Guide to the Michael Family Papers, 1856-2000
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- The Michael Family Papers
- Creator
- Michael family
- Collection Number
- MSS#369
- Extent
- 1.75 linear feet (Three boxes and one shelf volume)
- Date
- 1875-2002
- Abstract
- The Michael Family Papers consist of correspondence, newspaper clippings, financial records, military service records, and high school reunion information documenting the Michael family of Uniontown, Pa. Joseph was an alderman in Uniontown, Pa. His wife Flora (Fell), and later their son Sol, ran Mrs. Michael's Children's Shop. Their oldest son, Louis Michael, became an engineer, working for various firms in western Pa.; their second son, Sidney, was a veterinarian in Erie. Sol Michael served in the Army in World War II.
- 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
Flora Fell (Fehl) and Joseph J. Michael were married in 1902. They had three sons: Louis, Sidney and Solbert. Around 1905, the couple opened a small store in Uniontown called Mrs. Michael's Children Shop. The store featured maternity items and clothing, as well as clothing for children. Flora Michael was the primary worker in the store. In 1930, she hired Louise Novotny to help with household chores. Louise Novotny eventually came to work as a saleswoman in the store for over fifty years.
Joseph J. Michael was elected alderman in the early 1900s and had an office located on Main Street in Uniontown. The family lived in an apartment over a dairy on Fayette Street, but in 1918 moved to 55 South Gallatin Avenue, where the family lived until 2002, when Sol Michael passed away.
The oldest of the sons, Louis Michael, was born in 1902 and at the age of fourteen became a nationally known inventor, producing a booklet in 1917 titled How to Build a Caterpillar Tank. Louis attended the College of Engineering at Penn State College from 1920 to 1925 and joined the Beta Sigma Rho fraternity after the beginning of his freshman year. After graduation, Louis worked for American Sheet and Tin Plate Company in Pittsburgh, and then, until 1930, for the Duplate Corporation, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company located in Creighton, Pa. He joined the Blaw Knox Company Road Machinery Department in 1930, designing machines and equipment for power plants and road building.
Through his fraternity's Carnegie Tech chapter, Louis met Sara Schermer, a Costume Design major who finished her education at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and established a couturier studio in Cleveland in 1929. Sara (Sally) Schermer and Louis Michael were married in 1930 and moved to Springdale, Pa.; in 1932 they returned to Uniontown when Louis lost his job because of Depression-related cutbacks at Blaw Knox. After periods without work, the couple moved to Pittsburgh, where Louis was hired by the Ruud Manufacturing Company in 1935. Another change of employment took them back to Uniontown from 1937 to 1942, when they moved to Virginia because of work that became available through the Civil Service Commission as the United States entered the World War II. Louis worked for Army Ordnance and the Army Materiel Command until his retirement. On August 6, 1945, Louis and Sara adopted their daughter Jean Laura. Louis pursued boating and oil painting as hobbies; several of his paintings now belong to the collections of Penn State University. Louis passed away in 1999.
Sidney Michael was born in 1905 in Uniontown, Pa. He became interested in farming and, at the age of fifteen, entered the National Farm School. There he was a member of the football team until his graduation in 1924. Later, he became interested in veterinary medicine and attended the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. While in school, he married Becky Feldstein. After graduation, they moved to Erie, Pa., where their daughter Elaine was born. Sidney returned to Erie at the end of WWII and continued in the reserves as a staff veterinarian until his retirement in 1965. He operated an animal hospital in Erie and died in 1995.
The youngest son, Solbert Michael (Sol), was born in 1913. He became interested in business and, at eleven years old, worked as a doorman at his Uncle Lee Fell's clothing store. Eventually, he worked as a salesman, until the attack on Pearl Harbor, when he immediately enlisted in the Army. He was inducted into the army on January 5, 1942, and served in the war until his honorable discharge as supply staff sergeant in September, 1945. After the war, Sol worked as a salesman with the Metzler Company in Uniontown until 1946, when he took over his mother's business. There he worked until the store's closing on May 15, 1980, ending seventy-eight years of service. Sol passed away in 2002.
