Object of the Month: January 2012

Archives Record
Object #: 1993.09
Donor: Washington Jewish Week
Description: Photograph of students standing outside the Hebrew Academy, c. 1965

Background: Two years ago, the National Museum of American Jewish History requested this photo of Hebrew Academy students from our collection to include in its core exhibition and accompanying catalog.  We proudly gave permission for the photograph’s reproduction and use in this new major museum, which opened on Independence Mall in Philadelphia in November 2010.  The photograph is featured in the museum’s core exhibition in the "Jewish Education, American Classrooms" segment, which is part of the larger section called Choices and Challenges of Freedom: 1945 – Today.

The academy, later renamed the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington, was founded in 1944.  It occupied the pictured building at 16th Street and Fort Stevens Drive, NW, from 1951 to 1976.  Coincidentally, the building continues to serve Jewish education today as home to Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital.

This photo is part of a large photographic collection donated by the Washington Jewish Week in 1993.  The collection is composed of nearly 500 photographs that had been published in the newspaper throughout the preceding years.

Do you have material documenting the local Jewish community that you’d like to donate to the Jewish Historical Society? Contact us at info@jhsgw.org or (202) 789-0900.