Museum preserves Oregon's Jewish roots

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By Amy R. Kaufman

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Explore the Oregon Jewish Museum’s current exhibit and discover the extraordinary interaction between Jewish Portlanders and the Pacific Northwest’s largest repository of materials illuminating Jewish life and history.

“Ludwig Salzer: Man of Letters,” on exhibit through Jan. 20, 2008, depicts the journey of a Viennese Jew who fled to Shanghai in 1939. His granddaughter, Lauren Pressler, a Willamette University student, had his journals translated. They reflect the divided loyalties of a young man during the German annexation of Austria.

Laura Worley, an intern at OJM since May, said she was fascinated by the evolution of the project, which originated at Willamette University.

“Lauren is an art student, and she created artwork to go with the journals,” she said. “She came to Portland over the summer to work on the exhibit and interviewed some people in the Jewish community who had also lived in Shanghai during World War II. She brought the Portland experience into the exhibit.”
   

A recent graduate of Whitman College, Worley had planned to work at OJM for the summer, but she likes it so much that she has “decided to stay indefinitely.”
   
“I get lost in people’s stories,” she said. “One of the first people I read about was Gussie Reinhardt, who was really involved with Portland and also in the Oregon Friendship Forest in Israel.  Then Ben Selling, a really prominent early Portlander, and his philanthropic works. …”
   
According to its mission and vision statements, OJM “endeavors to discover and collect all materials that may help to illuminate the history of the Jews of Oregon, integrating the Jews of the region into museum research and activities. The museum contributes to the vibrancy of the community by providing opportunities for a continuing dialogue about Jewish life. It also provides a gateway to the non-Jewish community.”
   
The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland has allocated $9,899 to OJM for the 2007-08 fiscal year.
   
“Interns are integral to our work at the museum,” said Judith Margles, executive director. “Since we have a small staff … they supplement our ongoing work with the exhibition research and in maintaining the archives and artifact collection.”
   
In turn, she said, OJM helps interns determine a career path.
   
Worley, a recent graduate of Whitman College, said she plans to earn a master’s degree in museum studies and build a career in that field.
   
“I’ve learned how museums run, and especially since this is a small museum, I’m able to see all the different jobs involved in how a museum functions,” said Worley.
   
She said she helps mount exhibits, scans photographs and updates the database, and she has written a “finding aid” for the collections. She also works in the archive room with Anne LeVant Prahl, collections curator.
   
“When visitors come into the museum and want to donate or loan materials to us for an exhibit, Anne puts those objects where they belong in the collection,” she said. “Papers and personal memorabilia are kept in archive boxes, the photo file is organized by person, and we keep larger physical objects in the artifacts collection. We have textile boxes for clothing.”
   
She said Prahl also assists authors and students with their research at OJM.
   
OJM’s burgeoning archives are housed in a tiny room, and the exhibit space consists of two small rooms that can accommodate only one exhibit at a time.
   
“Once we get a bigger space, that will be a great opportunity to show off some of the collections,” Worley said. “We’re in process of developing a permanent exhibit—a unified exhibit of the Jewish experience in Oregon. Then we can have other exhibits that rotate.”
   
“We are actively looking for a permanent home for the museum,” said Margles. “Our goal is 10,000 square feet, which will give us the ability to have three exhibition galleries, adequate archives and artifact storage and programming space.”
   
Worley said the museum is so “intimate” that the staff becomes involved in the visitors’ museum experience.
   
“Whenever anybody comes in, we all pop out of our offices and say hi to them,” she said.
   
She said OJM reflects the dedication of a strongly interconnected Jewish community.
   
“This is a very small museum, but it’s got such a vibrant community life about it,” she said. “I think something you can say about the Jewish community here is that they’re very involved and really care about each other.”