MEMOIRIST: HARRIET WISEBERG GREENBLATT (1916-
INTERVIEWER: SUSAN FEINBERG
DATE: SEPTEMBER 25, 1991
OCTOBER 11, 1991
LOCATION: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
ID#: OHC10293
NUMBER OF PAGES: 13
Transcript (PDF)
HIGHLIGHTS/EXCERPTS
“I was . . . told by my father that his father put 11 bales of cotton down a dry well. When the Civil War was over he sold the cotton for $1,000 a bale.” 3
“I could sort of picture his arrival with the family into Atlanta by reading Margaret Mitchell's account in Gone With the Wind, when Scarlett enters Atlanta after the war and she described in detail what it was like coming from the station up Peachtree Street through Five Points. She described what was on the sidewalk and the buildings, the people, everything about it. I imagine that that's the sort of scene that greeted Morris Wiseberg when he and the family entered the city.” 4
“My father lost the house during the [Great] Depression. We moved to another house on Fairview Road which they rented . . . [He] lost his restaurant in the Candler Building due to the exorbitant rent that he was paying, and Mr. Candler wouldn't do anything about it. There was a fire that destroyed his bakery. My father had a terrible struggle during the Depression. We always managed to eat well and live very nicely, but nevertheless, it must have been a terrible struggle for him.” 9
“During the siege of Atlanta, Regina gave birth to Sarah Cohen, my grandmother. At the time, they were in a basement . . . they had a home on Peachtree opposite the Atlanta Athletic Club. I think they even had a cow in the backyard. Evidently Jonas, being a peddler, was away from home while all this was going on. Regina sold the house for $3,000 confederate money and the whole family boarded a train . . . some people say for New York and some people say for Nashville. I'm not sure which. They left town.” 11
BIOGRAPHY
Harriet Wiseberg (Greenblatt) was born in 1916 in Atlanta, Georgia. Her parents were Arthur Wiseberg and Helen Silverman Wiseberg. She grew up in Druid Hills, an area of Atlanta that was not typically Jewish. Her father’s family, the Wisebergs, came from Eastern Europe. Morris Wiseberg immigrated first to Australia where he sold clothing to miners during the Australian gold rush. Later he came to San Francisco, California then Washington, Arkansas, then Charleston, South Carolina and finally to Atlanta in 1867 after the Civil War. Morris married Clara Hirschfield in Arkansas after which they moved to Atlanta where Morris owned a bonnet factory in Five Points as well as the Etowah Café. He also owned a great deal of real estate in post-Civil War Atlanta.
Harriet’s maternal grandfather was Harry Silverman, the owner of Silverman’s, a prominent tobacconist store in Atlanta. Harry Silverman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Several of her ancestors were among the original founders of the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation (The Temple) in Atlanta.
Harriett participated in Ballyhoo, Jubilee and Falcon social events and often went to Jester Lake She attended the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. She married Sidney Greenblatt. They belonged to the Temple and Sidney worked for Montag Brothers. Harriet participated in the civil rights movement through the National Council of Jewish Women. She also participated in the League of Women Voters.
SCOPE OF INTERVIEW
Harriett discusses at length her ancestors, most of which were prominent members of the Atlanta Jewish community. The family names include the Harry Silverman family, the Morris Wiseberg family, the Weils, the Franks (Lucille Selig was a first cousin of her mother’s), the Jonas Loeb Cohen family, the Auerbach family, and the Greenblatts (including Mike and Sam).
Harriet discussed growing up in a non-Jewish part of Atlanta (Druid Hills), attending summer camp, a Presbyterian school, and Girl Scouts. She discusses the impact of the Leo Frank arrest and lynching on the Jewish community. She also recalls the impact of the Great Depression and her father’s loss of his restaurant and their home.
She also discusses her childhood and college life at University of Georgia (including not being able to join a sorority because she was Jewish and her meeting and marriage to Sidney Greenblatt.
KEYWORDS
Abraham, August
Abraham, Regina
Alto, Georgia
American Civil War, 1861-1865
Arkansas
Athens, Georgia
Atlanta Normal Training School—Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Auerbach, Joseph
Auerbach, Pauline Silverman
Australia
Australian Gold Rush
B’nai Israel—Evansville, Indiana
Charleston, South Carolina
Civil War, 1861-1865—Siege of Atlanta
Cohen, Jonas Loeb
Cohen, Sarah Abraham
Confederate States of America
Cronheim, Gussie
Druid Hills (Atlanta, Georgia)
England
Etowah Café—Atlanta, Georgia
Evansville, Indiana
Fox, Lena Guthman
Five Points—Atlanta, Georgia
Frank, Leo—Lynching
Frank, Lucille Selig
Gate City Guards—Atlanta
Germany
Girl Scouts
Gone With the Wind (book)
Great Depression, 1929
Greenblatt, Harriet Wiseberg
Greenblatt, Sidney
Haberdashery industry and trade
Hat industry and trade
Hebrew Benevolent Congregration—Atlanta, Georgia
Hirschfeeld, Isaac
Hirschfield, Emma
Howren, Evelyn Greenblatt
Immigration
Indiana
Jacobs, Joseph
Jewish-Christian Relations
Kunian, Marie (Mitzi) Eiseman Long
Latvia
Liebal, Latvia
Liepaja, Latvia
Lucy Cobb Institute—Athens, Georgia
M. Wiseberg, Wholesale Millinery—Atlanta, Georgia
Marx, Eleanor (Nell) Rosenfeld
Melbourne, Australia
Memphis, Tennessee
Michael brothers
North Carolina
Peddlers and peddling
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Rosenfeld, Emily Baer
Saarbrucken, Germany
San Francisco, California
Silverman, Sara Cohen
Silverman, Harry
Silverman, Henrietta Weil
Silverman, Seligman
Silverman Catering Company—Atlanta, Georgia
Silverman-Goodrum Tobacco Company—Atlanta, Georgia
Silverman’s—Atlanta, Georgia
Silverman’s Corner—Atlanta, Georgia
Slavery
Sororities
South Carolina
Spanish-American War, 1898
Suicide
Temple—Atlanta, Georgia
Temple Israel—Memphis, Tennessee
Temple, Dedication, 1877—Atlanta, Georgia
Tobacconists
Uniforms, Confederacy
United States—Westward settlement
University of Georgia—Athens, Georgia
Washington, Arkansas
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wiseberg, Ann
Wiseberg, Arthur
Wiseberg, Clara Hirschfield
Wiseberg, Helen Silverman
Wiseberg, Morris