Part Of

David Pinkus fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

138

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

graphic material (electronic)

architectural drawing

philatelic record

sound recording

cartographic material

object

Date

1854-2021

Physical Description

ca. 2.4 m of textual records

ca. 600 photographs : b&w and col. (ca. 90 negatives); 30 x 35 cm or smaller

other material

Admin History/Bio

David Pinkus (1924-2021) was born on May 11, 1924, at the Toronto General Hospital to Isadore Pinkus (1887-1947) and Molly (Mollie) Pinkus (née Parelstein) (1892-1990). Isadore was born in Kiev Gubernia of the Russian Empire; Molly was born in Podolia Gubernia of the Russian Empire and later moved to Ukraine with her family. Isadore and Molly met and married in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1910 and moved to Toronto in 1911. The Pinkus family settled in Kensington Market in around 1914 and was one of the first Jewish settlers to the Kensington neighbourhood. David spent his entire life living in the Kensington Market area. He lived on 83 Huron Street until 1927 when the Pinkus family moved to 34 Nassau Street, which has been the house of the Pinkus family ever since. David had two siblings: brother Max and sister Goldie.

In his childhood, David attended the Brunswick Talmud Torah daily and learned Hebrew. He had his bar mitzvah at the Kiever Shul. David attended William Houston School until 1930 and Ryerson Public School until grade eight. Later, he attended Harbord School for high school and was also involved with sports at Harbord Collegiate and YMHA. In 1947, David obtained his Bachelor of Applied Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toronto. After graduation, he worked at Goodyear for one year and returned to the University of Toronto as an instructor of engineering drawing and machine design. Later, he worked at various places such as Canadian Industries Limited in Maitland, Toronto Iron Works, and Avro Aircraft Limited.

David’s father, Isadore, was one of the founders of the Kiever Synagogue. David’s involvement with the Kiever Synagogue started in 1947, following Isadore’s death. David served as president and held positions on the executive of the Kiever Shul and played a principal role in the restoration of the shul. He also served on Toronto’s Board of Health as well as the boards of the Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, and St. Christopher House. In addition, David was an active community leader and local historian. He did genealogical research for many Toronto Jewish families. David had been recognized by the National Jewish Federation of North America as a Jewish community hero in 2011. He passed away on May 6, 2021.

Custodial History

Records received after the death of David Pinkus through Joseph Solomon, the executor of David Pinkus’ estate. Records have been selected by archivists following a site visit at David’s home at 34 Nassau Street, Toronto.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of textual records, graphic material, sound recordings, architectural drawings, artifacts, and a small number of philatelic records, most of which document David Pinkus’ career and personal life, the Pinkus family, the Kiever Shul, the Kiever Cemetery, as well as Mount Sinai Cemetery Association (Mount Sinai Memorial Park) and the Dawes Road Cemeteries (Amalgamated Dawes Road Trustees), of which the Kiever Congregation is a member organization. Also included are documents and photographs of other individuals and families, which David collected for his genealogical research, and those that are pertaining to Kensington Market and other congregations and cemeteries.

Textual records include correspondence; scrapbooks; education records; identification documents; research notes and clippings relating to David’s genealogical research; documents pertaining to his Kensington Market activism and community work; files on David’s engineering career and his role as president of the Kiever Shul; and files documenting the Pinkus family members, such as funeral documents, notebooks, family correspondence, voters’ lists, and records relating to Pinkus Fruit Co. and 34 Nassau Street. Also included are records documenting the Kiever Shul, which include meeting minutes, ledger books, financial documents, legal documents, membership lists and application forms, address books, high holiday service cards, and historic papers dating from the 1920s and 1930s. Textual records documenting the Kiever Cemetery, Mount Sinai Memorial Park, and the Dawes Road Cemeteries are mainly comprised of cemetery maps, burial plot cards, burial record books, by-laws and regulations, and meeting minutes. Also present are records pertaining to other congregations and cemeteries, such as constitution books, brochures, booklets, and copies of legal documents.

Photographs mainly feature David Pinkus and the Kiever Cemetery, with a small number featuring the Pinkus family members, the Junction Synagogue (Congregation Knesseth Israel), the Great Choral Synagogue of Kyiv, and those that David collected for his genealogical research.

Architectural drawings of this fonds include the restoration and renovation plan for the Kiever Shul and the alteration plan for Mount Sinai Cemetery Administration Building.

Also present are sound recordings, including cassettes and microcassettes of David Pinkus; and artifacts, including felt patches, pin back buttons, medals, Toronto foot-pedlar registration badges, and a wooden gavel of the Kiever Shul.

Fonds has been arranged into the following series: David Pinkus’ personal records; Kensington Market; David Pinkus’ genealogical research; the Pinkus family; the Kiever Shul; the Kiever Cemetery; Mount Sinai Memorial Park; the Dawes Road Cemeteries; and other associations, congregations, and cemeteries.

