Mary Schenley wasn’t a pagan, but she found plenty of other ways to shock the upper-class society into which she was born in the nineteenth century. Born Mary Elizabeth Croghan in 1826, she eloped with a British army captain three times her age when she was fifteen years old and divided the rest of her life between Pittsburgh and London. The Mary Schenley Memorial Fountain, also called “A Song to Nature,” was built near Schenley Plaza in her memory in 1918.
Category: Objects
Bridge Witches Tarot Deck
Pittsburgh artist Genevieve Barbee-Turner drew from interviews, research excursions, and her own experience living in Pittsburgh to craft the Bridge Witches tarot deck. The illustrated set of 78 cards seeks to combine the long history of tarot with a representation of modern life in Pittsburgh.
Ukrainian Nationality Room
Like the rest of the University of Pittsburgh’s 31 Nationality Rooms, the Ukrainian room on the third floor of the university’s Cathedral of Learning is part active classroom and part museum. The room, one of the smaller nationality rooms, is largely modeled after a 17th-century svitlytsia, a living room where a Ukrainian nobleman would receive his guests. The svitlytsia emphasizes hospitality and faith, key concepts in Ukrainian culture; signage inside the room cites an Eastern European proverb: “When a guest enters the home, God enters the home.”
Hillel JUC Torah
By Jamie Schacther April 2018 Introduction In the middle of February 2018, a 300-year-old Torah scroll that is said to have survived the Holocaust began its new chapter at the Hillel Jewish University Center in Oakland, Pittsburgh. This Torah scroll could date back to the early 1700s and served generations in the town of Suwalki,…
Baptismal Records of the First Trinity Evangelical-Lutheran Church
For almost two centuries the First Trinity Evangelical-Lutheran Church has been a staple of Protestant god worship in Pittsburgh.
JCC Holocaust Torah
The Jewish Community Center (JCC) Holocaust Torah Scroll, which originated from Forst-Lausitz, Germany, made a strenuous journey alongside a Jewish refugee named Jakob Weinblum as he searched for a safe haven during World War II. Jakob rescued the Torah as he fled for his life, showing how much he valued his religion and culture. Thanks to…
Beth El Holocaust Torah
Memorial Torah Scroll #658 Introduction The Memorial Torah Scroll #658 was stolen and displaced during the Holocaust and is currently housed at the Beth El Congregation in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. Memorial Scroll Torah #658 originated from Vlašim, Bohemia, and was stolen from this town by the Nazis during World War II. At the…
Kollel Torah
Introduction Like the Kollel movement itself, the Squirrel Hill Kollel Center for Jewish Learning’s Torah scroll originates from Lithuania. The history of this Torah scroll, like the history of the Kollel movement, showcases the way that Jewish communities and ideas have migrated throughout the world. While Lithuania was a land rife with penury, it was also a…
Kehillat Sfarad Torah
Introduction As the only Sephardic congregation in Pittsburgh, Kehillat Sfarad was founded by Abraham Anouchi about 30 years ago and only recently acquired a Torah. This Torah came from another synagogue, Beth Israel in Latrobe, as it was shutting down. Though the Torah is still undergoing repairs and not yet in use, its story lends…
Youlus Counterfeit Torah
In 2002, a Torah scroll was bought by Congregation Beth El of the South Hills because it was thought to have been a Holocaust-era Torah that had been discovered in Ukraine. This story, however, was fabricated by a man named Menachem Youlus. The story of this counterfeit scroll is evidence of the great meaning that…
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