These oral histories are a collection of interviews compiled by Sharon Fahrer and Jan Schochet of History @ Hand which discusses Jewish owned businesses in downtown Asheville from 1880 to 1990. The collection provides vital information about downtown Asheville during both its formative and revitalization periods and can be used in conjunction with the recent digitization project "Asheville's Built Environment" and with the more recent Julian Price Papers to gain a deeper chronological and cultural understanding of downtown and its relation to the greater Buncombe County area.

Sharon Fahrer and Jan Schochet, History @ Hand, contributed to the Jewish Heritage in Western North Carolina Oral History collection, which is an amalgamation of interviews by David Schulman and History @ Hand. Interviews engage in discussion about general regional history and Asheville's Jewish cultural history. There is also a set of interviews on remembering Sidney Schochet. At this time, the Jewish Heritage in Western North Carolina collection is restricted. However, certain interviews may be viewed in Special Collections.

A small group of photographs and documents of Gus and Emma Adler that covers their years managing the Sky Club, a fine-dining establishment in Asheville in the early 20th century. Includes photographs of famous people who came to the club and who knew the Adlers.

The collection spans the years from 1891-1977. The material in the collection includes various temple activities, minutes of meetings, photographs, membership lists, service bulletins, and the plans for construction of the temple and religious school. It also includes papers relating to the Board of Trustees of the Congregation (minutes, annual reports and correspondence); the correspondence of Rabbis Unger (1951-1961), Bloom and Funston; the activities of the Temple Sisterhood and Brotherhood (minutes, correspondence and assorted papers).

Collection contains personal papers, letters of correspondence, some in Yiddish, telegrams and congratulatory letters for community service and personal achievement. Correspondence related to the Louis Blomberg family businesses and related Jewish businesses in Asheville, N.C. Note "Blomberg" is used interchangeably with  "Blumberg" in many early documents

Collection contains photographs of the S.I. Blomberg family home and early family pictures.  S.I. Blomberg owned the Asheville department store The Leader. Note "Blomberg" is used interchangeably with  "Blumberg" in many early documents.

The small Jewish community in Asheville, NC talked for years about documenting the stories of families who witnessed, escaped, and survived the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust. In June, 1999 the Center for Diversity Education, a non-profit working to increase the way diversity is covered in schools, began the necessary research. The goal of the project was to create a traveling exhibit for area middle and high schools that would enhance the grade level objectives in the NC Standard Course of Study. The project would use the model of Facing History and Ourselves, focusing on Eyewitness testimony, Primary Source Documents and individual Student Research along with visual images to learn about history. 

Joseph Dave was the founder of Dave Steel Company, Inc. Asheville, North Carolina. The Joseph Dave papers are related to the creation of Dave Steel Company, Inc. and to Joseph Dave's personal life and that of his immediate family. Documents, letters, photographs, ephemera, newspaper clippings, biographies, and architectural details related to Dave's long career as a civil engineer are included in the papers. The small body of work represented in this donation is the foundation for a proposed later donation that will represent the scope and scale of Joseph Dave and his family's many contributions to the built environment and to the social and economic well-being of Asheville, NC through the years. 

This collection is a 12-panel exhibit displayed in a variety of locations in downtown Asheville in the fall of 2006 by History @ Hand an independent research group. Sharon Fahrer and Jan Schochet organized the research group to bring attention to the large Jewish population in Asheville and the many contributions of Jewish businessmen to Asheville's history and growth, including the University of North Carolina Asheville. 

Part of the Congregation Beth Ha Tephila collection at UNCA and prepared for the fiftieth anniversary of the Congregation in Asheville, NC in 1941. This 36 page booklet contains and anniversary message from the Rabbi, a history of the Congregation, a program for the fiftieth anniversary Sabbath Service and the Banquet, a look to the future of the Congregation,  and a list of membership in 1941.
 

A small collection containing personal papers ; letters of correspondence ; records of philanthropic work with the Asheville community, particularly the sport of soccer ; participation in union activities ; personal family records and other related materials.

Photographs and genealogical information related to the family of Herschel Lange, a Jewish businessman in Asheville, NC. Received from Mrs. Herschel Lange in 2006 through Sharon Fahrer, History @ Hand.

A collection of material related to members of the Lipinsky family of North Carolina. The Lipinsky family has contributed generously to the building of the University of North Carolina Asheville.  Lipinsky Auditorium on the campus of the university bears the name of the family and is indebted to the generosity of the Lipinskys, particularly in support of our performing arts.

