The Jewish History Museum, formerly known as the Jewish Heritage Center of the Southwest, is a museum housed in a historic synagogue building in
Tucson
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
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, Arizona. The museum's building, which housed the first synagogue in the
Arizona Territory, is the
oldest synagogue building in the state.
Stone Avenue Temple
The building is the original home of Temple Emanu-El ( Tucson), built in 1910. The pioneer Jewish Women's organization, then called the Hebrew Benevolent Society were the individuals who lobbied for a permanent Jewish house of worship in the then Arizona Territory . The historic synagogue is a brick structure designed by architect Ely Blount. Blount blended a pedimented, pilastered
Greek revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...
facade with rounded windows and twin towers in
Rundbogenstil
(round-arch style) is a nineteenth-century historic revival style of architecture popular in the German-speaking lands and the German diaspora. It combines elements of Byzantine, Romanesque, and Renaissance architecture with particula ...
style. In 1937 the building's front facade was covered with stucco. The original stained-glass windows have been lost. The building is listed in on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. Efforts to preserve the synagogue garnered national attention when it received the National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The Museum
The Museum was created in 2005 by the merger of the non-profit that was formed to rescue the building from destruction in 1998 - The Historic Stone Avenue Temple Project with the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Arizona.
In addition to its permanent collection, the Museum hosts exhibitions, lectures, the annual Ketubah and Antique wedding gown exhibit and the Jewish Storytelling Festival as well as is the home of the Jewish Arizona Oral History Project.
[Not Just Desert: Tucson Touches on It All!, December 27, 2007, Aaron Dalton, Jewish Exponen]
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See also
* Temple Emanu-El (Tucson)
Temple Emanu-El is a Reform synagogue in Tucson, Arizona. It was the first synagogue in the Arizona Territory and is the oldest congregation in the state; Emanuel's original building, known as the Stone Avenue Temple, is the oldest synagogue bu ...
* Tucson Hebrew Academy
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
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, mapsize = 260px
, map_caption = Interactive map ...
References
External links
* http://www.jewishhistorymuseum.org
David Leighton, "Street Smarts: Tucson veteran was among 1,000 children saved from Nazi Germany," Arizona Daily Star, May 13, 2014
{{Authority control
2005 establishments in Arizona
Jewish museums in the United States
Museums established in 2005
Museums in Tucson, Arizona
Synagogues in Arizona
Synagogues preserved as museums
Synagogues on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona
National Register of Historic Places in Tucson, Arizona