Helman-Victor Family Papers, 1895-2015
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Helman-Victor family
Title: Papers, 1895-2015
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department.
Size of Collection:5 cubic feet, 1 wrapped volume, 1 oversize folder
Location Number: Mss. A H478a
Scope and Content Note
The bulk of this collection documents the volunteer work of Helen (Segal) Helman and her daughter Roanne Victor with Jewish and community organizations in Louisville, Kentucky. Included are family business records, personal papers, organizational records, correspondence, handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, and publications from 1895-2015.
Folders 1-13 contain business and personal papers from 1895 through the 1970s for the Segal and Helman families. Included are financial records of the Segal Fish and Poultry Market; records relating to Carl Helman’s association with Bradford Woolen Mills buildings; and various Standard Country Club, Atherton High School, and St. George Lodge items. Materials disassembled from a scrapbook consist of photographs, newspaper clippings, and ephemera documenting Helen and Carl Helman’s community involvement, with a few items about Helen’s father George Segal and her brother Herbert Segal’s World War II military service. Last, there is an undated typescript of a discussion between Helen and her brother Herbert, addressing their family history in Louisville as well as in Lithuania, Russia, South Africa, and Milwaukee.
Folders 14-40 consist of National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) papers, documenting Helen Helman’s involvement in the Louisville Section as president, vice president, and treasurer. National, regional, and Louisville Section NCJW papers include correspondence, publications, meeting minutes, and materials relating to education projects, fundraising, training, conferences, and the Louisville Section’s centennial celebration. Also included are advertisements, budgets, handwritten notes, and correspondence relating to the Nearly New Shop, a nonprofit thrift shop opened in 1956 by the NCJW Louisville Section.
Folders 41-70 contain papers documenting Helen Helman’s involvement with Jewish organizations and Louisville social service programs. Correspondence, newspaper clippings, publications, and meeting minutes relate to the United Jewish Campaign, a trip to Israel in 1963, Louisville’s Shawnee Elementary School Project, the “Crisis in our City” Institute sponsored by the Conference of Jewish Organizations in 1968, a volunteer probation officer training program, Senior House West, the Center for Women and Families, and Four Courts Louisville Hebrew Home for the Aged, which Carl Helman helped to establish in 1949.
Folders 71-74 contain papers relating to the Victor family and to Roanne Helman before her marriage to Karl Victor. Included are Adath Israel publications and programs, items documenting the volunteer work of Julia Victor (Karl’s mother) with the Jewish Hospital Women’s Guild, and ephemera of Roanne’s from Atherton High School and Sigma Theta Pi.
Folders 75-152 document Roanne Victor’s involvement in the arts and as a community booster in Louisville from the mid-1960s through the early 2000s. Materials relate to Actors Theatre of Louisville, Louisville’s celebrations of the country’s Bicentennial, the Foreign Diplomats program, the City Walls project, Leadership Louisville, and the Cathedral Heritage Foundation. These records include newspaper clippings, financial information, meeting minutes, schedules, handwritten notes, correspondence, articles, programs, and ephemera.
Folders 154-174 contain various materials documenting Roanne and Karl Victor’s community involvement during the 1950s-early 2000s. Newspaper articles, correspondence, handwritten notes, certificates, programs, brochures, and publications relate to the following: Louisville tourism, the 1975 National Democratic Issues Convention in Louisville, NCJW, Kentucky Opera Association, National Trust for Historical Preservation, Arbor Day, the 1979 National Governors’ Association meeting in Louisville, suicide awareness, the Kentucky Cultural Complex that became the Kentucky Center for the Arts, the Louisville Bicentennial, and the Festival of Faiths. A wrapped volume consists of a City Walls scrapbook, and an oversize folder contains certificates for members of the Segal, Helman, and Victor family members.
Related Collections:
Helman-Victor family photograph collection (020PC20).
Four Courts Louisville Hebrew Home photograph collection (018PC2).
Museum items relating to the Helman-Victor families (2020.31.1-21).
Portraits of Carl K. Helman (2017.39) and Helen Helman (2018.6).
