George Gordon began his life-long career as a Jewish educator at the first Hebrew Free School on Minneapolis's North Side, where as a twenty-year old, he helped teach the Hebrew alphabet to young students. He earned an M. D. degree in 1900, then devoted the rest of his professional life to promoting all aspects of Jewish education. Dr. Gordon taught at Hamline University, and created and oversaw adult, collegiate, high school and Hebrew education classes at the Minneapolis Talmud Torah.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Joe Numero and his business partner, Fred Jones, were responsible for the creation of the first refrigerated truck. Their invention, financed by Numero and engineered by Jones, revolutionized interstate commerce. A trucking company could deliver perishable products to far-flung markets without fear of spoilage en route. The invention happened at a fortuitous moment--the beginning of WWII, when the country had need of moving large quantities of produce and meat across long distances to feed hungry troops.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Joseph Schanfield was born in Romania, and became successful in Minneapolis' booming turn of the century real estate and insurance markets. At 23, he became the head of the Adath Jeshurun congregation on Minneapolis's South Side. During his years of service to the community, there were few leadership positions he did not hold, including president of the Jewish Sheltering Home and the Jewish Home for the Aged, as well as the Adath Cemetery Association.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Leonard Levy, better known as "Butch", was a football and wrestling standout at the University of Minnesota. He served in the Navy during World War II, and afterwards played football for the Los Angeles Rams. His athletic versatility enabled him to wrestle professionally during the off-season. When his athletic career ended, he went on to be a successful insurance agent and securities salesman.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Portrait photograph of the Minneapolis, Mars basketball team with Max Winter as coach. Max Winter coached a variety of Minnesota sports teams, and later in his career co-owned the Minnesota Vikings and the Minneapolis Lakers. Winter was born in Austria: his family immigrated in 1913 and settled on the North Side of Minneapolis. Winter is on the left in the back row.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Etta Zrive and Abraham Bearman were born in different Lithuanian shtetls in the 1870s. Their clothes and home furnishings suggest they were economically comfortable by the time that this photo was taken in the early 1900s.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Harry Goldie posed in fighting stance wearing boxing uniform. He was an exceptional boxer; the first boxing coach for the University of Minnesota; and the developer for the Calhoun Beach Club, a Minneapolis architectural landmark.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A portrait of Robert Lazarus, who played violin with both the Chicago and Oakland (CA) Symphony Orchestras during the 1920s. After his professional playing career ended, he opened a violin repair shop in downtown St. Paul.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A portrait photograph of Rabbi Albert Minda. Rabbi Minda succeeded Rabbi Samuel Deinard at Temple Israel after Deinard's death in 1921. Minda was a graduate of Hebrew Union Collage, and served Temple Israel until his retirement in 1963. Minda was an exceptional leader, presiding over the construction of a new synagogue in 1929, the founding of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation in 1949, the Minneapolis Urban League and The Minneapolis Roundtable of Christians and Jews. In Minnesota's Centennial year--1949--he was designated as one of the "Hundred Living Great [sic] of Minnesota."
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
A portrait photograph of Rabbi Samuel Deinard. Deinard was Rabbi at Shaari Tov, later known as Temple Israel, and a committed Zionist. He also served as the editor-in chief of the American Jewish World, the Twin's Cities foremost English-language Jewish newspaper; and in the Department of Semitics at the University of Minnesota.
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives
Photograph of Rachel Calog sitting in a chair. Rachel Bella Calof is the author of "My Story", an autobiographical account to her marriage to Abraham Calof and their efforts to homestead and raise a family on the plains of North Dakota at the turn of the century. Despite desperate hardships, the Calof's raised nine children, and Rachel was a driving force in the establishment of the regional school district. After 23 years outside Devil's Lake, the Calofs moved to St. Paul in 1917. Rachel begin her autobiography in 1936, which she wrote in longhand. The manuscript was "discovered" in the American Jewish Archives in the early 1990s, and published in 1995 as "Rachel Calof's Story".
Contributing Institution:
University of Minnesota Libraries, Nathan and Theresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives