The Family Store Panels and student walking tour with Interactive Map

The Family Store: A History of Jewish Businesses in Downtown Asheville from 1880 -1990

This exhibit was first displayed in store windows in downtown Asheville in 2005 and repeated three times since. It has traveled to numerous venues, including Pack Memorial Library, the Osher Life Long Learning Institute at UNC Asheville, Congregation Beth HaTephila, D. Hiden Ramsey Library and the Asheville Art Museum. Today the exhibit is mostly virtual (as shown below), but the Coleman Zageir panel is near the corner of Patton Avenue and South Lexington Avenue. The two Blomberg panels are on the Blomberg annex of the Asheville Community Theatre at Walnut and Market Streets and in the Estes Winn museum in Grovewood Village. Two other panels are displayed at Zageir Hall and Lipinsky auditorium on the campus of UNC Asheville. This exhibit won numerous awards including a Griffin Award from the Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County. It also received grants from the North Carolina Humanities Council, the Biddle Foundation, City Seeds, and many individual donors. It became a book, and a walking tour as well as an exhibit. Sharon Fahrer continues to give talks on its numerous topics. You can enlarge the panels by clicking on them.

History@Hand Panels

Click a panel to view full size

This exhibit is comprised of 12 fabric panels, each 3 feet wide by 5 feet tall, and each with an easily assembled aluminum support stand. The aluminum stands are height-adjustable, with one bottom support with two telescoping side supports, and four plastic clips that attach to the vertical supports to hold the fabric panel taut. The panels, stands and clips are easy taken apart, and the panels roll up around their top and bottom aluminum hardware bars. Each panel and hardware is then stored in a zippered canvas bag with straps. Each packed bag weighs approximately 3 pounds; the total weight for all 12 panels is 36 pounds

When displayed on stands, each panel takes up slightly more room than 3 feet wide (3 feet, 4 inches). The panels can also be hung (with accompanying hanging hardware) rather than displayed on the support stands. If hung, the space needed for all 12 panels is approximately 36 linear feet, and if on stands, the space needed is approximately 39 linear feet. Since the panels are in no particular order, however, they could be hung in different configurations to fit a particular location. The exhibit can be borrowed from Pack Memorial Library Special Collections by contacting them at  828 250-4740.

 

Ideas for enhancing The Family Store Exhibit in your area:

  1. Make a panel or exhibit case about your city’s Jewish business history.
  2. Bring in Jewish business owners or their descendants to talk about the Jewish businesses in your city.
  3. Have kids interview people who remember the days of the locally owned department stores.
  4. Cross cultures and by applying the kind of information shown here to your city’s new immigrants.
  5. Bring in members of the immigrant community to talk about their businesses and business challenges.
  6. Have kids interview members of the immigrant business community in your city and compare/contrast with the information in The Family Store. 

History@Hand has created a teaching version of the Family Store Tour. Download the map and teaching points and encourage students to follow the tour. 

Map and tour to be posted soon.