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Samuel Posluns fonds
- Part Of
- Samuel Posluns fonds
- Level
- Fonds
- Fonds
- 70
- Material Format
- cartographic material
- graphic material
- textual record
- Date
- 1925-1984
- Physical Description
- 1 folder of textual records
- 91 photographs : b&w ; 25 x 20 cm or smaller
- 1 map : 46 x 65 cm
- Admin History/Bio
- Samuel Posluns (1910–1994) was born in Toronto to Abraham Isaac Poslaniec (1870–1922) and Sheindel Saltzman (1872–1960). He had three brothers and three sisters: Joseph, Louis, Abe, Gertrude Miriam, Anne, and Sarah. His father, Abraham, established the family-run clothing firm Superior Cloak Company in 1916. In 1934, it was bankrupted and closed after a lengthy strike. In 1936, Samuel opened his own business, Popular Cloak Company. In 1967, the Posluns family purchased Tip Top Tailors, in partnership with entrepreneur Jimmy Kay. A year later they incorporated their new venture under the name of Dylex as a holding company for the Tip Top chain of stores.
- During the Second World War, Samuel Posluns served as a member of the air force reserves. After the war, he was elected president of the United Jewish Welfare Fund in 1947. That same year, in collaboration with the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Jewish Labour Committee, Posluns helped lead the Tailor Project along with Max E. Enkin, which was aimed at helping Jewish displaced persons immigrate to Canada by securing them employment as tailors. A committed advocate for Jewish education, Posluns also served as the first president and founding chair of the Board of Jewish Education (BJE) in 1949. He remained honorary president for life and continued to attend meetings until health problems held back his participation in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Posluns was also a founding board member of the North York General Hospital.
- Samuel Posluns died in Toronto in 1994.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of records related to the Posluns family and their clothing business, Popular Cloak Company. The records include correspondence, financial records, periodicals and newsletters, photographs, certificates and personal identification. The fonds also includes textual documents and photos documenting Samuel Posluns' involvement in the Tailor Project.
- Name Access
- Bergen-Belsen (Concentration camp)
- Canadian Jewish Congress
- Enkin, Max E.
- Jewish Labour Committee
- Popular Cloak Company
- Posluns, Samuel, 1910-1994
- Subjects
- Clothing trade
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
- Immigrants--Canada
- Access Restriction
- Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA director prior to accessing some of the records.
- Creator
- Posluns, Samuel, 1910-1994
- Places
- Germany
- Accession Number
- 1997-7-6
- 2004-5-79
- Source
- Archival Descriptions