Level
Item
ID
Item 4294
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
Item
4294
Material Format
graphic material
Date
[1925 or 1926]
Physical Description
2 photographs : b&w (1 negative)
Scope and Content
Identified third from left: William Shankman.
Notes
Photo by Midland Press Agency, 520 Suffolk St., Birmingham.
Subjects
Orchestra
Theaters
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
Birmingham (England)
Accession Number
1987-9-5
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
ID
Item 50
Source
Archival Descriptions
Level
Item
Item
50
Material Format
graphic material
Date
1925
Physical Description
1 photograph : b&w ; 12 x 17 cm
Admin History/Bio
Moses Gelber (1876–1940) was a businessman and a prominent member of Toronto’s Jewish community in the early 1900s. He was born in Brzezany, Galicia on 1 October 1876 to Nathan Gelber and Rosie Altman. In 1894, he immigrated to Toronto where he and his brother, Louis Gelber, opened a clothing business. After operating this business for twenty-five years, Moses and Louis entered the wool industry. Their company, Gelber Bros. Ltd., was located on 217 Richmond St. West.
In 1901, Moses married Sophie Sparber (1882–1907) and together they had two sons: Israel Gelber (1902–1913) and Edward E. Gelber (1903–1970). In 1907, Sophie gave birth to a stillborn baby and passed away a few days later from an infection related to the birth. Moses was remarried later that year to Sophie Gradinger (1879–1953) of Montreal. They lived in Toronto on 483 Huron Street.
Moses was involved in many philanthropic and charitable activities. For instance, during the First World War, he helped raise funds for Jewish people afflicted by the war in Europe and was vice-president of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies. Moses also had close ties to Canada’s Zionist movement and was vice-president of the Dominion Organization, president of the Central Division of Ontario, and president of Toronto’s Zionist Council. Moses was active in many other Jewish community organizations. He was a member of the board of governors of the University Avenue Synagogue and president of the Talmud Torah and YMHA on Brunswick Avenue. He was also a member of B’nai Zion, IOBB, and the Primrose Club of Toronto. When the Canadian Jewish Congress was formed in 1919, Moses was elected as one of its founding delegates.
Scope and Content
Item consists of a black-and-white photograph of Moses Gelber.
Name Access
Gelber, Moses
Gelber, Hannah
Subjects
Businesspeople
Philanthropists
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.
Related Material
Accession #2007-6-13
Fonds #45, Item #41 photo#629A
Photo #21
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Harold S. Kaplan fonds
Architectural projects series
Loew's Theatre (189 Yonge St., Toronto) sub-series
Level
Sub-series
ID
Fonds 27; Series 1-1
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Harold S. Kaplan fonds
Architectural projects series
Loew's Theatre (189 Yonge St., Toronto) sub-series
Level
Sub-series
Fonds
27
Series
1-1
Material Format
architectural drawing
textual record
Date
1913-1959
Physical Description
57 drawings : pencil on tracing paper, blueprints and other reproductions ; 72 x 114 cm or smaller
1 cm of textual records
Admin History/Bio
Built in 1913, Loew's Yonge Street Theatre and Winter Garden Theatre complex was the flagship of Marcus Loew's Canadian theatre chain. The theatres were designed by Thomas Lamb as a "double-decker" theatre, with the Winter Garden located seven-stories above the street-level Yonge Street Theatre. This was the only double-decker theatre built in Canada and one of less than a dozen built internationally. The design was considered economical in that it provided a greater amount of seating on a given piece of real estate while allowing the theatre operator to present the same daily show in two theatres. The shows included both vaudeville acts and silent movies.
In 1928, there was a major fire on the site and the Winter Garden Theatre was closed due to the decline in popularity of vaudeville. By 1930, the Yonge Street Theatre was solely a movie theatre, equipped for sound movies. Over the years it gradually fell into disrepair, but continued as a movie theatre until 1981. It was renamed the Elgin Theatre in 1978.
