Handwritten list of the thirty one members of the Ahavath Sholom Congregation in 1895 in Fort Worth, Texas. The front of the document lists the members of the congregation, and the back of the document lists the officers. When the list was created, Ahavath Sholom was the only synagogue in Fort Worth.

Handwritten minutes for the Ahavath Sholom Congregation in Fort Worth, Texas. The minutes are written in Yiddish, the native tongue of the members. The minutes discuss a legal dispute with a "chazzan," or a prayer leader who sued the congregation.

Handwritten minutes for the Ahavath Sholom Congregation in Fort Worth, Texas. The minutes are written in Yiddish, the native tongue of the members. The document discusses the Sabbath morning services for the congregation.

Photograph of the Texas Zionist Association Convention at the Shearith Israel Congregation in Dallas, Texas. There are men and women in suits and dresses seated outside the synagogue. There is a Star of David above the doorway of the synagogue with a Hebrew word that translates to "Zion" as well as American and Zionist flags hanging from the building. From left to right, the known members seated in the front row are: Moses Shanblum (fourth from left), Joe Jacobs (fifth from the right), William Goldstein, Israel N. Mehl (with his two children).

Printed marriage certificate (called a "Ketubah" in Hebrew) for Nathan Freeman of Waco, Texas, and Etta Rebecca Fram of Dallas, Texas. The couple were married on January 19, 1913, by Rev. Abraham Fram, Etta's father and the cantor at Dallas' Sheareth Israel Congregation. The Hebrew quotation at the top of the document translates as: "The voice of joy; the voice of happiness; the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride." There is an illustration of a marriage ceremony at the top of the certificate in blue ink.

Letterhead stationary for the Hebrew Institute Building Fund Committee outlining all the donors for the institute and their monetary contributions. The building, designed by the architectural firm of Field and Clarkson, was constructed between April and August of 1914 in the 800 block of Taylor Street in Fort Worth, Texas at a cost of $14,668. The top left corner of the document shows an architectural drawing of the building.

Photograph of Temple Beth-El, the first house of worship for Beth-El, Fort Worth's Reform Jewish congregation. It was a two-story, neo-classical synagogue constructed of wood and stucco. Above the columned entrance was a wooden Star of David, beneath which were the Hebrew words "Y'he Or," meaning "Let There Be Light." Handwritten notes on the back of the photograph say, "Beth-El Congregation's 1st synagogue; built 1908 @ 5th & Taylor Streets. Photo from The Jewish Monitor, 1915. Greek Revival Style, The Hebrew Lettering says: 'Let there be light.'"

Photograph of Abraham Salsberg (1870-1957) and Hedwig Salsberg (1870-1940), parents of Archie Salsberg. The pair are standing together and were photographed outdoors. Hedwig (left) is wearing a dark-colored dress and has her left arm through her husband's right. Abraham (right) is wearing a light-colored suit and is holding a hat in his left hand. He was a charter member and longtime board member at Fort Worth's Congregation Ahavath Sholom.

Hand-tinted, engagement photograph of Gertrude "Gertie" Fox (1894-1966) of Fort Worth, Texas. She is visible from the chest up, wearing a dark evening gown with rosettes at the left shoulder. She holds a feathered fan in front of her. Fox was from Corsicana and moved to Fort Worth in 1916 when she married Archie Salsberg.

Photograph of the 1916 wedding of Gertrude Fox and Archie Salsberg on the altar at Congregation Ahavath Sholom's synagogue in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. The bride and groom stand in the center of the photograph, surrounded by men wearing tuxedos and top hats and women wearing silk and taffeta dresses. Above the bridal party is a wedding canopy (called a Chuppah in Hebrew). It takes the shape of an arbor covered with flowers and crepe paper resembling wedding bells. Above the arbor there is a ledge containing two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, written in Hebrew, with a potted plant and sculpted lion on either side. A large portion of the lower-right corner of the photograph is missing.

Photograph of members of the Ahavath Sholom Congregation playing baseball outside the Hebrew Institute at 819 Taylor Street in Fort Worth, Texas. The photograph is mounted on a wooden base.

