Did you know that “Nearly every building in the downtown core housed a Jewish owned store” during the period from 1880 to the 1990’s? Did you know that “for most of the twentieth-century Asheville had the second largest Jewish population in the state?”

If you want to learn more about Asheville history and the Jewish community, join us in Special Collections on Thursday November 9 from 12:00 to 1:30 for Jan Schochet’s and Sharon Fahrer’s informative slide presentation that will trace the nearly 110 years of undocumented history of Asheville’s Jewish businesses. The reception and slide presentation will provide students, faculty and staff the opportunity to become better acquainted with the community and with its rich history.

“The Family Store: A History of Jewish Businesses in Downtown Asheville, 1880-1990”, the twelve-station exhibit currently mounted at business sites in downtown Asheville, describes a dozen of the more than 400 Jewish businesses that have flourished downtown. Sharon and Jan will provide a history of their ambitious exhibit project and will discuss many of the historic sites included in their twelve-station exhibit.

Two of the exhibit panels describe sites at UNCA and will be on view for the talk. They have been donated to UNCA  and will be permanently displayed in Lipinsky Hall and Zeiger Hall. They describe the history of the Lipinsky family and the Zeiger family who generously contributed to our campus environment.

Jan Schochet and Sharon Fahrer, who partner in a cultural history venture called “History@Hand, have more than four years research in the “Family Store” project and many more years of providing talks and tours of our city and region. The “Family Store” project has been developed with funding assistance from the North Carolina Humanities Council and in cooperation with City Seeds, Inc., a local non-profit organization that helps downtown-based projects. Research materials associated with the exhibit and gathered by Sharon and Jan have also been donated to D.H. Ramsey Library Special Collections and may be viewed on the internet by searching “Jewish Life in Western North Carolina,” or by going to

http://toto.lib.unca.edu/featured_collections/featured_collections.htm