Searching Through History for Closure

Just a few weeks ago, a staff member at the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum received a call from a 97-year-old man, Wesley, who grew up in Southwest, DC. When he was a young boy, his father abandoned his family, leaving his mother, his siblings, and him with no money and no prospects.

Wesley and his family shopped for food and other items from a Jewish-owned store on their street. While navigating this abandonment and precipitous drop into poverty, the shop owner, whose name Wesley could not remember, was cognizant of Wesley’s family’s predicament and allowed them to purchase items on credit. What Wesley realized only later in life was that this shop owner never collected on those payments. Decades later, Wesley reached out to the Museum in the hopes of finding information about her.

We were able to help.

By digging into our very own collection, checking maps, reviewing newspaper archives, and consulting old city directories, we found her name, Fanny Glaubach. And, more than 80 years after her incredibly humble but important show of tzedakah, the Museum shared this information with Wesley. He reflected, “What she did in that community is emblematic of what all the Jewish grocers did for their neighborhoods.” And we were so pleased to help him solve this decades-long mystery.

This is only one of the many services the Museum offers.

During this season of giving, particularly with the incredible $20,000 matching gift provided by incoming board chair Chris Wolf and his husband Jim Beller, I ask you to give. If you make your gift by the end of the year, Chris and Jim will double it, which means that you can ensure these resources are available for Wesley and many of the other people who will come to the Museum to find answers. 

Thank you, 

Jonathan Edelman
Collections Curator