Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
November 1940. "Jewish stores in Colchester, Connecticut." R. Goldman, grocer, and S. Kalmonwitz, fishmonger. 35mm negative by Jack Delano. View full size.
In Canada, all immigrants were given a crack at free land via the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, the purpose of which was to populate the Prairies (as well as to prevent the land from being claimed by the neighbors to the south). For a $10 administrative fee, the immigrant would get 160 acres (a quarter-section) of free land, provided he cultivated at least 40 acres and built a permanent dwelling within three years. Many of my ancestors were lured west with this offer but ended up in small towns as shopkeepers or in cities as urban workers.
The intriguing magazine cover (below) is taken from the article Manalto links to.
In the early 20th century, the Jewish Agricultural Society in New York began an effort to establish agricultural settlements in and around Colchester, Lebanon, and Montville, Connecticut. Some of the transplants rapidly moved on to other businesses. It appears Delano (incidentally, himself a Jew) was recording this next step. A good article on the topic is here.
It would actually be sunset given the position of the shadows and the house.
[Sunrise, Sunset. -tterrace]
I am puzzled as to why the caption references the stores as "Jewish". Selling groceries (Coca Cola, Salada tea, tobacco products, fresh vegetables, Hires Root Beer, Royal Crown Cola, and fresh fish) make them Jewish? If the owners were named Rossi and Mangioni, would these , then, be "Catholic stores"?
[The photos in the Library of Congress FSA/OWI Collection come from several federal government projects whose purposes included documenting as well as publicizing the country's ethnic and cultural diversity. Overseas propaganda value was among the considerations, especially as war loomed. The captions and descriptions originally appended to the photos therefore recorded such information when it was relevant. -tterrace]
Transliterate the Roman characters to Cyrillic, and this could be a scene from a typical Eastern European shtetl around the time of the Black Hundreds' atrocities, dirt streets and all.
There is a Rose Kalmonowiz living with/renting to a Benjamin and Rebecca Goldman; they both lived at 45 Lebanon Avenue. Benjamin's occupation is listed as a Grocer. Going back a decade to 1930, there is a Sam (or possibly Siam) Kalmanowitz living on Lebanon Road, with the occupation of "Fish Peddler." I'd bet decent money that Benjamin and Sam are the Goldman and Kalmaowitz from this photo.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5