Oral history interview with Theresa Levy Livingstain and Allan Livingstain, 1996.

ArchivalResource

Rosengarten, Dale, 1948-. Oral history interview with Theresa Levy Livingstain and Allan Livingstain, 1996.

Oral history interview with Theresa Levy Livingstain and Allan Livingstain, 1996.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52102027

Theresa Levy Livingstain gives a brief summation of her life and family history. Her father was Oscar Levy (1862-1936), who received a rabbinic education in Europe before coming to the United States; her mother, Hannah Levin (1864-1922), was also from Europe. They married in New York City, and then later came to Charleston, South Carolina, where there were some members of the Levin family already in business. The new partnership of Levin and Levy encompassed three stores, all next to each other, one dealing in men's clothes, another in boys' clothes, and a shoe shop in between. Theresa Levy was born in Charleston, the youngest of eight children, six girls and two boys. She attended grammar school at Memminger School and two years at the College of Charleston, soon after it began to admit women. Her family was Orthodox and kosher; they attended Brith Shalom synagogue. She had friends among Christians and reform Jews, noting that she fit in well and felt no prejudice at all, although other orthodox Jews may not have gotten along as well with Reform Jews. All her siblings were taught Hebrew; her father was instrumental in starting Hebrew School classes in Charleston and was one of the leaders in the first Jewish Community Center on George Street; her father, she notes, even taught a priest Hebrew. She was comfortable in her upbringing and in her marriage to Leo Livingstain. His parents were Harris and Mary Livingstain. The Livingstain family was first in the pawn business, but at the end of Word War I, they bought a lot of surplus from the Charleston Navy Base, and ended up in the hardware business. After their marriage, Theresa and Leo Livingstain raised their children in Charleston; she was active in civic clubs, having served as a young woman in the National Council of Jewish Women. Her son Allan speaks briefly of his Bar Mitzvah in 1942; and in response to questions, Mrs. Livingstain speaks on the differences in Charleston since her youth. The Jews are now more self consciously aware of themselves as Jews, she remarks; and there is much more talk of Orthodoxy and points of keeping kosher, with specific types being mentioned. When she was younger, she notes, "Kosher was kosher." People are now more clannish, too, she believes. Concluding, she sums up her life saying she was very fortunate and blessed in her parents, her husband and her children.

Sound recording : 1 sound cassette : analog.Sound recording : 1 sound cassette : digital.Transcript : 38 p. ; 28 cm.

College of Charleston, Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library