Guide to the Israel Heritage Room Committee Collection, 1929-2013 UA.40.13

Arrangement

Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Israel Heritage Room Committee Collection
Creator
University of Pittsburgh. Nationality Rooms Program. Israel Heritage Room Committee
Collection Number
UA.40.13
Extent
6.5 Linear Feet (11 boxes)
Date
1929-2013
Abstract
Dedicated in 1987, the Israel Heritage Room (IHR) was the 20th Nationality Classroom constructed in the Cathedral of Learning and the first to be built in thirty years. Its construction marked the revival and continuation of the Nationality Rooms project begun by Chancellor John Bowman in 1926. The collection comprises correspondence, construction reports, invoices, newsletters, research notes, promotional event flyers, timesheets, disbursement requests, financial records, interdepartmental memos, by-laws, design proposals, scholarship applications and reviews, newspaper and magazine publications, scripts, a video contract, and photographs. Digital reproductions of selected photographs are online.
Language
The language of the majority of materials in this collection is English. Select research documents and design plans are in Hebrew.
Author
Emily Reed.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Business Number: 412-648-3232 (Thomas) | 412-648-8190 (Hillman)
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Acquisition Information

Deposited by Nationality Rooms Program Office on October 30, 2013.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into the following six series:

Series I. Original Deposit (1991)

Series II. Israel Heritage Room Creation

Series III. Israel Heritage Room Administrative Records

Series IV. Publicity and Contributors

Series V. Other Multimedia

Series VI. Architectural Files

Processing Information

Series I was inventoried and arranged by Linda Hartman in 1991, shortly after the Nationalty Rooms Program office received the collection by the Israel Heritage Room committee. Subsequent additons to the collection were processed by Emily Reed, Nationality Rooms Archivist Intern, from August to October 2013. She created the finding aid to the overall collection. Maintaining any original order to the collection became difficult due to the movement of "active" files to "storage" files within the Nationality Rooms Program office.

Separated Material

Architectural files are located in flat file storage (Map-case 30, Drawer 2, Folder 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

History

The construction of the Israel Heritage Room (IHR) marked the revival and continuation of the Nationality Rooms project. The IHR was the first room to be built in thirty years, the first to be housed on the third floor, and the first under the supervision of Nationality Rooms Director E. Maxine Bruhns. The twentieth classroom for the Cathedral of Learning, the IHR was in the planning stages for 21 years, and was on the mind of the Pittsburgh Jewish community since 1948 when Israel became a country and qualified by Nationality Rooms Program rules to join the Nationality Council and have their own classroom. Charles Rosenbloom, a prominent member of the Pittsburgh Jewish community and philanthropist, formed the Israel Heritage Room committee in Pittsburgh and its brother committee in Israel. After a hiatus due to the Israeli war with Egypt in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Rosenbloom was joined by Joseph Katz, the new chairman of the committee, and moved into the design, fundraising, and construction stage of the project.

Several years of design issues followed. After a handful of false starts, New York designer Alexander Kaufman was brought in to complete the room design with Martin Chetlin. A first century Israeli stone dwelling was chosen to highlight both the shared heritage of all Jews and the rabbinic tradition of learning and study which would lend itself well to a classroom. Artifacts and replications from that era were picked to decorate the space: a hand-cut stone floor, Capernaum stone bench seating, a lion mosaic, Dura Europos chalkboard panels, a hand carving of the ten commandments, jars, a Capernaum frieze, and a length of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The construction was completed in 1987 and dedicated on November 1st of that year.

The IHR, in accordance with the mission statement for the Nationality and Heritage Room Committees, promotes and represents its culture and traditions through events, performances, lectures, films, and exhibits. They also host scholarships for summer study in Israel for sophomore, junior, and graduate students from the University of Pittsburgh. The IHR is still an active committee and regularly meets to host and promote Jewish events and study abroad for the Pittsburgh community.

