Elegant album containing 44 photographs documenting milestones and daily life in Woodbine, NJ, the agricultural Jewish Borough, in its early years. Originally presented as a gift to the agronomist Hirsch Loeb Sabsovich, the settlement's mayor, on the occasion of his silver wedding anniversary. Woodbine, New Jersey, USA, April 25, 1907. English.
Following the wave of pogroms known as the "Storms in the Negev, " a movement bearing the Hebrew-Yiddish name "Am Oylam" was established in Odessa. The movement dedicated itself to the goal of promoting a new, agricultural, Jewish way of life on American soil. The settlement of Woodbine was to serve as the movement's flagship project. It was founded in 1891 on a 21-square-kilometer tract of old-growth forest in the State of New Jersey. In just a few years, Woodbine blossomed into a thriving agricultural community. Among other achievements, Woodbine was awarded medals for its produce at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 and the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. The present album was given as a gift from a number of Woodbine's pioneering settlers to Hirsch Loeb Sabsovich, a leader of the "Am Oylam" movement and Woodbine's first mayor, on the occasion of his 25th wedding anniversary, and as a token of recognition for all his efforts on their behalf.
The album opens with a beautiful, handwritten title page bearing a brief dedication encircled by a wreath; three Biblical verses in Hebrew, "A good name is better than precious oil" (Ecclesiastes 7:1), "Enjoy life with the wife whom you love" (Ecclesiastes 9:9), and "Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates" (Proverbs 31:31); and the hand signatures of the ten people responsible for the gift, all of them from among the founding settlers of the Woodbine community, including Herman Rosenfeld, William Leo Lipman, Michael Goodale Lipman, Joseph William Pincus, and others.
The title page is followed by a lengthy, four-page dedication, beautifully handwritten, relating the history of the Jewish Borough: " It is pleasant to recount the great and earnest efforts you made to build up a community out of down trodden, spiritless refugees […] In 1891 a foundation was laid for a new land, where members of a suffering race could live […] Starting with thirty emaciated, bloodless, little creatures you enjoy now the sight of 560 healthy, cheerful, lively little Americans."
The remainder of the album contains 44 photographs, each pasted onto a separate page, with handwritten titles. They document the milestones and daily life of the Woodbine community in its early years: the laying of a cornerstone for the agricultural school; the synagogue; the local Borough Council and Board of Education in session (with the American flag and a portrait of George Washington hanging on the wall above them); Woodbine's volunteer firefighters; the Simchat Torah holiday; the local railway station; children of the kindergarten and school; settlers and their homes; and more. A portrait picture of Hirsch Loeb Sabsovich is pasted onto the back of the final leaf of the four-page handwritten dedication.
A heart-shaped silver plaque engraved with the monogram "HLS" is embedded in the front board.
[5] ff. (title page and dedication) and 44 photographs (pasted onto the leaves of the album, each photo on a separate leaf). Photographs of varying size, most approx. 24X19 cm. Album: approx. 37X28 cm. Photographs in overall good condition, with minor silvering and minor blemishes (open tear to corner of one photograph). Five photographs missing. Album in good-fair condition, with stains (mostly to edges of handwritten leaves), and several tears, including open tears (small, to edges). Binding worn and blemished, with tears. Front board, front flyleaf, and first leaf all detached. Leather cover of back board detached.