In 1981, the Elgin and Winter Garden were purchased by the Ontario Heritage Foundation, and in 1987 the foundation began a two and half year, $30 million restoration of the theatres. The theatres re-opened in Dec. 1989 exclusively for theatrical productions.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of seating plans, blueprints of structural details, and floor plans, sections and elevations for successive alterations (to the entrance, lobby, basement, etc.) of the theatre. The sub-series includes a copy of a city building permit dating from 1934 for renovations carried out by Loew's Theatres Engineering Division. Some of the blueprints date from the original construction of the theatre in 1913.
The sub-series is organized into 9 sub-sub-series, corresponding to project dates of 1913, 1919, 1934, 1939, 1949 (two projects), 1952, 1957 and 1959. The earliest materials, such as those from 1913 and 1919, were not created by Kaplan & Sprachman, but were no doubt used as reference materials for their work at the theatre.
Please note that the blueprints of structural details such as columns and roof reinforcing beams may apply to the theatre complex as a whole, including the Winter Garden Theatre.
Notes
Title is derived from the formal titles of the drawings.
Name Access
Lamb, Thomas
Elgin Theatre (Toronto)
Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto)
Subjects
Theaters
Physical Condition
Some drawings are torn & damaged.
Some are discoloured or damaged by deteriorating pressure-sensitive tape.
Places
Yonge Street (Toronto, Ont.)
Accession Number
2003-6-1
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Harold S. Kaplan fonds
Architectural projects series
Loew's Uptown Theatre (Toronto) sub-series
Level
Sub-series
ID
Fonds 27; Series 1-2
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Harold S. Kaplan fonds
Architectural projects series
Loew's Uptown Theatre (Toronto) sub-series
Level
Sub-series
Fonds
27
Series
1-2
Material Format
architectural drawing
graphic material
Date
1919-1968
Physical Description
132 architectural drawings : pencil (some on tracing paper, some hand col. using pencil crayon), blueprints and other reproductions ; 76 x 106 cm or smaller
5 photographs : b&w ; 44 x 55 cm or smaller
Admin History/Bio
One of sixteen theatres in Canada designed by the well-known architect Thomas W. Lamb, the Uptown Theatre opened in 1920 as a movie and vaudeville theatre of almost 3000 seats, and was later the first theatre in Toronto equipped for sound movies. In 1960 the Uptown's main auditorium was destroyed by a major fire. Kaplan & Sprachman participated in the theatre's subsequent renovation.
In 1969 the Uptown was split into a five screen theatre through conversion of the theatre's balcony, backstage and basement areas. The Uptown was closed and demolished in late 2003 following the 28th Annual Toronto International Film Festival after the cinema operator, Famous Players, decided to close it and other theatres rather than comply with an Ontario Human Rights Commission order to make the theatres fully wheelchair-accessible.
Scope and Content
Sub-series consists of seating plans, blueprints of structural details, floor plans, sections and elevations for successive alterations (to the entrance, lobby, escalator, etc.) of the theatre, as well as several photographs of the Uptown's entrance and auditorium. The sub-series includes a number of hand-coloured drawings of the main auditorium dating from 1962, with paint and fabric samples attached, apparently associated with the re-building of the auditorium following the fire of 1960. The sub-series also includes a set of photo-reproductions of Thomas Lamb's original 1919 plans for the theatre, acquired by Kaplan & Sprachman in 1960.
The sub-series is arranged in 9 sub-sub-series corresponding to project dates of 1919, 1936, 1945, 1949, 1960, 1962, and 1968. The final sub-sub-series relates to work done by Kaplan after the dissolution of Kaplan & Sprachman.
In several cases, a sub-sub-series includes drawings and plans from earlier projects, used as reference materials for the current project.
Name Access
Lamb, Thos. W. (Thomas White), 1871-1942
Uptown Theatre (Toronto, Ont.)
Subjects
Theaters
Physical Condition
Some drawings torn or water-damaged. Some are discoloured or damaged by deteriorating pressure-sensitive tape.
Places
Toronto (Ont.)
