged African-American maid who works for a Jewish family in the suburban enclave of Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1963. She finds herself in the middle of a family conflict when eight-year-old Noah Gellman's stepmother allows Caroline to keep any money she finds in the child's pockets while doing the laundry. The show's title references the poignant double meaning of the spare change Noah leaves behind and the vast social changes occurring in 1960s America.
Blending blues, gospel, klezmer and traditional Jewish melodies, Jeanine Tesori's music provides the breathtaking medium for Kushner's provocative and powerful tale. Caroline, or Change opened on Broadway in May 2004 and was called by The New York Times "an extraordinary new musical." Subscribers to the Museum’s E-newsletter receive a $5 discount on tickets to the musical (not valid on Saturday evenings) by calling the Arden box office at 215.922.1122.
The first 5 subscribers to email byeagle@ardentheatre.org will receive a pair of tickets to the show.
Arden Theatre Company is sponsoring a series of free symposia open to the community to discuss civil rights, the Jewish and African American experiences, race relations and the role of women in society as raised in their production of Tony Kushner’s musical Caroline, or Change. The series is called Caroline Conversations and the program topics are “The Face of Judaism”; “Let Us Remember, African American and Jewish Legacies of Genocide and Diaspora”; and “Women in Faith.” Visit the Arden website for for information about times and venues and for more information about Caroline, or Change.
Caroline, or Change was made possible in part by a grant from the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, a program, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts. The Caroline Conversations series is funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. The Philadelphia premiere of Caroline, or Change is sponsored by the Jewish Exponent and inside Magazine. The Arden Theatre is located at 40 N, 2nd Street, Philadelphia.
5. FREE BOOK AVAILABLE TO LIMITED NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS
The Museum and the Jewish Publication Society (website) are joining to together to offer five free copies of American Jewish History: A JPS Guide. A free copy of the book, written by National Jewish Book Award winner Norman H. Finkelstein, will go the first five NMAJH E-newsletter subscribers to reply to alevites@jewishpub.org.In the recently published book, Finkelstein tells the dramatic 350-year story of the Jewish people in America, from the earliest settlers to the modern successes of Jews in business, politics and the arts. Each chapter focuses on a specific period and examines Jewish life at home, in the community and in American society at large.
Illustrated with more than 70 black and white photographs, maps and charts, as well as timelines, a bibliography, and index, American Jewish History and provides an introduction to understanding the religious, historical, and cultural heritage of the Jewish people who helped shape America.
Finkelstein is the author of more than a dozen books, including the JPS titles Heeding the Call: Jewish Voices in America’s Civil Rights Struggle (a 1997 National Jewish Book Award Winner) and Forged in Freedom: Shaping the Jewish-American Experience (a 2002 National Jewish Book Award Winner). The book can also be ordered at the JPS website.
6. MUSEUM A SPONSOR OF KEYNOTE ADDRESS
The Museum is sponsoring a talk by Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, who will discuss Thursday, Feb. 22, how the completion of the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews, now being planned for Warsaw, may change the itineraries of most Jewish visitors to Poland. Previously, may Jewish visitors to the country have focused on Holocaust-related sites.
Her presentation is the keynote address of the Graduate Humanities Forum of the Penn Humanities Forum, University of Pennsylvania. The presentation is scheduled for Thursday, Feb 22, 5 – 6:30 p.m., for the Rainey Auditorium at the Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia. This talk is one in a series of events in the 2006-2007 Penn Humanities Forum on Travel.
Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, who serves as a consultant to the NMAJH, is head of the core exhibition planning team for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. She is a professor in the Department of Performance Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, where she teaches courses on the aesthetics of everyday life, world's fairs, museum theatre, tourist productions, food and performance, Jewish performance, folklore, and ethnography. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is the author of many books and articles about museums and tourism.
The event is free and open to the public. Preregistration is required and can completed online at http://humanities.sas.upenn.edu or by calling 215.573.8280.
___________________________________
On March 14, 1879 Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany. Einstein was perhaps the leading and most well known scientist of the 20th century due to his theories of special and general relativity, together with his work in particle and energy theory, that helped make possible quantum mechanics and, ultimately, the atomic bomb. In 1933 Einstein renounced his German citizenship following Hitler's rise to power and settled in the United States. He accepted a position at Princeton University where he remained for the rest of his life. Einstein became a U.S. citizen in 1940 and died in Princeton, N.J., in 1955.
National Museum of American Jewish History
Independence Mall East
55 North 5th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-2197
Tel: 215.923.3811 Fax: 215.923.0763
www.nmajh.org
posted by nmajh @ 2/21/2007 
