Special to the JTA on the Record

What did Jews living in the United States really feel about the events of this momentous quarter-century between 1900-1925-World War 1? America and their immigration? Russia and the 1917 Revolution? Assimilation?

One rich and lively source of information on the attitudes of American Jews in the early 20th century is the collection of 7,000 78 RPM recordings of people Jewish songs of this period preserved at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. YIVO is currently marking the 60th anniversary of its founding in 1925.

In an interview at YIVO, Henry Sapoznik, archivist of the Max and Frieda Weinstein Archive of YIVO Sound Recordings, said, “These RPM’s are the recorded equivalent of the old town crier. They called an event to the attention of the public, gave information on it, and then added a message.”

It is the popular and commercial nature of these records that makes them such a good source of information, said Sapoznik who will discuss the attitudes reflected in these recorded pop songs, in his talk on “How We Heard It: Jewish History on 78 RPM’s” on Wednesday, April 17 at 7 p.m. at YIVO, 1048 Fifth Avenue (corner of 86th Street). He will “illustrate” his talk with selections from these rarely heard Yiddish and English golden goodies.

REFLECTED FEELINGS OF JEWISH COMMUNITY

The records were produced by commercial companies (all but one non-Jewish) for a strictly Jewish audience. They sold at 75 cents each at a time when workers earned $2 a day. “The recorded songs reflected how Jews felt about themselves,” Sapoznik said. “If the community didn’t relate to the songs, they wouldn’t have bought the records.”

The recorded songs, many of them from the Yiddish theater, contain little criticism of American society, Sapoznik said. The earlier ones sing the glories of immigration to America — “it’s good to be here.” The later ones of the period began to exhibit nostalgia for the old country — “as it was and as they would have liked it to be.”

The lack of criticism at a time when Socialism and Zionism were “hot issues,” is also due, in part, to the commercial nature of the companies, which included Columbia and Victor and scores of smaller labels, some of which produced only a few Jewish records, Sapoznik noted.

The records, he said, “reflect a community in transition.” If the words themselves don’t show this, the music does. Often there is a mid-song transition from Yiddish-style music to American style (rag-time) music. One 1918 song, “Regards from the Trenches,” has two bars of “Dixie” as a “thumbprint” of Americana, he said.

THE SON OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

Sapoznik, who did the music for the acclaimed YIVO film about Polish Jewry, “Image Before My Eyes,” is the son of Holocaust survivors. His parents are both musical — his father, a cantor and his mother, a folksinger. He holds a degree in ethnomusicology from the City University of New York and is the founder of the Yiddish klezmer band, Kapelye.

Sapoznik said in the interview that 55,000 Jewish records were put out in the United States between 1895 and 1942. “Many are still in people’s basements, closets, or attics and they don’t even know it.” Urging people to “unearth” these unique and precious treasures, Sapoznik added that YIVO has already put 3,000 of its 78 RMP records on tape and is in the process of working on a catalogue to make them more easily accessible.