NOVEMBER 30 • 2023 | 85
J
N

Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at thejewishnews.com

Let’s Think About Summer
T

he JN will publish its annual summer camp guide next week. At 
this time, with winter coming amid worries about Israel, summer 
2024 may seem like a long way off.
Summer camps for youth in America first appeared in the 1870s and 
1880s. The first Jewish summer camp was founded in 1893. 
The mission of early Jewish camps was to provide youth with an 
escape from crowded, often poor, urban living spaces. 
Camps were intended to be “fresh-air refuges.
” 
In the 1940s, Jewish summer camps began to change 
their ethos. The goal of Americanization was replaced 
by Jewish-centered learning. For example, Conservative 
and Reform Judaism organized camps, others were 
organized around Zionism, Yiddish and Hebrew. Still 
going strong, Jewish summer camps will host an esti-
mated 80,000 youth this year. 
I found plenty of summer camp stories in the 
William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. The first mentions 
of camps appear in the Detroit Jewish Chronicle in 1917 on its “Society” pages. Along with 
the usual reports of where Jewish Detroiters were vacationing, or who was in-town visit-
ing whom, or who was hosting parties, it often named particular boys and girls headed to 
camp. The earliest news of a camp for Jewish youth was about one on Mullet Lake in north-
ern Michigan, although no camp name was cited.
The first advertisement that I found for a particular camp was a 1922 ad in the Chronicle
for Camp Grand Sable for Jewish boys. The camp in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula would be 
“run on Boy Scout principles and ideas, with wholesome discipline” (June 9, 1922). This 
camp was organized by E. H. Saulson of Detroit (May 12, 1922, Chronicle).
One issue regarding the early camps was the lack of camps for girls. Like non-Jewish 
camps, most were for boys. Jewish Detroit worked hard to develop camps for girls, and as 
I found in the Archive, for mothers as well. The Jewish Emergency Fund posted an adver-
tisement on Feb. 13, 1925 — “Now is the time for all good Jews to come to the aid of our 
people!” — that cited six goals. One was to raise $50,000 for a “summer camp for working 
girls.
” This tells us that, in that era, a good portion of young Jewish women already held 
jobs.
The Young Women’s Hebrew Association summer camp was a front-page story in 1925. 
Speaking at the dedication, David A. Brown said, “These young women have come from all 
phases of life and from practically all parts of America and from Europe. They are indepen-
dent, self-reliant, self-sustaining and have the desire within them to pay their way through 
life.
” The camp was intended to give them a respite from work, and a Jewish communal 
experience (July 10, 1925, Chronicle).
I was also intrigued by the “Mothers’ Clubs” summer camp. In 1926, 288 mothers and 
291 children attended the second annual summer camp in St. Clair, Michigan (Sept. 9, 
1926, Chronicle).
BTW — in October 1922, the Fresh Air camp, forerunner in 1902 of Tamarack Camps, was already holding a 
reunion (Oct. 13, 1922, Chronicle).
Summer camps are alive and well. But, as the article, “Homecoming” in the Aug. 9, 1985, issue of the JN 
declares: “Summer Camp always ends with an emotional happy reunion for the kids and their families.
” 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN archives, available for free at thejewishnews.com.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

| 85

will publish its annual summer camp guide next week. At 

this time, with winter coming amid worries about Israel, summer 

Summer camps for youth in America first appeared in the 1870s and 

In the 1940s, Jewish summer camps began to change 

by Jewish-centered learning. For example, Conservative 

William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. The first mentions 

in 1917 on its “Society” pages. Along with 