In 1921, Fort Worth’s Congregation Ahavath Sholom introduced the rite of Confirmation, the graduation from religious school that coincides with the Jewish holiday Shavuos when Moses received the Ten Commandments. This picture shows the twelve, 14-year-old girls in the Confirmation class wearing white dresses, holding flowers and certificates rolled up like scrolls. The students are seated in two rows and are identified as: Row 1: Lena Shosid (Cooles), Fannie Herman, unidentified, Hannah Byrens, Bess Lipshitz (Cohen), unidentified Row 2: Sarah Shosid (Bloomberg), unidentified, unidentified, Leah Goldstein (Gerson), unidentified, unidentified An article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of June 3, 1921, named each confirmand and also listed Dorothy Cohen, Rose Weinstein, Bertha Mosier, Ida Mosier, Edna Lipshy, and Esther Ablon. Each confirmand addressed the congregation. They completed a course of study in Jewish history, religion and literature.

Photograph of the Ahavath Sholom Congregation Sunday School students. They are standing on the front steps outside the synagogue in the 800 block of Taylor Street in Fort Worth, Texas. From left to right, top to bottom, the students in the photograph are: Row 1: Betty Carshon, Rachel Kruger, Dora Laves, Lena Rovinsky, Udys Weinstein, Lily Dworkin, Joe Ray Schwartzberg. Row 2: Charlie Anton, Milton Mehl, Arthur Rosenbaum, Charlotte Ray, Lily Levine, Molly Finger, Freda Hurwitz, Rae Carshon, Mary Bliss, Sylvia Shosid. Row 3: Alex Victor, William Hurwitz, Irving Kershman, Julius Scolnic, Mary Resnick, Sophia Blum, Mary Herman, Ida Berg, Beatrice Frankrich, Reva Nebrat, Gertrude Ellis, Raymond Dan. Row 4: Sidney Deutch, David Tuck, Rubin Anton, Norma Resnick, Lily Alpert, Rose Chicotsky, Hannah Chicotsky, Anna Gordon, Martha Daiches. Row 5: Nathan Frankel, Abe Goldstein, Abe Shosid, Paul Herman, Johanna Winer, Sadie Rovinsky, Sarah Garston, Irving Rosenthal. Row 6: Sidney Marks, Minnie Snofsky, Esther Klimist, Rebecca Lutsky, David Bernstein, Max Perlman, Sarah Kruger, Rosalie Bliss. Row 7: Morris Schwartz, Grace Dworkin, Lola Bozokofsky, Hyman Jacobson, Cecil Bozokofsky, Helen Kassover, Sonia Gulila, Sam Weisblatt, Florence Kassover, Patricia Jacobson.

Photograph of the 1928 Ahavath Sholom confirmation class standing on the altar (called a bimah) of the synagogue located downtown in the 800 block of Taylor Street in Fort Worth, Texas. From left to right, the confirmands are: Rebecca Luskey, Cecile Bodzy, Martha Daiches, Mrs. Abraham Bengis (teacher), Rabbi Abraham Bengis, Esther Klimist, Sally Kruger, Sarah Garston. Behind the confirmands is a replica of the Ten Commandments which rests above the curtained ark, which houses the Torah scrolls. In front of the dais is a seven-branched menorah.

Bill for $125 in annual dues for the Ahavath Sholom Congregation, in Fort Worth, Texas. The dues statement is for congregation member, B. Max Mehl.

Typed letter from B. Max Mehl to the Ahavath Sholom Congregation. In the letter, Mehl responds to a dues statement sent to him from the congregation. The letter is requesting a corrected dues statement due to the congregation overcharging Mehl. The stationery includes a colored illustration at the top of the page that says, "Importer of and Dealer in Rare Coins, Medals, and Paper Money of all Countries and Periods"

Photograph of the 1932 Ahavath Sholom confirmation class standing around the altar (called a bimah) of the synagogue located at 823 Taylor Street in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. The members of the photograph, from left to right, are: Top row: Sylvia Engler (Roberts), Jesonda Gilbert (Fox), Sadye May Carshon (Garsek), Bessie Resnick, Lillian Rose Rabinowitz (Rosenthal), Rebecca Laves, Pearl Paul, Gussie Kruger, Dorothy Dworkin (Glazer), Sarah Weisblatt (Kragen), Rhoda Kershner. Bottom row: Jennie Moses (Winkler)(teacher), Rabbi Philip Graubart.

