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Levy Jewelers Records

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 366

Scope and Contents

The first section is comprised of Levy Jewelers ephemera pasted onto paper. Materials in this section include radio programming guides, advertisements and door prize announcements in civic program flyers, customer form letters, and advertising flyers. The second section consists of advertising press releases, typescript announcements most likely used as radio advertisements. The third section is a single folder containing 9 typescript pages of a memoir written by Aaron Levy's daughter, Ida Levy Barnett.

Dates

  • Creation: 1928 - 1948

Creator

Restrictions on Access

There are no restrictions on accessing material in this collection.

Restrictions on Use

Copyright restrictions may apply. Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Biographical / Historical

Levy Jewelers began in 1900 as A. Levy & Son, a watch repair business at 211 West Congress Street across from City Market in Savannah, Georgia. It was opened by Aaron Malitz Levy (1864-1929), a Russian immigrant watchmaker with a wife and eight children. A. Levy & Son expanded in 1911 by buying out E. Figuris, a shop selling eyeglasses and jewelry on 20 E. Broughton Street and moving to that location. A second move was made in 1923, taking the shop to the southwest corner of Drayton and Broughton streets (27 E. Broughton Street). In 1937, they moved across Drayton to the southeast corner of the intersection, making 101 E. Broughton St. their main store. The business name changed to Levy Jewelers in 1941.

Aaron M. Levy died in 1929 and management of the store went to his son, Jack Malitz Levy (1908-1988). (Aaron’s wife Rachel Gold Levy [1876-1951] was president of the business at that time.) In the early 1930s, Jack Levy brought such changes to the store as merging with jeweler H. Wills at 406 West Broad Street (1931), selling radios (1931), opening an optical department (1933), selling General Elehctric appliances (1934), and offering radio repair (1934). By 1934, the store had a staff of 16. Three years later, it employed 30 people. As of 1987, Aaron M. Levy (b. 1941), grandson of the original Aaron Levy, served as president of the company and his wife Dayle (b. 1943), whom he married in 1963, became the vice president.

There were four locations: the main store at 101 E. Broughton Street, Oglethorpe Mall location at 7804 Abercorn Street, Medical Arts Shopping Center location at 4711 Waters Avenue, and the Savannah Mall location at 14045 Abercorn Street. The Waters Avenue shop closed in 2002. The business was sold to Lowell Kronowitz (b. 1963), Aaron’s cousin and great grandson of the original owner Aaron Levy, in March 2004. Aaron and Dayle retired in 2009.

Notable Jewish community leader Dr. William A. Wexler (1911-1985) worked at Levy Jewelers as an optometrist in 1938. Other optometrists that offered service through Levy’s were Dr. H.A. Mathis and Dr. G.M. Keene.

Extent

0.2 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Levy Jewelers began in 1900 as A. Levy & Son, a watch repair business at 211 West Congress Street across from City Market in Savannah, Georgia. The records consist of scrapbooks and a memoir written by Aaron Levy's daughter, Ida Levy Barnett.

Arrangement

The items in this collection are arranged in chronological order.

Custodial History

The Levy Jewelers Papers are part of the Savannah Jewish Archives which were transferred from the Georgia Historical Society to the Breman Museum in 2015.

Acquisition

Gift of Aaron Levy, 2002.

Title
Levy Jewelers Records, Mss 366
Status
Completed
Author
Valerie J. Frey, 2002; Lindsay B. Resnick, 2016.
Date
2002
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum Repository

Contact:
1440 Spring St. NW
Atlanta Georgia 30309 United States
678-222-3700