The Shapiro family lived on the second floor of the building above the butcher shop. The woman in the upstairs window is Rose Shapiro. The man to the left of the fire hydrant is Max Shapiro, and the man in the apron is Sam Shapiro. Carl Shapiro is to the right of the horse.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Max Shapiro stands behind the counter at his butcher shop. An unidentified man stands at the end of the counter. The first Jewish Range residents lived in the Tower/Lake Vermillion area. They were peddlers, merchants and distributors who supplied first the lumber industry, then the mining community with provisions, dry goods and selected services.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Harry Silberstein driving a horse-drawn wagon used for collecting scrap metal. Scrap metal salvage was one of the occupations accessible to Jews. For immigrants leaving Europe in the late 1880s, scrap collection was an open field which required minimal capitalization and a willingness to move about. It also allowed the collector to be his own boss and avoid mandatory factory work hours which would have conflicted with Sabbath observance. Paper-Calmenson was founded 1891 and is still in operation.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Four unidentified men stand inside the Milavitz Jewelry and Tobacco Shop. The counter on the right shows tobacco products while the counter on the left displays jewelry.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Mr. Milavitz stands in front of his store. A young girl stands to the side of the doorway and a child in a carriage is visible on the left side. Many avenues of employment were closed to Jews, resulting in a concentration of Jews earning a living as small shopkeepers. Many graduated from peddling to keeping a store after years of travel and establishing accounts on the road.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
An interior view of the Browning King clothing store with salesmen standing at a long counter. The store was located on the corner of 6th Street and Robert St. in St. Paul.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Horses pull a wagon down a street in Minneapolis. Raphael Weinberg and his son Ben owned Weinberg's Department store, located on Central Avenue in North Minneapolis. Weinberg's five daughters also worked in the store.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Morris Mirsky, wearing a blacksmith's apron, stands beside a horse with an unidentified rider. Morris Mirsky owned and operated a blacksmithing shop at 261 Texas Street in West Side Flats in St. Paul. His home was next door to the shop. The "Texas Street Synagogue" was across from the shop.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Photograph of a scrap pile with a woman sitting in the foreground while a man can be seen standing in the background. Samuel Karon founded Northwestern Scrap Iron and Metal Company in Duluth.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Four people stand in the aisles inside the Boston Store. Hibbing had a large Jewish population relative to the general population. Jews were active in civic life as well as Jewish community life. Jewish Iron Range families prospered during and after World War II, and many young people left the Iron Range for college.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Portrait photograph of a boy wearing a Husch Brothers uniform for the Saint Paul Winter Carnival. Husch Brothers was a Jewish-owned clothing manufacturer.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Two male customers wait inside the tailor shop while Simon holds a measuring tape and Sadie works at a sewing machine. Turn of the century Jewish immigrants were closely associated with all aspects of the garment industry. While many worked in shirt-making factories located on the East Cost, others had tailoring skills they brought with them from Europe. They opened small shops in urban areas where customers could come to them for services.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Men and women working in a laundry shop. Clayton Ostrin owned and managed a laundry business in North Minneapolis. Note the wooden steam pressing machines on the right of the picture.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Photograph of Fanny Cohen standing in front of her family's grocery store holding a cat. The store was located at 115 S. Wabasha. Cohen was a widow when this picture was taken, and ran the business herself for many years.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The Goldishes were one of a small number of Jewish families that lived and worked along the North Shore in the commercial fishing industry. They both fished and processed their catch for market.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A young boy stands on the horsedrawn cart holding a bell while a young man stands next to the cart holding a small crate. Many Jews were in the peddling business in the early part of the century. Items peddled included fruits and vegetables, clothing and housewares.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Sam Rosenbloom sitting in his shop repairing a shoe with a hammer. Samuel Rosenbloom owned a shop, Sam's Shoe Repair, located on the corner of Girard and Glenwood Avenues in North Minneapolis.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
