I Bring Unto You Good Tidings of Great Joy

by Erin Doane, Curator 

The image of the baby Jesus lying swaddled in a manger surrounded by Mary and Joseph, magi and shepherds, angels and animals is an icon of Christmas.  The nativity scene or crèche has been reenacted in public and recreated in homes for centuries.  The first “living” nativity was said to have been staged by Saint Francis of Assisi in a cave near Greccio, Italy in 1223 to remind people of the true meaning of Christmas.  The living nativity was picked up by churches and the nobility who created ever more elaborate scenes. Today, it is standard at  most Christmas pageants.  The Radio City Christmas Spectacular in New York City concludes with the presentation of the nativity, featuring live camels and sheep.

Living nativity at St. Luke's Church in Elmira, 1959

The first static nativity scenes, composed of carved wooden figures of the holy family and attendants, appeared in Italian churches in the 1300s.  The nativity remained set up all year long on a side altar or chapel and was decorated for the Christmas season.  As with the living scenes, the static nativity was also adopted by the nobility and aristocrats.  By the mid 1500s the scenes were highly artistic with rich clothing on the figures.  The tradition of setting up the nativity for Christmas has spread through practically all Christian nations, with each culture adding its own style.  Both Catholic and Protestant families in Germany in particular adopted the nativity into their traditions, placing the baby Jesus into the manger on Christmas day.

The Museum has in its collection one nativity that was donated in 1972.  The painted ceramic figures were made in Germany sometime in the late 19^th-early 20^th Century.  The set consists of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, two angels, the three wise men or magi and their camels, three shepherds, eight sheep, an ox and an ass which are also traditional figures, two palm trees and a star.

Jewish History

by Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah is just wrapping up.  Like many Jewish holidays, Hanukkah celebrates perseverance in the face of religious oppression.  Similarly, the early Jewish settlement in the Chemung Valley is a story of survival and growth in the face of oppression.   The first Jews arrived in the area following a failed revolution in the German states in 1848.  The revolution was an attempt on the part of the merchant middle class and the poorer working classes to unite the various German-speaking states into one democratic county.   It was put down by the aristocratic powers and was followed by an anti-Semitic backlash.

Most of the Jews who fled to America arrived in New York and Philadelphia and spread out from there.  By the early 1850s, the Erie Railroad had connected Elmira with New York and so the Jews came.  The earliest settlers worked as peddlers.  Some of them, especially those with families, established homes in Elmira and from there traveled by foot to outlying villages and settlements selling jewelry and other fancy goods not available in general stores.  After they’d gained enough money, many would settle down with a shop in a favorite village or return to Elmira to open up a store.  Rosenbaum’s, for example, was opened in 1863 by former peddler Leham Rosenbaum. 

By the 1860s, after years of worship in private homes, the Jewish community pulled together enough funds to build a synagogue.  It was called B’Nai Israel and was located on High Street on Elmira’s eastside in the heart of the Jewish community.  Initially, there were only 31 families in the congregation, but it grew steadily throughout the 1860s & 70s.  

A second wave of Jewish settlers arrived in the 1880s and 90s, this time from Poland and Russia.  Throughout the 1880s, Eastern European Jews were plagued both by violent mob attacks and increasingly harsh anti-Semitic laws which restricted where they could live, what jobs they could have and how much education they could receive.  Between 1881 and 1920, over 2 million Jews fled Russia and Poland for the United States. 

While the members of this second wave who settled in Elmira moved into the same eastside neighborhood as the more established Jewish families, they didn’t blend seamlessly.  The members of B’Nai Israel practiced Reform Judaism while the newer immigrants were Orthodox.  This lead to the founding of a new Orthodox temple called Shomray Hadath in 1883.  By the next year there was a third temple known as the Sullivan Street Synagogue and Talmud Torah which eventually merged with Shomray Hadath after a fire destroyed their building in 1941.

Beginning in the 1930s, the Jewish community began to move west out of the old eastside neighborhood centered around John Street.  First B’Nail Israel in 1952 and then later Shomray Hadath moved out to West Water Street.  Due to dwindling populations, the two congregations have recently merged to form Kol Ami.

A Virtual Peek at the New Exhibit

by Erin Doane, Curator
 

Handmade, Homemade: Crafting in Chemung County opened to the public just over a month ago here at the Chemung Valley History Museum.  The exhibit focuses on the history of handcrafting with many examples of locally-made items.  Fiber processing, knitting and crocheting, embroidery, sewing clothing, quilting, doll making, pelt processing, furniture building, woodworking, model making, scrapbooking, and jewelry making are all on display through April 2013.

One section of the exhibit entitled My Little Rag Doll explores the history of handmade dolls.  Ragdolls are the most common type of handmade dolls and are one of the world’s most ancient toys.  Made from and stuffed with rags or spare scraps, ragdolls are easy and affordable to make.   Amish dolls are a type of traditional American ragdoll.  The faceless dolls in plain clothing became very popular with collectors starting in the 1930s.  Raggedy Ann is perhaps the most famous ragdoll.  She was introduced to the public in the 1918 book Raggedy Ann Stories.  Her brother Andy came along two years later.  While both character dolls were commercially manufactured, patterns and kits were also available to make the dolls at home.

Raggedy Ann and Andy, handmade by Aimee Lester around 1976

 The Beecher Baby Doll is the most famous locally-made doll.  In 1885, Julia Beecher, wife of Reverend Thomas K. Beecher, was inspired to make a baby doll while she was mending stockings.  The first doll that she made for her niece led to many more.  In the next ten years, Mrs. Beecher sold 950 handmade dolls.  Over $1,000 in profits from the sales were used for projects by the ladies’ organization of Park Church.  Each Beecher Doll was accompanied by a note that read:  If you will always take by the waist and never by the arm; if you will give your hand a wash before you play with me; if you will not leave me out in the dust or in the sunshine, and if you will not squeeze my face flat; I will be your pretty baby for a long time.

Mrs. Beecher and her Baby Doll, 1893

Apple dolls and cornhusk dolls are also traditional to the Americas. Dolls with heads made of dried apples with carved faces were made by people in rural communities. Apple dolls saw a resurgence in popularity during the 1970s.  They were common at craft fairs, county fairs and country boutiques into the 1980s.  Native Americans first made dolls out of cornhusks and the craft was taken up by early settlers.  Cornhusk dolls traditionally have no faces.  Legend has it that the Corn Spirit created the first cornhusk doll with a very beautiful face.  As the doll went from village to village playing with children she was continually told how beautiful she was.  All the compliments made the cornhusk doll vain so the Corn Spirit took away her face as a reminder that no one is better than anyone else.