Plotkin Family Papers

Collection

Identifier: MS 1015

Staff Only

Finding aid note: Forms part of the Joan and Stanford Alexander South Texas Jewish Archives. Stored off-site at the Library Service Center and requires 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Content Description

Three boxes containing photographs (wedding, family, events), a photo album, materials in support of political candidates, awards/certificates, correspondence, newsletters, news clippings, books, and school report cards document activities undertaken by members of the Plotkin family from 1945 to 2017.

Forms part of the Joan and Stanford Alexander South Texas Jewish Archives.

Dates

Creation: 1945 - 2017

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

Stored off-site at the Library Service Center and requires 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from the Plotkin Family Papers must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library. The Woodson Research Center use policy is that researchers assume sole responsibility for any infringement of privacy, literary rights, copyrights, or other rights arising from their use of the archival materials. In addition to any restrictions placed by donors, certain kinds of archival materials are restricted for the life of the creator plus 50 years. These materials include, but are not limited to, student grades, transcripts, and any job applications or recommendations.

Biographical / Historical

Jay Plotkin was born in 1931 in Chicago, Illinois, to Oscar and Pearl Plotkin. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1952. During this period, Jay served the United States as a member of the Office of Strategic Services, where he helped to extract political refugees fleeing Yugoslavia. While at Northwestern, Jay met his wife, Katheryn Grossman of Houston, Texas. After graduating, Jay and Katheryn married in January 1958 and moved to Houston, where Jay served as the executive in the Grossman family’s chain of Jr. Department Stores. For the next six decades, Jay worked as a retail executive, eventually establishing SuitMart, the men’s clothing store, in 1992. He died in 2020 in Houston, Texas. During his lifetime, Jay served as president of the Houston Retail Merchants Association, Houston Jewish Family Services, and the Houston Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Katheryn "Katy" Grossman was born in 1937 in Houston, Texas. She attended San Jacinto High School and graduated from Northwestern University in 1959. Katy was secretary of the Jewish Community Center and the youngest leader of the Women’s Division of United Jewish Campaign at age 29. She was a board member of Magic Circle Republican Women's Club, an advocate of ASPCA, and a volunteer at the VA Hospital of Houston. She was also a principal in her own landscape business for twenty years. Katy died in January 2008.

Extent

2.25 Linear Feet (3 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Arrangement

The materials in this collection have been arranged into nine series as follows:

Series I: Photographs; Series II: Newspaper Clippings; Series III: Correspondence; Series IV: Books; Series V: Certificates; Series VI: Childhood Progress Reports, Series VII: General; Series VIII: Oversized Plaques, Posters, and Books; Series IX: Oversized Photographs