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Events
Jun. 30 | 2012 Bode-Pearson Prize
Nominations for the 2012 Bode-Pearson Prize for Outstanding Contributions to American Studies due
Jun. 30 | 2012 Mary C. Turpie Prize
Nominations for the 2012 Mary C. Turpie Prize for Outstanding Contributions to American Studies Teaching, Advising, and Program Development due
Oct. 1 | Travel Grants for Graduate Students
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Resources: Abstracts of American Studies Dissertations
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Elstein, Rochelle Berger. "Synagogue Architecture in Michican and the Midwest: Material Culture and the Dynamics of Jewish Accommodation, 1865-1945," University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, December 1986.
The architecture of midwestern synagogues between 1865 and 1945 reveals the gradual amalgamation of Jews from various countries and cultures into a cohesive, but not homogeneous entity that transcended denominational divisions. Reform congregations sought architecture that was monumental, fashionable, and symbolic of their patriotism. Radical innovations were introduced from the Protestant model. The more traditional East European immigrants built on European models. Their children, however, preferred multi- functional synagogue centers with facilities for non-worship activities, and they clothed them in the fashionable styles of the 1920s and 1930s. This study of Jewish accommodation draws on minute-books, oral histories, architectural plans, and photographs, as well as secondary sources to produce a catalog of about 200 midwestern synagogues. It focuses in depth on three congregational case studies to compare denominational evolution, and to produce a detailed account of the architectural evidence that supports the thesis that Jewish material culture is a synthesis of diverse elements.
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