Guide to the Gross Ellovich Family Papers 1903-2003
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Gross Ellovich Family Papers,
- Creator
- Gross Ellovich Family
- Collection Number
- MSS 542
- Extent
- 1 linear foot (2 boxes)
- Date
- 1903-2003
- Abstract
- Philip Ellovich was a Jewish immigrant from Romania who immigrated with his family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1905. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, he went into business and ran two Reznor Drug Stores in Sharon, Pennsylvania. In 1924, Ellovich met and married Miriam Gross, a native of Sharon, Pennsylvania. They were active members of a number of philanthropic and religious organizations. During the 1930s and 1940s, they were involved in assisting Jewish victims of oppression in Europe. In July 1979, after eighty years of business, Reznor Drug Store was closed. After retirement, both Philip and Miriam Gross Ellovich moved back to Pittsburgh to live near their daughter Marcia Ellovich Frumerman.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
History
Philip Ellovich was a Jewish immigrant born on September 15, 1898, in Botasani, Romania, to Joseph and Tillie Herman Ellovich. About 1903, the family immigrated to the United States. After their arrival, they traveled to Hartford, Connecticut, to stay with relatives for a short time and, in 1905, moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Philip Ellovich alternately attended both Franklin and Letsche schools from elementary school through eighth grade. He obtained his high school education from Fifth Avenue High School. Ellovich took the college entrance boards after being there for two years. He was admitted into the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy where he went for two years and graduated in 1916 at the age of eighteen. After graduation, Philip Ellovich had various pharmacy jobs, first with his brother, Joe Ellovich, who owned Forbes Pharmacy, and later, with a drug store in Beltzhoover, and then with the May Drug Company to learn merchandizing.
After a short lived business partnership, Jack Small, who knew Philip Ellovich through his brother, Joe Ellovich, wanted to go into business. Small owned two Reznor stores in Sharon, Pennsylvania. In 1921, Ellovich bought one third interest in Reznor Drug and became a business associate in May of 1922. The business grew and within a year a third store opened in Farrell, Pennsylvania.
In 1924, Philip Ellovich met Mariam Gross. After she graduated from high school, she applied for a clerk position at Reznor Drug Company. She was hired by Philip Ellovich, and they were married later that year in New Castle, Pennsylvania. They eventually had three children, Rosa, Joseph, and Marcia.
Miriam Gross Ellovich, youngest daughter of Jacob and Rosa Schreiber Gross, was born August 22, 1903 in South Sharon, Pennsylvania, now Farrell. Her father was born in Hungry in 1860 and immigrated to the United States in 1877. After his arrival, he worked by peddling merchandise all over the country. Eventually he settled in Mississippi then moved to Alabama to open up small general stores. The family moved to South Sharon, Pennsylvania, around 1900.
Miriam Gross Ellovich went to South Ward Grade School, then attended Jefferson School from sixth through eighth grade and Junior High Annex for grade nine. She attended Sharon High School, graduating in 1922. While there, she was also involved with the Buhl Club, played basketball, tennis, and bowled.
After the marriage in 1924, both Philip Ellovich and Miriam Gross Ellovich continued involvement and work in the community. In the 1930s and 1940s, she was involved with the fundraising activities to help refugees that were attempting to escape the Nazis. When refugees arrived in Sharon, they were given shelter at the Ellovich's home until housing and work could be found for them. Also around that time, Philip Ellovich became involved in the Anti-Defamination League and served as its branch chairman.
Philip Ellovich was involved in various community activities. He served as an executive committee member of the Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the Bonds for Israel, and a member of the Community Fund, which is now known as the United Way. Other volunteer activities included presidency of B'nai Brith, serving on the Board of Directors of Temple Beth Israel, and as chairman of the United Jewish Federation.
Miriam Gross Ellovich was also active in the local community serving as president from 1950 until 1954 for Shenango Valley chapter of Hadassah and as president in 1968 for the Sharon General Hospital Auxiliary. She was also an active member of the Shenango Valley Section, National Council of Jewish Women, and Temple Beth Israel and its Sisterhood in Sharon. Miriam Gross Ellovich was instrumental in the founding and implementation of the Elizabeth McMullen Fund to benefit Buhl-Henderson Community Library in Sharon which provided funding to buy books for the library.
During his long career as a pharmacist, Philip Ellovich also wrote about merchandising issues for trade journals. Some of his publications include articles in the American Druggist, the National Association of Registered Druggist, and "Sales Talk," a digest of the best selling ideas. He also wrote, edited, and sold the "Proven Plan," a prescription publicity service for the ethically -minded pharmacist which the Reznor Drug Company published. He also wrote a one-act play entitled "Gross Becomes Net," which appeared in the Coca Cola Company's house organ magazine, The Red Barrel.