Biographical Note
Helen (Segal) Helman (1912-1998) was the daughter of Hannah and George Segal, who owned Segal Fish and Poultry Market in Louisville. George was born in Kentucky to Russian Jewish parents, and Hannah was born in Russia and immigrated with her family to the U.S. In 1933, Helen married Carl K. “Kelly” Helman (1908-1989), an attorney born in Louisville to Russian Jewish parents Max and Goldie (Needleman) Helman. Helen Helman was active in the Louisville Section of the National Council of Jewish Women and the Women’s Division of the United Jewish Appeal. Helen’s brother Herbert Segal served in the 95th Infantry Division of the United States Army during World War II and became a labor lawyer.
Helen and Carl Helman’s daughter Roanne Helman (1937-2017) married Louisville attorney Karl “Buzzy” N. Victor, Jr. (1933-2014) in 1956. Buzz’s parents were Dr. Karl and Julia (Felsenthal) Victor. Dr. Karl Victor, Sr. was born in Missouri to German Jewish immigrants Meier and Emily Victor; he became an ear, nose, and throat physician who had an office practice and served on the medical staff of Jewish Hospital and Norton Infirmary. Julia Victor was active in the Women’s Guild of Louisville’s Jewish Hospital. Roanne Victor volunteered as the art curator of Actors Theatre of Louisville and with the City Walls project, and as a community booster with the Louisville Bicentennial celebrations, the National Council on Foreign Diplomats, and the Cathedral Heritage Foundation. She was chosen as a community leader to participate in the Louisville Leadership program.
Folder List
Box 1
Folder 1: Segal family business and financial records, 1895-1949
Folder 2: Bradford Woolen Mills and Bradford Enterprises records, 1909-1985
Folder 3: Bradford Woolen Mills and Bradford Enterprises correspondence, 1916-1958
Folder 4: Standard Country Club, 1925-1973
Folder 5: Helen Helman: Atherton High School and personal correspondence, 1927-1930
Folder 6: Helen and Carl Helman miscellaneous, 1932-1982
Folder 7: Wedding Greetings by Western Union, 1933, 1956
Folder 8: Anshei Sfard synagogue publications, 1939-1946
Folder 9: St. George Lodge, 1940-1950, 1992
Folder 10: Carl Helman war ration cards, 1945
Folder 11: Helen and Carl Helman scrapbook, ca. 1930s-1940s
Folder 12: Helen and Carl Helman scrapbook, 1940s-1971
Folder 13: Helen and Carl Helman scrapbook, ca. 1940s-1950s
Folder 13a: Transcript of conversation between Helen Helman and Herbert Segal, undated
Folder 14: NCJW National: Correspondence, 1955-1983
Folder 15: NCJW National: Publications, 1953-1979
Folder 16: NCJW National: Freedom campaign and banned books project, 1952-1955
Folder 17: NCJW National: Overseas committee minutes, 1960-1968
Folder 18: NCJW National: Education projects in Israel, 1963-1969
Folder 19: NCJW National: Speeches and workshops, 1953-1961
Folder 20: NCJW National: Summit conference, 1971
Folder 21: NCJW National: School VI “Forging our Jewish Future,” 1971
Folder 22: NCJW National: Louisville section involvement in 1972 fundraising campaign
Folder 23: NCJW Regional: Southern interstate conferences, 1954, 1955, 1960
Folder 24: NCJW Regional: Southern interstate conference in Louisville correspondence, 1955-1956
Folder 25: NCJW Regional: Southern interstate conference in Louisville program materials, 1955-1956
Folder 26: NCJW Regional: Southern interstate conference in Louisville minutes, 1956
Folder 27: NCJW Regional: District convention, 1970
Folder 28: NCJW Louisville Section: Training committee, 1965
Folder 29: NCJW Louisville Section: Training committee, board member’s work kit, 1965
Folder 30: NCJW Louisville Section: Ceremony scripts and speeches, 1950s-1960s
Folder 31: NCJW Louisville Section: Miscellaneous, 1935-1982
