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Lea Roback Fonds
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn31359
- Collection
- Lea Roback Fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- multiple media
- Physical Description
- 4.8m of textual records. -- 1013 photographs.
- Fonds No.
- 1243
- Date
- 1901-1998 ; predominant 1930-1998
- Scope and Content
- The Fonds contains material reflecting Lea Roback's activity in politics, union organization and activism in addition to personal records that document her relationship with family. Records from her political and activist work include radio addresses, correspondence, fliers, reports, and periodical…
- Collection
- Lea Roback Fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- multiple media
- Physical Description
- 4.8m of textual records. -- 1013 photographs.
- Scope and Content
- The Fonds contains material reflecting Lea Roback's activity in politics, union organization and activism in addition to personal records that document her relationship with family. Records from her political and activist work include radio addresses, correspondence, fliers, reports, and periodicals. Personal records include correspondence wit her family members, the narrative of the Roback family written in prose, and various pieces of memorabilia belonging to Roback. The majority of the photographs in the collection are of Lea and her family from their time in Montreal, Beauport (QC) as well as Lea's travels in Europe. The series included within the Lea Roback Fonds are the following:
- Series 1 -- Professional activity
- Series 2 -- Biographical and personal material
- Series 3 -- Correspondence
- Series 4 -- Bibliographic reference publications
- Series 5 -- Videos
- Series 6 -- Photographs
- Series 7 -- Graphic material
- Date
- 1901-1998 ; predominant 1930-1998
- Fonds No.
- 1243
- Storage Location
- JPL
- History / Biographical
- Activist and organizer, Lea Roback was born on November 3rd, 1903 in Montreal. She was the second of nine children of Fanny (1885-1973) and Moses (1870-1935) Roback, both of whom immigrated from Poland. She spent her childhood in Beauport, Quebec where her parents ran a general store. The Robacks spoke Yiddish at home; outside it was French or English. Léa was able to switch freely between languages, a skill that became useful in work with labour organizations. When Léa was fourteen the family returned to Montreal where, two years later, she began working in the city's factories. It was at this point that she became accutely aware of the inequality between Montreal's affluent English-speaking families and the mostly French and Jewish working class. In the mid-1920s, Léa spent a two years at the University of Grenoble in France, supporting herself by privately teaching English to students. In 1928, Léa joined her older brother Harry in Berlin where he was studying medicine. She enrolled at the University of Berlin studying Sociology and German. Léa became involved with leftwing student groups and eventually joined the Communist Party. In 1932 Lea returned to Montreal, finding work as a youth group director at the Young Women’s Hebrew Association, where her mentor was Saidye Bronfman, wife of Sam Bronfman. In 1935 she managed the Modern Bookshop on Bleury Street, the first Marxist bookstore in Quebec, which became a gathering place for local radicals. That same year Lea coordinated Fred Rose's bid for election. Eight years following this campaign, Rose became the first communist elected to the House of Commons. In 1936 she was recruited by Thérèse Casgrain, legendary women’s suffrage leader, to assist in her work to obtain the vote for women in Quebec. Léa also became involved with the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) during their attempts to improve conditions in the garment industry. In 1937, Léa was a leader – along with organizers such as Rose Pesotta and Bernard Shane – in organizing over 5,000 women who walked off the job from the garment industry factories of Montreal. During the war years, Lea began working for the Radio Corporation of America (R.C.A.) and became an organizer for the United Electrical Workers, where she was a business agent for the 3,000 R.C.A. workers in Montreal. Lea was an active advocate for social justice and human rights for the majority of her life. She was affliated with numerous organizations in Montreal including the Québec Aid to the Partially Sighted, the Voice of Women, as well as anti-nuclear and anti-war groups. Lea was a continual presence within the ranks passing out leaflets, demonstrationing, providing support and lending her respected voice to so many causes.