By the early 1950s Ellovich's partnership with Jack Small dissolved and he retained the ownership of the two stores in Sharon, while Small retained ownership of the store in Niles, Ohio. In 1976, Ellovich sold one of the stores in Sharon. In July 1979, after eighty years of business, Reznor Drug Store closed. After retirement, both Philip and Miriam Gross Ellovich moved back to Pittsburgh to live near their daughter Marcia Ellovich Frumerman.
Philip Ellovich died in 1986 and Miriam Gross Ellovich followed in 1989.
Scope and Content Notes
Much of the collection contains documents, publications, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and speeches from Philip Ellovich's career and community involvement. Miriam Gross Ellovich's materials include speeches, newspaper clippings, and publications from some of the organizations in which she was involved. Biographical materials related to Miriam Gross Ellovich include her birth certificate and some information about her education. Of note is a notebook she kept from a domestic science cooking class at Sharon High School. The collection also contains materials related to the Gross side of the family, most notably Aldoph Gross, one of her brothers. These folders contain autobiographical information written by Gross, newspaper clippings, and correspondence regarding his artistic efforts in both San Diego and San Jose, California. . Other material found in the collection relating to the Gross family is one folder of newspaper clippings about Max Gross, Miriam Gross Ellovich's older brother. Also included in the collection are recipes from Dora Frumerman, Marcia Ellovich Frumerman's mother-in-law.
Arrangement
- The Gross Ellovich family papers are housed in two archival boxes. The folders are arranged in alphabetical order.
Conditions Governing Access
No Restrictions.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Marcia Ellovich Frumerman, daughter of Philip and Miriam Gross Ellovich on July 12, 2005.
Preferred Citation
Gross Ellovich Family Papers, 1903-2003, MSS 542, Rauh Jewish Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Theresa E. Rea on October 26, 2009.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Related Materials
Pittsburgh and Beyond: The Experience of the Jewish Community. A Guide to the NCJW Pittsburgh Section Oral History Collection. National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section, Pittsburgh, PA, 1993. A sixty-minute oral history of the immigrant experience of Philip Ellovich is available on their website through the University of Pittsburgh.
Separated Materials
The Gross Ellovich Family Photographs consisting of one archival box has been separated, arranged, and described as MSP#542.
Three oversize documents consisting of Philip Ellovich's pharmacist certificate, his diploma from the Pittsburgh College of Pharmacy, and Philip Ellovich and Miriam Gross' ketuba, or marriage contract, have been separated and described as MSO#542.
From Miriam Gross Ellovich, the Sharon High School Yearbook dated 1922, has been separated from the collection to the library.
The Shenango Valley telephone book dated 1983, has also been separated from the archival collection to the library.
A yellow ballet costume with a cap, a backward dance costume consisting of a cap, skirt, and two aprons, and a pair of toe shoes were transferred to the museum.
Subjects
- National Council of Jewish Women.
- Reznor Drug Store.
- University of Pittsburgh. School of Pharmacy.
- Hall of Success.
- Forbes Pharmacy.
- May Drug Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Sharon High School.
- Buhl-Henderson Community Library.
- United Jewish Federation.
- Sharon General Hospital.
- Hadassah.
- Temple Beth Israel.
- Ellovich Philip, 1898-1986
- Ellovich, Miriam Gross, 1903-1989
- Gross, Adolph, 1909-2002
- Gross, Max, 1893-1983
- Gross, William
- Gross, Jacob, 1860-?
- Gross, Rosa Schreiber
- Ellovich Family
- Gross Family
- Frumerman, Marcia Ellovich, 1933-
- Frumerman, Dora, 1905-1994
- Ellovich, Tillie Herman, 1872-1951
- Ellovich, Joseph, 1936-1918
- Singer, Emil, 1881-1942
- Sharon (Pa.)
- Pittsburgh (Pa.)
- San Diego (Ca.)
- New Castle (Pa.)
- Jews--Pennsylvania--Sharon
- Jewish Business--Pennsylvania--Sharon
- Jewish Artists--Pennsylvania--Sharon
- Jewish--Immigrants--History
- Jews--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh
- Jewish Organizations--Women--Pennsylvania--Sharon
- Synagogues--Western Pennsylvania--New Castle
- Education--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh
- Education--Pennsylvania--Sharon
- Philanthropy--Jews--Pennsylvania--Sharon
- Professional publications--Pharmacy--Jews--Pennsylvania--Sharon