Lina Gutherz Straus (1854-1930)
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/straus-family/straus-family">Return to The Straus Family: A History of Public Service and Philanthropy</a></h4>
<p>Lina Gutherz Straus (1854-1930) was the wife of Nathan Straus and his true partner, who championed his life's work, supported him through his bouts of depression and showed a strength that was not generally evident in women of the time.</p>
<p>In 1892, Lina’s husband Nathan Straus became interested in learning how to produce clean milk. He started exploring how to produce what he called pasteurized milk. Nathan hired doctors and scientists to learn the process and then built the first Nathan Straus Pasteurized Milk Laboratory on East 32nd Street in New York City. Once the formula and process was perfected, he created milk depots around New York City to distribute this low cost healthy product. And then, for the rest of his life, Nathan Straus, supported and accompanied by his wife Lina, traveled the world, offering to build a milk pasteurizing laboratory for any municipality that would send professionals to learn the process. In 1917 Lina wrote Disease in Milk: The Remedy Pasteurization: The Life Work of Nathan Straus, a loving tribute to her husband. This book describes in minute detail the process of pasteurization and the distribution of pasteurized milk. Testimonials from prominent medical and scientific personnel, as well as government officials and philanthropists, are included.</p>
<p>Nathan and Lina Straus first traveled to Palestine in 1904 where they were disturbed by the poverty of the people and the unhealthy conditions in which they lived. The Strauses became Zionists, believing in a Jewish national homeland. Much of their philanthropy from this point onward was directed toward Palestine. Lina donated all of her jewelry to Hadassah to be used to erect a health center in Jerusalem. In 1929 Nathan and Lina donated $50,000 for the endowment of a fund to aid in the repair and maintenance of the Health Center in Jerusalem. Lina and Nathan supported soup kitchens for more than twenty years. They supported stations where people could learn a skill and prepare for employment and they generously donated to charitable organizations that provided services to the people.</p>
<p>Nathan Straus' concern for the condition of his fellow man and his remarkable efforts to ameliorate suffering are clear. What is unusual is that his wife Lina was at his side and an active participant in all his endeavors. This was a time when women rarely worked outside the home, especially married women with children. And it was a time when wives were generally not involved in their husband's activities. For Lina to be at Nathan's side, and to support his efforts on so many fronts, speaks volumes for this diminutive Victorian era woman. Among her papers Lina left a Living Will: "Whatever happiness life has brought me, has been through Papas and your own limitless devotion - our in-laws the same as those of our own blood. - I feel grateful for all this and bless you for it to my last breath. - I don't speak of our grandchildren - You know the joy they have brought into our lives. - I only add my prayers for your precious health. - I know you will under all circumstances keep up the family tradition in our branch - of unity and mutual devotion - and not permit anything to interfere with it. - I have nothing further to wish for when my time of parting comes. God bless you and guard you all the days of your lives! Mamma.”</p>
<a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/newsletter_february_2015.pdf"><strong></strong></a>
The Straus Historical Society
http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/1470587_orig.jpg
The Straus Historical Society
Circa 1900s
The Straus Historical Society
Lina Gutherz Straus (1854-1930) <br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org">The Straus Historical Society</a>
<p>Links:</p>
<p>“Nathan Straus 1848-1931” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 1 (New York: February 1998); pp. 4-8.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr298.pdf"><strong>http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr298.pdf</strong></a></p>
<p>“Nathan Straus 1848-1931” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 2 (New York: August 1998); pp. 4-7.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr898.pdf"><strong>http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr898.pdf</strong></a></p>
<p>“Lina Gutherz Straus” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 16 No. 2 (New York: February 2015); pp. 1-5.</p>
<a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/newsletter_february_2015.pdf"><strong>http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/newsletter_february_2015.pdf</strong></a>
Medium: Photograph
English
Figures
Lina Straus, Straus Family, Milk, Milk Pasteur, Zionism, Palestine, Jerusalem, Women
Historic
Nathan Straus: Jerusalem Health Center
<h4><a href="https://vmps.omeka.net/exhibits/show/straus-family/straus-family">Return to The Straus Family: A History of Public Service and Philanthropy</a></h4>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">Upon touring the Mediterranean in 1904, Nathan (1848-1931) and Lina Straus (1854-1930) stopped over in Palestine, expecting it to be but one stop of many. He wrote, "On reaching Jerusalem, we changed our plans. All that we saw in the Holy Land made such a deep impression on us that we gave up the idea of going to other places. Visiting the holy sights of which one hears and reads since childhood, watching the scenes in life as pictured in the Bible, was most soul-stirring. From that time on we felt a strange and intense desire to return to the land."</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">Nathan and Lina became staunch Zionists. He built soup kitchens for the aged and the blind and the physically disabled in 1917. He supported workrooms so that unskilled laborers could train for employment. He built health stations which ministered to the victims of malaria and trachoma. He believed strongly in palliative care. He provided $250,000 ($5 million today) for the establishment of the Jerusalem Health Center (pictured) and made possible the founding of a Pasteur Institute. He lent moral and material support to the farmers and colonists of Israel and labored in the interests of the Hebrew University. They began calling him "The Great Giver."</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">So great was the depth of Lina's commitment, she donated her jewelry to Hadassah in Palestine in 1918. It was valued at more than $18,000 ($306,000 today).</span></p>
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The Straus Historical Society
http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/9638208_orig.jpg
The Straus Historical Society
Circa 1920s
The Straus Historical Society
Nathan Straus: Jerusalem Health Center <br /><br />Source: <a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org">The Straus Historical Society</a>
<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">Links:</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">“Nathan Straus 1848-1931” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 1 (New York: February 1998); pp. 4-8.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr298.pdf"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#c51b35;">http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr298.pdf</span></b></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;"></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">“Nathan Straus 1848-1931” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 2 (New York: August 1998); pp. 4-7.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr898.pdf"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#c51b35;">http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr898.pdf</span></b></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;"></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">“Nathan Straus Pasteurized Milk Laboratory” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 4 No. 2 (New York: February 2002); pp. 4-9.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/____nwsltr202.pdf"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#c51b35;">http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/____nwsltr202.pdf</span></b></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;"></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">“Nathan Straus, Public Servant” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 4 No. 2 (New York: February 2003); pp. 4-8.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr203.pdf"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#c51b35;">http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/________nwsltr203.pdf</span></b></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;"></span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;">“The Nathan Straus Soup Kitchens in Palestine” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 16 No. 1 (New York: August 2014); pp. 1-5.</span></p>
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<p style="text-align:justify;"><a href="http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/nwslttr814.pdf"><b><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#c51b35;">http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/nwslttr814.pdf</span></b></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif;color:#000000;"></span></p>
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Medium: Photograph
English
Health
Nathan Straus, Straus Family, Zionism, Jewish, Palestine, Jerusalem Health Center, Jerusalem
Israel