University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Annette Feldman Autobiographical Volume (Digitized Content)

The digitized content of this collection consists of an autobiography authored by Annette Feldman, a Jewish resident of Hoopeston, Illinois.

Annette Feldman (née Yonkelowitz) was born in Hoopeston, Illinois, in 1916 to a family of Lithuanian immigrants. The family practiced Orthodox Judaism until she reached high school, when they began attending Temple Beth El, a Reform congregation in Danville, Illinois. Annette Feldman enrolled at Northwestern University in 1934 and then transferred to the University of Chicago, where she studied Home Economics and met her husband, Jerry Feldman (1911-1986). The two married in 1941. During the war, Jerry Feldman volunteered with the U.S. Army Medical Corps, while Annette Feldman worked as a food and nutrition specialist as part of the Home Economics Extension Service at the University of Illinois. In 1946, the Feldmans moved to Hayward, California, where they raised two children, Jill (born 1949) and Robert (born 1952). Annette Feldman died in 1995.

"Remember Me" contains Annette Feldman's recollections of life (work, marriage, and family) in Hoopeston, Illinois; Richmond, Virginia; and Hayward, California; among other locations. This collection also includes diary entries that reflect daily life and travels to Europe and South America, a short biography for Jerry Feldman, as well as family trees.

The Illinois History and Lincoln Collections unit at the University of Illinois Library manages the physical items of the Annette Feldman Autobiography, "Remember Me" (MS 1115). The collection was completely digitized in 2023. For more information, contact an archivist at ihlc@library.illinois.edu.