Author: Abby Schwartz

David Philipson Jacob H. Perskie (Russia 1865–1941 New Jersey) Oil on canvas, ca. 1938 Cincinnati Skirball Museum   The son of German Jewish immigrants, David Philipson (1862–1949), American Reform rabbi, orator, and author, was born in Wabash, Indiana. During his early childhood the family moved to Columbus, Ohio. In March of 1875 Rabbi Isaac M. [...]

Professor Louis Rothenberg (1845–1915) Artist unknown Oil on canvas, ca. 1913  Cincinnati Skirball Museum, gift of Jo Anne Travis    Professor Rothenberg was born at Arholzen, Hanover, Germany in 1845 and came to Cincinnati in 1869. Soon after, he was appointed German instructor at the Fifteenth District School. He taught there until 1883, when he [...]

Adolph Oko Sir Jacob Epstein (New York 1880–1959 London) Bronze, 1923 Cincinnati Skirball Museum, gift of the W. Gunther Plaut Family    Adolph S. Oko (1883–1944), librarian, scholar, and philanthropist, was born near Kharkov, Russia. Educated in Germany, Oko came to the United States in 1902. After working in the Astor Library in New York [...]

Adolph S. Oko Eric Goldberg (Germany 1890–1969 Montreal) Oil on canvas, undated Cincinnati Skirball Museum   This canvas usually hangs proudly on the first floor of the Klau Library, where Adolph Oko served as librarian from 1906 until 1933. During his tenure, Oko significantly expanded the Klau’s collections and began assembling a collection of art [...]

Isaac Mayer Wise Artist unknown Oil on canvas, after 1879 Cincinnati Skirball Museum    At his death in 1900, Isaac Mayer Wise was described as “the foremost rabbi in America.” His major achievements were the establishment of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (today’s Union for Reform Judaism) in 1873, the Hebrew Union College in [...]

Jeptha Moses Jacob Ezekiel (Richmond, VA 1844–1917 Rome, Italy) Bronze relief, 1898 Inscribed: J E P T H A; He loved his neighbor as himself; ME Rome 1898 Cincinnati Skirball Museum, gift of Cecil L. Striker   In his memoirs, renowned Jewish sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel describes at some length the summer of 1896, when [...]

Therese Dreyfoos and Samuel Dreyfoos Raphael Strauss (Bavaria, Germany 1830–1901 Cincinnati) Oil on board, ca. 1862 Cincinnati Skirball Museum, gift of the W. Gunther Plaut Family   Therese Pappenheimer (1819–1908) came to the United States a few years after Samuel Dreyfoos (1815–1895) who emigrated in 1839–40 to avoid military service. Both were born in Aldingen, [...]

Hebrew Union College Sisterhood Dorm A. Lincoln Fechheimer (1876-1954) Cincinnati, Ohio, 1921 Watercolor Cincinnati Skirball Museum, 41.424