Accession Number

1991-10-7

Material Format

object

Physical Description

1 compass

Date

[between 1838 and 1850]

Scope and Content

The accession consists of one surveyor's compass, which is a surveyor's tool for measuring angles used during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The object is signed by Judah Joseph, the individual who created this device. It is suspected that there are only four (potentially less) signed artifacts by Joseph (one of which resides at the Museum of Visual Science and Optomitry in Waterloo, ON), making this one quite unique and rare.

Custodial History

Object was purchased from William Daniels in 1991 for $5500. The funds were donated by Fred Schaeffer and Nancy Draper through a UJWF grant through the Endowment Fund

Administrative History

Judah Joseph was one of the first Jewish settlers in Toronto. He was also the first purveyor of optical and mathematical instruments in Toronto. He was born in Exeter, England in 1798 and received his training in the Channel Islands. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1820 and set himself up as an optician and Jeweller in Cincinati. He moved to Hamilton, and soonafter to Toronto during the 1830s. He opened his shop at 56 King Street East in Toronto in 1838. He specialized in spectacles, mathematical instruments, jewellery, watches, silverware and other equipment that he could make or repair.

Judah Joseph was a member of the Toronto Hebrew Congregation and was a founder of the first Jewish cemetery in the city, which was located on Pape Avenue. He was buried there in 1857.

A surveying compass (also known as a circumferentor) like this one is the precursor to the theodolite which evolved in the early 1800s.

Source

Archival Accessions

Accession Number

2015-12-1

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

Physical Description

1.2 m of textual records

ca. 250 photographs : b&w and col.

Date

1776, [191-]-2012

Scope and Content

Accession consists of the records related to the life and career of Dr. Fred Wienberg. Included are textual and photographic records documenting his personal and family life, his medial career, scholarly activities, involvement with the Jewish community, his collecting of Judaica, medical antiques and art, and his synagogue involvement. Other items include the Ostrovtzer Mutual Benefit Society minute book and a 1776 letter from Jonas Phillips, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War and an American merchant in New York City and Philadelphia.

Administrative History

Fred Weinberg (1919-2003) was born in Ostrawiec, Poland on July 6, 1919 to Rose and Israel Weinberg. Israel immigrated to Canada in 1920 and his wife and children joined him several years later in March of 1924. The family settled in Toronto where Israel worked in the fur manufacturing business. Israel was a supporter and aficionado of cantorial music as well as a founder of the Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto and the Ostrovtzer Synagogue on Cecil Street.

Fred completed his primary and secondary education at Clinton Street Public School and Harbord Collegiate. He also attended the Brunswick Talmud Torah, celebrating his bar mitzvah in 1932. Fred decided to pursue a medical career, graduating from the University of Toronto’s medical school in 1944. During his studies he enlisted in the army and completed officers’ training in April 1945, attaining the rank of Captain. During his military career he served in the RCAMC at Camp Borden, Christie St. Hospital and at the Stanley Barracks in Toronto. Towards the end of the war he served as Officer in charge of repatriation of the POWs.

After the war Fred pursued his post-graduate work at Seaview and Bellevue hospitals in New York City from 1946 to 1947 and then moved on to the Children’s and Washington University hospitals in St. Louis, Missouri the following year. He was subsequently accepted as a resident at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto and was ultimately appointed Chief Resident under the supervision of the internationally renowned paediatrician, Dr. Alan Brown. In 1950, Dr. Weinberg was hired as a physician in paediatrics at Sick Kids Hospital, making him the first Jewish doctor on staff. In addition to his staff responsibilities, he also lectured and was a faculty member at the University of Toronto’s Medical School for many years.

By the mid-point of his career, Dr. Weinberg went on to specialise in Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), delivering lectures and publishing articles in medical journals. He also ran his own practice, which operated from 1950 to 1976, and later become Associate Medical Director of the Child Development Clinic, Neurology Division of Sick Kids until his retirement in 1984. He later continued his service at Sick Kids as a senior staff consultant and ran a specialized practice in Developmental Pediatrics for close to twenty years, which was later situated at 208 Bloor Street West.

Fred married Joy Cherry on December 16, 1952 at Goel Tzedec Synagogue. The couple had four children: Joel (b. 1953), Barry (b. 1955), Sari (b. 1956) and Deena (b. 1961). Throughout his life, Fred was actively engaged in Jewish communal work in a variety of capacities: assisting with the establishment of the United Synagogue Day School during the 1950s; as a fundraiser for the United Jewish Appeal (UJA); and as a participant in two of UJA’s early study missions to Israel in 1960 and 1961. He was also an influential figure within his synagogue, joining the Board of Directors of Beth Tzedec Synagogue during the late 1960s and serving as president from 1972 to 1975.

