Kirsten Fermaglich, Ph.D. – American Jews and Name Changing, 1930-1960

Sunday, March 13, 2011 at 11:00 am, Holocaust Memorial Center

In the middle of the twentieth century, the numbers of petitions for name changes in New York City rose dramatically. In numbers disproportionate to the Jewish population in the city, the majority of name-change petitioners in NY bore Jewish names. This rise in Jewish name-changing has not been studied by historians and offers us a valuable window into American Jewish life during this era. Name-changing reflected both Jewish success and weakness in the American economy. Indeed, a close reading of New York City name change petitions allows us to reconsider the process by which American Jews became middle class during the twentieth century.

Kirsten Fermaglich (Ph.D. History, New York University) has taught at Michigan State University since 2001. Her book on American social scientists and Holocaust imagery, American Dreams and Nazi Nightmares: Early Holocaust Consciousness and Liberal America, 1957-1965, was published by Brandeis University Press in 2006. She has also published articles in American Jewish History, the Michigan Historical Review, and Southern Jewish History; her article on Mel Brooks’ The Producers is forthcoming in American Studies. She is currently researching the history of Jews and name-changing in the twentieth century for a book-length project tentatively entitled, “A Rosenberg By Any Other Name.” Fermaglich co-curated a 2002-2003 MSU museum exhibit, “Uneasy Years: Michigan Jewry During Depression and War” that was recognized by the Michigan Council for the Humanities as among the top 30 projects the Council supported in the past 30 years.