Fay Avivah Jonas Kaye papers

Collection — Folder: 1

Identifier: IWA1322

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Fay Avivah Jonas Kaye papers date from 2022, but discuss events from 1900 to 2000, and measure .025 linear inches in one folder. The entirety of the papers is made up of two essays composed by Kaye about the Jewish community in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and a biography of her mother. Photographs of Miriam Jonas, Beth El Synagogue, and its congregation are included within the essays.

Dates

Creation: 2022

Creator

Kaye, Fay Avivah Jonas (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright held by the donor has been retained by the donor.

However, copyright status for some collection materials may be unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility and potential liability based on copyright infringement for any use rests exclusively and solely with the user. Users must properly acknowledge the Iowa Women’s Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, as the source of the material. For further information, visit https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/services/rights/

Biographical / Historical

Fort Dodge, Iowa, housed a small Jewish community starting in the early 1900s. This community grew throughout the twentieth century. It peaked during the midcentury with upwards of thirty households attending services at the Beth El Synagogue. From the late 1980s, the Jewish population in Fort Dodge and the surrounding towns dwindled, and in 2000 the congregation at Beth El Synagogue disbanded.

Fay Avivah Jonas Kaye and her mother Miriam Jonas were passionate members of the Fort Dodge congregation from 1956 to 1989. In two essays, Kaye describes her mother’s harrowing journey out of Nazi Germany and the thriving Jewish communities of rural post-war Iowa.