The Broida family held reunions in both Youngstown, Ohio, and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania (about 65 miles away), two of the main cities of Broida family settlement. There were meetings and committees and newsletters and much planning to make the reunions a success, which they always accomplished. Reunions were held in the 1930s-1950s, and then there was a lull until two in the 1990s.

The picture of those who attended is a long picture that must be rolled up for storage, hence some of the cracks in the images. Numerous family members still have this photo, and a copy may also be found in the Broida Family Collection, Saul Brodsky Jewish Library in St. Louis, Missouri.

A Broida Reunion News of 1937, written after the reunion, states there are many missing faces from the photo- over 300 attended the event. We do know that many of the descendants of John Broida attended, and there are a number of other Broida lines represented.

We are posting here sections of the photo, in hopes that crowd-sourcing will help us identify the people in the picture. We do know four persons and have included an annotated image with names.

Please contact us if you have information that would help identify some of the persons in these images. (We will not post information about those still living, but would like to know the information for our files.)

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Family photo and ephemera collections.

2) Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library, St. Louis, Missouri. http://brodskylibrary.org/archives.php. A small family reunion was held here with cousins from St. Louis and Colorado, to explore the collection.

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and lmm, jrw.

Family members who attended the early reunions always spoke sentimentally about the fun and love always present at Broida Reunions. Here is what was snail-mailed to family members after the big 1937 event. The newsletter must have been typeset, as the typewriters of the day could not do such formatting and font changes- something that we can now do at home in no time.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Family treasure chest.

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Broidas are a part of our matrilineal line, so today is a good day to post the remaining two pages of the 1938 Broida Reunion News, as it contains memorials for those who had passed away since the previous reunion. The memorials are for Myron Broida (d. 26 Aug 1937), Joseph Hirsh (d. 25 Jan 1938, husband of Libbie Broida), and Kate (Broida) York (d. 14 Apr 1938).

Page four of the issue suggests memorials for those who have recently passed on, plus some Association information. The 1937-1938 officers of the Broida Reunion Committee were Isaac Rogow, Myron Broida, John Serbin, Joseph Hirsh, and Leonard Broida, but two had the sad circumstance that  “…Long Life failed them.”

The Broida ladies finally get a little press as the ‘Local Secretaries’ for the Reunion Committee: Martha Smith, Mrs. Morris Broida, Anita Broida, Frances rothfield, Sylvia Collins, Mrs. Julius Broida, Anna Shapiro, Jean Hirsh, Sylvia Pollock, Sarita Snyder, Eva Goldstein, Pearl Blumenthal, Lillian Gefsky, Leah Broida, and Minnie York.

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Family ephemera.

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post, and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.

Broida Family-

The Broida family of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere held regular reunions back in the 1930s-50s. They had a dedicated group of volunteers who planned fun reunions that everyone looked forward to, and some traveled long distances to attend. There were even newsletters produced for all the family- we have already posted the 1937 Broida Reunion News.

Announcements of the reunions were posted in The Jewish Criterion in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and possibly other newspapers. This post includes the three earliest we have found.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) The Pittsburgh Jewish Criterion and other newspapers are available at the Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project, available to search at http://digitalcollections.library.cmu.edu/pjn/index.jsp. The Congregation has kindly given us permission to post articles, and hopes that others will avail themselves of this wonderful resource to give life to their ancestors and their communities. Specific citations are included with images.

2) Sentimental Sunday: 1937 Broida Family Reunion: http://heritageramblings.net/2014/08/17/sentimental-sunday-1937-broida-family-reunion/.

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

We have some identifications of persons in the July 11, 1937 group photo. Please contact us if you can identify other family members.

Broida Family