With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Museum pursues Georgia's vanishing Jewish history

The weekend began on Friday afternoon, after the mills closed. Women, their hair still fuzzed with chenille lint, crowded the doorways. Do you have any pretty dresses?

Things gained momentum on Saturday, as farmers who'd looked at the rear ends of mules all week raised their eyes to the treasures inside. You got overalls?...

For Irwin Koplan, those 60-year-old memories remain as vivid as a bolt of dress fabric. His father, Leo Koplan, was one of those merchants who opened wide the doors to his store — and, in the process, helped keep a community of fellow believers thriving.

Koplan, who's 70 now, recently shared some of those memories with the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum. The Atlanta museum is looking across the state for evidence of Jewish life from earlier centuries. Museum officials call it the State of Georgia Project.

Read entire article at Atlanta Journal-Constitution