Accession Number
2003-6-1
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Rose Dunkelman fonds
Level
Fonds
ID
Fonds 39
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Rose Dunkelman fonds
Level
Fonds
Fonds
39
Material Format
textual record
graphic material
Date
1896-1979
Physical Description
30 cm of textual records
28 photographs : b&w (11 negatives) ; 21 x 26 cm or smaller
2 scrapbooks
Admin History/Bio
Rose Dunkelman (1889–1949) was born Rose Miller in Philadelphia to Harry Miller and Dora Miller (née Belkin). At the age of thirteen, she moved to Toronto where she received her education and where she resided with her family until her death in 1949 at the age of fifty-nine. Rose Dunkelman devoted her life to helping the less fortunate, particularly children and orphans, and to championing the cause of Zionism at home and abroad. She was internationally known and respected for her philanthropic work and for her knowledge of, and dedication to, Zionist causes. She was a leader in the Canadian-Jewish community for more than thirty years.
On 19 January 1910, she married David Dunkelman (1883–1978), founder and president of Tip Top Tailors Ltd. The couple had six children: Joseph, Ernest, Benajamin, Theodora, Veronica (Annenberg) (Ourisman), and Zelda (Wilner).
Rose was a founding member of the Zionist Organization of Canada, vice-president of the Ontario Zionist Region, and founded and chaired the Canadian branch of Youth Aliyah in 1933. For over twenty-five years, Rose held various positions within the Hadassah-WIZO Organization of Canada, including president of the Toronto Council of Hadassah (1921), honorary president on the executive board (1938–40), joint chair of the war effort (1941), president of the Hadassah Organization of Canada Central Chapter of Toronto (1937–8, 1945-6), and honorary national vice-president. Rose also founded the Hadassah Bazaar in 1924. There is currently a Canadian Hadassah day care centre in Neve Sharett that is named in her honour, as well as the Rose Dunkelman Memorial Community Center in Hadassim erected in 1950 in her memory.
In 1930, prompted by the 1929 attack on Jews at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and in Hebron, Rose and David Dunkelman founded the magazine the Jewish Standard as a Zionist forum for the English-speaking Jewish population of Canada. She was the periodical's first publisher and managing editor.
After the First World War, Rose worked as an officer with the Canadian Red Cross, bringing war orphans to Canada from eastern Europe, for which she was presented with the Coronation Medal by King George VI in 1937. She was also active in the rehabilitation of First World War veterans.
During the Second World War, as chair of Ontario Youth Aliyah, Rose helped rescue children from Nazi persecution at Auschwitz, Treblinka, Buchenwald, and Dachau concentration camps and helped secure their passage to and resettlement in Palestine. Dunkelman held leadership positions in many domestic and international Jewish and Zionist programs and projects—many focused on the welfare of Jewish children—including the Jewish National Fund, Karen Hayesod, Karen Kayemeth, Young Judaea, the Toronto Hebrew Free Schools, and the YM-YWHA. She also served on the Canadian Family Allowance Board after the Second World War.
After a lengthy illness, Rose died on 20 October 1949 in Toronto at the age of fifty-nine. She was buried at Goel Tzedec's cemetery on Dawes Road and was later re-interred in Israel's national cemetery at Degania on 14 January 1953, as she requested in her will.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of personal and business correspondence, family letters, newsclippings, event invitations, articles, two scrapbook albums and other textual material relating to Dunkelman's death and re-interment in Israel, her philanthropic activities with Hadassah and Youth Aliyah, and her business activities with the Jewish Standard.
One scrapbook contains a testimonial certificate presented to Rose by Toronto Hadassah on her recovery from ill health (1926), while the other was presented to her by Toronto Hadassah on the occasion of her 57th birthday in 1946. This scrapbook contains photographs of the banquet along with several pages of signatures from members of local Hadassah chapters.
The photographs include: Rose Dunkelman's re-interment in Israel (1953), a birthday banquet for Rose hosted by Hadassah (date uncertain), a portrait of Rose as a young woman (ca. 1905), David Dunkelman as a young boy in Brooklyn, NY (1896), the groundbreaking ceremony for the Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto) extension (1966), a portrait of Benjamin Dunkelman in Israel (1953), and one photograph of Rose Dunkelman with Mrs. Sara Delano Roosevelt (1941).
