(All photos of Arpin courtesy of the Lester Public Library of Arpin.)
Where is Mill Creek?
Gittel is set in the fictional town of Mill Creek, Wisconsin, but the surrounding towns and many of the landmarks mentioned in the book are real places. Mill Creek is based on the town of Arpin, the site of the Jewish agricultural colony where my great grandfather Alvin Garber lived for five years.
To learn more about the Jewish colony in Arpin, check out the video below made by Jewish Museum Milwaukee.
Was Gittel a real person?
All of the townspeople and most of the events that take place in Mill Creek are fictional, but Gittel and some members of the Borenstein family are loosely based on members of my own family, including—and especially—my mother, Gloria, whose name was Gittel when she came to the United States from Romania at age two.
Fun fact: my grandmother changed my mom’s name to Gloria, after her favorite American movie star, Gloria Swanson.
My mother, Gloria (Bocaner) Schneider is thirteen in this photo, the same age as the title character in my novel.
Here she is in her twenties.
What about the rest of Gittel's family?
Zayde was inspired by my great grandfather, Alvin (Itzig) Garber
Bubbe was inspired by my great grandmother, Fannie (Frima) Garber
Mama and Papa were inspired by my grandparents, Bory (Boris) and Jennie (Jenya) Bocaner
Alvin Garber, Russian Folk song, age 89 (1).mp4Alvin Garber, immigrant story, excerpt (1).mp4A voice from the past
In 1968 my 19-year-old brother recorded a short oral history of our great grandfather Alvin Garber (1879-1972). These two clips are from that interview. In the first clip my brother asks him to sing something and Alvin chooses an old Russian folk song. In the second, he talks a little about his early experiences in America. In the old country, Alvin served as a cantor in synagogues in Odessa and Kishinev. When he came to America his first job was at a box factory in New Jersey. In Wisconsin he was a peddler, a gunnysack salesman, and a dairy farmer, and eventually a cantor again. He served congregations in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and later, in San Diego, California, until his retirement. When he passed away he was buried in a beautiful tallit (prayer shawl) he’d been given by a member of the San Diego congregation.
(Pogrom photos—public domain.)
The Easter Pogrom
The Easter progrom in Kishinev was the first to have been documented by the media. Newspapers published eyewitness accounts and photographs of the injured and the dead, sparking outrage around the world. More than 59 Jewish women, men, and children lost their lives in the pogrom.
The Chautauqua movement
The big tent gatherings of the Chautaqua movement began in the early 1900s and flourished well into the 1920s. The multi-day gatherings included a wide range of musical and theatrical performances and lectures by well-known citizens of the day, including social reformer Jane Addams and Wisconsin Senator Fighting Bob La Follette as depicted in Gittel.
Promotional postcard for the Redpath-Vawter Chautauqua, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
(Postcard—Collection of the author)
Six days of entertainment for $1.50!
Performers of the Redpath Chautauqua
Photos courtesy of the Redpath Chautauqua Collection, University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.
Chautauqua cast and crew traveled by train.
Chautauqua was for the whole family. Dancer Mabel Rilling, who was in charge of children’s activities for Redpath, was also director of women’s physical education at University of Denver from 1909 to 1964.
A few of Gittel's favorite things
This is the edition of Emily Dickinson’s poems Gittel might have owned, along with Edna Ferber’s Dawn O’Hara, a novel about a young journalist that Gittel longed to read. Born in Michigan, Jewish author Edna Ferber grew up in Wisconsin and, like Gittel, dreamed of becoming an actress and a writer. While Ferber didn’t become an actress, she did work as a journalist and later became a successful novelist. Several of her novels, including Show Boat and Giant, were made into popular movies featuring the biggest stars of the day.
