Wein's Department Store Records, c1900s-2002

Arrangement

Head

Descriptive Summary

Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Wein's Department Store Records
Creator
Wein's Department Store
Collection Number
MSS 1291
Language
The materials in this collection are in English and Yiddish.
Language
English , Yiddish .
Extent
38 Linear Feet (30 boxes + 38 shelf volumes + 2 oversize folders)
Date
c1900s-2002
Abstract
Wein Brothers was a department store in Clarion, Pa. run by three generations of the Wein family. The materials in the collection include vendor and customer invoices and statements; receipts; correspondence; ledgers; a scrapbook; catalogs; agreements; contracts; order forms; credit slips; tax returns; canceled checks; photographs; purchase journals; life insurance and automobile policies; merchandise inventories; property deeds and leases; store designs and signs.
Author
The guide to this collection was written by Catelyn Cocuzzi in March 2023.
Publisher
Heinz History Center
Address
1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

Biographical / Historical

Wein Brothers was a department store in Clarion, Pa. run by three generations of the Wein family.

Joseph and Fage Rachel (Kalman) Wein lived in Suwalk province in present-day Poland in the latter half of the 19th century. They had nine children, Philip (1871-1932), Sheine (1873-1955), Reuben (1875-1957), Hyman (1878-1972), Rivka (1880-?), Moshe (1883-1923), Gussie (1886-1959), Thomas (1889-1941), and Victor (1894-1917). Sheine, Rivka, and Moshe remained in Europe with their parents, while their siblings all immigrated to the United States.

Gussie Wein started a dressmaking shop in Reynoldsville, Pa. Thomas Wein immigrated to Sweden around 1903 and then to New York in 1908, joining his older brother Philip Wein. After pursuing opportunities in Wisconsin and upstate New York, Thomas and Philip Wein started the Bazaar Store in Clarion, Pa. in 1912, one train-stop from Reynoldsville. They wanted to be closer to their sister without directly competing. After a fire in 1916, they reopened at 622 Main St. under the name Wein Brothers. They purchased the building and a neighboring lot in 1922, allowing for an expansion. The business also had a branch in Brookville by 1931.

Thomas Wein is believed to be the first draftee from Clarion County in World War I. He was exposed to mustard gas while stationed in France during the war, likely leading to his early death at 51.

Philip and Jenny (Finkelstein) Wein had five children, Meyer (1901-1972), Sarah (1902-1998), Charles (1906-1985), Milton (1910-1950), and Ruth (1917-2007). Thomas and Sophie (Finkelstein) Wein had four children, Morris (1923-2003), Victor (1924-2010), Joseph (1928-2012), and Faye (1932-1988). As the first-generation founders died in the 1930s and early 1940s, the business was passed to six families in the second generation

Wein Brothers had a large and diverse customer base throughout Clarion County and into the surrounding area. It also maintained a wide network of suppliers. By the 1920s, the company was purchasing goods from factories and wholesalers companies across the American east coast, mid-west, and southeast, as well as the Fifth Avenue and Penn Avenue wholesaling districts in Pittsburgh. Through the middle decades of the 20th century, it began sourcing goods from companies located west of the Mississippi River.

Through the 1930s, Wein Brothers passed to a second generation, including Philip Wein's sons, Meyer, Milton, and Charles, and Thomas Wein's sons, Morris, Victor, and Joseph. Morris Wein's son Alan Wein joined the business in 1982 and oversaw its operations into the 21st century. The business persisted through several major changes to American retailing in the latter half of the 20th century, including the arrival of big box retailers in American small towns and the start of e-commerce. Wein Brothers closed in 2020, making it one of the longest-operating Jewish-owned department stores in Western Pennsylvania. 

Throughout most of the 20th century, the extended Wein family represented a large percentage of the Jewish population of Clarion, Pa. and sometimes the entire Jewish population. The family was active in regional Jewish communal activities, including Tree of Life Congregation in Oil City, the Northwestern Pennsylvania Council of B'nai B'rith, and other initiatives and organizations in the area and the wider region.

Wein Family Tree:

I.

Joseph Wein (c1850-1924) m. Fage Rachel (Kalman) Wein (????-1932)

II.