- Language
- English
- French
- Yiddish
- Spanish
- Acquisition Source
- Lea Roback
- Custodial History
- This material was donated to the Jewish Public Library Archives by Lea Roback in 1998. The material of the Fonds was in the possession of Ms. Roback until the date of the transfer.
- Arrangement
- The arrangement of the Lea Roback fonds maintained the order in which it was donated to the archives with the exception of Series 3. In the correspondence series, letters were grouped by sender and when without date or an identifiable author, were grouped together. In 2015, as a result of entering unprocessed material into the database, the intellectual arrangement of this fonds was also updated. To consult the original finding aid please contact the JPL-A directly.
- Notes
- In addition to textual and photographic material, the Lea Roback Fonds contains sound recordings (10 audio cassettes) and graphic material (2 prints, 7 posters)
- Access Restrictions
- Some privacy restrictions apply to material within the Léa Roback Fonds. Please contact the JPL-A directly for further information.
- Reproduction Restrictions
- Some Copyright restrictions may apply
- Finding Aid
- Detailed finding aid available; file level control.
- Accession No.
- 09-002
- Name Access
- Roback, Lea, 1903-2000
- Subjects
- Roback, Lea, 1903-2000
- Labour movement
- Labour unions
- Women Workers
- Women in the labour movement - Canada
- Working Class
- Feminism
- Social justice
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Jewish Public Library Archives
Images
Sholem Krishtalka Collection
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn42443
- Collection
- Sholem Krishtalka Collection
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- multiple media
- Physical Description
- 3.76 linear metres of multiple media
- Fonds No.
- 1099
- Date
- 1929-1978
- Scope and Content
- Consists of personal documents from the Krishtalka family, correspondence and ephemeral and organizational material from international and Jewish Montreal organizations such as UJPO, YKUF and the Jewish Public Library. Also contains numerous posters and flyers for theatre, arts and musical present…
- Collection
- Sholem Krishtalka Collection
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- multiple media
- Physical Description
- 3.76 linear metres of multiple media
- Scope and Content
- Consists of personal documents from the Krishtalka family, correspondence and ephemeral and organizational material from international and Jewish Montreal organizations such as UJPO, YKUF and the Jewish Public Library. Also contains numerous posters and flyers for theatre, arts and musical presentations in Jewish Montreal.
- Date
- 1929-1978
- Fonds No.
- 1099
- Storage Location
- JPL
- History / Biographical
- Cultural activitist, Sholem Krishtalka was born in Ludmir, Poland on February 4, 1905. He received his education at Hebrew Tarbut School where he studied Talmud, Kabalah and mysticism. Krishtalka's academic interests though also ran towards Yiddish literature, music, folklore, social sciences and history. Krishtalka arrived in Montreal in 1933 and immediately became active in IKUF (Yidisher Kultur Farband) as well as the United Jewish People's Order, the Jewish Public Library, and various book committees that supported the publications of Yiddish authors and poets. For the JPL he was a major part of the building campaign that saw the construction of the Library's "new" building on the corner of Mont-Royal and Esplanade. His passion for the culture and politics of the Jewish community extended to collecting the ephemera, posters, and articles produced by its citizens and organizations. Sholem Krishtalka's son, Aaron Krishtalka, remembers his father removing posters and flyers from walls specifically to preserve the event and information for future generations. His interests influenced his collecting habits and as a result his archival collection consists of a wide variety of social ephemeral from political movements, labour rights efforts, philanthropic endeavours, theatre, music, literature and so on. He collected various ephemeral materials also with the help of his wife, Shifra, who was a writer, teacher, and sister to fellow Yiddish writers and teachers, Jacob Zipper, and Sholem, Yehiel, and Israel Shtern. After World War II ended Mr. Krishtalka became involved in actively helping victims of the Holocaust. Sholem Krishtalka passed away on August 16, 1977.
- Language
- English
- Yiddish
- Subjects
- Krishtalka, Sholem
- Krishtalka, Shifra
- Theatrical Productions.
