Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Joseph Chase
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- Title:
- Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Joseph Chase
- Date:
- 2001
- Interviewer:
- Swayngim, Karla
- Interviewee:
- Chase, Joseph, 1931-
- Description:
- Joseph Chase, Charleston, South Carolina, native and older son of Freda Lerner and Marty Chase, discusses his family history. Freda’s family immigrated to Charleston around 1920 from Biala, Poland. On a visit to her sister in Detroit, Freda met Marty Chase, who had emigrated from Vilna Gubernia, Poland, to New York City in 1912 with his mother. In 1930 Marty left his factory job in Detroit and moved to Charleston to marry Freda. The interviewee notes that his uncle Morris Sokol, a furniture salesman, helped Marty get his start peddling furniture. Eight years later Marty rented a building on King Street and opened a store. He purchased the building in the early 1940s and replaced it with a new one in 1946, still the location of Chase Furniture at the time of the interview. While Marty “was not an observant man”—he opened his store on the Sabbath—Freda adhered to the laws of kashrut and led the family in Sabbath and holiday rituals. Joseph and his brother, Philip, joined the business in the 1950s, a time when there were more than thirty furniture vendors on King Street, and offering credit was routine. Joseph reflects on the history of the business and how it changed over the years in regard to customer loyalty and demographics. He considers the future of the business, which, at the time of the interview, was in its third generation with Ben Chase, his nephew, at the helm.
- Collection Title:
- Jewish Heritage Collection Oral Histories
- Contributing Institution:
- College of Charleston Libraries
- Media Type:
- Oral Histories
- Preferred Citation:
- Joseph Chase, audio interview by Karla Swayngim, 19 April 2001, Mss. 1035-257, Special Collections, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA.
- Topical Subject:
- Jews--South Carolina--Interviews and Jewish merchants--South Carolina--Charleston--History
- S.C. County:
- Charleston County (S.C.)
- Language:
- English
- Shelving Locator:
- MSS 1035-257
- Date Digital:
- 2012-11-21
- Digitization Specifications:
- Mp3 derivative audio created with Audacity software. Archival masters are wav files.
- Internet Media Type:
- audio/mpeg;application/pdf
- Copyright Status Statement:
- Digital resource copyright 2013, College of Charleston. All rights reserved. For more information contact Special Collections, Addlestone Library, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424.
- Admin ID:
- 220976
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