Name
Fred Schaeffer
Material Format
sound recording
Interview Date
11 Jul. 1980
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Fred Schaeffer
Number
OH 24
Subject
Communities
Immigrants--Canada
Rabbis
Synagogues
Interview Date
11 Jul. 1980
Quantity
1
Interviewer
Stephen Speisman
Total Running Time
Side 1: 31 minutes
Side 2: 9 minutes
Conservation
Copied August 2003
Use Restrictions
Copyright is held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. Please contact the archives to obtain permission prior to use.
Biography
Fred Schaeffer's wife, Beverley, grew up in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. Beverley's grandfather, Hyman Kaplan, emigrated from Vilna, Lithuania in 1907, and after a few years in New York, moved to Toronto. Shortly afterwards, he became the first Jew to settle in Kirkland Lake in 1914.
In the 1920s, the Jewish community in Kirkland Lake built a permanent synagogue and acquired an aron kodesh of eastern European design, its lamps, railings, pews and reader’s desk, from the disbanded Ukrainishe Shul in Montreal. In the 1970s, the Kirkland Lake Synagogue disbanded and Fred and Beverly Schaeffer acquired the aron kodesh, all of its furnishings, the ner tamid, and the parochet. They generously donated these Jewish artifacts to Beth Tikvah Synagogue, Toronto, in 1988, in memory of Isadore Kaplan, father of Beverly Schaeffer and Erich Schaeffer, father of Fred Schaeffer.
Fred married Beverley in Toronto. Like many children from Kirkland Lake, Beverley had moved to the city to attend university. Fred and Beverley are keen collectors of Canadian art. He is a retired civil engineer and a former chair of the Canadian Art Historical Committee at the AGO.
Material Format
sound recording
Name Access
Atkins (family)
Bucavetsky (family)
Cochrane (Ont.)
Etkins (family)
Mallins (family)
Purkiss (family)
Schaeffer, Fred
Geographic Access
Ansonville (Ont.)
Engelhart (Ont.)
Kirkland Lake (Ont.)
Krugerdorf (Ont.)
Ontario, Northern
Timmins (Ont.)
Original Format
Audio cassette
Copy Format
Audio cassette
Digital file
Transcript
G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 24 - Schaeffer\OH24_001_Log.docx
G:\Description\Oral Histories\OH 24 - Schaeffer\OH24_002_Log.docx
Source
Oral Histories

In this clip, Fred Schaeffer and Stephen Speisman discuss some of the earliest synagogues established in Northern Ontario.

In this clip, Fred Schaeffer relates colourful anecdotes about the first Jewish settler in the Swastika-Kirkland area, Roza Brown.

Accession Number
2015-9-6
Source
Archival Accessions
Accession Number
2015-9-6
Material Format
textual record
Physical Description
1 folder of textual records
Date
1950-1972
Scope and Content
Accession consists of letters to and from Dr. Joseph Klinghofer, the Educational Director of Canadian Jewish Congress. The correspondence relates to the search for ritual and educational leaders for placement in Jewish communities outside of Toronto such as St. Catharines, Timmins, Belleville, Peterborough, Kirkland Lake, Guelph, Hamilton, Bramalea, North Bay, Windsor, Maritimes, Manitoba and the USA.
Custodial History
There is no information on the acquisition of this material.
Subjects
Education
Religion
Communities
Name Access
Canadian Jewish Congress, Central Region (Toronto, Ont.)
Klinghofer, Joseph
Places
St. Catharines (Ont.)
Timmins (Ont.)
Belleville (Ont.)
Peterborough (Ont.)
Kirkland Lake (Ont.)
Guelph (Ont.)
Hamilton (Ont.)
Bramalea (Brampton, Ont.)
North Bay (Ont.)
Windsor (Ont.)
Manitoba
United States
Maritime Provinces
Source
Archival Accessions