Peddlers to Processors: Scrap Stories from the Upper Midwest, an exhibit produced by the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest (JHSUM), will be displayed April 3–May 26 in the Tychman Shapiro Gallery and Shared Walls Exhibition Areas at the Sabes JCC, 4330 Cedar Lake Rd. S., St. Louis Park.
An opening reception will take place 2 p.m. Sunday, April 3, which is free and open to the public.
An unprecedented number of Eastern European Jewish immigrants started out peddling soon after they arrived in the Twin Cities. Some progressed from horse and wagon to truck, or became dealers and even sophisticated scrap processors.
The exhibit will include a timeline from the Industrial Revolution, through the Russian Revolution to the Green Revolution, and the lobby wall will take viewers from the Pale of Settlement to the Midwest, featuring pioneer immigrants.
Inside the Tychman Shapiro Gallery will be the centerpiece of the exhibit: the more than 100-year-old peddler cart used by Hyman Kaplan, who began his business in Northfield and continued as the family moved to St. Paul. Bob Kaplan is now the fourth generation in the family scrap business, working for Northern Metal Recycling/Great Western.
The exhibit will also cover auto salvage and parts with the Rappaport family, barrels and containers from Dworsky, bags and rags from Brotex and Miller Bag, and more.
For information, visit: www.sabesjcc.org.
