Oral history interview with Carolyn Altman Kass and Phyllis Altman Katz, 1997.

ArchivalResource

Rosengarten, Dale, 1948-. Oral history interview with Carolyn Altman Kass and Phyllis Altman Katz, 1997.

Oral history interview with Carolyn Altman Kass and Phyllis Altman Katz, 1997.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50757024

In this interview, sisters Carolyn Altman Kass of New Rochelle, N.Y., and Phyllis Altman Katz of San Ramon, CA., reunited in Charleston, SC, discuss their family background and growing up in Charleston. Their mother's family, originally from Prussia, came to New York City in the mid-nineteenth century. Looking for warmer climate, their grandfather's grandfather, Simon Jacobsky, moved his wife Emma and two daughters Fannie (1854-1923) and Henrietta to Charleston, South Carolina. In Charleston he got the commission to produce "Beauregard Caps," or hats for the uniforms of the Confederate States of America. He was well paid, buying a house on Meeting Street, and functioning as a treasurer of Brith Sholom synagogue. Henrietta served as a matchmaker in the community. Her niece Etta (daughter of Fannie Jacobsky Friedburg, 1849-1918), who later married Philip Gaeser, taught emigrants English and how to act like Americans. Etta and Philip Gaeser's daughter Ermine, the mother of the sisters being interviewed, married Sam Altman (d. 1964), who came to Charleston, ca. 1920, with his siblings and parents from Kalushin area of Poland. Three daughters were born to them: Francine, Phyllis and Carolyn. The family first lived in the St. Philip Street area of Charleston, but around 1939 moved to Grove Street. The family eventually switched from Beth Israel Synagogue to the conservative Synagogue Emanu-El. The sisters recall the family store at King and Cannon Streets, the different neighborhoods they grew up in, the closeness of their family and neighbors. With one parent from an "old Southern family" and another from the "old country," they grew up in a mixture of cultures. Many of their anecdotes and reminiscences feature African Americans. One nurse was jailed at Folly Beach for going into the water, even though she was saving Carolyn Altman from drowning. The two sisters speak of maids eating corn starch to get lighter skins, although the idea of a dietary lack and need is mentioned. They also recall that Jewish families always wanted to hire help previously trained by Charleston Jewish restaurant and bakery owners such as members of the Mazo, Zalkin and Laufer families.

Sound recording : 1 sound cassette : digital.Transcript : 41 p. ; 28 cm.

College of Charleston, Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library