Folder 32: NCJW Louisville Section: Notes and minutes, 1950-1952, volume 1
Folder 33: NCJW Louisville Section: Notes and minutes, 1950-1952, volume 2
Folder 34: NCJW Louisville Section: Centennial celebration, 1995-1996
Folder 35: Nearly New Shop: Background and reports, 1956-1982
Folder 36: Nearly New Shop: “Operation Nearly New,” ca. 1960
Folder 37: Nearly New Shop: Correspondence, 1956-1960
Folder 38: Fashion Encore: Lists and reports, 1980-1989
Folder 39: Fashion Encore: Advertising, publications, and press, 1979-1991
Folder 40: Fashion Encore: Fur department, 1982-1996
Box 2
Folder 41: Louisville Jewish community miscellaneous papers, 1933-1976
Folder 42: Miscellaneous Jewish agencies and publications, 1954-1970
Folder 43: Helen Helman correspondence, 1954-1986
Folder 44: Helen Helman in the Jewish Post, 1955-1967
Folder 45: Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), 1960s
Folder 46: United Jewish Campaign (UJC), 1951-1972
Folder 47: United Jewish Appeal (UJA), 1963-1967
Folder 48: UJA Women’s Division, 1953-1967
Folder 49: 1963 UJA Women’s Study Mission Trip to Israel: Correspondence and itinerary
Folder 50: 1963 UJA Women’s Study Mission Trip to Israel: Background information
Folder 51: Development towns in Israel, 1960s.
Folder 52: Newspaper clippings on Israel and world Jewry, 1963-1967
Folder 53: Israel trip correspondence, 1963
Folder 54: Israel trip travel journal, 1963
Folder 55: AKIM (The Israel Association for the Rehabilitation of the Mentally Retarded), 1960s
Folder 56: Israel information, ca. 1967
Folder 57: Louisville Health and Welfare Council and youth social services, 1955-1975
Folder 58: Shawnee Elementary School Project, ca. 1967
Folder 59: “Crisis in our city” Institute, 1968
Folder 60: Planning for aging subcommittee on multi-purpose senior centers, 1968
Folder 61: Senior House West, 1968-1980
Folder 62: Senior House West board minutes, 1970-1973
Folder 63: Senior House West newspaper clippings, 1970s
Folder 64: Four Courts, 1959-1981
Folder 65: Carl Helman newspaper articles, 1950-1999
Folder 66: Helen Helman newspaper articles, 1951-1993
Folder 67: Mayor Harvey Sloane and Mayor Greg Fischer, 1973-2011
Folder 68: Helen Helman awards, 1980-1993
Folder 69: Helen Helman Center for Women and Families, 1993
Folder 70: Helen Helman death notices, 1998
Box 3
Folder 71: Adath Israel, 1936-1988
Folder 72: Julia Victor: Jewish Hospital volunteer work, 1944-1988
Folder 73: Roanne Helman: Atherton High School and Sigma Theta Pi, 1951-1954
Folder 74: Roanne Helman: Social groups and dances, 1952-1954
Folder 75: Actors Theatre of Louisville articles, 1964-2006
Folder 76: Actors Theatre of Louisville advertisements, 1964-1982
Folder 77: Actors Theatre of Louisville buildings, 1965-1993
Folder 78: Actors Theatre of Louisville miscellaneous papers, 1964-1979
Folder 79: Actors Theatre of Louisville actors articles, 1967-1974
Folder 80: Actors Theatre of Louisville fundraising and expenses, 1967-1972
Folder 81: Actors Theatre of Louisville staff and volunteers, 1968-2011
Folder 82: Actors Theatre of Louisville scrapbook, 1969-1970
Folder 83: Jon Jory and Victor Jory articles, 1969-1980
Folder 84: Macauley collection lists and notes, 1970-1983
Folder 85: Actors Theatre of Louisville plays, 1967-1968
Folder 86: Actors Theatre of Louisville plays, 1969
Folder 87: Actors Theatre of Louisville plays, 1970
Folder 88: Actors Theatre of Louisville plays, 1971-1972
Folder 89: Actors Theatre of Louisville plays, 1973-1974
Folder 90: Actors Theatre of Louisville parties and events, 1965-2013
Folder 91: Louisville Bicentennial schedules and information, 1974-1980
Folder 92: Louisville Bicentennial Corporation board and committees, 1975-1976
Folder 93: Louisville Bicentennial budget, 1975-1976
