Died 9 April 1987, Dallas, Texas, United States | ||
Ruth Brown Kahn (June 21, 1902 - April 9, 1987) was an American civic leader in Dallas, Texas. Kahn co-founded the Dallas Jewish Archives, which later became the Dallas Jewish Historical Society or DJHS.
Biography
Kahn was born on June 21, 1902 in St. Louis, Missouri, but grew up near Eufala in Oklahoma Territory. She graduated from the University of Chicago in 1923 and in that same year, moved to Dallas, where she became involved in local Jewish community organizations. She married Laurence S. Kahn in 1936 and together, they had two children.
Kahn and Ginger Chesnick Jacobs were inspired to preserve local Jewish history when the Temple Emanu-El was demolished. The temple, destroyed in 1970, was the last remaining Jewish institution in South Dallas. Kahn and Jacobs eventually housed the archives in the Dallas Jewish Community Center in 1978.
Kahn died in Dallas on April 9, 1987.