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Selling Chanukah in America

By Cassia Kisshauer
Senior Reference Services Librarian, Special Collections

Selling Chanukah in America

As Chanukah transformed in 20th century America from a smaller, home-based festival to a popular public holiday, businesses saw an opportunity to manufacture and market decorations and gifts to Jewish consumers.

In the mid-19th century, new waves of German Jewish immigrants focused on Christmas as a winter holiday, in order to…

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All images: Collection of Yeshiva University Museum

A sizeable portion of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who streamed into New York at the turn of the 20th century found work in the city’s expanding garment industry. Although only about 10% were actual trained tailors, many Jewish immigrants held experience in both producing clothing–since the garment industry in Russia was one of the only businesses open to Jews–and…

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The Goldbergs, Puzzle Advertisement
Year: 1932
Creator: Pepsodent Co.
Type: Color Lithograph

The Goldbergs, one of the first successful television sitcoms, spawned from a popular radio program and ran from 1949 to 1956. The show centered around a family of Eastern European Jews living in the Bronx, and often explored themes of ethnicity, financial struggles, and family.

The undeniable star of the show…

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