1. Philip Wein (1871-1932) m. Jenny (Finkelstein) Wein (1878-1974)

2. Sheine Wein (1873-1955) m. Yerachmiel Steinberg (1872-1958)

3. Rubin Wein (1875-1957) m. Necha Moed (1903-1963)

4. Hyman Wein (1878-1972) m. Sylvia (Zeitz) Wein (1882-1952)

5. Rivka Wein (1880-????) m. Yakov Moshe Rafael Weidman (????-????)

6. Moshe Wein (1883-1923) m. Musha Leah (Goldberg) Wein (1892-1955)

7. Gussie Wein (1886-1959) m. Nathan Kaufman (1878-1946)

8. Thomas Wein (1889-1941) m. Sophie (Finkelstein) Wein (1899-1974)

9. Victor Wein (1894-1917)

III.

Philip and Jenny Wein

1. Meyer Wein (1901-1972) m. Ida (Zukerman) Wein (1904-1984)

2. Sarah Wein (1902-1998) m. Morris Leib Harris (1897-1977)

3. Charles Wein (1906-1985) m. Dorothy Levine (1914-1994)

4. Milton Wein (1910-1950) m. Minna (Weissman) Wein (1910-1960)

5. Ruth Wein (1917-2007) m. Sam Herskowitz m. Edward Gordon (1906-1969)

Thomas and Sophie Wein

1. Morris Wein (1923-2003) m. Sybil Schochet (1924-2019)

2. Victor Wein (1924-2010) m. Marion Blattner (1929-????)

3. Joseph Wein (1928-2012) m. Rosalyn Eisner (1931-????)

4. Faye Rosalyn Wein (1932-1988) m. Paul Myron Goldberg (1928-????)

IV.

Morris and Sybil Wein

1. Thomas Phillip Wein (1951) m. Deborah Herman

2. Alan Bruce Wein (1954) m. Pamela Reiker

3. Jay Berry Wein (1962) m. Anette Sanchez

For a full family tree including detailed descriptions of branches of the family not well documented in the collection, please refer to genealogical records contained within the collection.

Scope and Contents

The Wein's Department Store Records document the activities of a Jewish-owned department store in Clarion, Pa. Materials include vendor and customer invoices and statements; receipts; correspondence; ledgers; a scrapbook; catalogs; agreements; contracts; order forms; credit slips; tax returns; canceled checks; photographs; purchase journals; life insurance and automobile policies; merchandise inventories; property deeds and leases; store designs and signs. The vendor invoices offer a detailed look at the evolution of Wein Brothers' suppliers, as well as examples of letterhead from dozens of American manufacturers.

Note: The Wein Department Store Records contains thousands of invoices between 1918-1939 and between 1978-1979. The Rauh Jewish Archives has created a database of these companies by name, date, and location. Maps of all these companies can be found at the "Wein Brothers Department Store" entry at the "Jewish Encyclopedia of Western Pennsylvania" (https://rauhjewisharchives.org/entry/wein-bros-department-store/) website. To access the databases used to create these maps, please contact the archivist.

Arrangement

The Wein's Department Store Records are arranged into the following series and subseries:

  1. Series I: Administrative Materials (c1900s-2002)
  2. Subseries 1: Personal Files (1914-1979)
  3. Subseries 2: Business Files (c1900s-1998)
  4. Subseries 3: Financial and Tax files (1917-1975)
  5. Subseries 4: Correspondence (1916-2002)
  6. Subseries 5: Store Inventories (1917-1936)
  7. Series II: Vendor Accounts (1919-1979)
  8. Subseries 1: Merchandise Ordered and Returned (1930-1936)
  9. Subseries 2: Invoices and Payments (1925-1979)
  10. Series III: Customer Accounts (1913-1979)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Joseph Wein in 2002. Archives accession 2002.0057

Gift of Alan Wein in 2020 and 2024. Archives accession 2020.0111 and 2024.0088

Preferred Citation

Wein's Department Store Records, c1900s-2002, MSS 1291, Rauh Jewish Archives, Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Copyright may be retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.

Processing Information

Processing by Catelyn Cocuzzi in February 2023.

Separated Materials

To the museum:

Stained glass 2021.27.1

Shoehorn, 2021.27.2

Matchbook, 2021.27.3

Clothing Hanger, 2021.27.4

Gauge, 2021.27.5

Label Printer, 2021.27.6

Gift Box, 2021.27.7 a,b

Paper Collars and Box, 2021.27.8 a-l

Sign (identification) 2021.27.9

Sign (identification), 2021.27.10

Printing Block, 2021.27.11

World War I uniform

Container List