Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
62 | DECEMBER 1 • 2022
Camp: A 100-Year-Old
Summer Tradition
T
his is the JN’s “Camp
Guide” issue. Time to
start thinking about
enrolling the kids at your favor-
ite camp and, perhaps, antici-
pating a bit of a break for mom
and dad? Well, check out the
ads in this issue for Tamarack
Camps and
Camp Tanuga,
two of the oldest
in Michigan,
as well as such
camps as Roeper,
Tamakwa, Young
Judaea, Walden
and Lawrence
Tech.
The first summer camps in
America — almost all for boys
— appeared in the 1870s and
1880s. The first Jewish camp
was founded in 1893 during
the mass migration of Jews to
America. Most of the Jewish
immigrants settled in major
urban areas, in particular, New
York City. Detroit’s Jewish pop-
ulation also rapidly expanded in
the early 20th century.
The mission of early Jewish
camps was to provide youth
with an escape from crowded,
often poor, urban living spac-
es. The camps were meant to
be “fresh-air refuges.
” They
were also intended to make
immigrant Jewish youth more
American rather than to rein-
force Jewish values and culture.
Camps began to change
their ethos in the 1940s. No
longer was Americanization
the main purpose of camps.
Jewish religious sectors such
as Conservative and Reform
Judaism organized some camps,
others were organized around
Zionism, Yiddish, Hebrew and
other Jewish-centered learning
themes.
According to recent sta-
tistics, in 2018, there were
more than 160 camps that
hosted about 80,000 Jewish
campers every year. Now,
with COVID on the wane,
2023 should be a good year
for summer camps.
I decided to explore the
history of summer camps in
the William Davidson Digital
Archive of Jewish Detroit
History. It took a bit of reading:
3,878 pages were generated just
by searching for the generic
term “Summer Camp.
” In short,
a long history of summer camps
can be found in the Archive.
The earliest mentions of
summer camps were found in
the Detroit Jewish Chronicle in
1917. Jewish youth going to
and returning from camp were
named in the “Society” column.
The first advertisement that I
found for a particular camp was
in 1922, an ad in the Chronicle
for Camp Grand Sable for
Jewish boys. The camp would
be “run on Boy Scout principles
and ideas, with wholesome dis-
cipline” (June 9, 1922). I must
admit, this sounds a bit like
boot camp to me.
An early article about a camp,
one for Jewish boys, appeared
in the April 15, 1927, Chronicle.
Camp Walden in Maine was
“Distinctly an Educational
Institution.
” Its director, Morris
Waldman, declared that “I can
safely say that all intelligent
parents approve of summer
camps.
”
The 1930s witnessed a grow-
ing number of ads for Michigan
camps. In the May 19, 1933,
Chronicle, Camp Nahelu on
Perry Lake announced that it
would open on “Decoration
Day [now Memorial Day].
”
Soon after, the Fresh Air
Camp (Tamarack’s ancestor),
Camps Mehia and Hiawatha,
and the Riseman Camp
appeared in stories and ads, to
name just a few. By the 1950s,
the JN began to publish a
“Camp Directory” (see the May
5, 1959, JN for one example).
To say the least, summer
camps have shaped the identi-
ties of Jewish youth for the past
century. They have instilled
memories that last a lifetime.
Indeed, one often hears the
question — what camp did you
attend?
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN
Foundation archives, available for free
at www.djnfoundation.org.
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair
the William Davidson Digital
History. It took a bit of reading:
3,878 pages were generated just
term “Summer Camp.
” In short,
a long history of summer camps
named in the “Society” column.
found for a particular camp was
be “run on Boy Scout principles
Soon after, the Fresh Air
term “Summer Camp.
” In short,