Jewish Historical Society of Greater New Haven

09/22/2026

Then (1937) & Now (2026): Whalley Avenue & Blake Street.
One notable change is the modern day absence of trolley lines. New Haven’s streetcar story started in 1860, when the Fair Haven and Westville Horse Railroad laid the city’s very first tracks, which ran from Grand Avenue out to Whalley Avenue. (By 1900, that same company had swallowed up all 13 rival horse railroads in the city, becoming the largest street railway system in the state, before folding into the Connecticut Company in 1907).
It was the electric trolley of the 1890s that really closed the gap between Westville and downtown, sparking a boom in “streetcar suburb” development. Streetcars kept running into the 1920s and 30s, before being phased out in favor of buses, with the very last Connecticut streetcars ceasing operation in New Haven on September 26, 1948, ending an 88 year run.


Whalley Ave and Blake Ave, 1937

Whalley Ave and Blake Ave, 2026

08/18/2026

Thank you to everyone at the Mitchell Library for hosting our talk “Stories of a City: New Haven’s Jewish Writers of the 19th & 20th Centuries.” It was wonderful to spend an evening with you all!

08/14/2026

Nicole Zador, archivist at the Jewish Historical Society, will present a look at New Haven’s early Jewish writers, drawing on books, newspaper clippings, and documents from the Society’s archives.

The program spans more than a century of literary life in the city, from Minna Kleeberg, a German-born poetess, to Al Capp, the New Haven-born cartoonist behind the beloved comic strip Li’l Abner, to the Abelsons, a family of journalists and poets that included Chayke Abelson, who published her first Yiddish poetry collection at the age of 16. We’ll learn not only about the writers themselves, but also the context in which they wrote: their community, and their relationships to one another.

Together, these writers, whether poets, novelists, historians, cartoonists, and journalists, helped shape Jewish cultural life in New Haven and beyond.

07/29/2026

Join BEKI for a fascinating afternoon with Dr. Jonathan Greenberg as he explores why and how music and wine are woven into Jewish prayer and spiritual life.

Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the Talmud and Torah, together with his understanding of human biology, Dr. Greenberg will examine the remarkable connections between ancient Jewish wisdom and contemporary neuroscience. He will discuss how our Sages understood the profound roles of music, taste, and smell in learning, memory, emotion, and prayer, and how modern scientific discoveries about the human brain illuminate these enduring insights.

This is a free lecture, open to all.

07/02/2026

05/01/2026

Happy May Day! In honor of International Workers’ Day, take a look at “A Wonderful Struggle: Local Jewish Women in the Labor Movement,” a recent program with the New Haven Museum. It tells the stories of New Haven Jewish women who fought for the labor rights of white-collar and "pink-collar" workers.

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05/01/2026

Stop by the Ethnic Heritage Center this Sunday (5/03) between 11-3 to browse our used books! All books are $1 or grab a bag of books for $5!