Collection

THE JOSEPH AND WOLFF FAMILY COLLECTION

Description Level

Fonds

Material Type

textual record

graphic material

sound recording

object

Physical Description

5.9 metres of textual records. - Env. 495 photographs. - 7 sound elements. - 3 artefacts.

Scope and Content

The collection is divided into five series. The first series contains a copy of Abraham Joseph's diary from the 18th century, transcripts of the diary by Annette Wolff, and original pre-1900 materials pertaining to Abraham Joseph and other members of his family. The second series consists in large part of correspondence between Martin Wolff and Irene Joseph Wolff, before and after their marriage, and letters to their daughters. The third series consists primarily of correspondence between the Wolff sisters. The fourth series contains correspondence from Annette Wolff to her family and friends, letters received from soldiers during World War II, and documents and memorabilia relating to her education, employment, and travels. The fifth series consists of Wolff and Joseph family photographs. The last series is composed of sound elements. It contains 7 cassette tapes, each 90 minutes in duration, of interviews of Annette Wolff by Eiran Harris

Date

1828-2005.

Fonds No.

P0220

History / Biographical

The Joseph family was one of the earliest Jewish families to settle in Quebec. Irene Joseph (1885 1940), a writer and community worker, married Martin Wolff, (1881 1948) engineer and historian, and they had six daughters. The lives and thoughts of all these individuals are reflected in this fonds. The earliest portions of the fonds contains considerable information about the life of Abraham Joseph (1815-1886), a successful businessman involved in numerous commercial enterprises, including leadership roles in the Quebec Board of Trade and the Banque Nationale. The greater part of this portion of the fonds is connected to Abraham Joseph's diaries, which are a valuable early record of Jewish life and material culture in Quebec. Much of the material in the later series of the fonds documents the life of the Wolff family in Montreal and Quebec in the early 20th century until the late 1940s, and includes information about quotidian life and religious and social customs as practiced by a middle-class Jewish family of that era. Though observant Jews, the Wolff family members mixed with and were accepted by the larger community, making this fonds a source of information on many aspects of Canadian society as well as that of Great Britain. The fonds includes a special emphasis on the work and writings of Annette Wolff, who took on the role of family historian. The Joseph and Wolff family fonds contains material of potential interest to historians, students of Jewish life in Canada and women's studies, social scientists, psychologists, journalists, and authors.

Custodial History

The majority of this fonds was donated in increments, over a period of several years, by sisters Annette Wolff, Rosetta Wolff Elkin, and Esther Wolff Blaustein, with the greatest part of the collection coming from Annette Wolff. A small percentage of the material was donated by Rachel Wolff Esar, and a few files were deposited much earlier by Martin Wolff.

Archival / Genealogical

Archival Descriptions

Repository

Canadian Jewish Archives

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