Copyright

The University of Pittsburgh holds the property rights to the material in this collection, but the copyright may still be held by the original creator/author. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.

Custodial History

In accordance with preserving activities of each classroom on the Nationality Rooms Council, the Nationality Rooms Program office, located on the 12th floor of the Cathedral of Learning, was the original recipient of the Israel Heritage Room (IHR) material. The collection, including material later received, was transferred to the University Archives in fall 2013.

Existence and Location of Copies

Digital reproductions of the photographs from the collection are available online. Video and audio materials in the Israel Heritage Room Collection have copies located in the Nationality Rooms Program office. Videotapes were converted to DVD, cassette tapes were converted to CDs and the originals discarded.

Previous Citation

Israel Heritage Room Committee Collection, 1929-2013, UA.40.13, University Archives, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh

Preferred Citation

Israel Heritage Room Committee Collection, 1929-2013, UA.40.13, University Archives, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Scope and Content Notes

The Israel Heritage Room Committee Collection is composed of correspondence, construction reports, invoices, newsletters, research notes, promotional event flyers, timesheets, disbursement requests, financial records, interdepartmental memos, by-laws, design proposals, scholarship applications and reviews, newspaper and magazine publications, scripts, a video contract, photographs, DVDs, and a CD. The collection was originally housed and maintained by the Nationality Rooms Program Office, which handles outreach, promotion, and scholarship opportunities as well as administrative records management on behalf of the members of the Nationality Council.

The collection is arranged by series and subseries. There are six series in total. Series I comprises the first material deposited at the Nationality Rooms office. It richly documents the history, design, and fundraising of the IHR primarily from the 1960s to the 1980s. Series II is composed of records involved with the creation and maintenance of the IHR including: correspondence, construction and financial reports, maintenance memos, design research records and proposals, and disbursement requests from 1964-2009. Series III is composed of administrative records for the running of the Israel Heritage Room program. This includes: by-laws, membership and board member lists, promotional event flyers, newsletters, donations, minutes, in-house program planning, and dues from 1986-2013. Series IV contains publication and contributor information, this includes: event invitations, correspondence, obituaries, video scripts, a contract with AEG, event flyers, speech drafts, photographs, and newspaper and magazine articles from 1964-2013. Series V contains multimedia other than paper that were originally separated but relate to the Israel Heritage Room. This includes photographs, DVDs, and a CD from 1982-1997. Series VI contains architectural files of IHR designs, the bulk from 1982-1986.

Record reproduction was undertaken for newspaper articles, videotapes, DVDs, cassette tapes, and CDs. The newspaper articles were copied on acid-free paper and the originals destroyed. Videotapes were reformatted onto DVDs. All DVDs and CDs were copied twice: once for inclusion to this collection, and once for the Nationality Rooms Program office to retain. Cassette tapes were reformatted onto CDs and were also copied twice for the same reason as above.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Equipment in the Archives Service Center is required for DVD and CD playback.

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • Nationality Rooms (Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    • University of Pittsburgh. Nationality Rooms Program. Israel Heritage Room Committee
    • Israel Heritage Classroom (Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    • University of Pittsburgh. Nationality Rooms Council
    • University of Pittsburgh. Nationality Rooms Program
    • Cathedral of Learning (Pittsburgh, Pa.)

    Personal Names

    • Pelzig, Perli
    • Weiner, Margery
    • Toker, Franklin
    • Chetlin, Martin
    • Rosenbloom, Charles J.
    • Katz, Joseph M.
    • Kaufman, Alexander

    Genres

    • Slides (Photographs)
    • Architectural drawings (Visual works)
    • Clippings (Information artifacts)
    • Correspondence
    • Financial records
    • Minutes (Administrative records)
    • Photographs
    • Sound recordings
    • Video recordings (physical artifacts)

    Other Subjects

    • University of Pittsburgh
    • Classrooms -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Jews -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Universities and colleges -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh

Container List