Currently, Laura Gottlieb, the temple’s 
director of cultural resources, serves that 
role. 
According to Gottlieb, college students, 
professors doing research for books, 
architectural researchers interested in Albert 
Kahn (a Temple Beth El board member) 
and Minoru Yamasaki, the famous architect 
who designed the current temple, use the 
Archives, as well as those with genealogy 
questions or an interest in Michigan Jewish 
history.
The Leonard A. Simons Jewish 
Community Archives (JCA) were 
established by the Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit in 1991 and named 
after advertising executive Leonard A. 
Simons, who was devoted to Jewish history 
and collected rare books. Robbie Terman, 
an archivist who previously worked at the 
Wayne State University’s Walter Reuther 
Library, has been the JCA director since 
2015. 
Until recently, the two archives were kept 
in separate locations. The JCA was located 
at the Walter P
. Reuther Library — an 
arrangement developed when the archive 

outgrew available space at Federation 
headquarters. Terman says that Federation 
has had a “wonderful partnership” with the 
Reuther Library that they hope to continue 
although the collection is no longer 
maintained there.
Temple Beth El’s Archive has been kept 
at the temple in Bloomfield Township. But 
now the two archives have been relocated 
together in the new Joan Meyers Jampel 
Center for Michigan Jewish Heritage that 
has been built adjacent to Temple Beth El’s 
main sanctuary.

BRINGING TOGETHER TWO 
MAJOR JEWISH ARCHIVES
“The idea behind the Center for Michigan 
Jewish Heritage is to centralize our 
community’s history,
” Terman explains. “It is 
not a merger between our archives; we still 
legally remain separate entities working in 
collaboration under the unified name. 
“While the initiative is being led by 
Federation and Temple Beth El, it is 
important to understand the Center itself is 
an umbrella model that welcomes inclusion 
of other organizations in the community 

OUR COMMUNITY
ON THE COVER

continued from page 15
Additional Jewish 
History Resources

The William Davidson Digital 
Archive of Jewish Detroit 
History encompasses all of 
the issues published by the 
Detroit Jewish Chronicle from 
1916-1951 and the Detroit 
Jewish News from 1942-2021. 
Visit djnfoundation.org to 
access the archive. 
The Michigan Jewish 
Historical Society (jhsmichi-
gan.org) provides educational 
programs and research about 
Michigan Jewish history and 
publishes Michigan Jewish 
History, a quarterly journal.
The archives of a number of 
important Jewish individuals 
and organizations, including 
the late Max M. Fisher and 
the late Judge Avern Cohn, 
are held at Wayne State 
University’s Walter Reuther 
Library. Visit reuther.wayne.
edu.

Terman and Gottlieb look at 
correspondence between Albert 
Kahn and Rabbi Leo M. Franklin 
from the Congregation Beth El 
Collection.

16 | APRIL 20 • 2023 

continued on page 18

