Hands on history

Spent yesterday with five great volunteers working on the Society’s archival collections. Merrill cataloged and photographed a beautiful samovar brought by Russian immigrant Rachel Polakoff in 1911. Les scanned a huge variety of photographs ranging from a 7th Street tailor shop to an image of Eleanor Roosevelt at an Israel Bonds Ambassador’s Ball.

Brenda, Steve, and Lois sorted through seven boxes of papers documenting the life and career of Rabbi Tzvi Porath at Ohr Kodesh Congregation (originally Montgomery County Jewish Community).

It’s always great to see the personal connections our volunteers make with the materials when they work in our archives – and we get so much more done with their help.

If you’d like to come help out in our archives, contact me at wendy@jhsgw.org – it’s a great way to get hands-on with history!