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HISTORY
Jewish Community Archives hit by Federation budget adjustments, but will be maintained.
WENDY ROSE BICE
Special to the Jewish News
1
n our everyday lives, most of us never give much
thought to an "archive" — a repository for past papers,
photos and artifacts; a museum of filing cabinets and
gray boxes.
Yet, barely a day passes when each of us is not touched in
some tiny way by the elements of an archive, whether it is
glancing at a newspaper photo of old Detroit or a younger
Max Fisher or reading about the first meetings of Temple Beth
El or the early beginnings of Sinai Hospital.
Each time we stroll through a museum or visit a display,
such as the 1999 Jewish Community Center exhibit celebrat-
ing the 100th anniversary of the organized Jewish Detroit
community, some lonely archivist and a cadre of devoted
friends and volunteers painstakingly researched, planned and
prepared each element so the viewer would leave more
enlightened than when they arrived.
An archive is something we take for granted, assuming that
when we want to know the beginnings of the Hebrew Free
Loan or where our great-grandfather is buried the information
will be there. Yet an archive is something that requires diligent
human care and financial commitment, for without the peo-
ple behind those files, an archive is nothing but an amalgam
of yellowing paper.
So, when the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
decided that the Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community
Archives would be included among $6 million in operating
budget adjustments, no one was too surprised, least of all
Susie Citrin, the archive's longtime chairperson.
"The Federation budget situation is a crisis," says the veter-
an Federation leader. "So, now we have to tighten our belts.
But the archives aren't going away."
Yet, accessing information will become a bit more difficult.
Archivist Heidi Christein's full-time position has been elimi-
nated because of budget adjustments; Federation is looking for
an archivist able to work one day a week. The reduction will
mean more reliance on volunteers to assist researchers and
process collections. Everything open to researchers, including
photographs, already has been moved to the Walter P. Reuther
Library of Labor and Urban Affairs on the campus of Wayne
State University in Detroit.
Although it is not "a life-or-death situation," says
Citrin, it will definitely slow down the process of pre-
serving local history.
The Jewish Community Archives con-
tains tens of thousands of photographs,
such as the above photos from the
Palestine Legion file. Also known as the
Jewish Legion, it began in response to
the Balfour Declaration, the British
government's promise of support for a
Jewish homeland Hundreds of volun-
teers signed on, including Detroit nurse
Lichtenstein, left, most hoping to ulti-
mately participate in the battle for
land Marches in support of the
Legion, such as the 1918 demonstra-
tion, right, helped attract volunteers.
These photos were donated by
Detroiters Sol and Leah Dmchler
Our Collective History
Established over a decade ago in 1991, the Jewish
PRESERVING OUR HISTORY on page 34
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2003
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