Walter and Goldie Eldot papers

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: S4527

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of 1956 articles of incorporation for Duluth Community Chest; a 90 minute interview on cassette tape with 89-year old Glen Merritt on October 26, 1983, about Merritt’s recollections of YMCA’s Camp Miller; and black and white photographs collected by Eldot that may have illustrated his articles in Outlook and Cosmopolitan sections of the newspaper when he was editor.

The photographs are of the Arrowhead Juvenile Center (1967-1975) including construction photographs, programs and pamphlets; senior citizens and care givers at Park Point Manor, St. Luke’s Hospital hospice unit, Tri-Towers, Benedictine Health Center (1983-1984) all of Duluth; identified individuals are Duluthians within the context of events and organizations, including Duluth Parks and Recreation (poster with girl and Goldie Eldot), Conference for Christians and Jews, Minnesota Bar Association convention in Hotel Duluth showing the lobby, Duluth-Superior Symphony’s conductor Hawthorne, Diane Spognaidi, John Browning, Volunteens Program awards to a boy and a girl, Minnesota Youth Conservation Commission, Duluth Chamber of Commerce, 1963 Federal Correction Institute at Sandstone, etc.; Indian Mission House at Lac La Croix, Ontario, built with Duluth volunteers, 1984; Finnish counselor and campers; photographs of Virginia, Minnesota technical school, post office, recreation building downtown; and a folder of unidentified people and groups that may be able to be identified.

Postcards: Duluth Post Office (Federal bldg), City Hall Tallyho party on Boulevard Drive, Duluth, Minn. London Road, From 18th avenue east, looking east, Duluth (1911) Duluth view of Downtown from Mesaba and Superior street intersection Wolvin bldg (1911) Soo Line Passenger Station, Duluth View Showing Ski Scaffold, Duluth, Minn. (Chester Park) (1912)

All photographic post cards and photographs have been scanned. Photographic post cards: Original Northland country club; Work People’s College building and people; drey with driver, two children – one with a DULUTH HERALD newspaper bag, in front of the REX building; Main street, Crosby, Minnesota (1001), Smith Studio, Cloquet, Minn.

Photographs

402 South 88th Ave. West, 1983, apartment building formerly Work People’s College

H. F. Williamson [Big Duluth], 1881, 38 West Superior street storefront and staff (unidentified)

View of the two First Methodist Churches, original frame building at Third avenue west and second street, and large brownstone building on Third avenue west on Third street

First Methodist Church interior (brownstone building)

Troy Steam Laundry building, staff, delivery wagons, horses, 510-514 East Superior Street (1893)

Masonic Temple, Cloquet, Minn.

Horse fountain [in rose garden]

Columbia passenger/excursion boat, Fond du Lac Line

Unidentified work scene, St. Louis County second district back hoe, trucks, workers, horses, car, digging a culvert or something? May be on Jean Duluth Road, Aug. 23, 1929

Dates

Creation: 1956-1984
Creation: Majority of material found in 1967-1983

Creator

Eldot , Walter, 1920-1999 June 30 (Person)
Eldot, Goldy, ?-1992 March 23 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Open for use in the Kathryn A. Martin Library, Archives and Special Collections.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection may be protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials. Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provision of the copyright law.

Biographical / Historical

Walter Eldot (1920-1987 June 30) was born in Germany to Jewish parents, he and a brother came to the United States in 1936. His family was separated in Germany and his father died in Buchenwald, a nazi concentration camp. In New York city, Mr. Eldot worked as a copy boy and took night-school classes, mostly in liberal and performing arts. He served four years in the Pacific Theater during WWII and afterward worked in New York as a reporter for Transradio News Service.

His 48 year journalism career was dwarfed by his extensive volunteer work and community activities, work that won him the 1969 award of the Duluth Round Table for the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and a nomination to the Duluth Hall of Fame. Upon receiving the brotherhood award, he said, The spirit of brotherhood doesn’t require rewards or awards. It’s something each of us should live by.

Mr. Eldot began working at the Duluth newspapers in 1948. As an investigative reporter in the 1950s, he disguised himself as a derelict and stayed for several days at the Bethel Society, now the Port Rehabilitation. The story he later wrote describing life there resulted in improved conditions, treatment for tubercular residents and an invitation to serve on the Bethel board. He served on the board until his death. He was the editor of the newspaper’s Outlook and Sunday Cosmopolitan sections for many years. He also reviewed plays and symphony concerts. His friend and retired photographer Karl Jaros, said he and Mr. Eldot worked as a team: he said tearfully, I loved him very much. On assignments we were thinking like one person.

He experienced a period of poverty in childhood: he often voicing outrage over impoverished children in this area. In 1960, Governor Orville L. Freeman appointed Eldot to the Youth Conservation Commission, which acted as a parole board and overseer for people under the age of 21. He was a strong supporter of minority programs. In 1969, he was a driving force in revitalizing the American Indian Fellowship Association, said then-secretary Marlene Diver. He was always encouraging us, she said. He was so kind and gentle: he gave his all to us. I really loved him, she said.

For the last four years before his death, Eldot worked as the News-Tribune & Herald’s retirement and religion writer. For many years he spent evenings at nursing homes, entertaining residents with a mix of films, nostalgia, Q & A sessions, impromptu song-and-dance routines, and fun.

His wife was Goldie Eldot (died 1992 March 23) and they had daughters Marsha Devine and Elizabeth Eldot, and a son Jeffrey.

Extent

6.00 Linear Inches

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Physical Location

This collection is located at the University of Minnesota Duluth Archives. For more information about this collection or to make an appointment, contact us at libarchives@d.umn.edu or 218-726-8526.

General

This collection is part of the Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections, which are housed in the University of Minnesota Duluth Archives at the Kathryn A. Martin Library.