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Editor's Letter

Marc

More Than Preservation

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conically, our Jewish community archives are a vast trea-
sure while being a virtual secret. Whether you use them
or not doesn't matter. They merit our support. Make
it a point to know and appreciate what role the Leonard N.
Simons Jewish Community Archives plays in Jewish Detroit.
We can thank the sponsors for this collection of endur-
ing value — the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit, Wayne State
University and WSU's Walter P. Reuther
Library of Labor and Urban Affairs.
The 15-year-old Archives unlock
the documents and memorabilia of
Federation and its agencies as well as
the United Jewish Foundation, local
organizations, synagogues and indi-
viduals — basically, all our communal
branches. The Archives are housed in
two locations — the Reuther Library
on WSU's Detroit campus and the Max
M. Fisher Federation Building in Bloomfield Township.
"History is bunk," Henry Ford once said. He's often rebuked
for, that seemingly simplistic thought. What Ford really meant
was that history itself is static: History only matters in how
we engage its lessons. The Dearborn-set Greenfield Village,
one of America's greatest historical treasures, was the brain-
child of Ford.
I deplore Ford's anti-Semitic rants through his Dearborn
Independent newspaper and his English edition of the viru-
lently anti-Semitic The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It
took his descendants years to build legitimate and lasting ties
to the Jewish community. Yet paradoxically, the auto scion had
the foresight to understand the impact that Greenfield Village,
which includes a Jewish-owned millinery shop, could have on
teaching kids especially how the spirit of America's soul, its
historical roots, influences where we're going as a nation.

Alive And Well
On Nov. 9 at the 10-year dedication of Detroit Jewry's archi-
val connection with WSU, Federation CEO Robert Aronson
captured the essence of archiving. "It's not just a matter of
putting some papers together and putting them in a vault:' he
said. "Archives have to be a living history"
Indeed, history is organic, like burning embers. It should
not be relegated to the dustbin of time passed. Let's use the
Simons Archives to build a better, enriched community, not
just for research and study, valuable as those roles are.
While Aronson was a driving force behind the idea of an
archives 15 years ago, he got his inspiration from Simons, a
pillar of the Detroit Jewish community who understood his-
tory is not about the books but rather what we learn from
them — how we apply what we built in our past td what we
yet will build. It's only fitting that in 1991 the Archives were
named for Simons, a chairman of both Federation's Allied
Jewish Campaign, forerunner to today's Annual Campaign,
and the Detroit Historical Commission.
Simons died in 1995 at age 92. His legacy includes an
impact not only on the Jewish community, but also the
general intellectual growth of Metro Detroit. "He has given
us all an example of what can be accomplished — of what
heights can be reached — if one only dares to imagine said
WSU President Irvin Reid. Wayne State also is home to the
Leonard N. Simons Building and the Simons Room in the

Purdy/Kresge Library in addition to
the Simons Archives, all testimonials
to Simons' good will. • •
No wonder so many characterized
Simons as Mr. Detroit.
With Simons' nudging, Aronson
found the money to develop archives
for the trove of historic materials dis-
covered 16 years ago in the basement
of Federation's former home in the
Leonard N. Simons
Butzel Building in downtown Detroit.
Rest assured: Our Archives, main-
tained by director Sharon Alterman and Reuther Library
director Michael Smith, in cooperation with the Jewish
Historical Society of Michigan, are in excellent hands. The
library has been on the cutting edge of adapting to the digi-
tal age, continually enhancing access via the Internet. The
Archives stand as a precious link to the past while bringing
light to what Reid describes as "the compelling history of an
entire community"

A Treasure Trove
Archival treasures include Detroit Jewish News founder
Philip Slomovitz's collection of files, articles, columns and
memorabilia compiled over a remarkable newspaper career.
The collection, for example, has extensive information about
Father Charles Coughlin, the fiery anti-Semite from the
Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak in the 1930s and '40s.
As we look at changes in the Jewish community and the
general communities around us, we see a time of ferment
and change. Like Aronson says, "It's time for us to build new
coalitions between the Jewish community and the communi-
ties around us. It's time for us to take risks and to take on new
challenges to build our Jewish community of the future'
To accomplish that, we must keep the Leonard N. Simons
Jewish Community Archives on our communal radar. A key
way to support the Simons Archives-Wayne State partnership
is via a gift to the Friends of the Jewish Community Archives'
campaign to endow $350,000 for operations.
Our history will help shape our future as a Jewish com-
munity thanks to the historic partnership that Federation has
forged with Wayne State University.
Notably, the university is working hard in many ways to
strengthen its powerful, decades-old bonds with the Jewish
community. However, the current anti-Zionist intrigue on
campus — from the outrage of the Anti-Racist Action group
to the chilling consideration of Walie Said as a law profes-
sor — certainly must be countered swiftly and definitively.
Let's assure that this troubling backdrop doesn't diminish the
university's essential and expanding Jewish alliances. El

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To support the Simons Archives endowment campaign, contact

Sharon Alterman at Federation: (248) 642-4260.

0

Contact Eric Adelman

What impact has the Jewish community
had on Detroit history?

248.538.6610, x 343

ericadelman@jarcorg
NArWW. j a rc o rg

Z z

0 How best can we increase the benefit of

it 0.

the Simons Archives?

wi

The above information is not legal or tax advice. Please consult
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1172930

December 7 • 2006

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