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January 24, 2003
Society keeps history fresh
Photos are among the many treasures held by indispensable agency.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
In the first of a series that takes a closer look at our community
organizations, the Bulletin goes behind the scenes at the
Jewish Historical Society.
Because it is such a young city, Vancouver's development has occurred
almost entirely in the photographic age. From the earliest days
of mud-battling pioneers to the skyward growth of the downtown core
in the 1950s and '60s, almost all the city's life has been recorded
on film.
Thanks to luck and some good stewardship, many of the photos documenting
the rise of Vancouver are now held by the small but vibrant Jewish
Historical Society of British Columbia (JHS).
Two monumental collections of photographs have come to the JHS,
making the agency an important institution not only for the Jewish
community, but with significance to the larger history of the city
and the province.
The remarkable collections came to the JHS primarily because three
of this city's top photographers were Jewish and their collections
reflect not only the life of a city burgeoning in infrastructural
growth and industrial development, but they also include the evolution
of social activity and politics on the West Coast.
One of the collections came from the Leonard Frank Photo Studio.
Frank was a German Jew who came to North America around the turn
of the last century, according to Cyril Leonoff, a founding member
of the JHS and a noted historian.
"Leonard Frank started on Vancouver Island, in Alberni, and
he started to photograph particularly the B.C. industry, particularly
the logging industry, but he was also involved in mining in the
early days," said Leonoff.
Frank came to the province seeking a living from the resource industries,
but made a successful niche with his camera.
"The legend is he won a crude camera in a raffle in the mining
camp," Leonoff said. "Pictures of the beautiful, mountainous
scenery and the seascapes of Vancouver Island won him recognition.
Then he started to photograph the resource industries on his own
and he quickly won interest from the forest industry, who employed
him to photograph these great stands of British Columbia fir and
cedar forests, hemlock forests."
With a love of the outdoors, Frank created images of British Columbia
that resonated around the world.
"He was an outdoorsman, with a pack on his back [and] a very
heavy 8-by-10 glass plate camera," said Leonoff. "He became
employed by the provincial government in 1914 when they opened Strathcona
Park."
Frank left Vancouver Island during the First World War, when the
resource economy there was suffering. He arrived in Vancouver in
time to record the immense changes that took place in this city
between the wars.
"He started to photograph almost everything in Vancouver,"
said Leonoff. "He became widely acclaimed and was considered
the master photographer of Vancouver until his death in 1944. If
you're going to look at anything to do with B.C. industry, the early
social life of Vancouver and the construction history of Vancouver,
you have to go to Leonard Frank."
The death of Frank brought a new photographer to the city. Otto
Landauer, a native of Munich, had fled Europe ahead of the Nazis
by skiing across the Alps to Switzerland. He wound up in Portland,
Ore., where he worked in the war industry. Landauer's sister and
brother-in-law lived in Vancouver, however, and when Frank died,
they helped Landauer purchase the company.
"He continued Frank's work for 35 years, until he died,"
said Leonoff. The time after the Second World War was the most monumental
period in the growth of Vancouver. "Landauer photographed virtually
every major building, much of the industry, virtually every bridge
that was built in Vancouver. He also continued Frank's work in the
forest industry.... Between these two photographers is 80 years
of British Columbia history."
Though the Vancouver Public Library obtained the remains of Frank's
practice, Landauer retained many negatives and prints from his predecessor
and when Landauer passed away in 1980, the JHS received his collection.
More recently, the loss of Fred Schiffer three years ago resulted
in a rich addition to the JHS archives. Schiffer was another noted
local photographer, whose work focused more on the people of British
Columbia.
A native of Vienna, Schiffer lost his whole family in the Holocaust,
but he had managed to make it to England before the war, and on
to Argentina, where he became a portrait photographer for the upper
echelons of Argentine society, including the iconic leader Juan
Peron.
Schiffer came to North America to receive an award from Popular
Photography magazine and fell in love with Vancouver. He settled
here in the early 1960s, opened a studio in The Bay department store's
parkade on Seymour Street and proceeded to do portraits of local
politicians, judges and business leaders.
"He never liked my description that he was the Karsh of Vancouver,"
Leonoff said wryly. "He thought he was better than Karsh."
Schiffer stopped practising in 1990, but continued photography avocationally
until his death.
These two collections of photographs are among the most vivid of
the society's archives, but the JHS archivist stresses that they
represent just two of about 50 major collections. Diane Rodgers,
JHS curator, acknowledged that photographs hold a special place
in any archives.
"Like nothing else, they bring the past to life," she
said.
But other records hold immense riches of the Jewish community's
past. The archive contains the records of the Jewish Funding Council,
the precursor to the present-day Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver.
This fond, as archival collections are known, offers a testament
to the development of Jewish social services, educational facilities
and senior care homes through the decades.
Also at the JHS is the collection from the Royal Canadian Legion,
Shalom Branch Number 178, dating back to 1944, B'nai Brith records
dating to the 1920s, as well as family records, including those
of the Rose family, which has been prominent in Victoria since the
early 20th century.
The archives are used by historical researchers inside and outside
the Jewish community, said Rodgers. In addition, communal organizations
often delve into archival materials related to their organizations
while preparing special anniversary publications or in advance of
events honoring volunteers in the various agencies.
For members of the public who are not dedicated to a specific area
of research, the photographic collections provide some of the most
interesting fodder, she continued. But the intimate details of organizational
structures and volunteer agency records such as minute books provide
a wealth of information for those researching specific projects.
The society has about 350 active members who support the society's
work and new members are always welcome.
The JHS was founded 32 years ago – Leonoff was its first president
and remains a living encyclopedia of local Jewish history –
and has been able to amass a fairly comprehensive picture of this
province's Jewish history.
As a relatively young community, many people underestimate the significance
of historical record-keeping. But Rodgers said it is more important
– not less – to protect the historical record in a place
where much of history is recorded only in the memories of those
aging members of the community who pioneered this province's growth.
The JHS hopes to preserve the history of Vancouver's Jewish community
well into the future.
Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and
commentator.
Urgent plea for cash
The Jewish Historical Society of B.C. is warning that its work
is imperiled by financial constraints and $25,000 is needed now
to ensure the records of the community remain accessible.
Dorothy Grad, immediate past-president of the society, said the
JHS is not a high-budget operation.
"We run on a shoestring," she said. The staff consists
of a part-time archivist and an office administrator, both of whom
are paid less than they would probably receive in comparable agencies
elsewhere. She urges community members to consider making a bequest
or a donation to the JHS to ensure the work of preserving the community's
history continues.
The immediate problem, according to the current president, Bill
Gruenthal, is the need for adequate space to process and store archival
records. The JHS's small office in the Jewish Community Centre is
crammed full of boxes. Most of the resources are stored offsite,
which costs money for storage, as well as for transporting the records
back to the office when a researcher wishes to review the contents.
"We're in a funding crisis," said Gruenthal. "We're
victims of our own success."
The society has engaged in substantial outreach to remind people
and agencies of their existence. The publicity has been so successful
that they are receiving plenty of valuable historical material,
but are now faced with processing and storing it.
Just at the time that the archives is suffering the space crunch,
it has also suffered a couple of blows to its financial stability.
Though it receives some consistent funding from the Jewish Federation
of Greater Vancouver, grants from the provincial government have
been eliminated and money from gambling sources is unreliable.
"We're desperately looking for a minimum of $25,000 at this
point, minimum, just to tread water," said Gruenthal.
– Pat Johnson
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