Jewish Community of Louisville Youth Groups Photograph Collection, 1940s-1990s
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Jewish Community of Louisville Youth Groups
Title: Photograph Collection, 1940s-1990s
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these photographs, contact the Collections Department.
Size of Collection: 0.66 cu. ft. (in 1 cu. ft. box)
Location Number: 022PC1a
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of twentieth-century photographs of Jewish youth groups in Louisville, Kentucky. The following groups are documented in the collection: Hen Hussies, Modern Femmes, Amitie, and Sigma Theta Pi (STP), senior high clubs for girls; Rauch AZA (Aleph Zadik Aleph), Resnick AZA, Vinson AZA, Mu Sigma AZA, Condors, and Pi Tau Pi, senior high clubs for boys. Also represented are Jewish Community Center (JCC) club advisors, teen council officers, and delegates to B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) and district KIO (Kentucky-Indiana-Ohio) conventions. There are photographs of annual events such as the Modern Femmes Romeo and Juliet ball, Amitie Harvest Moon ball, AZA Sweetheart dance, Skit Nite, and Songfest. Many photographs have individuals identified on a label or on the back of the print.
Photographers include Gus Frank, Sam Hinerfeld, Royal Photo Co., Robert Steinau, David Bloom, and The Louisville Courier-Journal.
Separation note: This collection and the Jewish Community of Louisville Youth Groups records [Mss. BD J59a] were separated from the Jewish Community of Louisville records [Mss. BD J59].
Related Collections:
Aleph Zadik Aleph Rauch Chapter 107 records [Mss. BD A369].
Aleph Zadik Aleph Rauch Chapter 107 Photograph Collection [022PC25].
Aleph Zadik Aleph Museum Collection [2022.23].
Jewish Community of Louisville Youth Groups records [Mss. BD J59a].
Jewish Community of Louisville records [Mss. BD J59].
Jewish Community of Louisville Photograph Collection [022PC1].
Historical Note
In the 1950s, social life for many Jewish teenagers in Louisville, Kentucky, revolved around a Jewish teen club system that had been developing for a few decades. The number of clubs fluctuated, but in the mid-twentieth century, there were twelve senior high clubs. Six were for boys: Rauch Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) #107, Resnick AZA, Vinson AZA, Condors, the Lambda Kappa chapter of Pi Tau Pi, and Mu Sigma. Six were for girls: Jolson B’nai B’rith Girls (BBG), Brandeis BBG, Amitie, Modern Femmes, Gamma Kappa, and Sigma Theta Pi. There were also junior high clubs, including the Hornets and Yellow Jackets for boys and Alpha Theta Chi (ATC) and the Sweaterettes for girls. Invitations for membership were extended through a formal “bidding” process like that used by fraternities and sororities.
The senior high clubs met every Sunday at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) after it opened in 1955, replacing the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) downtown. Junior high clubs met in the homes of officers or members. The JCC youth department was governed by a teenage board made up of representatives of the senior high and junior high clubs. Officers of the board formed the club council. The JCC hosted popular annual events for the teen clubs, such as Quiz Bowl and Skit Nite. Individual clubs had their own annual events, such as the Modern Femmes’ Romeo and Juliet dance, usually held at downtown hotels.
Membership and participation in the youth groups declined by the 1970s. The JCC asked groups who had not done so yet to formally affiliate with the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO). In the early 1980s, Louisville’s BBYO groups consisted of Resnick AZA, Mu Sigma AZA, Modern Femmes BBG, and Amitie BBG. Pi Tau Pi was not yet affiliated with AZA but was included in JCC senior high committee meetings.
Youth groups documented in the Jewish Community of Louisville Youth Groups Photograph Collection include:
- B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO) – Formed in 1944 as the umbrella organization for chapters of Aleph Zeta Aleph (AZA) and B’nai B’rith Girls (BBG). The first AZA chapter was formed in 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska. The first permanent chapter of what is now BBG was organized in 1927 in San Francisco, California.
- Modern Femmes – A senior high club for girls established in Louisville in 1941 as the Modern Femmes Social Club. The group affiliated with BBG in the late 1960s.
- Amitie – A senior high club for girls established in Louisville by the 1950s. The club affiliated with BBG by the 1970s.
- Hen Hussies – A senior high club for girls established in Louisville.
- Sigma Theta Pi (STP) – A senior high club for girls established in Louisville.
