Between the 1820s and 1920s some 3 million Jews migrated from Europe to the United States, giving rise to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world. Although restrictive legislation drastically reduced the number of Jews (and others) who could settle in the U.S. after 1924, immigrants continued to come, at times illegally.

Among these multitudes was Harry Houdini; he was four years old when he arrived in Appleton in 1878 and bore the name Erik Weisz. He was a testament to the “American Dream,” but also felt the imperative to claim American birth, saying often in interviews that he was born in Wisconsin.

Why did Jews like the Weisz family come to the U.S. in such large numbers? What kinds of challenges and barriers confronted them? How did America shape the Jews and how did they change the society around them? Join Tony Michels, Director of the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for an exploration of the odyssey of American Jews through the immigrant experience.

Tickets: Museum Members $5 | Nonmembers $7