Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Frances Deborah Baruch Abrams and Carolyn Baruch Levenson

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Title:

Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Frances Deborah Baruch Abrams and Carolyn Baruch Levenson

Date:

1998

Interviewer:

Rosengarten, Dale, 1948–

Interviewee:

Abrams, Frances Deborah Baruch, 1921-;Levenson, Carolyn Baruch, 1925–2010

Description:

Sisters Frances Deborah “Debby” Baruch Abrams and Carolyn Baruch Levenson grew up in Camden, South Carolina, in the 1920s and ’30s in a community where a handful of Jewish families maintained a close relationship with their gentile neighbors. Their mother, Theresa Block, daughter of German immigrants, met her husband, Herman Baruch, Jr., when she came to Camden from New York to help her recently widowed uncle, Louis Block, with his three girls. Debby and Carolyn do not recall experiencing any anti-Semitism as children, and Debby was active in the Baptist and Methodist church youth groups. Raised in the Reform tradition, they attended Sunday school in Camden and were confirmed by Rabbi Samuel Shillman at Temple Sinai in Sumter. Despite growing up in Camden, the sisters had strong ties to the coastal region of South Carolina north of Georgetown. Debby remembers visiting her cousin Bernard Baruch, financier and advisor to Presidents Wilson and Roosevelt, at Hobcaw, his plantation northeast of the city. The girls spent their summers in Pawley’s Island, which included visits to their uncle Joe Baruch in Murrells Inlet. Debby met her husband, Helmar Abrams, a pharmacist, in 1942, when she moved to Georgetown to begin teaching. She discusses life in Georgetown, including Temple Beth Elohim’s congregation, the businesses that lined Front Street after World War II, and the relations between Jews, gentiles, African Americans, Lebanese, and Syrians. Note: the transcript contains additions and corrections made by Debby during proofing.

Collection Title:

Jewish Heritage Collection Oral Histories

Contributing Institution:

College of Charleston Libraries

Media Type:

Oral Histories

Personal or Corporate Subject:

Abrams, Frances Deborah Baruch, 1921–, Levenson, Carolyn Baruch, 1925–2010, Baruch family, Block family, Abrams family, Beth Elohim (Georgetown, S.C.)

Topical Subject:

Jews--South Carolina--Camden--History, Jews--South Carolina--Georgetown--History, Jewish merchants--South Carolina--Camden--History, Jewish merchants--South Carolina--Georgetown--History

Geographic Subject:

Pee Dee, Midlands

Language:

English

Shelving Locator:

MSS 1035-195

Date Digital:

2011-08-12

Digitization Specifications:

Mp3 derivative audio created with Audacity software. Archival masters are wav files.

Internet Media Type:

audio/mpeg; application/pdf

Copyright Status Statement:

Copyright © Jewish Heritage Collection

Access Information:

For more information, contact Special Collections, College of Charleston Libraries, 66 George Street, Charleston SC 29424.

Admin ID:

220884