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Morris J. Granite
- Accession Number
- 2015-8-5
- Source
- Archival Accessions
- Accession Number
- 2015-8-5
- Material Format
- textual record
- sound recording
- Physical Description
- 60 cm of textual records
- 2 DVDs
- Date
- [196-]-2000
- Scope and Content
- Accession consists of records related to the life and literary career of Morris J. Granite. Included are manuscript copies of his published works, unpublished poems and essays, bound copies of articles written for the Canadian Jewish Outook, published issues of the same periodical, an essay describing his life in Lodz written to his grandchildren, Laura and Rebecca and an interview conducted with Morris by a group interested in establishing a Jewish museum in Toronto.
- Administrative History
- Morris J. Granite (Granatstein) was born in 1911 in Lodz, Poland and in 1926, he immigrated with his family to Toronto, Canada. He had two sisters, Eva and Leah and a brother Layzer, who was killed in the Holocaust.
- Morris served in the Royal Canadian Ari Force during the Second World War, and he worked as a teacher and draftsman in his early years and as a builder in his middle and later years. The buildings and homes he worked to create still stand in Cuba, Detroit, and Toronto. He also worked in Toronto, New York City, and Philadelphia as a waiter, power press operator, construction worker, and teacher at Hebrew and Yiddish schools. He was president of the Jewish Public Library, an editor of the Canadian Jewish Outlook, a member of the League of Canadian Poets, and a major supporter of artistic and progressive causes.
- Throughout his life, he loved the written word. His published writings include several books of poetry: Street Corners (1935), My City Lodz (1995), Welcome to the Year 2000 (1999), and Toronto, My City (2000).
- Morris was married to Barbara Moore Better and had two children, Ettie and David and two granchildren, Laura and Rebecca. Morris died in Toronto on April 29, 2001 of leukemia.
- Use Conditions
- Copyright is not held by the Ontario Jewish Archives. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain permission prior to use.
- Descriptive Notes
- Use Conditions note: Copyright is held by the estate of M. J. Granite. Donor must be contacted prior to publication.
- Subjects
- Authors
- Name Access
- Granite, Morris
- Source
- Archival Accessions