Scope and Content Notes
The Michael Collection is housed in three archival boxes and one shelf volume and is arranged in two series. Series have been designated for Family Documents and General Documents. The collection includes financial records, high school reunion information, correspondence between family members and friends, postcards, documents pertaining to Sol's service in World War II, Uniontown history, and information on Mrs. Michael's Children's Shop. The bulk of the collection concerns Louis and Sol Michael. Further information about the family may be found in Louis Michael's autobiography I Remember When, which has been catalogued in the Library. Papers of Louis Michael that relate to his experience at Penn State, his professional activities as an engineer, and his avocation as a painter may be found in the University Archives at Penn State University.
Series I: Family Documents (1875 - 2002)
This series is concerned mostly with Sol Michael and Louis Michael. The Sol Michael portion contains information on his service in World War II. The collection includes correspondence between Sol and his family and friends from 1941 to 1945, his itinerary, identification cards, honorable discharge papers, army updates, and reunion material after retirement. There is also information about Sol's high school reunions (Class of 1931) and personal documents, including a eulogy read at his funeral.
For Louis Michael, the collection contains information from his early life, including a baby book. The collection also contains documents such as diaries and financial records. Correspondence includes letters to his family, classmates, and Sara Schermer.
Most of the remainder of the Family Document Series relates to Sidney Michael, Joseph and Flora (Fell) Michael, and Sara Schermer Michael. For Joseph, the collection contains some of his business and personal documents. For Sara, there are also business documents and correspondence with Louis Michael. Also, there is information about Louis and Sara's wedding in 1930. One folder contains personal documents relating to Herman Schermer, Sara's father.
Series II: General Documents (c.1910 - 2002)
The General Document Series contains only three folders. The first consists of information on Mrs. Michael's Children's Shop, dated from near its opening to its closing after seventy-eight years. The second folder contains postcards of Western Pennsylvania. The last folder contains newspaper articles pertaining to the history of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
Conditions Governing Access
No Restrictions.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials came in four accessions, gifts of Jean Michael Crawford, the daughter of Louis and Sara (Schermer) Michael.
Preferred Citation
Michael Family Papers, 1875-2002, MSS#369, Rauh Jewish Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
December, 2003; Papers arranged and inventory written by Alexis Storch; additions and revisions by Martha L. Berg, June 16, 2004.
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.
Separated Materials
To the Photographic Collection: five photo albums and eight boxes of photographs and negatives have been catalogued as MSP# 369.
To the Museum Division: 1) cigarette holder, clothes hanger from Lee Fell's store, bulletproof glass paperweight, framed alderman piece, deputy constable badge, BPOE medal, spelling medal, merit medal, wooden butter paddles (Museum accession #2004.31); 2) "crazy quilt" pillow, four Battenburg doilies, net-work bedspread and pillow sham, handkerchief, stockings, and hand-made shawl (Museum accession # 93.85).
To the Oversized Collection: one diploma, honorable discharge document, and map, all of which belonged to Sol Michael, and a portrait of Louis Fell were catalogued as MSO# 369.
To the Library Collection:
Benjamin Franklin: The First Civilized American (Given to Louis S. Michael for his bar mitzvah)
The form of daily prayers: prayers for every day of the year, according to the custom of the German and Polish Jews (belonged to the Schermer family of Sharon, Pa., and lists yahrzeits for Herman Schermer 1918, Rose Lurie Schermer 1907, and Clara, sister of William and Sara Schermer. She died at about 11 or 12 years of age.)
I Remember When- (Louis S. Michael's autobiography)
Meditations and prayers for every situation & occasion in life. (Belonged to Sara Schermer)
The World War
Maroon and White Uniontown High School yearbook for 1920, with autographs from 1970 50th reunion
Subjects
- Mrs. Michael's Children's Shop (Uniontown, Pa.)
- Pennsylvania State University (State College, Pa.)
- Uniontown High School (Uniontown, Pa.)
- United States. Army. 437th Signal Battalion.
- Michael family
- Fell family
- Miller family
- Nussbaum family
- Schermer family
- Michael, Joseph
- Michael, Flora Fell
- Michael, Louis (1902-1999)
- Michael, Solbert (1913-2002)
- Michael, Sidney (1905-1995)
- Michael, Sara Schermer
- World War--1939-1945--Europe
- Engineers--Pennsylvania
- Jews--Pennsylvania--Uniontown