Folder 94: Louisville Bicentennial articles, 1975-1976
Folder 95: Louisville Bicentennial committee meetings, 1975-1976
Folder 96: Louisville Bicentennial committee meetings, 1976-1979
Folder 97: Louisville Bicentennial event proposals, 1974-1980
Folder 98: Louisville Bicentennial Roanne Victor’s notes, ca. 1976
Folder 99: Louisville Bicentennial correspondence, 1975-1978
Folder 100: Louisville Bicentennial miscellaneous, 1952-1980
Folder 101: Heritage Weekend Roanne Victor’s notes, ca. 1980
Folder 102: Heritage Weekend executive committee meetings, 1975-1980
Folder 103: Heritage Weekend budget, 1975-1980
Folder 104: Heritage Weekend correspondence, 1976-1979
Folder 105: Heritage Weekend guidelines, ca. 1976
Folder 106: Heritage Weekend miscellaneous, 1974-1980
Folder 107: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase articles, 1978-1984
Folder 108: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase maps, ca. 1977
Folder 109: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase correspondence, 1977-1978
Folder 110: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase planning, 1977
Folder 111: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase committee job descriptions, 1977
Folder 112: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase committee meetings, 1977-1978
Folder 113: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase job descriptions, ca. 1978
Folder 114: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase budget, 1977-1978
Folder 115: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase programs and advertisements, 1977-1978
Folder 116: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase schedule, ca. 1978
Folder 117: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase Galt House Hotel, 1978
Folder 118: Hard Scuffle Steeplechase miscellaneous, 1978
Box 4
Folder 119: Foreign Diplomats schedules, 1975-1980
Folder 120: Foreign Diplomats guests, 1974-1980
Folder 121: Foreign Diplomats correspondence, 1975-1980
Folder 122: Foreign Diplomats books and articles, 1975-1980
Folder 123: Foreign Diplomats events, 1978-1988
Folder 124: Foreign Diplomats host families, 1980
Folder 125: Foreign Diplomats miscellaneous, 1975-1980
Folder 126: City Walls articles, 1971-1975
Folder 127: City Walls proposal development, 1973
Folder 128: City Walls beautification committee, 1975-1976
Folder 129: City Walls correspondence, 1971-1975
Folder 130: City Walls information, 1969-1976
Folder 131: Leadership Louisville Government Day, 1956-1982
Folder 132: Leadership Louisville Media Day, 1959-1981
Folder 133: Leadership Louisville Indiana Connection Day, 1979-1981
Folder 134: Leadership Louisville Education Day, 1979-1981
Folder 135: Leadership Louisville Justice Day, 1973-1981
Folder 136: Leadership Louisville People in Need Day, 1970-1981
Folder 137: Leadership Louisville Economy Day, 1979-1981
Folder 138: Leadership Louisville Environment and Energy Day, 1978-1980
Folder 139: Leadership Louisville Shaker Village retreat, 1980
Folder 140: Leadership Louisville Central Louisville Development Plan, 1981
Folder 141: Leadership Louisville miscellaneous, 1980-1981
Folder 142: Cathedral Heritage Foundation staff and volunteers, 1994-2001
Folder 143: Cathedral Heritage Foundation Roanne Victor’s Notes, ca. 1992-2005
Folder 144: Cathedral Conference, 1993
Folder 145: Cathedral Heritage Foundation library, 1993-1995
Folder 146: Cathedral Heritage Foundation articles, 1993-1999
Folder 147: Cathedral Heritage Foundation events and invitations, 1992-2005
Folder 148: Cathedral Heritage Foundation correspondence, 1993-2000
Folder 149: Cathedral Heritage Foundation Night of 1,000 Stars, 1994-2001
Folder 150: Cathedral Heritage Foundation Thanksgiving services, 1992-1999