Photograph of the 1940 Ahavath Sholom confirmation class standing around the altar of the synagogue located downtown on Taylor Street in Fort Worth, Texas. From left to right, the members of the photograph are: Front row: Bertha Haller, Gloria Sheinberg (Swann). Back row: Rabbi Philip Graubart, Margie Cohen (Levingston), Dorothy Bergman, Jennie Moses (Winkler)(teacher), Dorothy Cohen, Shirley Garston (Cohen), Annie Kaplan, Betty Daiches (Sher).

Photograph of the members of Young Judea, a Jewish youth organization in Fort Worth, Texas. The organization held a regional conclave at the Ahavath Sholom Synagogue, where over one hundred members and group advisors posed, on the front steps in the 800 block Taylor Street, for the photograph. Many people in the photograph are unidentified. From left to right, bottom to top, here is a key to the known members: Row 1 (kneeling): Sylvia Wexler, Stanley Raskin (wearing a hat), Adele Natkin (wearing a white jacket). Row 2: Rabbi Samuel Soskin, Rabbi Philip Graubert, Cantor Israel Ashery, Ann Friedson (wearing a hat with flowers), Sally Kruger (heavy-set woman in the middle of the row), Israel N. Mehl (fourth from the right). Row 3: Bobby Rosenthal (smiling and wearing hat), Harry Perlman (third from left), Leon Schwartz (middle of row, looking to his right and frowning), Irv Rovinsky (last boy in the row, wearing a coat and tie). Row 4: Shirley Levine (fourth from the left in the middle of the row), Morris Sankary (sixth from the left, tall boy with rimless glasses), Shirley Garsten (behind Morris Sankary and to the right, wearing a white collared shirt), Mr. Louis Cohen, advisor …

Photograph of Private 1st Class Harold Gilbert, a soldier from Fort Worth, Texas. In this portrait, he is pictured from the chest up, wearing his uniform and beret. Gilbert was killed en route from England to France in 1944, when his troopship was torpedoed by the Germans in the English Channel. Fort Worth's Rubin-Gilbert AZA chapter (the B'nai B'rith youth group for boys) is named after him and Lt. Alvin Rubin, who also died in the war.

Photograph of Lieutenant Alvin Rubin, an Air Force pilot from Fort Worth, Texas. He is pictured from the chest up, wearing his uniform. Rubin was killed in an plane crash over Dakar, French Africa on March 15, 1944. A graduate of Paschal High, he was a past chapter president of AZA, the B'nai B'rith youth group for boys. Fort Worth's Rubin-Gilbert AZA chapter is named after him and Pvt. Harold Gilbert, who also died in the war.

A letter from General George C. Marshall, the United States Army Chief of Staff, expressing his condolences for the death of an unidentified soldier. The text reads: "General Marshall extends his deep sympathy in your bereavement. Your son fought valiantly in a supreme hour of his country's need. His memory will live in the grateful heart of our nation."

Photostat of a telegram from the United States Secretary of War to Mrs. Rose H. Gilbert, expressing his condolences for the death of her son, Private Harold Gilbert.

Handwritten minutes for the Ladies Cemetery Society commenting on the death of Private Harold Gilbert, the son of the society's recording secretary, Rose Gilbert. The text notes: “The absence of the secretary ...who had the misfortune of losing her son, Harold, Dec. 25, 1944, in the European Theater of the war, made the meeting a sad one; each and every one of the members present were in tears.” On the second page of the minutes, the group’s long-time president Mrs. Becky Goldstein recalls how she and Mrs. Gilbert used to “go out to collect dues at 25 cents each. Mrs. Gilbert furnished the horse and buggy.”