Happy New Year card from Chanes Family to Howard Lenhoff. American Jewish Historical Society.
Paper on board, 1900. Many Rosh Hashanah greeting cards are decorated with or take the form of ships conveying the holiday greeting (as here). Yeshiva University Museum.
Williamsburg Art Co., NY. Origin: Saxony c. 1910/1915. “A Happy New Year. We’re here to let you know That good times are coming Times of light, of fortune and joy The world is being renewed!” YUM.
Williamsburg Post Card Co., NY. Printed in Germany. “A Happy New Year! Dear angel, write us down In the book of luck and life And our good, forgiving God Will give it his OK!”
Postcard, c.19th-20th century. This card combines Jewish identity (lions supporting a Star of David) with Austrian patriotism (the photograph of Franz Josef). Mailed fr. Austria to Newark, NJ. YUM.
Paper, ca. 1900. Inscribed in Hebrew, “Happy New Year.” Boy and girl walk hand-in-hand behind dog. Yeshiva University Museum.
All images: Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
Shana Tova!
The start of this year marks a new beginning for us here at the Center for a Jewish History. We’re opening the new David Berg Rare Book Room to showcase treasures from the collections of our five partners, launching a program season packed with everything from concerts to symposia, and embarking on an exploration of the Jewish community of 18th-century Metz, France with a conference and exhibition (co-sponsorsed by YIVO) that we would love for you to attend.
You can start planning your visit to the Center by clicking here.
For more historic greeting cards like the ones above, visit the Center for Jewish History’s Flickr photostream. You can also click here to connect with the Center for Jewish History on Facebook and Twitter.
Out of the Archives: “Read and Decide!” by Kevin Schlottmann, Levy Processing Archivist, Center for Jewish History
Jakob Altmaier was a German-Jewish parliamentarian in the Federal Republic of Germany. After spending World War Two in north Africa attached to the British army, he returned to Germany. In 1949, he ran for and won a seat in the German Parliament (the Bundestag) representing Hanau-Gelnhausen as…
Young men and women working on writing for publications at Camp Wel-Met, 1948. Photograph by Heinz H. Weissenstein. National Jewish Welfare Board Records. American Jewish Historical Society.
For more, visit the Center for Jewish History’s Flickr photostream. Click here to connect with the Center for Jewish History on Facebook.
German-Jewish Americans at Home at the Turn of the Last Century: A Late 19th-Century Photo Album
“. . . the [Jewish) religion which was to be prized and saved is fast becoming a watery Unitarianism, and its adherents are allowing themselves, where permitted, to become completely assimilated. Reform Judaism which began as a compromise is ending as surrender.”
