It has been said that to know where you’re going, you must know where you’ve been. Abe Chudnow apparently agrees.
“I think that [he] is a visionary man because he appreciates the fact that, in Jewish life, it is very, very important to know your past,” said Marianne Lubar, Milwaukee Jewish Historical Society chair, last week as she announced a grant from the A.M. and Anita Chudnow Family Philanthropic Fund to the society.
Through a one-time grant of $30,000, the Chudnows will help fund the cost of a full-time archivist for the historical society, Lubar said.
Though there are “some wonderful women who have been doing this archive work since 1986,” Lubar said, the presence of a professional archivist will enhance the effectiveness of everyone who is working on this project.
“Kathie Bernstein [director of the historical society] does a fantastic job but she … needs help so I am making it possible to have someone come in for a year to free Kathie up to do other work,” said Abe Chudnow in a recent telephone interview.
“We were lucky to secure, as archivist, Jay Hyland, who has worked with us in the past,” said Bernstein. He will focus on cataloguing a “growing backlog of wonderful materials” and providing access to existing archives for the people who make such requests, Bernstein said.
As a result, she will now be able to devote her time and attention to activities that will raise the profile of the historical society, such as its fall oral history project and the launching of its Web site, she said.
“Abe Chudnow has been an unwavering supporter of the Milwaukee Jewish Historical Society from its beginning and understands the wisdom of preserving our past as a living archive that is used by students, researchers, community agencies and others,” she said.
“Not only did he create his own museum — the Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear on North 11th Street — and not only did he furnish a replica of a Jewish grocery store for an exhibit at the Milwaukee County Historical Society, he understands the need for the Jewish Historical Society to hire an archivist,” she said.
Lubar added, “[Chudnow] definitely sees how important it is to build up the Jewish Historical Society. It’s one of the most important things that the [Milwaukee Jewish] federation does, in my opinion. It gives us all a cultural understanding of who we are.
As the generations go on in the United States we tend to lose a sense of where we came from and who we really are and what should be important in our lives.”
The Chudnow Family Fund is a fund within the Jewish Community Foundation, the endowment development program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
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