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Lesson Plan

From Rhodes to San Francisco: Sara Levi’s Wedding Dress, a Storehouse of Knowledge

Preserved in the Magnes Collection of Jewish  Art and Life, an ornate wedding dress brought to the United States from Rhodes by a young Sara Levi-Willis on the eve of World War II shares a powerful story. It reflects the life of a Sephardic woman who survived the major disruptions of twentieth-century Jewish history, showing how cultural treasures can carry on a legacy through the trials of immigration and war.

Overview

Working with images and background information for an artifact in the Magnes Collection, students will develop skills for studying objects, and be introduced to Jewish life in the Muslim world through the entry point of that artifact. Students will then connect with their own family histories through objects which reflect important transitions for their families.

Subject Areas: English Language Arts, Social Studies, World History, European History, Ethnic Studies, Jewish Studies

Grades: 6–12

Educator Resource Guide: From Rhodes to San Francisco: Sara Levi’s Wedding Dress, a Storehouse of Knowledge

Slide Deck: Sara Levi’s Wedding Dress

Wedding Dress, Rhodes, 19th century. Velvet and metallic thread. Gift of Sara Levi Willis, 86.42. Photo by Sibila Savage.

Student Goals

  • Students will learn skills for exploring objects as repositories of knowledge and tools of cultural transmission
  • Students will consider the Rhodes Jewish community as an example of the Jewish communities that thrived in the Ottoman Empire, and how emigration allowed some members of a family to survive, and preserve a piece of their cultural heritage.
  • Students will apply the tools they learn by researching an object their family has preserved.
  • In addition, the lesson can be a springboard to introduce topics such as Eastern Mediterranean trade networks, the Sephardic diaspora, and the Holocaust.

California/Common Core Standards

  • RH.6–8.7 Grades 6–8. Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.
  • RH.11–12.7 Grades 11–12. Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
  • HSS-10.8.5 Grade 10. Analyze the Nazi policy of pursuing racial purity, especially against the European Jews; its transformation into the Final Solution; and the Holocaust that resulted in the murder of six million Jewish civilians.
  • HSS-11.2 Grade 11. Analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, large-scale rural-to-urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe. 
  • HSS-11.3.4 Grade 11. Discuss the expanding religious pluralism in the United States and California that resulted from large-scale immigration in the twentieth century.

Lesson: Sara Levi’s Wedding Dress

Resource: Classroom-ready slideshow of visuals for the lessons.

Step 1. Close Observation

Show this image of the dress, without any explanatory text. Ask students to look carefully and describe everything they see. Start with broad, open-ended questions:  What do you notice about this? What else do you see? Encourage them to imagine they’re describing it to someone over a phone call so that person can make a drawing of it.

Then show slides from this gallery for closeups of the dress only (enter the username: saralevidress, no password needed)

Ask more specific questions: What do you notice about its:

  • Materials
  • Color
  • Shape
  • Decoration
  • Evidence of use: is it worn? has it been repaired? 

    Step 2. Preliminary Analysis

    Once students have listed all the visual elements they can see in the textile, which they will have identified as a dress, begin asking simple analytic questions that will deepen your students’ understanding of the object. For each answer they offer, ask “how do you know?” so they will ground their analysis in visual evidence.

    • What kind of dress do you think this was? Was it used, and if so, how? 
    • How do you think it was made? What might have been the steps in the process? What special skills and tools might have been required?
    • Who might have been the user? Were they the same as the maker?
    • What questions do you have about the object?

    Step 3. Research

    At this point, introduce background information on the artifact to the students, using the resources provided on the resources page in the slideshow, also provided in the last tab of this document. You may choose to present the information yourself or give them texts and videos to read and watch themselves.

    Step 4. Interpretation

    In this step students bring together the initial three steps of close observation, preliminary analysis, and research to try to understand the story of the object. 

    What do they think might be:

    • the biography of the object: e.g. the phases of its life, its uses at each stage
    • the value or meaning of the object for the people who made and/or used it

    Emphasize that you are not looking for right or wrong answers, but more thoughtful and better informed ones. Challenge your students to defend their interpretations based upon their visual analysis and their research.

    Step 5. Personal Response

    • Does knowing the story of the dress affect how you see or feel about it? 
    • Do you feel you can relate this to the clothes you wear? Why or why not?
    • Do you feel this dress is important to preserve? If so, why?

    Class Activity: Student Family Research and Pop-up Museum

    Transform your classroom into a museum for a day. Students act as museum curators, and their family objects are the artifacts on display.

    Step 1. Find an Artifact of Family Transition

    This lesson centers on students’ research and presentation of a transitional artifact from their family: an object that has moved from one location to another in their family’s history. The object should belong to someone from a different generation in their family, and reflect a transition in either geographical place or another kind of passage (financial, cultural, etc.). Examples could include:

    • A recipe card from 5 years ago for which the ingredients are no longer available
    • A pair of work boots from a parent’s former line of work
    • A prayer book or ritual object from a relative that practiced religiously in a way the family no longer does
    • A keychain from a memorable road trip
    • A cell phone that kept a family connected during a move. 

    If a student cannot find an object at home, they might choose a cultural artifact or a digital asset (like a family photograph or a shared favorite song).

    Step 2. Inquiry

    Students interview a family member about the chosen artifact.

    Student Interview Questions:

    • What is it made of? 
    • Who owned it first? 
    • What was it used for? 
    • Is it still used that way? Is it not used anymore at all? Why or why not?
    • How did the family acquire it? 
    • Why has the family held onto it?
    • What is the story of the family transition it reflects? Anything else the interviewee would like people to know about it?

    Google/Printable Worksheet

      Step 3. Drafting the Exhibition Label

      Students write a concise, 150-word museum label. It must include an official title, estimated date, material composition, and a short paragraph summarizing its family significance: what transition does it mark or represent? See material in the slide show about making an exhibition label.

      Contents of a museum object label:

      1. Creator’s name and dates and locations of birth and death, if known
      2. Name of the object
      3. Location and date of creation, if known
      4. Materials object is made of
      5. How and when the museum or collector acquired it
      6. Brief interpretative description of the object; 20-75 words about its background, and the people, communities and/or functions it served. 

      See the slideshow for an annotated example of a museum label.

        Step 4. Museum Set-up

        Presentation Day
        Students set up their desks with the object (or a high-quality photograph/printout if the item is too fragile or valuable to bring to school) alongside their exhibit tag.

          Step 5. Gallery Walk & Pitch

          Presentation Day
          Divide the class into two groups. Group A acts as museum visitors, walking around and asking questions. Group B stands by their artifacts, giving a 60-second “curator pitch” to whoever stops by. Swap halfway through.

            Alternate suggestion: Students can create digital exhibits instead of physical ones. Examples: two-minute slide shows; or for older students, a 3-minute podcast that includes audio of their interview with the family member. 

            Resources for Student Research

            Suggestions for using the Rhodes Jewish Museum website to learn more about the Rhodes Jewish community

            • This page gives a brief introduction to the community, including two short videos with archival images and film footage. 
            • Ask students to look at the photos of the talit bag or the “takos” (bridal mikvah shoes) shown on this page and compare and contrast them with the dress.
            • Ask students to choose one of the family photographs on this page, where they think the family might have owned a dress like this. Note that in the older images people tend to be dressed in traditional Turkish garb, while in later years they are dressed in European styles.

            Video

            Sara Levi Willis viewing her family’s wedding dress and remembering what it meant to her.