PHOTO VISIT TO 'REMEMBERING JEWISH CAMDEN' EXHIBIT
Images of The Opening Day Crowd
By Hoag Levins
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June 7, 2004
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CAMDEN, N.J. -- More than 100 people showed up for opening day ceremonies of the 'Camden Remembered' exhibit at the Camden County Historical Society. Above, left, Louise Harbach of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Nancy Lemerman Herman, and Renee Jerome-Schwartz point out familiar faces and places in group photos from the 1950s. |
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The exhibit, sponsored by the Tri-County Jewish Historical Society, the Jewish Camden Partnership and the Camden County Historical Society, brought together photos of Jewish society in Camden from 1900 to the early 1960s when that community flourished. |
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Mounted on free-standing panels, the exhibit filles half of the spacious Boyer Auditorium as a gallery through which crowds could easily wander. Above, right, are Ruth Bogutz, president of the Tri-County Jewish Historical Society and Nancy Axelrod, executive director of the Jewish Camden Partnership, who both had key roles in organizing the event.
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Rabbi Isaac Furman (above, left) of Congregation Beth El in Cherry Hill browses a panel with 1940s images. Throughout the afternoon, groups formed around certain panels as former residents gave impromptu explanations of the neighborhoods and historic Camden sites shown in the old photos.
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The gallery collection brought some visitors near tears and evoked laughter in others as they first saw, then remembered aloud, family members and friends seen in the decades-old photos. The display also prompted spontaneous discussion and debate about the Jewish flight from Camden as well as new talk of reinvolvement with a city now in the throes of major redevelopment efforts.
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All Rights Reserved © 2004, Hoag Levins
HoagL@earthlink.net
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