Wharton County Historical Museum collection

Collection

Identifier: MS 1089

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

Five boxes containing two Hadassah ledgers (1920s-1940s), five parochet, three photographs, 1908 prayer book and Judaism instruction book, and a wooden replica of the ten commandments document activities that took place in the Wharton County Jewish community from 1868 to 1988.

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

Dates

Creation: 1868 - 1988

Conditions Governing Access

Collection open for research without restriction.

Stored offsite at the Library Service Center and require 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 Wharton County Historical Museum Collection 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

The Wharton County Historical Museum Collection includes documents and artifacts related to the Shearith Israel Congeration and the Wharton County chapter of Hadassah.

Shearith Israel Congregation had its inception in 1899 when the Jewish citizens of Wharton, Texas, first met to conduct religious services, using members' homes as meeting places. Later, under the leadership of I. Ditch, a congregation was organized and Sabbath services were held each Friday night and Saturday morning in the lower floor of the old Masonic Lodge Building. At first the membership consisted mainly of Wharton citizens, but as the Jewish population increased in surrounding towns the congregation expanded to include those who lived nearby from El Campo, Bay City, Ganado, Edna, Palacios, and Richmond, making a total of 85 members. Rabbi Israel Rosenberg came to Wharton to assume the pulpit of Shearith Israel in 1955 and remained the community’s spiritual leader until 1978. A year after Rosenberg’s arrival, the community dedicated a new, state-of-the-art synagogue building in the shape of a six-pointed Star of David at 1821 Old Lane City Rd., that was designed by Houston Jewish architect, Lenard Gabert. The synagogue closed its doors in 2002, when membership dwindled from a peak of 400 members down to just 39, and sold its facilities. In 2010, the main building burned to the ground and, besides the community hall that still stands, visitors to the site today will see nothing but a concrete slab where the sanctuary and school once stood.