The collection contains personal papers ; letters of correspondence ; records of philanthropic work with the Asheville community, particularly the as it relates to the donation of Mills Hall at the University of North Carolina Asheville ; personal family records, photographs and other related materials. A second donation of material was made in July of 2011 that contained additional photographs, including WWII photographs of the New York manufacturing plant.  These photographs provide an intimate look at manufacturing for the war effort and describe the construction of fragmentation bomb parachutes for the war effort.  In addition, a variety of promotional literature accompanied the donation and graphically portrays the evolution of Mills Manufacturing in New York and in Asheville.

A small collection of materials related to the Michalove family and their years in Asheville, NC. Largely related to Dan Michalove and his various businesses.

Vertical Files

A collection containing the personal papers, business items, newspaper clippings, publications, and photographs from Ada and Lou Pollock. Also included are many of the Jewish cemetery records, duplicated from the original bound version held by the Pollock family. The materials in the collection relate to the Asheville years of the family and their stewardship of the Jewish cemetery. 

Personal papers and awards of Asheville optometrist and civic leader Samuel Robinson. A leader in environmental issues, he was active in the Carolina Mountain Club and the Boy Scouts of America. He worked to recognize George Masa's work with the Great Smoky Mountains and to name one of the peaks for Masa, a local photographer, and founding member of the Carolina Mountain Club. The collection includes photographs, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, awards, correspondence, essays, speeches, and a personal diary.

A collection of material related to the lives of members of the Rosen family of North Carolina

A collection of material related to the lives of members of the Schandler family of North Carolina. 

A collection of material related to the lives of members of the Schochet family, Asheville, North Carolina. 

A collection of material related to the life of Sol Schulman, entrepreneur and businessman in Sylva, NC. 

This account of E.C. Goldberg supplied by Herbert S. Goldberg, son of E. C. Goldberg (Ezen C. Goldberg)

The collection contains anecdotal information on the writer.  These materials were gathered as part of an exhibition of Southern Appalachian Writers held at UNCA in the early 1980's and sponsored by D. H. Ramsey Library and the Southern Highlands Research Center.

Unprocessed materials including various loose items and scrapbooks and books.

Assorted photographs (18) donated by Hertha Horowitz that visually recall the Asheville ophthalmologist who generously donated the Weizenblatt Health Center at University of North Carolina Asheville and a small memorial garden (now no longer extant) that once graced the entry area of the Botanical Gardens at UNC Asheville.  The plaque for the Weizenblatt Health Center states, : "Sprinza Weizenblatt, M.D. , Ophthalmologist, friend of humanity, and generous benefactor who has made Asheville and this university a finer place in which to live.  April 27, 1987."

Ready discusses his interest in Western North Carolina, which prompted him to move to Asheville from Texas in 1972.  He describes teaching in the History Department at UNCA, and discusses his efforts to introduce regional history and appreciation into the curriculum.  He discusses the Southern Highlands Research Center, and the people who were central to its development. He talks about different minority groups in Asheville, and describes their involvement in the community.  He also discusses the city's failure to overcome discrimination to promote education and business opportunities among minority groups. He feels that in the past 20 years, the "progressive consensus" that emerged in the late 60's regarding integration, job opportunities, cooperation between communities, the development of downtown Asheville, and cooperation with the YMI Cultural Center, has ended.  He discusses the changes in resources, spending, and cultural interests that are brought about by the steady influx of older, middle to upper class people.  He discusses the tension that exists between the county and the city, over issues centered around class, race, ethnic background and economics.  He also discusses the tension between West Asheville and North Asheville. He also became the first director of the Jewish Studies Center at UNCA.
 

"Down Home is the best and most comprehensive history of Jews in any one of the fifty states. Lively, well researched, and beautifully illustrated, it is a warts-and-all history that properly integrates 425 years of Jewish life in North Carolina with larger trends in American and Southern Jewish life. The volume sets a new standard for state-wide histories of American Jews, and sheds new light on Southern Jewry, Black-Jewish relations, and the American Jewish experience as a whole."
--Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University and author of American Judaism: A History

Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina

Charlotte Jewish Historical Society

Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina

The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life

Jewish Culture and History

Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life

From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in American (A Library of Congress Exhibition)

The Jewish Museum  (United Kingdom)

Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina by Leonard Rogoff