Paul Bass Photo
Zahler Samuel, Schiff, Forbes at WNHH.
You might not have heard, but New Haven once had a Jewish mayor.
I never knew that until I read the story of that mayor — Samuel Campner, an attorney and Board of Aldermen president who served one year in office in 1917 to complete the term of Mayor Frank Rice, who died mid-term — in one of nine (and counting) books called Jews in New Haven. In other chapters of those and other books, I learned about synagogues long gone from town, fruit peddlers in the Hill, fraternal societies, and the back stories of people like Col. Isaac Ullman and the Lender family who put our city on the map.
I had the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven to thank for those books, and for helping me understand more about the roots of my community. Publishing books, holding forums, creating online oral-history exhibits, and working with other ethnic societies in town on communal projects, the society continues making New Haven a richer place. And not just for Jews.
The society has done that for 40 years. On the latest episode of WNHH radio’s “Chai Haven” program, Judith Schiff (who’s also chief research archivist at Sterling Memorial Library and New Haven’s city historian) recounted how the 1970s movements toward promoting “people’s history”/“history from below” and the telling of women’s stories inspired her to work with others in town to form the society. Two other prime society movers — retired New Haven city planner Rhoda Zahler Samuel and the organization’s new president, Robert Forbes — joined her on the program to trace what happened next
They brought along the voices of some of the 50-plus New Haveners whose stories Zahler Samuel has recorded, including a local “Rosie the Riveter” named Laura Small Levine and others featured in an online exhibit on how World War II changed local women’s lives.
And they spoke of future plans — the society’s not resting on its laurels in middle age. Zahler and fellow volunteers are about to go live with a series of self-guided neighborhood history walking tours, which will allow people to call up background facts and listen to recorded personal histories as they visit key sites in Dixwell, Wooster Square and the Hill. Forbes said the society has launched a 40th anniversary “40 under 40” campaign to sign up younger members over the next year to keep New Haven’s history alive for generations to come. One of Forbes’ first recruits: his new granddaughter Bailey Grace, who received a lifetime membership at 14 days old.
Click on or download the above sound file to hear the full episode of “Chai Haven.”