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Dec. 16, 2011
Museum finds Shadbolt art
The collection and preservation of our heritage is important.
JENNIFER YUHASZ
In 2007, Irene Dodek, a longtime oral history interviewer for the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia (JMABC), interviewed two members of Hadassah-WIZO in Vancouver: Marjorie Groberman and Bea Goldberg. The subject of the interview was the annual Hadassah-WIZO bazaars.
Groberman was the originator of Hadassah-WIZO’s popular bazaars locally and, in 1952, she chaired the first Vancouver-based bazaar and exposition at the Seaforth Armory. The bazaars were a huge hit and an annual bazaar and exposition was held annually from 1952 until 2008.
Last month, as the JMABC archivist, I transcribed this 2007 interview with Groberman and Goldberg. A lively and highly entertaining discussion can be heard in this one-hour interview, as Groberman and Goldberg discuss the beginning of the bazaars and memorable moments that took place throughout the years. In the interview, Groberman repeatedly mentions that local (and now famous) artist Jack Shadbolt volunteered his help in the form of his artistic skill, to the Hadassah bazaars throughout the 1950s.
Groberman, discussing how she created and implemented the first bazaar, said, “It took me three years to plan it ... and I did not get the bazaar off the ground until 1952.... Well, [we] had a terrific artist working for [us], Jack Shadbolt. Jack Shadbolt did two books for commercial space for us. Unfortunately, when I moved out of my house on Adera, we threw out the two books. And we had 10 sketches from Jack Shadbolt that he had done for us.”
Describing that first bazaar, Groberman added, “We had cakes and cheesecakes and that was the only dessert bar at that time and we had a backdrop painted that looked like [it was French]. I think Jack Shadbolt did it like a French café with the little tables and the chairs.... He did a lot for us because he ... was one of the advertising managers at the [Hudson’s] Bay.” She then noted again that she threw out two of these big green books, which Hadassah used to sell commercial space, when she moved in 1967.
This is only one of the many interesting discussions that took place during this interview, but it stuck in my mind because JMABC has a photograph taken in 1953 of the Hadassah women sitting at their baked goods French bistro booth in front of a backdrop that I now know is a Shadbolt painting. Filing this information in my mind, I went to the archives to look for a few items. Looking through shelves of oversized archival material, I found one belonging to the Hadassah-WIZO collection, a large green book that contains six 17-inch-by-22-inch watercolors of the Hadassah Bazaar for advertising purposes. The book appears to be from the 1953 bazaar. The work was not signed, but it has to be one of the books that Groberman discussed in her 2007 interview. Although she threw out her copies, fortunately one had been preserved in the Hadassah-WIZO collection, which had been subsequently donated to JMABC more than 10 years ago. We are so grateful for Hadassah-WIZO’s foresight with regards to donating items to the archives.
I was extremely excited when I came across this book and my first thought was to call Marjorie Groberman. Sadly, she had recently passed away, on Oct. 30. I did call Bea Goldberg though, and she gave a verbal confirmation that these watercolors are in fact the work of Shadbolt. A formal appraisal is currently taking place. The next step is to process this piece along with the rest of the Hadassah-WIZO collection, which will be made available for research and use, a mission that will come to fruition sooner with help from donor sponsorships.
This discovery proves the value of maintaining an archives and the work that JMABC does. It is important to not throw any material away until you talk to an archivist, as your garbage may be a treasure for the community archives. Also, your words are valuable as well. Documenting the history of the Jewish community of British
Columbia through oral history interviews and collecting archival material is imperative in preserving our communal history, as well as our individual family memories. Without having the contextual information provided by Groberman and Goldberg’s oral history, JMABC would likely never have been able to identify this found book as the work of Shadbolt or been able to identify its true purpose. Without processing archival collections that are within JMABC, we do not know the full extent of the treasures that lay within the collections.
It is my pleasure as the archivist of JMABC to uncover these mysteries and document history every day. Each collection that has been donated to JMABC by organizations, individuals and businesses is a valuable and integral part of the history of British Columbia’s Jewish community.
The work that the ladies of Hadassah-WIZO have done over the years will be preserved in the Hadassah-WIZO collection. The outstanding contributions made by Groberman, Goldberg and all the women in Hadassah-WIZO over the years will be preserved in their oral history stories and in their collection, and they will never be forgotten.
Thank you to Hadassah-WIZO for seeing the importance of their history and donating their collection to JMABC, and thank you to Marjorie Groberman and Bea Goldberg for sharing their stories, as well as to Irene Dodek for her dedication and determination to collect and preserve these precious stories. Lastly, credit must be given to our archives photograph digitization intern Amber McBride, whose enthusiasm for this project first made it possible to receive such wonderful press on this truly amazing story, and our archives oral history digitization and transcription intern Anna Wilkinson, who is working (thanks to a grant from the Irving K. Barber B.C. History Digitization Program) to digitize, transcribe and upload excerpts of our wonderful oral history collection to JMABC’s website.
It is important to support JMABC and the celebration of Jewish community history in British Columbia, and you can do so in several ways:
• Give your family’s stored items a place of dignity and respect, and contact JMABC about items and records that you or your family has in storage;
• Make our Jewish heritage and histories come alive by supporting JMABC’s processing activities with a donation;
• Build partnerships, and encourage your community institutions to collaborate with JMABC; and
• Immerse yourself in our activities as a volunteer, with a schedule that works best for you.
To view some of the materials that have been donated to JMABC and listen to some of the oral history audio excerpts, or to make a donation, please visit our website at jewishmuseum.ca.
Jennifer Yuhasz is the archivist of the Nemetz Jewish Community Archives at the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia.
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