With one of the largest Jewish populations in the state, Asheville’s thriving downtown has been the home of hundreds of Jewish businesses since the late 1800s. Recently, the local organization History@Hand completed four years of research on these businesses. Organization founders Jan Schochet, an urban planner, and folklorist Sharon Fahrer will give a talk on their research at noon Thursday, Nov. 9, at UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library Special Collections. The talk, “The Family Store: A History of Jewish Businesses in Downtown Asheville, 1880-1990,” is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the one-hour talk.

This event is held in conjunction with a citywide outdoor historical exhibit. The exhibit describes in detail 12 of the more than 400 Jewish businesses that have flourished in Asheville. Two of the exhibit panels feature sites at UNC Asheville and will be on view during the talk. These two panels have been donated to the University and will be permanently displayed in Lipinsky and Zageir halls when the exhibition closes on November 15. The panels highlight the history of the Lipinsky and Zageir families, both prominent donors to the University.

In addition, research materials, including documents and collected oral histories, from “The Family Store” project were donated to UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library Special Collections by History@Hand. The materials are now available to the public via the Web at: http://toto.lib.unca.edu/featured_collections/featured_collections.htm.

For more information about the talk or the archives, call UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library Special Collections at 828/251-6645.