Name Access
Cohen, Israel
Dunkelman, Ben, 1913-1997
Dunkelman, David
Dunkelman, Ernest
Dunkelman, Rose, 1889-1949
Dunkelman, Theodore
Dunkelman, Veronica
Dunkelman, Zelda
Dunkelman, Joseph
Family Allowance Board
Goel Tzedec Synagogue (Toronto, Ont.)
Hadassah-WIZO Organization of Canada
Hebrew Free Schools
Jewish Federated Charities
Jewish National Fund
Jewish Standard
Karen Hayesod
Karen Kayemeth
Red Cross
Steinglass, Meyer F.
Tip Top Tailors
Weisgal, Meyer
YM-YWHA
Zionist Organization of Canada
Subjects
Businesspeople
Philanthropists
Zionists
Physical Condition
Some of the documents are very brittle.
Related Material
Ben Dunkelman fonds 2: (accession 2000-3-4)
Ben Dunkelman accession: 1978-6-6
Zionist Organization of Canada fonds 28, series 6, file 27
photo #4690
Hadassah accession: 1978-1-2, 1984-12-3, 2003-3-1, MG2 J1I
The Jewish Standard: MG9
Creator
Dunkelman, Rose, 1889-1949
Accession Number
1988-5-8
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Dorothy Dworkin fonds
Level
Fonds
ID
Fonds 10
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Dorothy Dworkin fonds
Level
Fonds
Fonds
10
Material Format
textual record
graphic material
Date
1900-1971
Physical Description
12 cm of textual records
53 photographs : b&w (10 negatives) ; 23 x 30 cm or smaller
Admin History/Bio
Dorothy Dworkin (1890–1976) was a prominent healthcare worker in the Toronto Jewish community and a founder of Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto), whose family business, Dworkin Travel, assisted hundreds of European Jews in immigrating to Canada. Dworkin was born in Latvia, one of ten children of William and Sarah Goldstick. She came to Canada in 1904, at fourteen years of age. She studied nursing in the United States by training at Mount Sinai Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. She then took her exams in midwifery, and in 1909, she received her diploma from the State Board of Ohio.
Ida Siegel and her brother Abe Lewis had set up a free Jewish dispensary in Toronto on Elizabeth Street. They hired Dorothy to take charge of it after her return. She ran the dispensary during the afternoon when it was open and made house calls the rest of the day. In 1910, she helped form the dispensary's women's auxiliary. This organization distributed pasteurized milk and offered other services. Later on, they organized an orphanage for Jewish children.
In 1911, she married Henry Dworkin, who was the founder of the Toronto Labor Lyceum. The dispensary soon closed after her departure. Henry opened a small variety store in 1917, which later became the tobacco and shipping agency business called Dworkin Travel, located at 525 Dundas Street West. Together, the Dworkins helped bring in hundreds of Jewish immigrants to Toronto. They would travel to Poland, Romania, and Latvia in order to help the family members of their clients settle in Toronto. The couple had a daughter, Ellen, whom they referred to as Honey. In 1928, Henry was tragically killed in an automobile accident. The newspaper articles of the time indicated that as many as twenty thousand people honoured him by attending his funeral.
After her husband's death, Dorothy ran the travel business and continued committing a great deal of her time to charitable work. She helped open Mount Sinai Hospital in 1922 and was the president of Mount Sinai women's auxiliary. Throughout her life, Dorothy Dworkin played a pivotal role in helping to raise both public and financial support for this important institution.
Over the years, she also became the honorary president of the Sinais, a member of the Mount Sinai Hospital Board, president of the Continental Steamship Ticket Agents Association, a trustee of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, and director of the Labor Lyceum. She continued to run the business and support the activities of Mount Sinai until her death in 1976, at the age of eighty-six.
