Bella Wilder

Scope and Content: Accession consists primarily of photographs documenting the early life of Bella Wilder (née Goldbach) and her family in Poland. Included are images of Bella with her siblings and friends, group photos of Bella at her Jewish school in Poland, a group image of Victor in the Polish army, and other photographs of Bella's family and friends. Also included are two family histories documenting the story of Bella's mother, Shifra Frimeth Goldbach, and the story of Max and Bella Wilder, which was written by their granddaughter Sandee Sharpe. Of particular note is a 1925 school photograph of the Workers Evening School in Opatow (?), which has Yiddish writing suggesting that the school may have received aid from an organization referred to as "Gives Relief" in Toronto.

Custodial History: The records were originally donated to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto section) by Bella's daughter Ann Sharpe. JGS Toronto donated the material to the OJA a few months later with her consent.

Administrative History: Bella (nee Goldbach) Wilder was born on May 12, 1910 in Opatow, Poland to Chaim Shlomo Goldbach and Shifra Frimeth Schatz Goldbach. Bella's older brothers, Victor, Jack and Hymie began immigrating to Toronto in the 1920s and had saved enough money by 1936 to bring Bella and her mother to Toronto. After arriving in Toronto Bella found work sewing in a factory.; Bella married Max Wilder on September 29, 1939. Max worked at Superior Men's Tailoring where he sewed zippers into men's pants. They had two children together: Ann (born 5 April 1940, married Norman Sharpe) and Stan (born 21 Jan. 1945, died June 1974). Max passed away in 1999 and Bella passed away in 2002.

Descriptive Notes: Availability of other formats: Photographs have been digitized and are available as digital images.

Name Access: Goldbach, Shifra; Sharpe, Ann; Wilder, Bella, 1910-2002; Wilder, Max, ?-1999