0:00 Margaret:
The second, 1977. The interviewer is Margaret [Flarshein Mosen 00:00:08] and the
interviewee is Louise Tachau Schulman. Louise, would you tell us the date and
place of birth and your present address?
Louise Schulman:
I was born April 13, 1929. I live at 3917 Elfin Avenue, Louisville.
Margaret:
Okay, and today is August 2, 1977. Now Louise, tell us anything you can remember
about your grandparents. Particularly your first memories of their association
with Louisville.
L.S.:
My paternal grandparents were Emile S. Tachau, a native Louisvillian who died in
1:001961 at age 94. He was particularly active in Louisville affairs at various
times. For complete information about his activities, I would suggest talking to
Charles Tachau, who I understand is also being interviewed.
L.S.:
He was a native of Louisville. He was a founder and first president of the
Welfare League which became the Community Chest. He served as the third
President of the Chest from 1920 to 1922. His civic activities began in about
1903 when he became a member of the board of Neighborhood House, the settlement
house. He served on the board for 46 years and was its president for some 40 years.
L.S.:
In 1907, he founded and headed the Federation of Jewish Charities which later
2:00became the Jewish Welfare Federation, which he also headed. He was a former
president of the Family Service Organization. The Federation- I am reading,
incidentally, from the obituary, which appeared in a career journal, for
background purposes. The federation is now the Jewish Social Service Agency and
the Family Service has become the Family and Children's Agency.
L.S.:
In 1919 he was appointed the first chairman of the State Board of Charities and
Corrections, holding the post until 1925.
L.S.:
He was born December 10, 1866, the son of Charles G. Tachau, who came to
Louisville from Denmark. He founded his own insurance firm in 1891. He had two
sons, Lewis Tachau, who was my father, and Charles G. Tachau. Both sons were
3:00affiliated with him in the insurance agency.
L.S.:
My grandmother on that side of the family was Lena Levy Tachau, who died in May
1961 at, I believe, age 93. 92 or 93. One of the major projects with which she
was involved, was she and a Mrs. Maury, M-A-U-R-Y, who were responsible for
instituting hot lunches into the public schools. She was also involved as a
supporter of various art projects in Louisville.
L.S.:
On the other side of the family, my maternal grandparents were E. S. Mayer of
New York City, who lived in Louisville from approximately 1921 to 1936. He came
4:00to Louisville in the early 20s to work at Kaufman-Strauss Company. He was a vice
president of that company. He, at one point, and I don't know the date, was a
former president of Standard Country Club.
L.S.:
His wife was Fanny S. Mayer, who died in Louisville in 1963. I do not know of
any- I know she was involved in various programs for the blind, but
specifically, I cannot tell you. She died in Louisville.
L.S.:
Now, my father was Lewis Tachau, a native of Louisville, born in 1896, died in
Louisville, 1962, after a 10-year, long- I suppose if I say ten years - a
5:00ten-year illness. In which, the last 10 years of his life he was not active. He
had been involved- first of all, he was a very well known, accomplished golf
player, having won many tournaments in the city and the state and regionally, also.
L.S.:
He served as a member of the city/county Board of Health, he was very active in
the Community Chest drives over the years, he was one of, I believe, 3
co-chairman of the fundraising drive for the establishment of Our Lady of Peace
Hospital. I believe that he worked, also, on the UJA drive. At one point, I think-
Margaret:
I think he was president.
L.S.:
I don't remember his being president, but I think at one point he headed the drive.
6:00
Margaret:
Yeah.
L.S.:
My understanding.
L.S.:
He and his father, Emile S. Tachau, and his brother were very active over the
years in helping Red Cross Hospital, which is now defunct. But I know various
blacks in town attribute the saving of Red Cross Hospital to these 3 men at
various periods of life.
L.S.:
My mother was Marie Mayer Tachau, born in New York City. Came to Louisville,
again, with her parents in 1921. She was a past president of the Louisville
League of Women Voters and the Kentucky League of Women Voters. She was one of
the founders of the Planned Parenthood Program in Louisville. She was a longtime
board member of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. She served on
the mayors legislative committee, which was an appointed body selected from
7:00Louisville civic leaders to suggest and, I believe, draft legislation for the
city of Louisville. She was active in the support of the Merit System in civil
service on both the local and national levels.
L.S.:
She did various other kinds of civic activities. The most recent being- or
really prior to her death, she was very much involved in recording for the
blind- in the Recordings for the Blind program as a reader.
L.S.:
Do you want to turn off the tape for a minute?
L.S.:
In addition, Margaret, both Emile and Lena Tachau, and Lewis and Marie Tachau,
were all members of Temple Adath Israel. At various stages in their lives, were
also members of Standard Country Club. And the two women were longtime members,
8:00although not active ones, of the Council of Jewish Women.
L.S.:
Now, some of my activities. I have had various jobs in public relations in
Louisville. I worked for a number of community agencies, such as the Community
Action Commission, which was the local anti-poverty agency. I spent a little
over a year as the assistant to the director of Kentucky Commission on Human
Rights. I was Project Director, this was a short term project, for a program
called Medicare Alert, which was an OEO program sponsored, I think, by the
Health and Welfare Council of the Metro-United Way the winter of 1966. I spent
9:00eight and a half years as public relations consultant for the Kentucky
Department of Mental Health. I also worked for the Louisville Orchestra for a
period, for Kosair Crippled Children's Hospital, for the Kentucky Crippled
Children Commission. At one point, for about a year and a half, I was assistant
to the manager of the Louisville Orchestra and also was the assistant to TV
Program Director at WABE Incorporated.
L.S.:
I have also done some consulting work for, usually in the area of volunteer
services, and also community relations or public relations work for a consulting
form out of Atlanta, in which I did some part-time work for various headstart
programs throughout the southeastern United States.
10:00
L.S.:
Now, from a volunteer standpoint, I have done a couple of real short-term
projects for the local chapter of the Council of Jewish Women. One was the Joint
Celebration Council and the YWCA had many years ago, honoring outstanding women
of Louisville. And I handled the public relations for that particular
celebration. I have also appeared on some panels and done some other, but very
sporadic, brief kinds of projects for the council.
L.S.:
As a representative of the council, however, I served on the Advisory Board of
WICS, W-I-C-S, which is Women in Community Service, which was handling the
recruitment training- not training, but recruitment for young women for the
Women's Job Corps.
11:00
L.S.:
I served as Chairman of the Volunteers Advisory Committee of the Louisville
Jefferson County Community Action Commission, this committee later became the
Community Relations Committee of the CAC.
L.S.:
I was a member, for a while, of the ill-fated residential treatment center for
ex-drug addicts called Matrix House. I spent time as a member of a task force
concerned with planning mental health facilities. The former member of the
Public Information Committee of the Louisville Commission on Human Relations. In
recent months, I have accepted appointments to the institute - boards - of the
Institute of Physical Medal- Physical Rehabilitation- Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation. Let me try that again - the Institute of Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation in Louisville, and also, just recently, accepted appointment to
the Recording for the Blind board.
12:00
L.S.:
I worked on various fund drives over the years. The usual ones, that, I guess,
most other people are also involved with.