Notes

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION NOTE: Also included are 22 architectural drawings, 7 maps, 4 audio cassettes, 2 microcassettes, 1 optical disc, 8 drawings, 2 prints, 1 photo collage, 34 pinback buttons, 15 Toronto padler-on-foot registration badges, 8 felt patches, 3 medals, 3 brooches, 1 wooden gavel, 2 tax tokens, 2 postage stamps, 1 sales tax stamp, and 9 revenue stamps.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE: Books that were initially included in this fonds have been removed and incorporated into the OJA’s library collection. These books are: Spadina Avenue by Rosemary Donegan with an introduction by Rick Salutin, Toronto No Mean City by Eric Arthur revised by Stephen A. Otto, Canadian Jewish Directory edited by Edmond Y. Lipsitz, The Toronto Jewish Directory, and The Canada Year Book 1905 (second series).

HISTORY/BIO NOTE: Information is sourced from OH 413 and the content of the fonds.

Name Access

Pinkus, David, 1924-2021

Kiever Synagogue (Toronto, Ont.)

Mount Sinai Cemetery Association (Toronto, Ont.)

Mount Sinai Memorial Park (Toronto, Ont.)

Dawes Road Cemetery (Toronto, Ont.)

Amalgamated Dawes Road Trustees (Toronto, Ont.)

Subjects

Families

Synagogues

Genealogy

Cemeteries

Access Restriction

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

Repro Restriction

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

Related Material

See accessions 2004-1-5, 2004-1-6, 2004-2-1, 2008-11-9, 2016-3-48, and 2021-10-1 for additional information on the Kiever Shul; and OH 413 for more information on David Pinkus and the Pinkus family.

Arrangement

Records came into the OJA with no discernible order. Arrangement has been imposed by the archivist.

Creator

Pinkus, David, 1924-2021

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Kensington Market (Toronto, Ont.)

Accession Number

2021-7-3

Source

Archival Descriptions

Accession Number

1982-9-2

Material Format

textual record

Physical Description

7 microfilm reels

Date

1856-1969

Scope and Content

Accession consists of seven microfilm reals documenting the early years of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto. Reels are as follows:

Reel 1: Minutes, 1856-1901; Building Committee, 1894-1897.

Reel 2: Minutes, 1894-1900; Collection Books, 1902-1919; By-laws and Minutes, 1939-1956; By-laws for Holy Blossom Cemeteries; Minutes, 1930-1947; Building Committee, 1937; New Synagogue, 1938.

Reel 3: By-laws and Minutes, 1939-1956.

Reel 4: Register of Toronto Hebrew Congregation; Births, 1857-1868; Marriages, 1851-1894; Burials, 1848 -1900; Large Marriage Register 1858 -1878; By-laws 1876-? (Handwritten), 1894, 1904, 1929, 1949,1955 (printed); By-laws Cemeteries ?-1921; Cash Books, 1900; Monthly Cash Books, 1919; Letterpress copy book and instructions for use; Records and letters from 1891; Letterbooks, 1891-1894; Aliyah Book (which is a small hard cover indexed book containing names of members in English and Hebrew, used for calling members to bless and read the Torah) ca. 1890; January 1921- Ecumenical Service; February 1928- first Canadian exchange of pulpits with Rev. E. Crossley Hunter of Carlton Street United Church and Rabbi Abraham Feinberg participating; Toronto Hebrew Ladies Sick and Benevolent Society Minutes instituted in January 1868, original charter 9 July 1877, later became Toronto Hebrew Benevolent Society; Centennial preparation, committee, service, memorials and interview reports with older members of the congregation.

Reel 5: Collection Books, 1884 -1919.

Reel 6: Officers' Minutes, 1952-1964; Board and Annual Meeting Minutes, 1964-1965; Board Minutes, 1966-1967; Board of Trustees Minutes, 1968-1969; Officers, Trustees & Committee Chairmen; Minutes, 1965-1969.

Reel 7: 11 May 1967 onward

MG_RG

MG 3 A1

Subjects

Synagogues

Name Access

Holy Blossom Temple (Toronto, Ont.)

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Source

Archival Accessions

Part Of

The Shuls Project fonds

Reference series

Level

Series

Fonds

64

Series

5

Material Format

textual record

graphic material

architectural drawing

Date

1859-1980

Physical Description

35 cm of textual records

10 photographs

41 architectural drawings

Scope and Content

Series contains reference materials created by and written about the synagogues. Primary records include commemorative booklets, a small number of newsletters, brochures, and programs from special events. There are also newspaper clippings and copied articles providing histories of synagogues. There is a small number of photograph prints and negatives, but many of the files also include photographs from books, magazines or photocopies. The series is arranged in alphabetical order by city, then by synagogue. Not every synagogue the project team researched has a reference file, and there may be reference files for shuls for which no photographs survive.

