Bullets, Bandages, and Making WAVES: Jewish Women in WWII at New Haven Museum 

Third Annual Judith Ann Schiff Women’s History Program 

New Haven, Conn. (February, 2025)– The New Haven Museum (NHM) will highlight the resilience, courage, and ingenuity of local Jewish women during World War II in the Third Annual Judith Ann Schiff Women’s History Program, “Bullets, Bandages, and Making WAVES: Jewish Women in WWII New Haven,” on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 2 p.m. The program will also stream on Facebook Live. In the case of inclement weather, the event will be recorded and aired on YouTube and social media. Register here. 

Presented by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven (JHSGNH), the program will share clips of recorded oral histories and historical documents capturing the challenges and triumphs of life in WWII, which ended 80 years ago, in 1945. From running a family business to managing home-front challenges, to serving in the Navy’s WAVES or making bullet shells reminiscent of “Rosie the Riveter,” their stories illustrate the ways American women in the Elm City contributed to the war effort. 

JHSGNH volunteers, writer Carole Bass and oral-history interviewer Rhoda Zahler Samuel, will present segments of the video memories of Rita Small Melman (1928-2013), Mitzi Fenster Bargar (born 1927), Lucille Wolfe Alderman (1924-2024), Rose Rosenberg Dubin (born 1924), Ruth Grannick (1921-2022), Edith Londer Gillman (1924-2018), and Laura Small Levine (1919-2016). Jennifer Klein, Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University, will give a brief presentation about the ways WWII influenced women’s roles. 

The program will honor the legacy of these remarkable women and invite attendees to reflect and consider how history shapes our current values and societal norms. Visitors will discover the new roles women accepted during the war: enlisting in the armed forces, working in munitions factories, running family businesses at home. “These roles challenged traditional gender norms and forever changed public perception of women in the workforce,” says Samuel. “With this event, we hope to inspire ongoing conversations about gender equality.” She adds, “World War II was a turning point for women, yet there is still much work to be done to promote equal participation in the work force and armed services.”  

Michael Dimenstein, President of the JHSGNH, notes how fitting the topic is for the Schiff Women’s History Program. “In the third year of this program, the ingenuity and drive of these women during WWII aptly reflects Judy Schiff’s resourcefulness, determination, and belief in the importance of preserving and sharing our collective history.”  

Selected  photographs, publications, and objects related to the presentation were curated by Nicole Zador, managing archivist at the JHSGNH, and will be on view in the Community Case in the Museum’s rotunda throughout March 2025.  

About the Speakers 

Carole Bass is a writer, editor, and lifetime member of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven. As a volunteer member of the planning team for the Judith Ann Schiff Women’s History Program, she wrote and helped research biographical sketches that will be distributed at the program honoring women in WWII. A longtime journalist, Carole worked for publications as varied as the Connecticut Law Tribune, the New Haven Advocate, and the Yale Alumni Magazine. She is active in her synagogue, BEKI (Congregation Beth El-Keser Israel). 

Jennifer Klein is the Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University. Her work focuses on U.S. labor politics, social policy, and political economy in 20^th-century United States. Her books include “For All These Rights: Business, Labor, and the Shaping of America’s Public-Private Welfare State,” and “Caring for America: Home Health Workers in the Shadow of the Welfare State,” co-authored with Eileen Boris. In addition to academic journals and collections, her articles have appeared in Dissent, the New York Times, American Prospect.org, Washington Post.com, The Nation.com, and New Labor Forum. She’s received fellowships from the NEH, Russell Sage Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Brookings Institution, and Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Research Center.  

Rhoda Zahler Samuel has been involved in the development of the Judith Ann Schiff Women’s History Program since its inception. Since her retirement from a 24-year career as Neighborhood Planner and Director of Special Projects for the City of New Haven, she has conducted over 50 oral-history interviews for the archives of the Jewish Historical Society (JHSGNH), where she has served as a board member and past president. Transcriptions of several of the interviews have been published by the JHSGNH and the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University. She also serves on the Board of the Ethnic Heritage Center, where she is the coordinator of Walk New Haven: Cultural Heritage Tours project. 

About Judith Ann Schiff 

This annual lecture series presented by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven and the New Haven Museum is dedicated to the memory ofJudith Ann Schiff, who spent a lifetime promoting women’s, ethnic, and Elm City History. Schiff was an archivist at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library for over sixty years and New Haven’s first female City Historian. She grew up in New Haven and graduated from Hillhouse High School. She received a bachelor’s degree in American history from Barnard College and master’s degrees in library science from Southern Connecticut State University and in history from Columbia University. She co-founded several organizations, including the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven, the Ethnic Heritage Center of New Haven, and New England Archivists. She served on the boards of the New Haven Museum and Grove Street Cemetery and was heavily involved with the League of Women Voters. She received the Yale Medal in 2020 and passed away in 2022. 

About the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven 

The Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven began in the attic and basement of Harvey N. Ladin’s Central Avenue home. After years of collecting pictures and memorabilia about Jewish life in New Haven, Ladin helped to organize and found the Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven in 1976. He became its first president. Since its origin, the society has been collecting and cataloguing the greater New Haven Jewish community’s eventful past, publicizing its history and preserving its heritage for future generations.  The JHSGNH is currently located in the Ethnic Heritage Center, on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University, at 270 Fitch Street in New Haven. For additional information, see jewishhistorynh.org or call (203) 392-6125. 

About the New Haven Museum 

The New Haven Museum has been collecting, preserving and interpreting the history and heritage of Greater New Haven since its inception as the New Haven Colony Historical Society in 1862. Located in downtown New Haven at 114 Whitney Avenue, the Museum brings more than 375 years of New Haven history to life through its collections, exhibitions, programs and outreach. As a designated Blue Star Museum, the New Haven Museum offers the nation’s active-duty military personnel and their families, including National Guard and Reserve, free admission from Memorial Day through Labor Day. For more information visit www.newhavenmuseum.org or Facebook.com/NewHavenMuseum or call 203-562-4183.