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

2919

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[19--]

Physical Description

2 photographs : (1 negative)

Scope and Content

For identification, see accession record.

Notes

Photo by Schlochter.

Name Access

Farband

Subjects

Students

Places

Toronto (Ont.)

Accession Number

1981-6-3

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2466

Material Format

graphic material

Date

July 1918

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a group photograph of delegates at the first Ontario conference of the Jewish National Workers' Alliance (Farband) in Toronto. Identified in the photograph are Steinhouse (George's father); Moshe [Kirshenbaum?]; Zalman Cohen; H. M. Kirshenbaum; Avrom Freiman; Benny Shatz; Louis Shatz; Abi Shatz.

Notes

From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.

Name Access

Jewish National Workers' Alliance

Farband

Subjects

Congresses and conventions

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

1980-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2473

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1918

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a copy print of the members composite of the Borochov Branc 124 of the Jewish National Workers' Alliance.

Notes

From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.

Name Access

Borochov

Farband

Jewish National Workers' Alliance

Subjects

Labor movement

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

1980-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

1455

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[between 1915 and 1918]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of members of the Toronto Poalei Zion group in front of a house.

Individuals in the photograph include: Abraham Walerstein, Esther Walerstein (child), [?] Lapidus, [Gertler?], Matisyohu Kramer, Leibe Bograd, H. H. Kirshenbaum, Louie Coldoff, S. Shapiro, Minnie Shapiro, Florence Manson, [?] Mitchell, [?] Green, Ziskind Socol, Taibeh Socol, Harry Sher, Mr. & Mrs. Schwartzbaum, [?] Heller, Archie Edelstein, [Kalman?] Wagner, Harry Green, [Mrs. Green?], Dave Gold.

Notes

Photograph was copied by the archives in 1977 and the original was subsequently donated to the archives in 1992.

See accession form for information on the locations of these individuals in the photograph.

Name Access

Poalei Zion

Farband

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

1977-8-27

1992-8-5

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

1454

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[between 1915 and 1918]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a group photograph of Toronto Poalei Zion members.

Notes

Photograph was copied by the archives in 1977 and the original was subsequently donated to the archives in 1992.

Name Access

Poalei Zion

Farband

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

Queen's Park (Toronto, Ont.)

Accession Number

1977-8-27

1992-8-5

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

1453

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[between 1915 and 1918]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of the Poalei Zion group standing in front of a statue at Queen's park in Toronto.

Notes

Photograph was copied by the archives in 1977 and the original was subsequently donated to the archives in 1992.

Name Access

Poalei Zion

Farband

Subjects

Statues

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

Queen's Park (Toronto, Ont.)

Accession Number

1977-8-27

1992-8-5

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2465

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[1918 or 1919]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

Item is a photograph of members of the Poalei Zion assembled in front of an unidentified house in Toronto. Indentified in the photograph are: Archie Edelstein; Izzie Edelstein; Mr. and Mrs. Frankel; [?] Belke; Mr. Feldman; Zalman Cohen; Abie Shatz; David Gold; Abe Wolerstein; Esther Wolerstein (m. Grant); Sholom Katz; Chaim Langer; Mr. and Mrs. Sokol; Harry Sher; Louis Koldoff; H. M. Kirshenbaum; Leibe Bograd; Mr. Shapiro (Ben-Zion's father); Min Shapiro; Kalmen Wagner; David Lewis; Pesach Kates; Mr. Mitchell; Florence Monson; Max Monson.

Notes

From the Seymour and Abi Shatz Collection.

Name Access

Farband

Poalei Zion

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

1980-12-2

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2913

Material Format

graphic material

Date

1913

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Scope and Content

For identification notes, please see accession record.

Name Access

Borochov, Ber

Farband

Poalei Zion

Subjects

Zionism

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

1981-4-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Level

Item

Item

2319

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1940]

Physical Description

2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)

Name Access

Menachovsky, M.

Poalei Zion

Farband

Subjects

Anniversaries

Dinners and dining

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

1980-9-1

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Isaac Matenko fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

89

Material Format

graphic material

textual record

Date

1911-1971, predominant 1911-1935

Physical Description

6 cm of textual records

17 photographs

Admin History/Bio

Isaac Matenko (1874–1960) was a founder, teacher, and principal of the I. L. Peretz School. He worked tirelessly to preserve and promote secular Jewish culture and the Yiddish language in Toronto. He was also a prominent member of local Jewish organizations, such as the Socialist-Territorialist Club and the Yiddish Kultur Gesellshaft.

