Anne Edelstein Shapira, July 25, 2016

Anne Edelstein Shapira, July 25, 2016

Anne Edelstein Shapira was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1914 and her parents were immigrants from Manchester, England. She visited the United States in 1934 and 1936 to see her Aunt Rachel in Louisville. Rachel was married to the eldest Shapira brother and Anne would stay with the Shapira family while she was in Louisville. On Anne’s second visit, she was offered a job at Jewish Hospital as a nutritionist. While she worked there, she lived in a house next to Jewish Hospital with several other women. She was in charge of planning meals for all the private patients and buying ingredients for their meals each morning. She worked closely with the head nurse at Jewish Hospital. The head nurse was also one of the women Anne shared the house with. Anne was treated fairly and with respect during her time at the hospital. Anne worked at Jewish Hospital for about two years, and then she married David Shapira in 1938. She met David while she was visiting her aunt and staying with the Shapira family. David Shapira managed two clothing stores in Harrodsburg, Kentucky and eventually opened the Heaven Hill Distillery with his four brothers. The bank came to the five brothers to ask if they would be interested in opening the distillery with another man. The brothers, the man, and the bank all put in money in order to reopen the distillery and the Heaven Hill Distillery was born. The Heaven Hill Distillery specialized in the manufacturing of bourbon. Anne was not very involved in either of David’s businesses. She mainly planned parties for the distillery and occasionally worked at the stores on the weekends. She was more active in the community and Jewish organizations. Shapira planned linen showers for Hadassah and put on a seder to teach people how it was done. She was also very active in various fundraising efforts, including raising money for the National Jewish Federation.

Louisville (Ky.)

Jewish families.

Bardstown (Ky.)

Danville (Ky.)

Harrodsburg (Ky.)

Entrepreneurship

Jewish businesspeople

Small business--Kentucky

Small business--Ownership

Jews--Identity.

Religion

Judaism.

Worship (Judaism)

Bourbon whiskey

Distilleries--Kentucky

Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc.

Whiskey industry--Kentucky

Jewish leadership--Kentucky

Jewish women--Kentucky

video

2016oh260_jk030

Janice W. Fernheimer

Anne Edelstein Shapira

Jewish Hospital

African Americans--Employment.

African Americans--Social conditions.

Race relations--Kentucky

Citizenship.

Immigrants

Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism

Discrimination.

Dietitians.

Hospitals--Employees

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Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.