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