Subjects

Synagogues

Repro Restriction

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

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

The Shuls Project fonds

Reference series

Level

File

Fonds

64

Series

5

File

41

Material Format

textual record

architectural drawing

Date

1859-1978

Physical Description

1 folder of textual records

4 architectural drawings

Scope and Content

File contains photocopied articles, a newspaper clipping, photocopied photographs, a greeting card with photograph on cover, copies of the 1859 contract commissioning the erection of the synagogue as well as a list of specifications for the masons, and blueprints for the 1967 extension.

Subjects

Synagogues

Repro Restriction

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

Places

Montréal (Québec)

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

The Shuls Project fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

64

Material Format

multiple media

Date

1859-1980, predominant 1977-1979

Physical Description

ca. 5178 photographs and other material

Admin History/Bio

The “Shuls Project” was the work of three University of Toronto architecture students, who in 1977 wrote a research paper on the eight Toronto synagogues built before World War II. Concerned at the lack of resources on these synagogues, Sidney Tenenbaum, Lynn Milstone and Sheldon Levitt foresaw the loss of communities’ recorded history as membership dwindled and elders passed on. The students conceived a project that would photograph and document every synagogue in Canada, gathering visual evidence, memorabilia, plaques and stories before they disappeared and history was lost. The students’ goal was to document synagogues’ architecture, art, and historical development through research, interviews and site visits.

The students secured a large portion of the required funding for the project from the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation in Montreal, funding which was matched by the Canadian Jewish Congress. This financial support enabled Levitt, Milstone and Tenenbaum to begin their study, named “Shuls… A Study of Canadian Synagogue Architecture.” They began in the summer of 1977, traveling through the Western provinces. The next summer, they visited eight Maritime cities, Montreal and other Quebec communities. Financial support in the project’s second year was again provided by the Bronfman Family Foundation, along with the Canadian government and donations in kind from businesses, including Benjamin Photo Finishers in Toronto, and Polaroid. The summer of 1979 was spent in Ontario, with an added grant from Wintario. In total, the Shuls project team traveled over 24,000 kilometres, taking thousands of photographs and conducting several hundred interviews. Photographs were taken by Tenenbaum, with Levitt and Milstone assuming primary responsibility for researching synagogues’ history and gathering historic records. Interviews were conducted by all three researchers, in both English and Yiddish.

With no handy index of every shul in Canada, the researchers located small shuls by word of mouth. They spread word of their project and solicited assistance using press releases, letters to known communities, and slideshow presentations as they traveled. They would first examine a building to get an idea of a community’s character and heritage, then conduct interviews with designers, architects, rabbis and other prominent community members.

With the research and photographs created, the team compiled three catalogues of the Western, Eastern/Quebec, and Ontario phases of the project. These catalogues have entries on each synagogue that include historical summaries highlighting the founding, growth, mergers and decline of Jewish communities, their changing needs, changing architectural expressions and trends, and the evolving uses of synagogues over the course of the twentieth century. There are also building descriptions, some with critical comments by the authors, and lists of the photographs and slides produced.

The compilation of materials and preparation of these catalogues took place at the Project’s offices at 26 Ava Road in Toronto, and continued through the summer of 1980 when the Ontario catalogue was completed. In 1985, Tenenbaum, Milstone and Levitt published a book highlighting their work, called Treasures of a People: The Synagogues of Canada.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of the records created and collected by the team of students conducting the Shuls study from 1977 to 1980. The majority of the fonds is made up of graphic material, in the form of 35mm colour slides and black-and-white Polaroid prints and (print-size) negatives. There are approximately 5110 photographs in the fonds. Fonds also consists of notes and inventory forms of buildings' architectural features. There are no interview transcripts, but the fonds does include three audio cassettes with recorded interviews and shul tours. Reference materials used in researching the history of the shuls include dedication and anniversary commemorative books and programmes, newsletters, articles and newspaper clippings. In addition the fonds contains 47 blueprints, the majority from Montreal synagogues. The fonds is arranged in the following series: 1. Quebec synagogues; 2. Ontario synagogues; 3. Western Canada synagogues; 4. Eastern Canada synagogues; 5. Reference.

Notes

Physical description note: includes 92 cm of textual records, 42 architectural drawings, 3 audio cassettes, and 1 drawing.

Physical extent note: many of the slides were culled because they were felt to be reproductions. Some of the synagogue images in the research book may therefore not be included in the fonds.

Name Access

Shuls Project

Subjects

Synagogues

Repro Restriction

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

Creator

Levitt, Sheldon

Milstone, Lynn

Tenenbaum, Sidney T.

Places

Canada

Source

Archival Descriptions