Primary tabs

Guide to the Pollock Family Papers, 1914-2010

Arrangement

Metadata Details

Title
Pollock Family papers 1914-2010
Subject
Pollock Family, Pollock, Melvin, 1918-2008, Pollock, Beverly King, Pollock’s Department Store (Gallitzin, Pa.), Young Fashions (Monroeville, Pa.), Jews with AIDS in the Family (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Jewish Family and Children’s Service (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Shepherd Wellness Community (Pittsburgh, Pa.), AIDS activists, Jews--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh, Jewish women--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh, Jewish businesses--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh, Jewish businesses--Pennsylvania--Gallitzin, Department stores
Description
The Pollock Family papers comprise two boxes and one folder of oversize materials. The collection is arranged in four series. Series I contains ledgers, clippings and other papers relating to Pollock’s Department Store. Materials include a contract United Store Workers contract and a sale receipt for Pollock’s Department Store at 600 Main Street in Gallitzin, Pa. Series II comprises photographs, clippings, year books and correspondence representing the professional and personal lives of Pollock family members. The bulk of the series covers the professional life of Melvin Pollock, including his 2007 oral history and a memoir he composed in 2011. The series also contains publicity and correspondence relating to the career of Beverly King Pollock, and a script of her 2011 play, Looking for Magic. Series III contains clippings, correspondence, and publications covering the work of Melvin and Beverly Pollock in the AIDS community of greater Pittsburgh. Included in the series are transcripts of talks composed for AIDS events and a scrapbook created by Beverly King Pollock for the Jews with AIDS in the Family organization. The scrapbook contains clippings, organizational newsletters, and correspondence. Restrictions have been placed on the use of this volume. Series IV contains one folder of oversize photographs, a yahrzeit plaque, publicity for Beverly King Pollock’s play It’s Business, and Melvin Pollock’s 1936 diploma from Gallitzin High School., Pollock Family papers, 1914-2010, MSS 1031, Rauh Jewish Archives, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center, Melvin Pollock gift 7/20/2006 2006.0377 papers, Beverly Pollock gift 3/28/2011 2011.0048 papers, Beverly Pollock gift 12/25/2012 2012.0191 papers, Beverly Pollock gift 6/26/2014 2014.0098 papers, Melvin “Mel” Pollock was born on March 23, 1918 to Samuel and Lena Hollander Pollock of Gallitzin, Pa. Samuel (1885-1948) had emigrated from Czerniawczyce, Poland in 1907. Lena (1888-1943), a Lithuanian whose family had lived in Holland, was born in Leeds, England. She immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1896. Samuel worked in an umbrella factory before transitioning to sales in Irvona, Pa. As a salesman he frequented Jacob Berman Wholesalers, located in Altoona, Pa., where Lena Hollander worked as a bookkeeper. They were married in 1914. Shortly thereafter the couple opened Pollock’s Department Store in Gallitzin, Pa. The Pollocks maintained a close relationship with many of the Fifth Avenue wholesalers in Pittsburgh for several decades. Melvin took over as manager of the store before Samuel’s death in 1948. In 1954, he left the business to open Young Fashions, a children’s store located in the Monroeville Miracle Mile shopping center. He sold Pollock’s Department Store around 1960. He and his wife, writer Beverly King Pollock, became some of the first AIDS activists in the Pittsburgh Jewish community after they lost their two sons to AIDS in the early nineties. Through print and speaking engagements, Melvin and Beverly worked to dispel myths about the disease and to share their experiences as parents of AIDS victims. The couple founded “Jews with AIDS in the Family” with the Jewish Family and Children’s Service in 1991. They also volunteered with the Shepherd Wellness Community, the only AIDS support center in Western Pennsylvania. The organization presented them with a Distinguished Service Award in 2005., Processed MSS 1031 5/2014 C. Lough, Finding aid available.
Contributor
Pollock family, Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center (depositor)
Date
1914-2010
Type
Collection, Text
Format
print, manuscript, 1.0 linear foot
Identifier
oclc:946259578, pitt:US-QQS-mss1031
Language
eng
Coverage
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Gallitzin, Gallitzin (Pa.)
Rights
Copyright Not Evaluated. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/
(0 - 0 of 0)

Sorry, but your search returned no results.