Folder 151: Cathedral Heritage Foundation Festival of Faiths, 1996-2001
Folder 152: Cathedral Heritage Foundation miscellaneous., 1992-1996
Folder 153: Roanne and Karl Victor correspondence, 1963-2006
Folder 154: First National Democratic Issues Convention, 1975
Box 5
Folder 155: Louisville articles, 1937-1975
Folder 156: Roanne and Karl Victor articles, 1953-2015
Folder 157: Roanne Victor NCJW, 1962-1998
Folder 158: Roanne Victor events and invitations, 1966-1999
Folder 159: Kentucky Opera Association, 1971-1980
Folder 160: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1973-1982
Folder 161: Arbor Day, 1979
Folder 162: National Governors’ Association, 1979
Folder 163: Suicide Awareness Roanne Victor’s notes, ca. 1980
Folder 164: Roanne Victor miscellaneous papers, 1980-2013
Folder 165: The Newsweek, 1981
Folder 166: Roanne Victor Bell award, 2006
Folder 167: Proposal for a State Cultural Complex in Louisville, 1977
Folder 168: Kentucky Cultural Complex Schematic Design Program, 1978
Folder 169: Louisville, Summer of Seventy-Four media report, 1974
Folder 170: Louisville Bicentennial Corporation program planning study, 1977
Folder 171: Festival of Faiths, 1997
Folder 172: Festival of Faiths, 1998
Volume 173 (wrapped): City Walls scrapbook, ca. 1970s
Folder 174 (oversized): Segal, Helman, Victor certificates, 1940-1981
Subject Headings
Actors Theatre of Louisville.
Adath Israel (Louisville, Ky.)
Adath Jeshurun (Louisville, Ky.)
American Revolution Bicentennial, 1976.
Anshei Sfard (Louisville, Ky.)
Atherton High School (Louisville, Ky.)
Belle of Louisville (Steamboat)
Blacks – Relations with Jews – Kentucky – Louisville.
Burke, Frank Welsh, 1929-2020.
Business enterprises – Kentucky – Louisville.
Cathedral Heritage Foundation (Louisville, Ky.)
Courtship – Kentucky – Louisville.
Cultural diplomacy.
Democratic Party (U.S.)
Fischer, Greg, 1958-
Four Courts Louisville Hebrew Home.
Fraternal Organizations – Kentucky – Louisville.
Freemasons – Kentucky – Louisville.
Fur garments.
Galt House (Louisville, Ky.)
Greek letter societies – United States.
Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. Louisville Chapter.
Helman, Carl K., 1908-1989.
Helman, Helen Segal, 1912-1998.
Horse racing – Kentucky.
Interfaith worship – Kentucky – Louisville.
Israel – Description and travel.
J. M. Atherton High School for Girls (Louisville, Ky.)
Jewish American newspapers – Kentucky.
Jewish businesspeople – Kentucky – Louisville.
Jewish Community Center (Louisville, Ky.)
Jewish families – United States.
Jewish Hospital (Louisville, Ky.)
Jewish old age homes – Kentucky – Louisville.
Jewish soldiers – United States.
Jewish women – Kentucky – Louisville.
Jewish women – Societies and clubs.
Jews – Kentucky – Louisville.
Kentucky Center for the Arts.
Kentucky Opera Association.
Leadership Louisville.
Louisville (Ky.) – History.
Louisville Orchestra.
Mental illness – Treatment.
Mural painting and decoration, American – 20th century.
National Council of Jewish Women – Louisville Section.
Nearly New Shop (Louisville, Ky.)
People with mental disabilities.
Physicians – Kentucky – Louisville.
Race Relations – Kentucky – Louisville.
Ration books.
Second-wave feminism – Kentucky – Louisville.
Senior centers – Kentucky – Louisville.
Sloane, Harvey Ingalls, 1936-
Standard Club (Louisville, Ky.)
Suicide – Kentucky – Louisville.
United Jewish Appeal.
United Jewish Campaign.
Victor, Julia F., 1903-1988.
Victor, Karl N., Sr., 1900-1954.
Victor, Karl N., Jr., 1933-2014.
Victor, Roanne Helman, 1937-2017.
Women volunteers – Kentucky – Louisville.
Women’s Guild of Jewish Hospital (Louisville, Ky.)
World War, 1939-1945.
Young Men’s Hebrew Association (Louisville, Ky.)
Youth – Services for – Kentucky – Louisville.
