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From reading Taylor's biography, I found out that Sarah/Sydney had a very interesting life besides being an author. The other sisters were also highly accomplished.
I learned from Taylor's biography that her sister, Charlotte Brenner Himber, wrote her autobiography titled Touched with Fire. I haven't been able to find it anywhere though, and I did check WorldCat.org for it. I'm guessing that Charlotte's book was never published, and that biographer June Cummins was given special access to it through the family.
The family stories told in Taylor's biography are fascinating (and on a waaay more adult level than the stories in Taylor's children's books).
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rachel NewYork
Michgc, you (and others here) might enjoy the biography From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family. It was published only last year, and I'm currently reading it. The biography gives lots of details about Sydney Taylor's parents and their families before they immigrated to America. I think it may even fill in some gaps in that family tree you found on Ancestry.com.
"This is the first and only biography of Sydney Taylor (1904–1978), author of the award-winning All-of-a-Kind Family series of books, the first juvenile novels published by a mainstream publisher to feature Jewish children characters. The family—based on Taylor’s own as a child—includes five sisters, each two years apart, dressed alike by their fastidious immigrant mother so they all look the same: all-of-a-kind. The four other sisters’ names were the same in the books as in their real lives; only the real-life Sarah changed hers to the boyish Sydney while she was in high school. Cummins elucidates the deep connections between the progressive Taylor’s books and American Jewish experiences, arguing that Taylor was deeply influential in the development of national Jewish identity. This biography conveys the vital importance of children’s books in the transmission of Jewish culture and the preservation of ethnic heritage."
Thank you so much for the recommendation! I cannot wait to read this! And I know my sister will love it, too. We both loved these books. Thanks!
I'm now about a quarter of the way through From Sarah to Sydney, and I'm reading about how Taylor was unable to complete more than two years of high school because her parents needed her to go to work to help out the family. But even those two years of high school were more higher education than most young people of the lower social classes were able to receive back then. Many didn't attend any years of high school at all.
However, the book goes on to say that "young women did not see the end of formal schooling as the end of their liberal arts education." After having to leave public high school, Taylor started going to evening classes when she could, and in her diary she "frequently mentions activities such as attending and discussing plays, lectures, and musical performances. Every event leads to conversations with her peers and essays in her diaries."
I don't know whether these continuing education activities were primarily pursued by Jewish girls (due to the high value that our culture places on education) but I was thrilled to read about how Taylor went with her girlfriends one time to hear Rabbi Stephen S. Wise (1874-1949) deliver a talk titled "The Eternal Quest" at Carnegie Hall, which inspired Taylor "to consider and write about her own views of immortality and the soul."
I had mentioned Rabbi Stephen S. Wise in another post of mineover in the book discussion thread started by Coney in this forum last month titled "Gangsters vs. Nazis by Michael Benson," so I was excited to see the connection between Sydney Taylor and Rabbi Wise.
I believe that Sydney Taylor and her family were exceptional in comparison with her peers from that time. She was a German Jew. In general, they were more educated, exposed to more secular culture, and affluent. In this book, Taylor wrote about her own mother placing importance on "fine" furnishings. This type of emphasis was probably passed down from previous generations. The bulk of Jewry hailed from modest Shtetls, relying more on superstitions and folklore. Everyone tried to scramble up the ladder, but the German Jews had a head start in both aspirations and experience.
I believe that Sydney Taylor and her family were exceptional in comparison with her peers from that time. She was a German Jew. In general, they were more educated, exposed to more secular culture, and affluent. In this book, Taylor wrote about her own mother placing importance on "fine" furnishings. This type of emphasis was probably passed down from previous generations. The bulk of Jewry hailed from modest Shtetls, relying more on superstitions and folklore. Everyone tried to scramble up the ladder, but the German Jews had a head start in both aspirations and experience.
I remember reading in Sydney Taylor's biography that her family was actually "mixed." Her mother's side was Deutsch (German Jews) and her father's side was Poylish (Polish Jews) -- not exactly a compatible mix due to the more assimilated culture of the Deutsch and the more traditional culture of the Poylish. In fact, when Cecilia (Sydney's mother) first laid eyes on Moshe (the man whom she would eventually marry), her first impression of him upon seeing his beard and his traditional sidelocks was not a favorable one. Nevertheless, Cecilia married Morris/Moshe and they raised their children in an Orthodox Jewish home.
There were some clashes between Cecilia and Morris upon immigrating to America and settling in NYC's Lower East Side. Cecilia tended to be somewhat materialistic, pining for the furniture and life she had to leave behind in Germany, as well as embarrassed by Morris's profession as a junk dealer. The family lived in poverty during their early years in NYC. Despite the portrayal of Cecilia in Sydney Taylor's books as being the warm-hearted Mama, Cecilia was often cold and distant (these traits being passed off as coming from her German background), and at times disengaged from the family (possibly due to a mental illness she suffered from). At one time, the children's aunt (Cecilia's older, unmarried sister) had to come to take over the care of the household and children. Papa, on the other hand, seemed to be consistently engaged in the family and fondly remembered.
