the
cover
•
I
y
Detroit Jewish News Foundation
begins digitizing Detroit
Jackie Headapohl
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
fall, those pages will be added
than 270,000 pages of Detroit
Jewish history from the Detroit Jewish News
Come this
to the
more
already contained in the William Davidson
Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History,
online at www.djnfoundation.org. Once the
Chronicle is digitized, the public will have
an entire century of Detroit Jewish history,
completely searchable, at its fingertips.
Microfiche copies of the Chronicle could
1916, according to the Reuther, with the
publication of the Jewish Chronicle. The
paper's first editor was Samuel J. Rhodes, but
its best-known was Philip Slomovitz.
The Chronicle
(and,
as
it was
known from
1932-1947, the Detroit Jewish Chronicle and
the Legal Chronicle) was published until
I
Managing Editor
f.
l'
who has been practicing
for 25 years, has a personal
interest in how historical
"Records
are a
critical part
the
founding
was
and longtime editor. The
Detroit Jewish News, which began in 1942,
was a
competitor
to
the Chronicle before it
A Public Boon
By digitizing the 50,000
>.
pages of the Detroit
Jewish Chronicle, "we're
I
Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State
The Reuther
Library
Library of Labor and
Urban Affairs, housed in a glass- fronted
building on Cass Avenue on the WSU
says Smith, who so far has
only had the chance to
campus, is the preeminent labor archive in
North America. The collection also includes
will
The Walter P. Reuther
Reuther
Library held
a
microfilm copy of the
Chronicle among its
than 2,000 archival
collections. "It is filed
more
Mike Smith
under the broad
of'JCA
Detroit
heading
Jewish
Newspapers:" says Smith, who is now the
archivist for the DJN Foundation.
No
one
at the Reuther knows who the
benefactor was that
originally paid to have
the Chronicle stored on microfilm and
given
library. "Whoever it was:' Smith says,
"they made a big investment in preserving
Detroit Jewish history. We're benefitting
from it today"
to the
urban affairs, with
emphasis on the history
of Metropolitan Detroit.
It also
serves as a
storehouse of Jewish
pistibusinessman
the Leonard N. Simons
Fisher,
Jewish Community
ning
of the United
and has
expanded
Jewish
to
charities in 1899
include more than 2
the
growth
chronicling
development of the Federation and its
agencies.
''A lot of that history is still on paper,
waiting to be digitized in the future:' Smith
says. "In the meantime, these records are
very difficult to search and access unless one
travels
to
the archives to
When theDJN
Foundation contacted
Temple
Beth El, whose Rabbi Leo M. Franklin
served as editor, with Goldsmith as pub
on
May 12,
1911.
were
successful did not begin until March 16,
12 July
30
•
2015
While the pages
chronicle the local his
tory of Jewish Detroit,
"there is much
Erik Nordberg
to
learn
The first issue of the Detroit Jewish Chronicle
When the DJN Foundation was founded
in 2011, its initial focus was to preserve,
digitize
and make available to the
public
"We like the
DJN Archive, we'll preserve the memories of
longer with
generations:' he adds.
"Their accumulated knowledge and wisdom
will continue to shape this commu
thousands of those who
us as
well
as
are no
future
nity and its families:'
Digitizing the collection took a
lot of time and
resources
to
get off
ground. "Through the gener
ous support of hundreds of people
the
and executive editor of the Jewish
inside and outside the Detroit
News. "Because we
Chronicle content,
Jewish community, were pleased
owned the
was
we
the
Arthur
Horwitz
Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History was
made public in November 2013, more than
40,000 unique viewers have logged in to
search the database.
I've visited
eteries in Metro
anywhere will be able to search the records
sometimes wonder who these
for free:'
What kind of lives did
as
completed in late fall,
Digital Archive of
Detroit
Jewish
History will hold 320,000
Chronicle is
Since the William Davidson
"Over the years,
digitization of the Chronicle is
under way:' Horwitz says.
Once the digitization of the
well:'
open-access philosophy
of the Foundation, which means anyone
Nordberg, a Wayne State-trained archivist
"With the addition of the Chronicle to the
1951:' said DJN Foundation presi
dent Arthur Horwitz, also publisher
as
Nordberg.
sorrows?
Chronicle, which began in 1916, and
was absorbed by the Jewish News in
and asked to utilize the
Reuther archivist Erik
all
270,000 pages of the Detroit Jewish News.
"In the course of digitizing the
IN, we also thought about the
the Reuther Library
digitizing, "we were
happy to do it:' says
relinquished the
several short-lived attempts
at other Detroit Jewish papers, but the most
There
,
thought it
only natural to eventually digitize it
Chronicle collection for
role of editor, but the paper continued as
issue of the paper appeared
personally see the
collections:'
Cleveland, Ohio.
On Oct. 18, 1901, after being purchased
by Soloman Goldsmith, the Jewish American
1908 and, in 1910, the paper was no longer
the official voice of Temple Beth E1. The last
f\
�
global status of Jews as well
as the history of the greater Detroit commu-
nity,' Smith adds.
member
Goldsmith died in
f1
-
placed the bulk of its archival holdings in the
Reuther Library in 1991.
The collection dates back to the begin
According to the Reuther Library, Detroit's
first English-language Jewish newspaper
began with the Oct. 5, 1900, issue of the
Jewish American, published weekly. Emanuel
T. Berger was the editor and it was pub
lished by the Jewish Review and Observer of
temple.
f,' ·
in those pages about the
and
the voice of the
,
Archives, also available through the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, which
million documents
lisher. As of 1904, Franklin
as
:j
the world
they might live:'
Detroit's .Jewish Press
became the official organ of Detroit's
munity member, no mat
lections of the Chronicle, it also houses the
papers of Philip Slomovitz and philanthro
well
i�
�eo;����::���le
everyone, whether a
scholar, student or com-
ter where in
as
h
through the first few
issues. "Once digitized, it
read
history. The library not only holds the col
Max
...
or so
doing the whole world
of research a good turn:'
did not know that the
�
July 20,1951, when it was acquired by the
Detroit Jewish News, where Slomovitz
took over.
Mike Smith said that he
I THE JEWI$H CHRONICLE I
t ,.".�-�:;.���::,::',:��; t£2d
of understanding identity:'
Nordberg says.
only a few places nationally,
the
Walter P. Reuther Library of
including
Former director
,
public records are used.
be found in
University.
Jewish Chronicle.
Jewish cem
Detroit:' Horwitz says, "I
people were.
they live? What were
their families like? What were there joys and
the William Davidson
a full 1 00
pages of searchable content
other
Jewish newspaper in
years. "No
-
America
can
match this
resource
and
accomplishment" Smith says.
And with each new edition of the
Jewish News, additional history is being
captured. 0