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

Harold S. Kaplan fonds

Level

Fonds

Fonds

27

Material Format

multiple media

Date

[ca.1910]-1968

Physical Description

345 architectural drawings and other material

Admin History/Bio

Harold Solomon Kaplan (1895-1973) was a Toronto-based architect who, in partnership with Abraham Sprachman in the firm Kaplan & Sprachman, was well-known for the design of Art deco and Art moderne movie theatres in the 1930s and 1940s and for designing buildings for Jewish communities across Canada from the 1930s to the 1960s.

Kaplan was born 10 Sept. 1895, in Bucharest, Romania. At the age of three, he and his widowed mother, Tillie Hohan, moved to London, England, and in 1902 they moved to Toronto where his mother subsequently married Frank Kaplan. While in his teens, Kaplan spent time in Philadelphia living with an uncle and studying draftsmanship. Upon returning to Toronto, Kaplan attended Toronto Technical School where he took courses in architecture and building construction. He also served an apprenticeship with the architect Henry Simpson. In 1919-1920, Kaplan worked for the firm of Page & Warrington, before establishing Kaplan & Sprachman with Abraham Sprachman in 1922. In 1923, he married Dorothy Spain. They had two daughters, Phyllis (Pepper) and Ruthetta (Reiss).

Kaplan & Sprachman were best known for their more than 300 movie theatre projects completed from the 1920s to the 1960s, designing and renovating theatres across Canada in progressive "modern" styles and using innovative building materials. In 1937, they were awarded the bronze medal in the Sixth Biennial Toronto Exhibition for their interiors to the Eglinton Theatre (400 Eglinton Ave. W.) in Toronto, considered to be the finest example of their Art deco design work.

Over the course of their careers, they designed many synagogues for the Jewish community, such as the Anshei Minsk and Shaarei Shomayim synagogues in Toronto, Beth Israel Synagogue, Edmonton, and Beth Israel Synagogue in Vancouver. They also designed the new Mount Sinai Hospital, the Oakdale Golf & Country Club, the Jewish Home for the Aged (Baycrest), and the Jewish Community Centres of Toronto and Hamilton. Their design for the Oakdale Golf & Country Club was chosen as a Canadian entrant in the Arts Competition of the 14th Olympic Games in London, 1948.

In addition to the projects already mentioned, Kaplan & Sprachman worked on retail stores, warehouses and factories, apartment buildings, and single family residences. Their partnership continued until 1965, when the firm of Kaplan & Sprachman was dissolved as of 30 October 1965. Kaplan continued to work as an architectural consultant for several years after this date. Harold Kaplan died 1 April 1973 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Kaplan was a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, the Ontario Association of Architects, and the Province of Quebec Association of Architects. Kaplan & Sprachman's contribution to the architecture profession was recognized by the Ontario Association of Architects when both Kaplan's and Abraham Sprachman's names were entered on the Honor Roll for prominent members of the profession, established by the association in 1989.

Scope and Content

The fonds documents Kaplan's work as an architect from the 1930s to the 1960s with Kaplan & Sprachman and some of the consulting work he undertook after the dissolution of the partnership in 1965, primarily through architectural drawings and photographs. The preponderance of the materials relates to a series of renovations of Loew's Yonge Street Theatre (189 Yonge St., Toronto, now the Elgin Theatre) and the Uptown Theatre (764 Yonge St., Toronto, just South of Bloor St.) between the 1930s and 1960s, and Kaplan & Sprachman's design of the Primrose Club (Russell Hill Rd at St. Clair Ave., Toronto) in 1958-1959. There is also a large number of photographs by commercial photographers of movie theatres designed or renovated by Kaplan & Sprachman.

Project records are arranged chronologically, with sub-sub-series defined for successive projects at the same site. Some of the materials document project proposals which were not carried out (e.g., proposed renovations of the Winter Garden Theatre).

Other series in the fonds contain business correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning Kaplan & Sprachman projects, and a small amount of personal material such as family photographs, awards Kaplan received over the years for his design work and a colour photocopy of the invitation to Kaplan's stag party in 1923.

Notes

Includes: 132 photographs (131 b&w, including 8 negatives; 1 col.), 8 cm of textual records, and 1 bronze medal.

Name Access

Kaplan, Harold S., 1895-1973

Kaplan & Sprachman (Firm)

Loew's Yonge Street Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Primrose Club (Toronto, Ont.)

Uptown Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)

Physical Condition

Some of the blueprints and drawings are torn or water-damaged. All of the architectural drawings are currently stored in rolls.

Related Material

Accession 2003-7-1 contains additional photographs of buildings designed or renovated by Kaplan & Sprachman, as well as a copy of a published inventory of Kaplan & Sprachman movie theatre projects, compiled by Mandel Sprachman from Kaplan & Sprachman records

Mina Sprachman, widow of Abraham Sprachman, discusses Kaplan & Sprachman in oral history recording AC-142

Kaplan & Sprachman records can also be found in the Mandel Sprachman fonds, at the City of Toronto Archives

Creator

Kaplan, Harold S., 1895-1973

Accession Number

2003-6-1

2004-3-4

Source

Archival Descriptions