Exhibit gives history stamp of approval

A unique Jewish stamp collection will be on display at Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix for the month of November.

The collection, owned by Sandy and Lee Shedroff of Peoria, comprises approxi-mately 300 stamps with direct or indirect Jewish connections. For example, a stamp of non-Jewish archi-tect Frank Lloyd Wright standing in front of his Guggenheim Art Museum commemorates the Jewish Guggenheim family, while a stamp that pictures the Civil War helps teach about Judah Benjamin, the Jewish secre-tary of state of the Con-federacy.

Lee Shedroff, a member of the Celebrate 350 Arizona committee, has a background in philately (stamp-collect-ing). He began the collection last year when the committee was looking for a visual project that could educate audiences on 350 years of Jewish life in America.

"My idea was to go through the U.S. stamps and tell the Jewish story ... I learned an awful lot about what the Jews have done in this country."

One interesting discovery Shedroff made was the Jewish origins of the Barbie doll. Barbie's Jewish creator was Ruth Handler, whose husband Elliott ran Mattel, then a home-based frame-making business. Ruth was inspired to make a new kind of doll for girls, and named her Barbie after the couple's daughter Barbara. The Ken doll, named after their son, soon followed.

Dr. Michael Rubinoff of Arizona State University's Jewish Studies department will give a Nov. 14 lecture at the library in Phoenix about the collection.

"When I was first apprised about it, my reaction was 'Hey, yeah, that's a neat idea,'" he said. "I think it's novel, because that's something that everyone can get their hands on."

The collection is getting attention all over the country. Audiences in California have viewed it, and the stamps are scheduled to go to Detroit's Shalom Street, a children's museum, in February.

Before then, the collection will be on display at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center Dec. 20-Jan. 2, 2005, and Rubinoff will give a Dec. 20 lecture at the JCC on the stamps.

Shedroff hopes that Valley audiences will view the stamps and have a greater recognition of the contri-butions Jews have made to American history.
He said, "They will get a feeling that the Jews of America were there, just as any other group, building this country into what it is today."

Details

What: Stamp lecture with Dr. Michael Rubinoff
When: 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14
Where: Burton Barr Central Library, 1221 N. Central Ave., Phoenix
Cost: Free
Call: 602-241-7870

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Exhibit gives history stamp of approval

JENNIFER GOLDBERG Staff Writer

JENNIFER GOLDBERG
Staff Writer