- Theatre
- Yiddish theatre
- Labour movement
- Labour and labouring classes
- Refugees - Canada
- World War, 1939-1945
- United Jewish People's Order (UJPO)
- Yidisher Kultur Farband (YKUF)
- Monument-National Theatre [Montreal].
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Jewish Public Library Archives
Workmen's Circle of Montreal Fonds
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn18200
- Collection
- Workmen's Circle of Montreal Fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- multiple media
- Physical Description
- 4 m of textual records and other material
- Date
- 1908-current
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of 10 series containing the operating records of the Workmen's Circle, its committees, branches, choir and school program. Series I – Committees Series II – Branches Series III – His tory and Organizational Papers Series IV – Publications Series V – Abra…
- Collection
- Workmen's Circle of Montreal Fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Material Type
- multiple media
- Physical Description
- 4 m of textual records and other material
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of 10 series containing the operating records of the Workmen's Circle, its committees, branches, choir and school program. Series I – Committees Series II – Branches Series III – His tory and Organizational Papers Series IV – Publications Series V – Abraham Reisen Schools Series VI – Workmen’s Circle Loan Syndicate Series VII – Workmen’s Circle Choir Series VIII – Workmen’s Circle, New York Series IX – Correspondence Series X – Scrapbooks and Artefacts
- Date
- 1908-current
- Storage Location
- Bay 6
- Creator
- Workmen's Circle
- Physical Condition
- Excellent.
- History / Biographical
- The Workmen’s Circle (Arbeter Ring) of Montreal (now Worker’s Circle) celebrated its 100th Anniversary in the city in 2007. The organization, which was originally founded in New York in 1892 by mainly Russian Jewish immigrants fleeing Czarist pogroms, conducted itself as an “irretrievable part of the radical labour movement.” An advocate for change, the Workmen’s Circle also provided education, enlightenment, health benefits, open forums, a library, clubs and cemetery plots for its members. The work of the group extended to emergencies such as operating a soup kitchen during the Depression or organizing the Action Committee for Soviet Jewry in the late-1980s and early 1990s to aid immigration. Their involvement in politics saw support for the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and candidates such as A.M. Klein, David Lewis and Kalman Kaplansky. In 1940, two Workmen’s Circle members from Branch 151 were elected to the Montreal municipal council, Michael Rubenstein and Albert Eaton. The first Workmen’s Circle building was completed in 1936 after several years of planning and a hold due to the Depression. The building was located at 4848 St. Laurent and served the Workmen’s Circle’s business and social activities as well as one of the schools. Like most other Jewish organizations, the Workmen’s Circle moved from the once-traditionally Jewish Main area and re-located to Isabella closer to the Jewish community campus. The Worker’s Circle is still housed there although the organization is shrinking and serves an aging population.
- Language
- Yiddish, English, Russian
- Acquisition Source
- Workmen's Circle of Montreal
- Custodial History
- Transferred directly from the Workmen's Circle, first date of transfer unknown, accural of new materials in November 2007.
- Arrangement
- Current arrangement based on an older system of description used by the JPL-A during the 1970s and 1980s. The finding aid was up-dated to RAD standards in March 2008.
- Related Material
- Jewish Labour Committee Fonds
- Name Access
- Workmen's Circle, Montreal
- Subjects
- Workmen's Circle Schools (Montreal, Quebec)
- Labour and labouring classes
- Workmen's Circle - Eugene Debs Branch no. 204
- Workmen's Circle - Meyer London Branch no. 151
- Workmen's Circle - Moishe Lewis Branch
- Workmen's Circle, New York
- Workmen's Circle - Vladeck Branch
- Workmen's Loan Syndicate (Montreal)
- Labour movement
- Labour unions
- Women in the labour movement - Canada
- Workmen's Circle - Ladies' Vladeck Branch
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Jewish Public Library Archives
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