Fred and his wife Joy also collected Judaica, antiques and artwork. As a physician, Fred developed a passion and expertise in the area of medical antiques. He published articles in both the mainstream and Jewish press on subjects related to Jewish rituals, Judaica and art. He also had a regular column in the Canadian Journal of Diagnosis from 1998 to 2002 entitled “Antique instruments”. Over time, the Weinberg’s assembled a world-class collection of Judaica and became increasingly active in the museum world. Fred assisted in the establishment of Beth Tzedec’s Helene and Rubin Dennis Jewish Museum, contributing items from the couple’s Judaica collection and securing the acquisition of the renowned Cecil Roth collection for the Museum during the early to mid-1960s. As a result of his significant contributions, he was bestowed the title of honourary curator to the Museum. Dr. Weinberg later branched out and assisted with the Koffler Gallery’s Lifecycle exhibition in 1984 as guest curator. The following year, he served as a special presenter and instructor to the docents at the “Precious Legacy” Czech Judaica exhibition at the ROM. The Weinberg’s most significant contribution to the museum world, however, was marked in September of 2000, when they were honoured at the opening of the Dr. Fred and Joy Cherry Weinberg Gallery of Judaica at the ROM, featuring some of their most valuable and treasured pieces.

Dr. Fred Weinberg passed away on October 30, 2003 at 84 years of age. The Weinberg Endowment Fund was established by the family at the University of Toronto’s Jewish Studies Program to honour Fred’s passion for Jewish history, rituals and artefacts. That year the Weinberg family also set up a fund in Fred’s name in support of the Therapeutic Clown Program, a highly visible and successful program within Sick Kids’ Pediatric Division.

Use Conditions

Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the Archives to obtain permission prior to use.

Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA Director prior to accessing some of the records.

Descriptive Notes

Use Conditions Note: Records contain patient names and medical information.

Subjects

Families

Physicians

Societies

Name Access

Weinberg, Fred, 1919-2003

Source

Archival Accessions

Level

Item

Item

4811

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[18--]

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w

Admin History/Bio

Abe Stocker was the great grandfather of the wife of Ray Havelock.

Name Access

Stocker, Abe

Havelock, Ray

Talmud

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Accession Number

1985-10-9

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

1273

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[before 1918]

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w

Scope and Content

Identified in this photograph are: Mr Causen, Mr Frankel, Zalman Cohen, Dave Gold, Mr Mitchell, Lewis Freedman, Gittel Shapiro

Name Access

Farband

Subjects

Picnics

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1977-4-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

4010

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[18--]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Name Access

Cohen, Abraham

Subjects

Horse dealers

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1986-9-4

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

69

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[18--]

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w ; 21 x 26 cm

Admin History/Bio

Rabbi Sheldon Steinberg was co-founder of She'arim Hebrew Day School with Rabbi Joseph Kelman and Rabbi Yitzchak Witty.

Scope and Content

Item consists of a black-and-white photograph of an amulet from the late nineteenth century. The origin of the amulet was probably Lithuania.

Name Access

Steinberg, Sheldon, Rabbi

Repro Restriction

Copyright is in the public domain and permission for use is not required. Please credit the Ontario Jewish Archives as the source of the photograph.

Places

Lithuania

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

2021-12-1

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

Physical Description

ca. 25 cm of textual records

15 photographs : b&w and col. ; 20 x 26 cm and smaller

Date

1832-2017

Scope and Content

Accession consists of the research files of Bill Gladstone. The materials document Bill’s research on various aspects of the Jewish history of Toronto and Canada and are sourced from a variety of newspapers, books, and archival repositories. Most of the newspaper clippings and copies of clippings are from the Canadian Jewish News, Toronto Star, the National Post, and the Globe and Mail; and the copies of archival documents are mainly from the Archives of Ontario, the City of Toronto Archives, and the Ontario Jewish Archives.

Included are Bill’s newspaper articles; documents relating to Bill’s books and a publishing house that Bill established in 2008 named Now and Then Books; genealogy research materials and notes; copies of early Toronto maps; copies of articles written by Ben Kayfetz; research materials documenting Toronto local synagogues such as the Holy Blossom Temple, Goel Tzedec Synagogue, First Narayever Congregation, and McCaul St. Synagogue (Beth Hamidrash Hagadol); copies of Canadian Moving Picture Digest and Canadian Film Weekly that document the accomplishments of Jews in the Canadian film industry; and research materials pertaining to Russian Jews, Yiddish theatres and opera houses, religious education in public schools, and the history of the Jews in Toronto and Canada in general. Also included are research documents relating to Toronto Jewish neighbourhoods such as Kensington Market, The Junction, The Ward, and Bathurst Manor; and materials documenting Toronto local Jewish businesses, organizations, families, and individuals.

Accession also contains a small number of photographs that Bill took or collected during his research, most of which feature the Holy Blossom Temple, Temple Beth Israel (Macon, Georgia), and Congregation Mickve Israel (Savannah, Georgia).

Administrative History

Bill Gladstone is a researcher, journalist, author, publisher, and genealogist living in Toronto. He has written and edited numerous books on Canadian Jewish history and is a frequent contributor to the Canadian Jewish News, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, and other publications. He is often asked to give community presentations on a variety of topics related to the history of Jewish Toronto. In 2008, Bill established a publishing company named Now and Then Books. Bill is the former president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto and book review editor for Avotaynu, the international journal of Jewish genealogy.

Use Conditions

Copyright may not be held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.

Descriptive Notes

Titles of files were transcribed from their original formal titles; for files that do not bear formal titles, supplied titles were given based on file contents.

Subjects

Genealogists

Authors

Journalists

Name Access

Gladstone, Bill

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions