Toni Young: JHSD Board Member Who Wrote the History of the Wilmington Jewish Community

By Marla Brown Fogelman 

Ask historian and writer Toni Young about her role as one of the first board members of the Jewish Historical Society of Delaware (JHSD), and she quickly points to the collaborative effort involved in its launch. “The right group of people came together,” she said. “We worked as a team. Rabbi David Geffen, then rabbi of Beth Shalom, was our leader and inspiration.”
Young, whose four-plus decades of contributions to the Delaware Jewish community and to the state’s history are legion, began serving on JHSD’s board in 1975. Three years later, she became the first woman president of the Society and held that post from 1978 to 1980. She was also the first female president of the Jewish Federation of Delaware, serving from 1993 to 1996. 

During the 1970s, as the only Jewish member of the Board of Trustees of the Delaware Historical Society (DHS), she helped to foster a mutually rewarding relationship between the DHS and JHSD. Her involvement helped lay the groundwork for the DHS-JHSD collaboration in creating a permanent home for the JHSD at the Coxe House. She also served as Honorary Chair of the fundraising campaign for the renovation initiative.

Yet, in addition to her multiple roles as a community leader and philanthropist, Young, who grew up in New York, is particularly noted for writing the definitive history of Wilmington’s early Jewish community. Her book, Becoming American, Remaining Jewish: The Story of Wilmington, Delaware’s First Jewish Community, 1879–1924, was published by the University of Delaware Press in 1999. This comprehensive study of the founders of Wilmington’s young Jewish community is widely regarded as the most significant historical resource on this topic.

Writing the Book

Describing the book’s genesis, Young credited Rabbi Geffen as the catalyst in moving her toward taking on this project. But—given her writing credentials, passion for historical research, and her experience as a volunteer archivist for the JHSD—it’s no surprise that Rabbi Geffen recruited her for this task. Young’s well-researched book on the Delaware Opera House, The Grand Experience: A History of the Grand Opera House, was published in 1976. For the 1979 book, Delaware and the Jews, which featured a compendium of essays by a range of authors, Young served as both editor and contributor. Delaware and the Jews was published in conjunction with the JHSD’s October 1979 symposium in honor of the Centennial of Delaware Jewry—an event that attracted Jewish scholars and writers both within and outside the Delaware Jewish community. The event also included a walking tour of Wilmington’s old Jewish community, led by journalist Bill Frank.

Young recalled that it was during this symposium that the idea for the book came up, sparked by a comment from Rabbi Dr. Leon Jick, a prominent scholar and congregational leader from Massachusetts, who remarked that “someone has to write the history of this community.”

Encouraging her to take on this particular history project, Young said that Rabbi Geffen brought her a “shopping bag” of handwritten notes that he had received from Emile Topkis, an attorney and member of one of the early and prominent Jewish families in Wilmington. According to Young, Topkis had begun compiling these notes in the 1950s and had been planning to write the history of the community. His unusual collection included lists of Jews who had lived in Wilmington in the 19th century and interviews with the community’s founders. Young said she was excited to have Topkis’ notes, albeit noting that the collection included some “bizarre things.” But the notes ended up providing her with what she called “a gold mine” of primary source material.

While immersing herself in all the many avenues of research, Young said she was grateful for the important and wise advice she received from Dr. Carol Hoffecker, a renowned Delaware historian, who counseled her to obtain information from the 1920 census, and from Dr. Barbara Benson, a former director of the Delaware Historical Society, who told her “When you are writing something like this, you have to stop reading and start writing.“

Young said she considers “Becoming American, Remaining Jewish” to be a major part of her JHSD legacy as well as showing the uniqueness of America. 

“That’s what America is. We come here, keep assimilating in order to become American, but we don’t have to give up our identity.”

The Importance of History

For Young, the study of history is not only a strong personal passion, but also a necessity for building a better society. “You study the past to make a better future,” she said. 

Lauded for her overall contributions to the study of Delaware’s past, Young received the Delaware Historical Society’s History Makers Award in 2008—an award that has been given to recipients such as filmmaker Ken Burns, former Delaware Governor and Congressional Representative Michael Castle, and then-Vice President Joseph Biden.

JHSD: The Past and the Future

Young, who moved from Wilmington to New York City in 2016, has continued to be involved in the JHSD. When asked how to encourage more involvement from young people, she suggested holding brainstorming sessions and “doing something surprising to gain interest.” She said she would be happy to give a talk in support of the JHSD. 

“You can learn so much from history,” she said. “Look back at where we came from; how far we’ve come. The most important thing is we continue.”