Abstract: |
The Joseph Family is a prominent Cleveland, Ohio, Jewish family. Moritz Joseph arrived in the United States in 1853 from Gauersheim,
Rheinpfalz, Germany, during the nineteenth-century German-Jewish immigration period. Settling in Cleveland in 1872, Joseph
became successful in the manufacturing ofmen's clothing incorporating that operation as the Joseph and Feiss Company in 1907.
The company, formed out of previously operating businesses, was one of the largest manufacturers of men's clothing in the
United States. Moritz Joseph married Jette Selig in 1853; the marriage produced four sons. Three of them, Isaac, Fred, and
Siegmund, and Siegmund's son Ralph, worked all or part of their careers with the Joseph and Feiss Company. The foruth son,
Emil, Emil's son Frank E., and Frank E.'s son William R., became lawyers after graduating from Columbia University Law School.
Frank E. Joseph was a promient lawyer and a partner at the Jones, Day, Cockley, & Reavis law firm. The family has been very
active in both leadership and philanthropy in Cleveland in institutions such as the Musical Arts Associaton (The Cleveland
Orchestra), the Kulas Foundation, and the Warner and Swasey Foundation, and in Jewish communal institutions such as Bellefaire
and The Jewish Family Service Association. The collection consists of scrapbooks chronicling the lives of Martha J. Joseph
Joseph, Adele Joseph Yelson and Edmil, Frank E. and William R. Joseph. Included in the scrapbooks are correspondence, photographs,
programs, and newspaper clippings. The Joseph Family Papers also include the diaries of Emil Joseph from 1877 to 1938 and
Ralph S. Joseph from 1903 to 1948, and extensive correspondence of Emil Joseph to Fanny Dryfoos Joseph between 1886 and 1909,
and his son, Frank, between 1922 and 1928.
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