- Rauch AZA #107 – A senior high club for boys established in Louisville in 1929. In 1957, AZA Chapter #107 became the Rabbi Joseph Rauch Memorial Chapter.
- Resnick AZA – A senior high club for boys established in Louisville by the 1940s-1950s. Its official name was Harry C. Resnick Memorial Chapter #832.
- Vinson AZA – A senior high club for boys established in Louisville.
- Mu Sigma AZA – A senior high club for boys established in Louisville.
- Condors – A senior high club for boys established in Louisville.
- Lambda Kappa chapter of Pi Tau Pi / Pi Tau Pi AZA – A senior high club for boys established in Louisville in 1947 as the Lambda Kappa chapter of Pi Tau Pi, a Jewish national society formed in 1909 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Lambda Kappa chapter separated from the national Pi Tau Pi society at some point, retained the name Pi Tau Pi for the group, and affiliated with AZA by the early 1990s.
Youth groups and organizations documented in the Jewish Community of Louisville Youth Groups records [Mss. BJ J59a] include:
- BBYO
- Modern Femmes
- Amitie
- Gamma Kappa
- L’Chaim BBG
- Alpha Theta Chi (ATC)
- Siempris Social Club
- Rauch AZA #107
- Resnick AZA
- Pi Tau Pi
Sources:
Carol Ely, Jewish Louisville: Portrait of a Community (2003), pp. 162-166, 189-190
https://scrcarchivesspace.temple.edu/repositories/4/resources/718
https://jewishlouisville.org/the-j/youth-families/teens-and-young-adults/
Jewish Community of Louisville records [Mss. BD J59 / folder 578]
Folder List
Box 1
Folder 1: Hen Hussies, Modern Femmes, and Romeo and Juliet dance, 1949-1950s
Includes one group photograph of the Hen Hussies, 1949; group photographs of Modern Femmes and the Modern Femmes basketball team
Folder 2: Modern Femmes and Romeo and Juliet dance, 1960-1970
Folder 3: Modern Femmes and Romeo and Juliet dance, 1970-1986
Folder 4: Amitie, 1959-1978
Folder 5: Sigma Theta Pi (STP), ca. 1950s
Folder 6: AZA Sweetheart dance, ca. 1940s
Folder 7: AZA Sweetheart dance, ca. 1950s-1960s
Folder 8: Rauch AZA #107, ca. 1940s-1960s
Folder 9: Vinson AZA, ca. 1958-1960s
Folder 10: Resnick AZA, 1940s-1970s
Folder 11: Resnick AZA, 1990s
Includes photographs removed from scrapbook, 1996; and Resnick class of 1960 reunion
Folder 12: Pi Tau Pi, 1950s-1990s
Folder 13: Condors, 1955-1957
Folder 14: Skit Nite and Songfest, ca. 1960s-1970s
Folder 15: JCC basketball league and Sigma Alpha Mu team, ca. 1950s-1996
Includes photographs of basketball teams of Sigma Alpha Mu (Jewish fraternity at Indiana University), 1958; Condors; Yanks; Resnick AZA; Mu Sigma AZA; Rauch AZA
Folder 16: JCC club advisors, teen board, and awards, 1952-1970s
Includes group photograph of teen board and Israeli students at JCC, 1974
Folder 17: BBYO, 1957-1960s, 1980-1983
Includes photographs of BBYO youth council 1957-1959; BBYO KIO (Kentucky-Indiana-Ohio) fall institute, 1980; and district and regional delegates, 1960s, 1983
Folder 18: Youth groups miscellaneous or unidentified, ca. 1940s-1970s
Includes photographs of young men in dresses dancing, ca. 1940s-early 1950s; members of SDP, an 8th grade girls club, soliciting contributions for UNICEF; and group photographs of unidentified girls clubs and boys clubs
Folder 19: Youth groups miscellaneous, ca. 1980s-1990s
Includes photographs of Mr. AZA event; Louisville BBYO Council sweetheart and beau, 1989; Skit Nite; BBYO sponsors; and GUCI camp in Zionsville, Indiana, 1992
Folder 20: Large group photograph of AZA Rauch, 1967
Subject Headings
Aleph Zadik Aleph.
B’nai B’rith Youth Organization.
Greek letter societies – United States.
Jewish Community Center (Louisville, Ky.)
Jewish girls – Kentucky – Louisville.
Jewish youth – Societies and clubs – Kentucky – Louisville.
Jews – Kentucky – Louisville.
Pi Tau Pi.
Young Men’s Hebrew Association (Louisville, Ky.)