Finding Aids | The Breman Museum

Dates:  ca. 1900-1988

Creator:  Brown, Hannah Blumenthal, 1911-2003

Summary/Abstract:  Papers and ephemera relating to Hannah Blumenthal Brown and her family of Savannah, Georgia.

Quantity/Physical Description: 7 folders, 1 oversize folder

Language(s):  English

Repository:  The Cuba Family Archives for Southern Jewish History, The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, 1440 Spring Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30309.

Restrictions on Access:  There are no restrictions on accessing material in this collection.

Restrictions on Use:  Copyright restrictions may apply.  Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright.  Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation:  Box #, Folder #, Mss 356, Hannah Blumenthal Brown Papers, The Cuba Family Archives for Southern Jewish History, The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, 1440 Spring Street NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30309.

Acquisition:  Gift of Jane B. Brown, 2008; gift of Hannah Blumenthal Brown estate, 2009; Donald E. Brown, 2009.

Custodial History:  The Hannah Blumenthal Brown Papers are part of the Savannah Jewish Archives that were transferred from the Georgia Historical Society to the Breman Museum in 2015.

Separated Material:  Oversize materials, photographs.

Processed by:  Heather Kirkland, 2008; Lynette Stoudt, 2009, 2015; Lindsay Resnick, 2016.

Arrangement:  The folders in this collection are arranged in alphabetical order.

Biographical/Historical Note:  Hannah Blumenthal Brown was the daughter of Samuel (1863-1951) and Fannie Rochlen (or Rochlenko) Blumenthal (1877-1962). She was born on January 28, 1911 in Savannah, Georgia, one of seven children- four boys and three girls.. She graduated from Savannah High School and Cornell University’s College of Home Economics with a Bachelor of Science degree. In college, she was active as a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority, the Foil (women’s fencing club), Dramatic Club, and several committees. In 1932 she became a cooking and domestic science teacher at Chatham High School. She was married to Melvin Arnold Brown (1910-1971) on May 30th, 1936 at the General Oglethorpe Hotel in Savannah. After the wedding she moved with her husband to his hometown, Elizabeth, N.J. They later lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia.  Hannah B. Brown died in Atlanta on August 5, 2003.

Scope and Content: This collection contains clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, a scrapbook, postcards, and photographs. Pamphlets include, “Poem on a fragment of a love letter found in a Savannah cemetery”, 1974 by Gene Ellis; two JEA anniversary pamphlets, and a Hebrew Women's Aid Society anniversary pamphlet.

Brown attended Camp Perry-Ann in Brevard, North Carolina, in 1927 and her scrapbook and a pamphlet are included in the collection. At the time, Camp Perry-Ann was the only camp in the South exclusively for Jewish girls. The scrapbook contains various types of material including notes from campers, photographs, postcards, clippings, and ephemera.

Clippings are about Hannah Blumenthal Brown including descriptions of her graduation from Cornell, her work at Chatham High School, and her wedding to Melvin Brown. There are also clippings about the Blumenthal family. Some clippings of note are about Fannie Blumenthal’s work with the Hebrew Women’s Aid Society and the Daughters of B’nai B’rith Jacob Congregation and Samuel Blumenthal’s work with the Aldermanic Board of Savannah Beach. Other topics include the family’s summer travels and an important announcement that they purchased property for B’nai B’rith Jacob Congregation to use for the Savannah Hebrew School.

Collection Inventory