Custodial History
The records were donated by Dorothy Dworkin's daughter, Honey Arthurs, on 9 April 1973.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of material created and collected by Dorothy Dworkin. This includes documents relating to her work at Mount Sinai Hospital and at Dworkin Travel, personal papers, and family photographs.
Notes
Thirty-three photographs are originals and ten are copies. The negatives and copy photographs were made by the OJA after acquiring the photographs.
Name Access
Dworkin, Dorothy, 1890-1976
Subjects
Businesswomen
Nurses
Philanthropists
Related Material
See fonds #45, Betty Goldstick Lindgren fonds. Her sister's fonds includes family photographs and records.
Creator
Dworkin, Dorothy, 1890-1976
Accession Number
2005-4-5
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Lipa Green fonds
Level
Fonds
ID
Fonds 20
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Lipa Green fonds
Level
Fonds
Fonds
20
Material Format
textual record
graphic material
Date
[190-]-1979
Physical Description
42 cm of textual records
69 photographs : b&w and sepia (23 negatives) ; 21 x 26 cm or smaller
Admin History/Bio
Lipa (Louis) Green (1899–1976) was born on 15 April 1899 in Usupow, Poland. He immigrated to Toronto in 1910 and later began work as a bricklayer. In 1924, Lipa married Fanny Green and had three sons: Abraham (Al), Harold and Sam; and three daughters: Deana (Weiman), Rookie (Goldstein), and Shavy (Tishler). In 1948, with partner, Arthur Weinstock, he founded the Greenview Construction Company, later to be renamed Greenwin. Green's sons, Al and Harold, along with Weinstock's son-in-law Al Latner, later became involved in the business.
Green was a prominent Jewish communal leader and philanthropist in Toronto and was affiliated with organizations such as the Labor Zionists (Farband), the Jewish Vocational Service and the Jewish Public Library. He was a strong advocate of the Yiddish language and was involved with many Yiddish committees, both at the local and national levels. The current building for Jewish agencies in Toronto is named the Lipa Green Building for Jewish Community Services.
Custodial History
The records were in the possession of Lipa's son, Harold, before being donated to the OJA in January 1978.
Scope and Content
This fonds consists of records documenting Lipa Green's personal life as well as his professional and philanthropic endeavours. Included are financial documents, event invitations and programs, meeting minutes, photographs, personal, business and organizational correspondence, speeches and writings, a scrapbook, records on a cooperative Jewish summer resort near Pickering, Ontario, as well as some material produced by other organizations and collected by Green during the course of his life. Most of the personal correspondence, speeches and other writings are in Yiddish, including Green's reminiscences on his life in Poland and his bar mitzvah. The files have been grouped according to personal records, business records, organizational records and ephemera.
Name Access
Green, Lipa, 1899-1976
Subjects
Businesspeople
Immigrants--Canada
Philanthropists
Physical Condition
Some of the photographs are in very poor condition and require conservation work.
Related Material
See Gordon Mendly Fonds 18 for a portrait of Lipa Green.
Arrangement
The records had been previously arranged as MG6 A. Many of the files were kept or combined, but several new files were also created to better reflect the records in the fonds. Several files were also culled as they did not relate to the mandate of the OJA. See the accession record for further information on the culled materials.
Creator
Green, Lipa, 1899-1976
Accession Number
1978-1-4
2004-5-150
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
J. Irving Oelbaum fonds
Level
Fonds
ID
Fonds 24
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
J. Irving Oelbaum fonds
Level
Fonds
Fonds
24
Material Format
textual record
graphic material
object
Date
[189-]–1966
Physical Description
15 cm of textual records (2 vol.)
63 photographs (19 negatives)
1 artifact
Admin History/Bio
Julius Irving (J. I.) Oelbaum (1899–1966) was a dedicated community leader, whose tireless work with fraternal, educational, and philanthropic organizations included an extensive list of Toronto's prominent Jewish organizations. He was born in New York City on 11 October 1899 to Moishe Oelbaum and Miriam Oelbaum (née Jacoby). He had four brothers, Charles, Sidney, Abraham (Babe), and Cuppel (Jack). In 1906, the family moved to Toronto, where Oelbaum received his education. In 1923, he married Sadie Margulies and had two daughters, Dorothy Koven and Helen Simpson. Oelbaum was a social worker by profession, but in 1932 he went into business with his brothers and became president of the Acme Paper Products Company Limited.
