Park View, D.C.

Giant Store No. 1, 3509 Georgia Ave. Image courtesy of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington

The 51st annual meeting of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington will be celebrating the Giant Food Archival Project. While the agenda includes the election of directors and a report from the Executive Director, in contacting the Society I was able to confirm that the majority of the meeting will focus on the history of Giant Food.

The archival project was funded by the Naomi and Nehemiah Cohen Foundation. The five-year project included cataloging archival materials and photographs and conducting more than 14 oral history interviews.

Giant Food was founded in 1936 by Nehemiah Cohen (1890-1984) and Samuel Lehrman (1879-1949), when they opened their first store in Park View near the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Park Road. Giant became Washington’s first mass-merchandised supermarket and a major regional supermarket chain.

The meeting will feature historic photographs, a panel interview with three grandchildren of the Cohen and Lehrman families, and a video compilation of oral histories from grandchildren, community members, and former Giant employees.

A reception will follow the interview and the election of board members.

FREE and open to the public. Suggested contribution: $10 per person

Location: Adas Israel Congregation, 2850 Quebec Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

To register: Call (202) 789-0900 or email rsvp@jhsgw.org. Contact info@jhsgw.org for more information.

This entry was posted on October 26, 2011 at 7:01 am and is filed under History. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Giant Food, history and culture, Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, Park View