I have to say that some of the revelations I've read in the biography From Sarah to Sydney add a sad underpinning to the otherwise innocent and carefree charm of the All-of-a-kind Family books.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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I can't wait to read the book. I ordered it the other day! They definitely seemed a bit more well-off than my family who was living on the Lower East Side at the same time. My grandmother (b. 1899) was approximately the same age as Ella, and came over at age 3 in 1903 from "Russia" (now Ukraine). I'm guessing that the Brenners came over around 1901, as I think Ella was the only child born in Europe. So a very similar timeline.
My grandmother only went to school through the eighth grade. I actually have her 1914 graduation program! My grandmother was already a bookkeeper at age 16 in the 1915 New York State Census. That is when she lived on Rivington Street where in the book the girls and Mama went to market. Mama said that Rivington Street had lower prices than their neighborhood, so I'm guessing where they lived was a bit nicer than where my grandmother did. The Brenners renting the beach cottage in Rockaway for the summer also seemed fairly luxurious. Sarah/Sydney is clearly smart (and is described as such in the book), so I'm not surprised that she attended lectures and such. I will need to look at the Rabbi Wise thread. I must have missed it.
The books are so innocent and positive (although "Downtown" is a bit dark), but clearly meant for a young audience. I never considered, for example, where the family went to the bathroom. It was likely it was in the hallway for several apartments. But the illustrations are so lovely that the apartment looks quite nice, I never felt bad for the family. Of course it was written as a fiction story, and the biography would have a more realistic portrayal of their lives. Although it is disappointing that the mother was "cold and distant." I do think it comes across in the books that the father is a bit warmer than the mother, although I liked them both. I love Uncle Hyman and Lena! I'd love to know if their story was real - how they met and her polio.
I can't wait to read the book. I ordered it the other day! They definitely seemed a bit more well-off than my family who was living on the Lower East Side at the same time. My grandmother (b. 1899) was approximately the same age as Ella, and came over at age 3 in 1903 from "Russia" (now Ukraine). I'm guessing that the Brenners came over around 1901, as I think Ella was the only child born in Europe. So a very similar timeline.
My grandmother only went to school through the eighth grade. I actually have her 1914 graduation program! My grandmother was already a bookkeeper at age 16 in the 1915 New York State Census. That is when she lived on Rivington Street where in the book the girls and Mama went to market. Mama said that Rivington Street had lower prices than their neighborhood, so I'm guessing where they lived was a bit nicer than where my grandmother did. The Brenners renting the beach cottage in Rockaway for the summer also seemed fairly luxurious. Sarah/Sydney is clearly smart (and is described as such in the book), so I'm not surprised that she attended lectures and such. I will need to look at the Rabbi Wise thread. I must have missed it.
The books are so innocent and positive (although "Downtown" is a bit dark), but clearly meant for a young audience. I never considered, for example, where the family went to the bathroom. It was likely it was in the hallway for several apartments. But the illustrations are so lovely that the apartment looks quite nice, I never felt bad for the family. Of course it was written as a fiction story, and the biography would have a more realistic portrayal of their lives. Although it is disappointing that the mother was "cold and distant." I do think it comes across in the books that the father is a bit warmer than the mother, although I liked them both. I love Uncle Hyman and Lena! I'd love to know if their story was real - how they met and her polio.
Yes, I remember that chapter that described poor Lena contracting polio during the epidemic and becoming crippled by it just three days before her wedding to Hyman. Taylor's biography describes the epidemic and the real-life family leaving for the cleaner air of Rockaway Beach, but I don't remember whether the episode with Lena from the book actually happened. It may have, as Taylor did base her stories on the real-life incidents she remembered from her childhood.
I don't think that real-life Mama was always distant and cold. She did have her good moments, and the biography does mention that her children loved her, even as she became more difficult as she aged. I think that it was mostly Taylor's own daughter, Jo, who viewed her grandmother as being distant and cold. Taylor's mother appeared to suffer from mental illness brought about by her unhappiness over leaving her former life in Germany, and she eventually ended her life in suicide. This was when she had reached her 80s, and feared becoming "a burden" to her adult daughters and sons. So sad, but Taylor's book at least captured the good moments in her mother's life and preserved them for generations of young readers.
Another book that you might enjoy is Ten and a Kid, by Sadie Rose Weilerstein. It was published in 1961 and is similar to All-of-a-Kind Family except the family in this book is living in a shtetl in Lithuania in the late 1800s.
I do remember that Sarah/Sydney came from a "mixed" family in terms of class. From my experience, and I am generalizing, the German Jews (who came here earlier than Eastern European Jews) were more stoic and prided themselves on holding back their emotions. The Eastern European Jews did more kvetching and kvelling and sneered at their German counterparts for being "cold." It's pretty similar to the way members of the British upper class pride themselves on not showing emotion to differentiate themselves from the lower classes who did show more emotion. Stiff upper lip vs. Liza from Pygmalion. I also think the urban Jews from Austria and Germany had more creature comforts than Jews from Galicia, Poland. They had more to lose when they immigrated to the US.
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