Descriptive Summary

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

An appointment for research is required. No Inter-Library Loan.

Accessing information on computer storage devices requires the availability of suitable hardware. Special Collections currently has no hardware to access files on zip discs.

Copyright Notice

The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. C.). Reproductions are made only for use as personal study or research. It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials. The Archives of Beth Ha-tephila Congregation in Asheville, North Carolina retains copyright.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Collection 107: Leo Finkelstein Papers, W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, 28608.

Provenance

This collection was donated by the Finkelstein family to the Archives of Beth Ha-Tephila Congregation in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1998, and allowed the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection to maintain duplicates within its manuscript collection. Patricia Beaver donated additional materials in 2001, which were also microfilmed and the originals maintained in the collection.

Processing Information

Processed in 2000 and 2010.

Biographical Note

Leo Finkelstein (1905 - 1998) was a life-long resident of Asheville, North Carolina. He owned a pawnshop and was a member of the Asheville Jewish community and several civic organizations, including the Lions Club and the Elks Club, and was president of Beth Ha-Tephila. After retirement, Finkelstein collected and compiled stories and personal histories into two books, Letters from Leo: World War II Correspondence to the Asheville Lions Club (1997) and Asheville and The Poor Man's Bank (1998), which were edited by Appalachian Studies Director Patricia Beaver. He married Sylvia Eva Bein in 1945.

Beth Ha-Tephila is a reform Jewish Community in Asheville, North Carolina. It organized in 1891 of primarily European immigrants who immigrated to Asheville in the late 1880s. The Beth Ha-Tephila Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery in Asheville organized in 1891.

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains materials relating to Leo Finkelstein and Asheville, North Carolina. It contains drafts of Finkelstein's two books, personal histories, digital photographs, print photographs, correspondence to the Asheville Lions Club, and academic papers. Scrapbooks, photo albums, and Finkelstein's World War II diary are available only on microfilm. Some digital materials are stored on zip discs that are currently inaccessible. Original materials are located at the Archives of Beth Ha-Tephila Congregation in Asheville, North Carolina. Original materials in this collection were donated separately by Patricia Beaver in 2001.

Collection Arrangement

Series Description

Series I, Leo Finkelstein Scrapbooks and Other Materials (Microfilm), circa 1912 - 1999, contains copies of a variety of materials belonging to Leo Finkelstein and housed in the Archives of Beth Ha-Tephila in Asheville, NC. This includes photo albums, scrapbooks, notes, recollections, and stories used in Finkelstein's books, military documents, financial documents, vital records, Finkelstien's World War II scrapbook, diary, and discharge papers, documents relating to the Lions and Elk Clubs, and the Asheville Jewish community. Materials in this series are contained on three microfilm reels and date from 1912 to 1999. Some materials in the scrapbooks have been glued over other materials, rendering them illegible and inaccessible. Materials were not processed and are in no particular order. The microfilm also contains copies of materials in Series II.

Series II, Patricia Beaver Papers, 1987 - 1999, undated, contains materials donated by Patricia Beaver, Appalachian Studies director and co-editor of Leo Finkelstein's books. It contains academic papers on the Jewish Community in Asheville, Finkelstein's notes, fliers, and materials relating to the Asheville Lions Club, Elks Club, and the Jewish Community. There are also scans of photographs and newspaper articles on computer discs, two original photographs of Asheville in the 1940s and 1950s and gravestones from Beth Ha-Tephila taken in 1995 (photographs have been removed to Series II, Subseries C).

Series II is organized into three subseries. Subseries A, Computer Media, undated, contains digital copies of photographs and contains three types of media, 3 1/2 inch floppy disks, zip discs, and CD-ROM discs. Files saved on these formats include scans of newspaper articles, photographs, and some ephemera. All images are in TIFF format. Some photographs have been photocopied and are in Box 3, folder 10, and are available on microfilm (Special Collections currently no hardware available to access zip disc files).

Series II, Subseries B, Papers, 1987 - 1998, contains academic papers, Leo Finkelstein's research and notes, and book drafts. There are two academic papers, Robin Jolly's "Early Jewish Gravestones at Beth Ha-Taphila Cemetery," and Beaver's "Jewish Roots in Appalachia: The Development of the Jewish Community in Asheville, North Carolina." Both are dated 1995. Documents authored by Leo Finkelstein's includes original handwritten and typed personal recollections and histories, concerning mostly the Lions Club and Asheville. Book materials include draft and finished copies of Finkelstein's books, Letters from Leo: World War II Correspondence to the Asheville Lions Club (1997) and Asheville and The Poor Man's Bank (1998).

Series II, Subseries C, Photographs, 1948 - 1995, contain black and white photographs separated from the rest of the collection. It includes fifteen photographs of gravestones at Beth Ha-Tephila Cemetery in Asheville, NC. Some tombstones include writing in Hebrew and are dated 1995. There are also two photographs of Asheville businesses including Finkelstein's Loan Office from the 1950s. Print and digital photographs are reproductions from the Ewart M. Ball Collection at University of North Carolina-Asheville Special Collections and the North Carolina Collection at the Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina.

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