September 13, 2016 (Tuesday)
“Jewish Pittsburgh”
speaker: BARBARA BURSTIN,
SHHS Member and faculty member of both Pitt and CMU
SHHS member Barbara Burstin, Ph.D., is the author of a new book that will be of great interest to many Squirrel Hill residents: Jewish Pittsburgh, part of the Images of America series produced by Arcadia Press. The book contains more than 200 vintage photos, some of which have never been published before. Through these pictures and accompanying text and captions, Dr. Burstin chronicles the development of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community from the 1840s to the present. Chapters include “Who are the Jews?,” “Destination Pittsburgh,” “Making a Living,“ Community Institutions,” “Jews in Social Justice, Civic Reform, Politics and Education,” “Jews in America’s Wars,” “The Struggle for Israel,” and “Jews in the Arts, Medicine, and Sports.” The book highlights noted Jews who have made significant contributions to both the Jewish and general Pittsburgh community, ranging from Rabbi Aaron Ashinsky to Myron Cope.
About the Author:
Dr. Burstin teaches at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, including Osher classes. Her courses deal with the American Jewish experience, the U.S. and the Holocaust, and now a new course on the history of Pittsburgh. In addition to Jewish Pittsburgh, Dr. Burstin is the author of Steel City Jews, a history of Pittsburgh and its Jewish community from 1840 to 1915, and its sequel, Steel City Jews in Prosperity, Depression and War, to be published late in 2015, which looks at the community in the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s. She has also produced a film, A Jewish Legacy: Pittsburgh.
For more information about Pittsburgh’s Jewish history and to order Dr. Burstin’s books online, go to her website: Pittsburgh Jewish History . com.
Squirrel Hill Historical Society 