A) 111 Washington Avenue – would be the first stop on the walking tour which would host a Jewish Community Center founded in 1926
67 S Pearl St. – would be the next stop on the tour. Khevre Bnei Jacob, a Russian-Jewish Synagogue first location. Purchased in 1881 and served as a Workmen’s Circle Branch after 1907
19 State St. – the next stop is home to the 1st Workman’s Circle Branch 67.
28 Fulton St. – is the second to last stop and is a synagogue for Eastern European Jews. They purchased a plot of land and turned it into a place of faith. In 1907 this address was abandoned for a new building on Herkimer street.
John A Howe Branch Library – lastly will be used as a sample view for visitors of an Eastern European Jewish Community in Albany.
B) Google Estimates the tour to be 37 minutes.
C) The main theme of this tour is to show the history of the Jewish religion in Albany. Whether it be the Synagogues developed between the 19th and 20th century or communities Jewish immigrated to and call their own, Albany is a very historic place for the Jewish. The tour will feature a couple churches that the Jewish purchased and turned into synagogues indicating that Jews were somewhat of a new wave of immigrant. I found it very intriguing that there would be such a big Jewish community in a place like Albany and felt their history would be ideal for a walking tour. The audience for this tour would be anyone interested in religion, specifically Judaism. Additionally, the audience for this tour want to learn more about the history of synagogues and Jewish communities in Albany. Ideally Jewish families from Albany can go on this tour to find out more about the history of their neighborhoods and community organizations that their ancestors have been involved in. A visitor of this tour will take away the fact that Jewish history is a staple in Albany. You cannot walk through Albany without glimpsing Jewish history. Visitors will see the changes in society that stemmed from Jewish migration to Albany. Most of the locations on this tour are places people would normally walk by and not think anything of.
D)
E) Three questions I need to research to finish this product include:
What steps need to be taken when converting a methodist church into a synagogue?
What determines the value of the churches that were bought to become synagogues?
What did the Jewish community Centers do to impact their community?
Both of our tours consist of historical aspects. Did you originally want to focus on religion or was is just a coincidence?
Should be “Jewish people,” not “the Jewish.”
Some earlier Albany Jewish residents to consider: https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/l/aslevy.html and https://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/h/bahays8386.html
Other images of Hebrew schools and temples which we didn’t turn up earlier: https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=97716831%40N04&view_all=1&text=hebrew
Your biggest challenge is going to be making each stop unique, so think carefully about what you can focus on that’s different at each stop, and try to give your visitor something different each place. Whether that’s going to be immigration of one period at one stop, the architecture of a purchased synagogue at another, or the work of a community org is up to you.
I wouldn’t get too bogged down in details of how the financial transaction went, but your third question about what did community groups do in the community is going to be an interesting one. If you can’t find anything about that one specifically, look for the general history of Jewish community organizations in that period, there’s a lot out there. JSTOR is going to be your best bet for that.