Postcards at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee

A short story for a glimpse into history

A recent visit led us to the Jewish Museum Milwaukee: http://www.jewishmuseummilwaukee.org/, where we were greeted by the museum’s archivist, Jay Hyland. The archives and museum have an important relationship and work very closely with one another. The museum and archives are also an important part of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. The museum’s archives are a rich resource for people looking to do genealogical research, which is mainly what the records are used for. On this day Jay took some time to show us another interesting part of the archive: the postcard collection. He was knowledgeable about the collection, and also gave some insight into the importance of a story as part of a collection of materials in an archive.

The collection of postcards at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee is small, but varied. There are several different subjects of postcards, and all offer some insight into an aspect of the collection. However, as Jay pointed out, the history of this postcard collection is somewhat of a mystery. It’s unfortunate that we don’t know the back story of the postcards, but they do show us some interesting views of Jewish culture and life around the early parts of the 20th century, and the collection has some really wonderful images!

The postcards above and below show images celebrating the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, commonly referred to as “Jewish New Year.” An inscription along the top of both cards is a traditional greeting wishing the reader a good year. Because these postcards have such beautiful imagery, they are often used by community members around the time of Rosh Hashanah (this year it was in early September) to create holiday displays.

The postcards above and below highlight a different aspect of this collection: they both show pro-labor images of the early 20th century. The above postcard depicts a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the rich tycoons who depend on laborers; these men and women are depicted as supporting prohibition in order to make their workers “work for 12 cents a day like those in the orient.” In contrast, the working-class people are depicted as trying to “enjoy life as much as possible and study how to better conditions.” The final inscription on the front reads, “Not intoxication but exploitation makes us poor. Capitalists drink and are rich. Oriental workers don’t yet, are poor.” These inscriptions show the complex relationship between several different issues in the early 20th century, including class, industrialism and prohibition.

The postcard above shows a strongly symbolic, pro-labor image of a wedding-cake like structure; at the bottom of the structure, supporting all the other layers, is the working class. Above them are the middle class, soldiers, religious leaders, the aristocracy and, at the pinnacle, a bag of money as big as the people depicted. This postcard illustrates pro-labor ideals in an intriguing and striking allegorical image.

Several of the postcards also provide information about the community member who owned them. The message on the above postcard is written in Russian; however, the printed inscription above is in Russian, French and Polish, indicating along with the handwritten message that the owner of this postcard was probably from Russia or Poland. Several of the postcards in this collection have messages in this same handwriting on the back.

The postcard below again shows the ties of the Milwaukee Jewish community to their Eastern European past. The card’s main inscription, in Russian, states “Hello from Rogacheva.” There is indeed a town in Russia called Rogacheva, which is likely the same town this postcard is depicting. On each of the wings of the butterfly woman pictured at the center is a photo of a building or scene in Rogacheva; clockwise from top left, these images are of Rogacheva’s main street, some sort of institute, the beach front and the theater.

As we saw, even with little explicit story, postcards can offer a rich view into the past and cultural background of the people who owned and used them; indeed, through this collection at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee we got a glimpse into the cultures, languages and politics of the Jewish community in the early 20th century.

Thanks to Jay Hyland for showing us this beautiful collection and sharing a bit about the archives with us!

Images courtesy of the Jewish Museum Milwaukee.

Entry created by Eric Willey and Cassie Warholm-Wohlenhaus.