Isaac was born on 1 February 1874 in the town of Makariv, located in the Kyiv Oblast (province) of Ukraine. He married Elke Yelia Moshkevitch (1878–19 November 1953) on 4 August 1900 in Yekaterinoslav (today Dnipro). They immigrated from czarist Russia to Toronto in 1906, passing first through New York with their two children, Percy (30 June 1901–May 1987) and Theodore (1903–1906, died of measles at Ellis Island), and Yelia’s three sisters, Dvora, Bracha, and Celia, and Isaac’s younger half-brother, Paul Frumhartz. They had two more children after arriving: Abraham (14 August 1908–October 24, 1989) and Shoshana (Sue) (1911–2001). Although he had been a teacher in Russia, Isaac worked as an operator in a cloak factory in Toronto, where he was instrumental in forming the union (likely the Cloakmakers’ Union of Toronto, which later affiliated with the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union).

As a child, Isaac received a traditional Jewish education. This, combined with his self-taught secular education and the teachings of Yiddish nationalist Dr. Chaim Zhitlovski, informed his future career and philosophies. He was described as an idealist by his friends, whose dedication to Yiddish culture and language motivated him to bring this knowledge to a younger generation.

On 11 July 1911, Isaac and his fellow Socialist-Territorialist members established the Toronto Yiddish National-Radical School. By 1916, it had been taken over by the Workmen’s Circle and renamed the I. L. Peretz School, after the well-known Yiddish author and playwright. The school began in a rented room at the Zionist Institute on Simcoe Street, moving to larger locations on Richmond Street West, then Beverley Street as it grew. Eventually, several more branches opened, such as the Maria Street school that Isaac was affiliated with. He taught at the school for free in the evenings after working during the day in a shop. His brother Paul was also a founding teacher at the school.

Isaac was described by family, friends, and community members as a passionate teacher with an iron will. He was well-versed in Jewish knowledge, with a desire to pass it on to a younger generation and his fellow union members. He remained involved in the school and in teaching, even after retirement. He died on 2 June 1960 at the age of eighty-six.

Custodial History

These records were donated to the OJA by Sue Levy, daughter of Isaac Matenko.

Scope and Content

Fonds consists of records documenting Isaac Matenko's involvement with the Workmen's Circle and other Jewish organizations. Included are photographs, programmes, certificates, I. L. Peretz School jubilee books, a songbook, a yearbook, articles, and newsclippings.

Fonds has been arranged into one series for the Workmen's Circle. There are also two files attached to the fonds-level. The records are described at the series and file-level, with some item-level descriptions.

Name Access

Arbeiter Ring

Arbeiter Ring Schools

Arbeter Ring

Camp Yungvelt

Frumhartz, Paul

I.L. Peretz

Matenko, Isaac, 1874-1960

Matenko, Percy

National Radical School

Peretz Shule

Workman's Circle

Workmen's Circle

Subjects

Schools

Teachers

Yiddish language

Related Material

For additional Workmen's Circle records, see: accessions 1979-4-4, 1980-2-2, 1983-6-3, 1984-10-1, 1986-4-1, 1992-1-2, 1997-2-1, 1998-3-32, 2004-5-41, 2004-5-105, and fonds 30.

For additional Camp Yungvelt records, see: accessions 1979-4-4, 1986-4-1, 1991-12-4, 1993-6-6, 1999-5-1, 2004-5-37, 2005-6-4, 2006-12-3, photographs # 2964, # 4014, # 6021, MG2N1K, Benjamin Brown fonds 49, and Dorothy Dworkin Fonds 10 (item 14).

Creator

Matenko, Isaac, 1874-1960

Accession Number

1987-11-4

1991-4-2

2007-5-3

2007-6-28

Source

Archival Descriptions

Part Of

Dorothy Dworkin fonds

Level

Item

Fonds

10

Item

14

Material Format

graphic material

Date

[ca. 1915]

Physical Description

1 photograph : b&w ; 13 x 18 cm

Scope and Content

Identified is: second row (left to right): -- , -- , -- , -- , ? Rigelhaupt, Joseph? Daniluk, -- , --.

Bottom row (left to right) : -- , -- , Boris Litman, Morris Langbord, -- , Paul Frumartz, -- , ? Riba.

Rigelhaupt (or Rigelhoff), was the choirmaster.

Notes

Inscription of title in Yiddish, recto, bottom.

Inscription, recto, lower left: BY SIMON.

Name Access

Arbeiter Ring

Camp Yungvelt

Daniluk, Joseph

Frumartz, Paul

Langbord, Morris

Litman, Boris

Riba

Rigelhaupt

Rigelhoff

Subjects

Camps

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

2005-4-5

Source

Archival Descriptions