Wedding Gifts

A “Just Married!” Extra

Curators have to make choices: not everything can make it into an exhibit, and there’s seldom enough space to share every interesting fact about the things that are on display. That’s where social media comes in! Here’s a closer look at another “Just Married” story from JMM collections manager and Just Married! curator Joanna Church. To read more “Just Married!” extras, click here. To read more posts from Joanna, click here.

There are many more parts to a wedding story than we were able to fit into the gallery.  We have a number of lovely and/or interesting wedding gifts in our collections; let’s take a look at a few!

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Gift of Rose L. Kornblatt. JMM 1987.130.021
Gift of Rose L. Kornblatt. JMM 1987.130.021

Anna Smotritsky and Jacob Kornblatt were married in Baltimore on August 18, 1902.  A few years later, Anna turned the train of her wedding gown into a bris gown for their oldest son, Joseph (it’s on display in “Just Married!”); she also carefully saved several of her wedding gifts, including this molded glass goblet.

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Gift of Beatrice B. Colvin. JMM 1999.076.001
Gift of Beatrice B. Colvin. JMM 1999.076.001

Not every treasured (or useful) gift needs to be of expensive material or from a fancy store. This ceramic figurine of a reading rabbi was given to donor and her husband as a wedding present in 1937, by his nephew; they used it as a bookend.

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Gift of William Saxon, Jr. JMM 1994.078.041
Gift of William Saxon, Jr. JMM 1994.078.041

Non-material gifts are not a new trend, as shown by another 1937 wedding present: In honor of the marriage of Marjorie Saxon and Ira Leonard Meyer, the Gordons planted one tree through the Jewish National Fund.  This stylish certificate was given to the bride and groom in acknowledgement.

Categories
Collections jewish museum of maryland Past Exhibits

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