J. I. Oelbaum devoted a lifetime to Jewish communal service, beginning in 1923, when he was hired as the executive director of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Toronto, a post which he retained for five years. During the same period, he was also the executive director of the Toronto Hebrew Free Loan Association and the Toronto Hebrew Free School. Oelbaum held executive lay leadership positions with numerous organizations including: District Grand Lodge No. 1, B'nai Brith, United Jewish Welfare Fund, Jewish Family Welfare Bureau, Yeshiva Torath Chaim, Zionist Organization of Canada, Canadian Jewish Congress Central Region, Joint Public Relations Committee, Jewish Immigrant Aid Society of Canada, Jewish Camp Council of Toronto, United Jewish Refugee and War Relief Agencies, Toronto Jewish Old Folks' Home, Mount Sinai Hospital, Canadian Conference of Christians and Jews, Congregation Goel Tzedec, and the YMHA.
In 1954, Oelbaum was honoured at a Jewish National Fund Negev Dinner, which over 1,400 people attended. He also received the Queen's Coronation Medal in 1952 and the Canadian Council of Christian and Jews Human Relations Award in 1953. J. Irving Oelbaum died on 2 October 1966 after a lengthy illness.
Custodial History
The records in accession 1985-5-15 were in the possession of Oelbaum's daughters, Helen Simpson and the late Dorothy Koven, before they were donated to the Archives on 29 May 1985. The photograph from accession 2004-5-31 was donated to the OJA by Oelbaum's niece, Annette Cohen.
Scope and Content
This fonds consists of records documenting J. I. Oelbaum's family and his work with Toronto Jewish organizations. The records include photographs, correspondence, event booklets and invitations, newsclippings, Oelbaum's certificate of marriage and wedding invitation, a miniature silver shovel from the turning of the sod ceremony at Baycrest Hospital, and two scrapbooks.
The photographs include portraits of Oelbaum as well as his parents, and snapshots of famous individuals attending events in Toronto, such as David Ben Gurion, Eleanor Roosevelt, Richard Nixon and Bob Hope.
Notes
A large amount of the loose newsclippings were removed from the fonds, photocopied and added to the J. I. Oelbaum clipping file.
Name Access
Oelbaum, J. Irving, 1899-1966
Subjects
Businesspeople
Immigrants--Canada
Philanthropists
Creator
Oelbaum, J. Irving, 1899-1966
Accession Number
1985-5-15
2004-5-31
Source
Archival Descriptions
Address
42 St George Street
Source
Landmarks

In 1919, Mr. Mendel Granatstein commissioned Benjamin Brown and Robert McConnell to design a three storey Classical Georgian style house located at 42 St. George Street. The house contained a unique feature -- a retractable roof used on Sukkoth. In 1947, the house was acquired by the University of Toronto and was used for a variety of purposes until it was demolished in 1999. The Bahen Centre for Information Technology now stands in its place.
Address
42 St George Street
Time Period
1919-1999
Scope Note
In 1919, Mr. Mendel Granatstein commissioned Benjamin Brown and Robert McConnell to design a three storey Classical Georgian style house located at 42 St. George Street. The house contained a unique feature -- a retractable roof used on Sukkoth. In 1947, the house was acquired by the University of Toronto and was used for a variety of purposes until it was demolished in 1999. The Bahen Centre for Information Technology now stands in its place.
History
Mr. Mendel Granatstein was a member of one of the early Jewish families of Toronto. In 1895, he founded M. Granatstein and Sons, Ltd., a junk dealing company, and by the early 20th century, he had become one of the most prosperous Jews in Toronto. Mr. Granatstein was also a community leader, having a hand in the foundation of Beth Jacob Synagogue.
Category
Architecture
Residences
Source
Landmarks