The New Promised Land: Maine's Summer Camps for Jewish Youth ...

vacation.” 94 For some Jews summer camp in Maine provided a way to give their
children the opportunity to spend the summer in Maine even if they could not
themselves. As Paris wrote, “camps provided American Jewish parents with a
tangible means to demonstrate their parental affection and to celebrate their
children’s potential and their own improving place in American life.” 95
Sargent’s list of summer camps listed specific details about featured summer
camps so that parents could make the best decisions for their children. As Sargent
wrote, “Choosing the summer camp…is an annual spring problem in many well-to-
do families. With more than a thousand private camps to selct from, the matter of
choice calls for study and discrimination.” 96 In order to help parents, the list was
organized by region, and each featured camp had a brief description of the camp’s
program, clientele, and tuition. For example, the entry for Camp Walden read,
Walden, for Jewish girls, is conducted by the principal of the Alcuin
Preparatory School for girls, New York City, and Miss Altschul. The camp is
well organized, and the program includes water sports and camping trips. 97
The entry also stated that Walden’s enrollment was seventy-seven campers the
previous summer and that the 1931 season cost $450. 98 According to the 1931
handbook, New York had the highest number of camps at 418, followed by
Pennsylvania at 244. Out of these camps, New York boasted thirty-two camps which
mentioned of some aspect of Judaism, such as “Wakitan is under the management of
94 Joshua Weiss, Interview with author, February 8, 2013.
95 “’A Home Though Away From Home’: Brooklyn Jews and Interwar Children’s
Summer Camps” in Jews of Brooklyn, eds. Ilana Abramovitch and Sean Galvin
(Boston: University Press of New England/Brandeis University Press, 2001), 243
96 Sargent, A Handbook of Summer Camps, 13.
97 Ibid, 260.
98 Ibid.
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