Guide to the Temple Emanu-El Collection

Record Group 116

Processed by: DS, 7/18/2011

 

Accession: 116-11-0712

 

Date Span: 1946

 

Historical Sketch: Temple Emanu-el, the Reform Jewish synagogue of Dothan, Alabama, was founded in January 1929. It met in rented space until completing its current building in 1941 (additions completed in 1963, major renovation in 1998) at the corner of N. Park and W. Burdeshaw.

Though always small, the congregation has established a significant presence in the mostly Protestant Christian community of Dothan, initiating many ecumenical and cultural events. The history of the Temple is a small but important part of the history of the locality, the state, and of the Jews in the American South.

See the website "Temple Emanu-El, Dothan, Alabama," http://dothantemple.org/ (accessed November 10, 2011).

 

Scope / Content Note: Contains CD of PDF scan of handwritten book by C. Davis Turner entitled, "Book of Memory: dedicated to those who came after us at the Bar Mitzvah of Walter Raymond Turner, April 17, 1942 - Temple Emanu-El, Dothan, AL."

Turner writes a history of the Temple Emanu-El congregation and other Jews of SE Alabama, SW Georgia, and North Florida in the first 21 pages, 1890 - 1941. From pages 21 through 130, he provides a diary of the Emanu-El congregation from the dedication of the new Temple building on September 14, 1941, through the departure of Rabbi Wolf and family on June 19, 1946. Davis includes a newspaper clipping of the 1950 installation of Rabbi Meyer Marx.

 

Provenance: Provided by Rabbi Lynn Goldsmith and the Congregation in 2011. Original remains with donor.

 

Processing Notes: Scanned into PDF by staff members of the Archives of Wiregrass History and Culture at Troy University--Dothan Campus, July 29-30, 2008.

 

Access/User Limits? Open per gift agreement, 8-14-2012

 

INVENTORY

 

Book of Memory by C. Davis Turner

 

Last Updated: 02/28/2014

 

Contact Us

Wiregrass Archives
Troy University Dothan Campus
Everett 128
502 University Dr.
Dothan, AL  36303

Phone: 334-983-6556 x21327
Email: wiregrassarchives@troy.edu