Avista Video Awards and Recognition: NM Jewish Pioneers Immortalized In History

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

N.M. Jewish Pioneers Immortalized In History
By Anita Miller
This article was originally printed in the March, 2006 issue of the New Mexico Jewish Link

The history of Jews in the Americas has long fascinated historians. After WW II, historians extended their interest to New Mexico and the Greater Southwest. For several decades, scholars have explored the participation of crypto-Jews in the Spanish settlement of New Mexico and the survival of Jewish culture and rituals among their generations of descendants.
The stories of the earliest Jewish pioneers from Germany and Eastern Europe between 1850 to 1920 in New Mexico and the West differed markedly both from the stories of the crypto-Jews, and from those of European Jewish immigrants in the Eastern United States and are significant in the study of the history of Jews in the United States. The completion of the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society’s (NMJHS) Jewish Pioneer Project, launched in 2002, will be celebrated on Sunday, March 5, at 2 p.m., at the JCC.
Volunteers who helped make this significant contribution to Jewish history in New Mexico will be honored; booklets summarizing each of the selected families’ histories will be unveiled and available for purchase; select video interviews with members of Jewish pioneer families will be presented; and there will be the opportunity to visit with Jewish pioneer descendants.
Beginning in 2001, NMJHS and the University of New Mexico Center for Regional Studies collaborated to develop the “Jewish Pioneer Oral History Video Archive Project,” which Anita Miller chaired. Lisa Witt, of Avista Video Histories, was project chair. Archivist Judy Basen Weinreb developed the initial concept and grant proposals and guided the archival part of the project.
Funding for the project was provided by The Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, The New Mexico Historical Records Advisory Board, the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities, the Albuquerque Community Foundation and numerous private donors and Jewish pioneer families.
A team of 11 volunteers - Pete Tannen, Steve Kesselman, Richard Deutsch, Naomi Sandweiss, Gail Jamin, Paula Steinberg, Paula Schwartz, Judith Solo, Barbara Weinbaum, Vivian Skadron and Anita Miller - was assembled to research the history of families selected for the project and eventually interview family members.
The volunteers participated in a 10-week intensive training program, which included workshops on New Mexico History, American Jewish History, the era of the New Mexico Jewish Pioneers, Judaism and Producing Video/Oral Histories.
Witt, along with UNM History Professors Noel Pugach and Durwood Ball, as well as historian/ author Henry Tobias and UNM Oral Historian Rose Diaz conducted the workshops.
Accompanied by professional videographers from Avista Video Histories, the volunteers interviewed second and third generation members of the Seligman, Ilfeld- Nordhaus, Herzstein, Goldsmith, Ravel, Taichert, Spiegelberg, Wertheim (both Carlsbad and Ft. Sumner), Freudenthal/Lesinsky/ Solomon, Gusdorf, Danoff, and Moise families.
This study of Jewish pioneer families has yielded many significant findings such as the fact that the geography of Jewish settlement and economic activity was greater and broader than earlier studies have indicated. The Jewish merchants were innovative and daring in their mercantile enterprises. Several of them made the transition from retailing to wholesaling, often combining the two; some also added freighting to their enterprises.
In Clayton, Simon Herzstein recognized that World War I was hastening the acceptance of manufactured clothing. Consequently, he opened Herzstein’s Ready to Wear, which carried name brands such as Stetson, Justin and Levi Strauss.
At the same time, they diversified into ranching, sheep raising and the hide trade.
The early Jewish families in New Mexico also became dedicated members of their communities. They were heavily involved in civic affairs and some occupied public offices.
Several of them were responsible for establishing the first Jewish institutions in New Mexico.
After the videos were completed, project historians wrote a booklet on each family that contained family photographs of family members, their homes and places of business around the state.
Each family interviewed has been presented with a booklet. Sets of these booklets will be distributed to libraries, museums and archives with an interest in the Jewish Pioneer topic.
The videos will be archived at the NMJHS Collection, New Mexico State Archives and at the University of New Mexico Library, Center for Southwest Research, along with the written transcripts, digital photographs, the booklets and booklet templates.
A second phase of the project, when funded, will utilize the videos in the production of a documentary, to be shown on public and/or commercial television stations such as the History Channel and HBO.
The March 5 event celebrating the Jewish Pioneers Project is open to the community. Contact the NMJHS office at 505-348-4471 for additional information.