Depressions--1929--Kentucky

Benovitz discusses her grandparents, Lithuanian immigrants, and her grandfather's work as a peddler; her father's dry goods business and the family's life in Carrollton, Mississippi, where they lived for twenty years before returning to Louisville in 1923; her husband's business in New Albany, which operated from 1941 until 1966; the Depression of the 1930s, World War II, and recent changes in the local Jewish community.

Berman discusses how and why his parents came to the United States from Poland; his father's work as a peddler and in other businesses; the early Orthodox Jewish community in Louisville; the effects of the Depression on this father's business; his decision to attend the University of Louisville School of Law, from which he graduated in 1928; his early law practice; and activities in Keneseth Israel congregation. Berman concludes with reflections on changes in the local Jewish community during his memory.

Alex Berman talks about Jewish young people joining professions, the effect of the Great Depression on small businesses, investing in real estate in the early 20th century, his generation choosing to enter the professions rather than going into business, working as a lawyer defending bootleggers for a brief period, his opinion about the Masons not doing enough to resist nazism, his reflections on a recent reports of swastikas posted in Louisville and the Constitutional right to free speech. He also reflects on the changes in the Jewish community over time, his involvement in the Junior Order of United American Mechanics.

A Boston native, Gertrude Karp Feldbaum moved to New Albany and then to Louisville in 1909. Her family was from Grodna, Russia. She married in Boston in 1908. She and her husband were Louisville grocery owners until 1924. She remembers Jewish life and geographical distribution; Jewish merchants; synagogues; cemetery; Herman Straus Department store; the Depression years; the Young Men's Hebrew Association and Blanche Mitchell; dances; building the Jewish Community Center; the "Snack Bar"; swim teams; beauty contests; center clubs; Jerry Abramson; AZA (Aleph Zadik Aleph) Conventions.

James and Evelyn Glass talk about their experiences as African Americans during the Great Depression. The Glasses discuss their experiences working in the coal mines, the economic conditions of the time, and the impact of the New Deal legislation on the Black community. They also discuss the formation of unions, the hardships of raising a family during the Depression, and their social activities. The Glasses note that while city dwellers faced soup lines and extreme poverty, those in the coal mines were able to make a living due to the company owning everything, including housing and stores. They also discuss the impact of World War II on their lives and the economy.

Ms. Kidd discusses her life, including her childhood growing up in Bourbon County. Kidd attended the Lincoln Institute in Simpsonville, Kentucky, and then began working for Mammoth Life Insurance Company, a Louisville-based Black-owned life insurance company. She discusses her career with Mammoth Life, which was interrupted by service in the Red Cross during World War II. She discusses her experiences with the Red Cross, both during her training and during her service overseas. She discusses differences in white attitudes, in particular. She describes her work in public relations and sales after the war, as well as her political career. She was elected to the Kentucky Assembly in 1967 and began serving in 1968. She discusses her attempts to pass legislation to give tax breaks to companies that would provide training to Kentucky residents, and her successful efforts to pass a low-cost housing bill.

Klein (born 1906) discusses his life and work in Louisville, Kentucky. Topics include growing up in the neighborhood of First and Green area, Klein's work in the used car business beginning in the 1920s, the Depression of the 1930s in Louisville, the ultimate success of Klein's car business (National Auto Sales), and his entrance into banking (Bank of Louisville). The interview also includes Klein's impression of the Jewish community in Louisville and local civic leaders generally.

Delores Levy discusses her father, Edward Shaikun, who was from Trokai in Russia. (Trokai was a resort, about 30 miiles from Vilna.) Her mother's family, Alec and Esther Lerner, were from White Russia; her mother was Eugenia Sophie Lerner Shaikun. Her siblings: Dian, Lester Shaikun, Elizabeth Weinberg, Delores, Sandy Zelony, Arnold Shaikun. She discusses the Depression, moving back to Greenburg, with Adath Jeshurun, University of Kentucky, the Jewish Community Center, and family, Udel Barry and Sheila Suebold, Michael Gerald, Sue Daniels, Jacob Edward, and Ira Richard.

A senior citizen's arts and crafts group at the Parkland Branch Library discuss their lives in the Depression years, the 1937 flood and their remembrances of the early Parkland area.

Ringol's father was a doctor who graduated from the University of Louisville in 1908. He was the first resident at Jewish Hospital in 1909. Ringol's parents married in 1910. Her grandfather, Jacob Brownstein, arrived in the United States in 1884 and was a charter member of Anshei Sfard. Her mother's parents, Phillip and Bern Synder, were tailors from Odessa. Their parents were from Warsaw. They moved to the Highlands in 1931. She discusses Peerless Manufacturing Company, at 7th and Main; the family business in men's clothing; an uncle, Simon Agranot, who became Chief Justice of Israel and handed down the Eichmann decision. She remembers living at Floyd and Walnut streets; YMHA basketball games; Adath Jeshurun Sisterhood; Fourth Street; Brown Hotel; Canary Cottage; living at 2nd and Hill Streets; front porch gatherings; the Depression. She married Louis Ringol in 1935. He was a dentist. She describes the 1937 flood; Pearl Harbor, World War II and the USO; Old Talmud Torah; Riva Waldman Entertainment; the Rarbis Family; the Ray Baer Family; Pearl Goodman; Lester Lipson; University of Louisville, and the Normal School for Teachers.