09/23/2026
Cleveland Jewish Archives to Celebrate 50th Anniversary
Sean Martin, Western Reserve Historical Society curator for Jewish history, shows a Yiddish poster that will be displayed during the White Glove Brunch on Oct.18 at the Cleveland History Center to celebrate the Cleveland Jewish Archives’ 50-year anniversary. CJN Photo / Martha Sorohan
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
by Martha Sorohan
Kaplan
A rabbi’s warning to the first group of Eastern European Jewish immigrants sailing to America in 1839 to be good Jews and not succumb to America’s freedoms will on display at the White Glove Brunch at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 18 at the 50th anniversary of the Cleveland Jewish Archives at the Western Reserve Historical Society’s Cleveland History Center at10825 East Boulevard.
A collaboration of the Western Reserve Historical Society and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, the White Glove Brunch invites white-gloved guests to a rare look and feel into the special collection of books, photos, documents and more that tells the story of Cleveland’s Jewish community.
“It’s apparent to all of us that the 50th anniversary needed to be celebrated, and we wanted to make the Jewish community aware of it,” Amy Kaplan, a Cleveland Jewish Archives advisory board member co-chairing the event with Cindy Bruml and Ann Freimuth, tld the Cleveland Jewish News.
A second 50th anniversary event, “Archives Alive,” focusing on popular culture, will be held on May 16, 2027, at the Federation.
Following a brief welcome and buffet brunch in the museum’s Crawford Auto wing, White Glove Brunch guests on their own or with guides can dive into the one-day-only display throughout the museum’s first floor.
“We are selecting our most compelling pieces, things that excite people and scholarly things that we want people to see,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan traces the Cleveland Jewish Archives to the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, which worked with the Western Reserve Historical Society to establish it. The Federation remains the primary funder.
“They recognized so many documents and artifacts that recorded our incredible deep and diverse history back in 1830,” she said.
Sean Martin, WRHS’ Jewish History curator for 20 years, said that housing everything in one place makes the Cleveland Jewish Archives unique.
“Other cities maybe have archives in one synagogue, or federation, but they’re not as robust because those organizations are not archives,”Martin told the CJN. “Here, I have colleagues in different fields and museum staff and access to their expertise.”
The White Glove brunch will also kick off a yearlong fundraising campaign to process and digitize Jewish archival collections not yet ready for public viewing.
Martin estimated these collections are stored in 4,000 boxes, along with audio visual recordings, including some 400 broadcasts of former Cleveland radio station WMJI owner Larry Robinson and 450 interviews by Rena Blumberg.
When it comes to preserving them, time is of the essence, he said.
“You never know what you’ll find when you open a box,” he said. “Some are really fragile. There’s a tight time frame before the materials begin to deteriorate.”
Martin said that this is the first fundraiser that will show the community what has been done to preserve Cleveland’s Jewish history.
“We’re thrilled to be able to do this,” Martin said. “It allows us to tell the story of the Jewish community to the public. It’s helping the Jewish Federation get the story out there.”
For more information or to purchase tickets, email jpupa@jewishcleveland.org. Deadline to RSVP is Oct. 8.
