Sharing memories with our children and grandchildren allows them to get to know us in a very special way. But sometimes we are met with “Oh no, not the olden days.” Luckily, in this time of COVID, we can virtually visit interesting places designed to ignite their curiosity and excitement about those very times.
The Tenement Museum, located at 97 and 103 Orchard Street, Manhattan, was founded in 1988 by historian Ruth Abram and social activist Anita Jacobsen. The building, originally a tenement building, had been shuttered for more than 50 years. However, Abram and Jacobsen were able to uncover personal belongings and other evidence of the immigrant families that called those apartments home between the 1860s and the 1930s.
At the Tenement Museum you can explore stories of immigration and migration through guided tours (now virtual tours because of COVID-19) of the two tenement buildings, through the stories of real families whose lives have shaped our shared history. These immersive trips back in time offer a chance to explore the recreated lives of historical immigrant families including garment industry workers, Holocaust refugees and post-WWII asylum seekers, in painstakingly recreated tenement apartments and shops. For example, you can arrange private virtual tours that allow you to explore the Rogarshevsky family, a Jewish American family from Lithuania who lived at 97 Orchard Street in the 1910s. A museum educator will virtually guide you through their recreated home and discuss how the family balanced their traditions with working outside the home at garment factories across the city. Another virtual tour is the Victoria Confino tour, which is a costumed interpreter tour where there is an actor playing the role of a 14-year-old girl who lived in the building.
The Tenement Museum’s interactive digital exhibits provide a fascinating, in-depth historical look at life on the Lower East Side. Also offered are virtual specialized experiences, private virtual events, virtual holiday experiences, virtual classic experiences and virtual field trips, by private booking. There are also limited COVID-safe walking tours.
For more information visit https://www.tenement.org/host-an-event
The Museum at Eldridge Street, located at 12 Eldridge Street, is housed in the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue, a National Historic landmark which has been meticulously restored. It is one of only two synagogues so designated in New York City. Opened in 1887, the synagogue is the first great house of worship built in America by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Exhibits, tours, cultural events and educational programs tell the story of Jewish immigrant life, explore architecture and historic preservation, inspire reflection on cultural continuity, and foster collaboration and exchange between people of all faiths, heritages and interests.
The museum is currently scheduling virtual visits, and there are digital programs for classrooms. There are also learning at home options and many special programs and events for families presented on Zoom. They have been adding many videos and activities to the eldridgestreet.org/learning-from-home page. A fascinating virtual walk around the neighborhood is also offered. You can virtually explore immigration history, holidays and culture, architecture and art, and exhibitions. For more information, visit eldridgestreet.org or contact Chelsea Dowell, Director of Public Engagement, at [email protected].
The Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration is housed inside the restored main building of the former immigration complex, which welcomed more than 12 million immigrants to the United States from 1892 to 1954. Here you will find a carefully curated collection of photographs, heirlooms and searchable historic records. You can tour the Great Hall, the baggage room, the restored dormitories and the interactive exhibits that bring the voyages of the arrivals to the United States, alive.
You can virtually explore Ellis Kids, where you and your family can listen to oral histories and see transcripts of people who came to the United States as children. The experiences here allow us to explore what it was like to pack up and leave our home towns and countries, ride on a steamship, go through the medical inspections, fit into American life, and become a citizen in a new homeland. Additionally, The ELLIS ISLAND DATABASE is a free online resource for finding your ancestors’ arrival records. To schedule a virtual tour visit https://www.nps.gov/hdp/exhibits/ellis/Ellis_Index.html?html5=prefer.
If you or your teens are Jewish history or American history buffs, it is well worth virtually (site closed currently, due to the pandemic) traveling to the Gomez Mill House, 11 Mill House Road, Marlboro, New York. The Gomez Mill House is listed on the National Register of Historic Sites. It is the oldest Jewish dwelling still standing in North America. Here you can explore the life of Luis Moses Gomez, a merchant and entrepreneur of colonial America, founder and owner of the Mill House from 1716 to 1740. Born around 1660, the son of an influential Spaniard, his family left Spain, refugees of the Inquisition. A virtual visit to the Gomez Mill House allows us to discover historically significant events in Jewish history and to connect to the role that Jews played in the development of colonial America.
There are Jewish artifacts and books in the house. There are displayed images of excerpts from a Spanish-language bible owned by the family, a rebuttal to an effort by a famous English clergyman-scientist, Dr. Joseph Priestley, to convert the Jews, and an elaborate Chanukiah. The Chanukiah, brought in by a later Mill House owner, Dard Hunter, is meant to connect the house to its Jewish past. Here, we also learn how Luis Moses Gomez funded and spearheaded the synagogue that is now called both Shearith Israel and the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, which now stands on Central Park West.
The Gomez Mill House plans to produce three virtual tours in the coming years, launching a new one in early 2021. The first will serve as a substitute for their current in-person tour that includes all that can be offered on Jewish heritage. For more information contact Richard E. Rosencrans, Jr., Site Director, at [email protected] or visit www.gomez.org .
Susan R. Eisenstein is a longtime Jewish educator, passionate about creating special innovative activities for her students. She is also passionate about writing about Jewish topics and writing about Israel. Susan has two master’s degrees and a doctorate in education from Columbia University.
