on Display at Centenary's Meadows Museum of Art
Shreveport, LA--The Southern Jewish
Experience: Celebrating a Century in Shreveport with Agudath Achim will
be on dsplay at Centenary College's Meadows Museum of Art until Dec. 8.
The Southern Jewish Experience
presents an overview of the
history of Southern Jewry and is part of Shreveport's citywide celebration
surrounding the centennial of Agudath Achim Synagogue. Accompanying The
Southern Jewish Experience is an exhibition of photographs by Leonard
Nimoy entitled The Shekhina Project (Aug. 27-Nov. 17). The
calendar of museum festivities developed in tandem with these exhibitions
includes lectures, book signings, volunteer training sessions and receptions
to which the community-at-large is invited.
For well over 200 years, Jews have
lived in the South. Though small in
number, they have contributed greatly
to the communities in which they
worked, as merchants, farmers, cotton
brokers, and myriad other
professions. During the course of
the 20th Century, as economies
declined and small businesses became
less viable, Jewish populations in
small towns dwindled. In many cases,
synagogues closed their doors.
The Museum of the Southern Jewish
Experience (MSJE) in Utica, Miss.,
operates under the umbrella of the
Institute of Southern Jewish Life,
and serves as a repository for objects,
oral histories and documents
that chronicle this rich past, while
continuing to celebrate Jewish
tradition and culture. Within this
context, the importance of the
centennial anniversary of the founding
of Agudath Achim takes on
heightened meaning.
Drawn primarily from the MSJE, the
two dozen objects that comprise this
Meadows Museum exhibition include
an Ark from Winne, Ark., a Torah from Laurel, Miss., and a Ner Tamid (sanctuary
lamp) from Port
Gibson, Miss. Also included are
a series of black-and-white and
color photographs taken by Bill
Aron.
An exhibition reception for The
Southern Jewish Experience: Celebrating a Century in Shreveport with Agudath
Achim will be held at the Meadows Museum of Art on Oct. 10 from 7-9
p.m.
This exhibition has been curated
and organized for travel by the Meadows
Museum of Art in cooperation with
the Museum of the Southern Jewish
Experience. The printing of educational
and informational materials for
this exhibition has been supported
by the Louisiana Endowment for the
Humanities, a state affiliate of
the NEH, and by the Shreveport-Bossier
Convention and Tourist Bureau. The
Museum receives operating support
from SRAC with funds from the City
of Shreveport. The Museum receives annual support from the Friends of the
Algur Meadows Museum. The Museum seeks and receives funding from public
and private foundations and other sources on a project-by-project basis.
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The Meadows Museum of Art is located
on the campus of Centenary College of Louisiana at 2911 Centenary Blvd.
in Shreveport. The Museum is open from noon to 4 p.m. n Tuesday, Wednesday
and Friday; from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursday; from 1 to 4 p.m. on weekends.
The Museum is closed on Monday. The Museum is free of charge. To receive
a 2002-03 Exhibition and Program Guide, call the Museum at 318.869.5040.
To schedule a group tour, call the Museum Education Department at 318.841.7271.
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For information about The Shekhina
Project and Leonard Nimoy, and a calendar of events, see Nimoy Photograph Exhibit, Calendar.
