- Ottawa Jewish Archives
- Ottawa Jewish Historical Society fonds
- "Families, Friends, Lower town - A Retrospective" was presented by Sylvia Kershman for the Annual Ben Karp Memorial Lecture.
"Families, Friends, Lower town - A Retrospective" was presented by Sylvia Kershman for the Annual Ben Karp Memorial Lecture.
Description only — contact the archiveO0045
- Held by
- Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)
- Dates
- May 8, 2002 (indexed as 2002)
- Level
- item
- Scope & content
- Subject: Lowertown Interviewer: N/A Date: May 8, 2002 Interview Location: Ottawa, ON Length of Time: 47:49 -Sylvia is introduced as the featured speaker. -Sylvia begins by thanking Lawrence Freedman and Shirley Berman for their work in the historical society. -Sylvia was born in the mid 1920’s in Lowertown. She was raised in her family house at 321 St. Andrew. A house that she remained in until 1964. -her mother was Kele and her father was Wolf Kershman. She had two sisters Annie and Goldie. Her parents came from Russia as did most of her family. Her uncle Louis first came to Canada in 1908 and opened a kosher butcher shop. In 1911 her other uncle joined his brother in Canada and soon after Wolf joined them. Once Wolf had enough savings she brought over his wife Kele and daughter Annie. -Sylvia describes the long route her mother and sister took to get to Canada. It took 6 months before they finally arrived in Ottawa. -Sylvia then describes in detail her memories of 321 St. Andrew street. She talks of the rooms, the decor, the piano, the yard, and the radio. She also talks about her family taking in new jewish immigrants.. -in 1921 her father purchased a store in the market where he sold retail and wholesale meats. The store did not have a refrigerator in it so her father built a large walk-in fridge in the family's backyard. Sylvia recalls memories of having cold watermelon from the fridge in the summer. -Sylvia then does a ”walking tour” of a couple blocks near where she grew up. She talks about families that lived near her, businesses, and her memories of friends. -Sylvia attended York Street public school and discusses her teachers. She then discusses the High Schools in Ottawa. Sylvia attended Lisgar High and lists many of her classmates. She discusses her classes and her walks to and from school everyday. -in 1939 she was still in high school when the war broke out; she recalls the cadets practicing at the school and the 4th floor of the school becoming a shooting range. She mentions the names of men in her community who enlisted in the war. -Sylvia discusses her wartime job. She worked for Unemployment and field out coding cards for the department. -She then was moved to the RCAF as a civilian officer. During this time she also became involved in the Capital capers (?) a traveling dance troupe that went to all of the bases surrounding Ottawa. -Sylvia then became involved in radio broadcasts. She was a featured actor on a christmas show and soon became a radio reporter for CKCO. -In May of 1945 when the men returned from war she was relieved of her position and was out of a job. -She discusses the Ottawa Hebrew Senior Association. It was a young adult club for the local jewish community that hosted dances, outings, and more. The club was very successful as it resulted in 30 marriages, one of which was Sylvia and her husband. -SYlvia and her husband were married in 1948 at Machzikei Hadas and she talks about how her family has stayed connected to the shul since then. END OF TAPE (the end of the recording is someone interrupting her to say they need to flip the tape, i’ve searched both sides of the original and the copy and can't find any recording of the second half of this talk) 1. Also on Video tape. 2. Part of her talk includes a history of Lisgar Collegiate where she attended high school and recollections about various businesses in the Byward Market.
- Location
No place found in this description yet.
Where
More details
- Extent
- Two Copies
- Genre / form
- sound recording
- Format
- Audio
- Harvested
- 2026-10-17T20:12:50Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn