Miriam Shomer Zunser
Quick Facts
Biography
Miriam Shomer Zunser (November 25, 1882 – October 11, 1951) was an American journalist, playwright and artist. She was a significant promoter of Jewish culture prior to World War II.
Life
Zunser was born Manya Shaikevitsch in Odessa, Ukraine, to Nokhem Mayer Shaikevitsch, a novelist and playwright and his wife Dinneh Bercinsky. Her family emigrated in 1889 to New York. After graduating high school she worked as a librarian while attending art classes taught by Henry McBride at the Educational Alliance.
In 1931 Zunser was a founder and initial president of Mailamm, the America-Palestine Institute of Musical Sciences (known by its Hebrew acronym). Having worked with Henrietta Szold, she was the founder of the Brooklyn chapter of Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America. She was also treasurer of the Jewish Music Forum.
Zunser died in New York City.
Personal
In 1905 she married Charles Zunser, son of the poet Eliakum Zunser. They had three children. Her sister was the Yiddish folksinger Anna Shomer Rothenberg.
Publications
- Fortune's fool; a musical comedy in two acts and four scenes. New York: 192?
- A child's kingdom. New York: 192?
- Goldenlocks and the bears. New York: 192?
- Yesterday : a memoir of a Russian Jewish family. Published in 1939 by Stackpole Sons. Republished in 1978 by Harper & Row.
- Avinu Shomer (אבינו שמ״ר). Yerushalayim: Aḥiʼasaf, 1953.
- Zunser, Miriam S, and Rose S. Bachelis. Fortune's Fool: A Musical Comedy in Two Acts and Four Scenes. New York, 1920.
- Zunser, Miriam Shomer; Badanes, Ida. The child's kingdom; a play in one act,. [New York].
- Zunser, Miriam Shomer; Badanes, Ida. Goldenlocks and the bears; a drama for children, old and young, in four acts,. [New York].
- Zunser, Miriam Shomer; Leider, Emily Wortis (1978-01-01). Yesterday: a memoir of a Russian Jewish family. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060125535.
- Bachelis, Rose Shomer; Zunser, Miriam Shomer; Ṿaisman, Aharon (1953-01-01). אבינו שמ״ר / (in Hebrew). ירושלים :: אחיאסף,.