Archives of Pittsburgh's Jewish community hold extensive collection of documents and artifacts

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- May is Jewish American Heritage Month, and KDKA-TV is digging into the archives of the local Jewish community, which hold an extensive and fascinating collection of documents and artifacts.

On the fourth floor of the Heinz History Center, there's a glimpse into the past of Pittsburgh's Jewish community, from beautiful religious artifacts to items from iconic Jewish-owned businesses to the inauguration dress worn by Pittsburgh's beloved Jewish mayor, Sophie Masloff.

But it's what isn't on display that provides a deeper look into the past of Jewish Americans in Pittsburgh.

"The first Jewish presence goes all the way back to the 1750s when the forts -- Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne -- were being created," said Eric Lidji, the director of the Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives.

The Rauh Jewish History Program and Archives was founded 35 years ago as the central spot for historical records about the Jewish experience in western Pennsylvania.

"The community as we think of it today really dates to the 1830s. Right after the Pennsylvania Canal connected Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, you started to see Jewish merchants arriving here," Lidji said.

The archives are named after renowned Jewish Pittsburgher Bertha Rauh, the first woman appointed to a city cabinet post. 

"She was appointed to become what was called the director of the Department of Charities. It eventually became the Department of Welfare and through that work, she really did a lot of innovative things, the most important of which was reforming Mayview," Lidji said. 

There are some 1,500 collections in the archives. Among them are religious and organizational materials, as well as items from local Jewish businesses and families.

"You go through those, you start to see all different expressions of Jewish identity -- spiritual, economic, philanthropic, athletic, artistic, cultural," he said. 

KDKA-TV visited the archives on May 9 which is the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer. It marks the end of a pandemic in ancient Israel and serves as a day of celebration.

Lidji showed KDKA-TV some items relating to local celebrations of the holiday, like a 1918 newspaper ad for a dinner dance and one from 1973 highlighting a parade.

There's also a booklet published by the former Hebrew Institute of Pittsburgh.

And there were photos too. One taken in 1923 shows students from the Hebrew Religious Academy in the Hill District attending a Lag B'Omer celebration. One taken in 1994 shows children from Congregation Dor Hadash celebrating the holiday.

It's items like these and so many others in the Rauh archives that Lidji says help preserve the significance and importance of Pittsburgh's Jewish community.

"This is a story that I think is gonna be very deeply emotional for the Jewish community as they learn their own history and the history of the place where they live but other communities I think can dip their toe into as well and maybe find some commonalities with their own experience or the experience that their ancestors had or just because they really wanna get a deep full rich understand of the city in which they live," Lidji said. 

The archives can be found here.