Finestone, Bernard J.
https://www.cjhn.ca/link/cjhn531
- Collection
- FINESTONE family.
- Description Level
- Series
- Physical Description
- Env. 0.73 metres of textual records. - Env. 970 photographs. - 2 sound elements.
- Fonds No.
- P0058; 2
- Date
- 1924-1990.
- Scope and Content
- The initial part of this collection consists of 17 cm. of: Press clippings about Canadian Jewish Congress, Montreal Board of Trade, political candidacy. School reports. Curriculum vitae (résumé). Personal documents, including notification of Bar Mitzvah, political candidacy memorabilia, and other d…
- Collection
- FINESTONE family.
- Description Level
- Series
- Physical Description
- Env. 0.73 metres of textual records. - Env. 970 photographs. - 2 sound elements.
- Scope and Content
- The initial part of this collection consists of 17 cm. of: Press clippings about Canadian Jewish Congress, Montreal Board of Trade, political candidacy. School reports. Curriculum vitae (résumé). Personal documents, including notification of Bar Mitzvah, political candidacy memorabilia, and other documents.Added in 2010: 6 cm. of papers donated in two increments, also photographs and sound recordings. Includes: Mulroney political campaign, vinyl recording by Peter Bronfman and friend Arthur Mackenzie (popular songs.) Photos including 2nd mission to Israel, led by Allan Bronfman 1950s, Finestone shaking President Herzog's hand. 1 video No Greater Honour, material about anniversary events at Shaar Hashomayim synagogue including coat of arms (oversize laminated document) and Finestone coat of arms (oversize laminated.) 1 small audio reel to reel tape recording of an RCMP notification to B. J. Finestone about FLQ (Front de la Liberation du Quebec) kidnapping threats received towards Finestone, Sam Steinberg and Harold Waller. The tape was recorded by B.J. Finestone circa 1978 and was donated on May 25, 2010.Addition 2013: A total of 50 cm. of documentation, including 3 binders of sorted letters written home by Bernard J. Finestone in the course of his army service during World War II, 1941-1944. 12 centimetres of letters (including several from the 1930's, but most from between 1941-1944) written to Bernard J. Finestone over the course of his army service during World War II. Also includes approximately 15 letters written by Bernard to Rita Aaronson (1941-1942). Some topics covered include: life in Montreal during wartime (rationing etc.), the Finestone family, the Red Cross, blood/plasma donation, and Bernard's injury (sustained during combat). Additionally includes approximately 200 photo negatives and 50 prints of Bernard, the Finestone family, and military scenes from World War II. Two photograph albums containing a total of 704 images were added to the donation on July 2, 2013; the smaller one, consisting of 92 used pages and some loose items, contains 254 images, most of them of family, mostly with captions in B.J.'s handwriting, some of them contemporaneous or duplicates of the pictures in the Rosa Finestone family album (PC 8) compiled by B.J.'s mother. The larger album, with 450 images, is also annotated by B.J. and contains many whimsical stenciled cartoon illustrations. This album documents his years in the military, including while on leave. This addition also includes one file of material about the Canadian Mission to Israel of January 1961 in which he participated.
- Date
- 1924-1990.
- Fonds No.
- P0058
- Series No.
- 2
- History / Biographical
- Bernard Finestone was born in Sacramento, Calif., in 1920. The family returned to Montreal when he was a young child. Having joined the Canadian Officer Training Corps at his father's urging while he was studying at McGill University in the late 1930s, Finestone qualified as a lieutenant when he applied as a volunteer in the army after the start of the Second World War. He was taken on as part of the armoured corps in early 1941 and was overseas by September 1941. Finestone trained for two years in England while defending the Brighton waterfront during the German Blitz. Rising to the rank of captain of a tank squadron, he fought in battles in Italy for almost a year, until he was severely wounded during a battle for Rome on May 31, 1944, for which he required treatment in military hospitals for more than three years. After returning to McGill after the war, Finestone became a chartered insurance broker; was a President of the Montreal Board of Trade; served as the Vice-Chairman of the Community Service Committee of Canadian Jewish Congress Eastern/ Quebec Region; and ran unsuccessfully as a Progressive Conservative candidate in several federal elections. Rosalie Adelman was the mother of Bernard J. and Abraham (Abbie) was his father. Bernard Finestone died on May 22, 2013 in Montreal.
- Custodial History
- The Bernard Finestone and Finestone family material received prior to 2013 was donated by Bernard Finestone. The material received in 2013 was donated by his widow Rita (Shuchat) Finestone, after being consulted during the preparation of his autobiography, written with the assistance of author K. David Brody.
- Notes
- Alpha-numeric designations: P85/27, P86/04, P86/27, P87/02, P92/06, P95/13, P04/07 and P10/09.Related groups of records: Cassette tape (sc 1277) with Shulemson, Shapiro, about Hagannah. See also Canadian Jewish Congress, Quebec Region, staff records and minutes.General note: Mostly originals.
- Archival / Genealogical
- Archival Descriptions
- Repository
- Canadian Jewish Archives
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