An unidentified man carrying a basket with loaves of challah in it. A population census from 1927 indicates that there were about 4000 Jews living in Duluth at the time.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A young boy sits in the driver's seat of a truck while Norm Silberstein stands in the truck bed. Scrap metal collection was a business dominated by Jews throughout America's large cities. It was considered "dirty work", and therefore open to immigrants looking for jobs. Louis Paper and Moses Calmenson founded their business in 1891.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Frishberg owned two North Dakota men's haberdasheries with Charles Cohen in the 1920s. Cohen died in a hunting accident, and Frishberg closed the two Dakota stories and set up a shop in Buffalo MN. He soon sold the Buffalo store and moved to St. Paul. Frishberg is on the right.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Interior view of Minnehaha Liquor Store with two men standing in the aisles. Minnehaha Liquor Store was owned and operated by Sam Zimmerman, seen at left. The store is still at its original location at Lake St. and Minnehaha Boulevard
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Exterior view of Rudolph's Furniture Store. This building stood at the corner of 3rd Avenue and 1st Street in downtown Duluth. It burnt to the ground in 1950.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Two unidentified men in automobiles loaded with crates. A third unidentified individual stands behind them. The Goldishes were one of a small number of Jewish families who lived and worked along the North Shore in the commercial fishing industry. They both fished and processed their catch for market.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Fannie Cohen and her son Sidney (standing on chair) at Cohen's grocery store at 119 S. Wabasha Street in St. Paul. The store opened in 1920 and stayed in business into the 1940s.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
In the picture, Leona (Isadore's sister-in-law) and her daughter Anita, are in the backyard of the Mike Gordon's Ely store: the steps in the background lead to the family home upstairs. Mrs. Rosenbloom, another Jewish Ely resident, is at the right of the picture. The Gordon family was one of the first Jewish families to settle in Ely. Isadore Gordon left Lithuania and traversed Canada before arriving in Duluth. He worked in the shipyards, and peddled the Range. His customers liked him so well that they loaned him money to open a clothing store in Ely. The Rosenblooms raised seven children in Ely, and most of them continued on to college at the University of Minnesota. When the Rosenblooms moved to Minneapolis in 1943, the family store became the Ely American Legion Hall.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A truck loaded with sacks. A man can be seen driving the truck and two other men are leaning against it. Harry Silberstein is at the rear of the truck.The company was founded in 1891 by Lewis Paper and Moses Calmenson. The collection yard was located on east 7th Street in St. Paul.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Street view of storefronts along 6th Avenue North. 6th Avenue contained a mixture of single and multiple story structures housing businesses and residences on the upper floors.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A view looking down 6th Avenue, showing storefronts and streetcar tracks. 6th Avenue was a bustling commercial area during the 1920s. The Jewish community continued to move North and West, and the commercial center had shifted in the 1940s to Plymouth and Penn Aves.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A photograph showing the interior of a store. A long counter is on the left and other products a stacked on high shelves. In the photograph (left to right): Edna Leasman, Ike Kaplan, Esther Kaplan, Mrs. Charles Greenberg and Herb Kullberg. In 1927 there were 13 Jewish families living in Hector, part of the physically extended Jewish community on the Iron Range.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A price list from Steinberg Bag & Burlap Company. "Dealers in all kinds of Second-Hand Cotton Bags and Burlap." Formal businesses like Steinberg Bag and Burlap Company of Minneapolis emerged from the peddling and rag collecting businesses that some first generation Jews took up after immigrating to America.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
The Modelevsky family stand in their grocery store. The store was located at 559 Charles Street. Pictured left to right: Hilda Singer, Charles Modelevsky, Zelda Modelevsky.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A boy and an older man, selling fruit using draft horses and a covered wagon. Irving Cooper (the boy in the driver's seat) was ten years old when the photo was taken. He is working with "Zadie" (Grandfather) Morris.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives