Background on Felix Goldberg
Felix Goldberg (ca. 1866-1948) was born in the shtetl Zhuprah in Lithuania. He immigrated to the United States at the turn of the century with his second wife, Janet Zelda. Two children from his first marriage remained in Russia. An engraver by training, Goldberg was generally unable to work in the U.S. due to ill health. His wife ran a boarding house for factory workers and itinerant ice harvesters; was a midwife and practical nurse, as well as a foster mother; and ran a convalescent home for charity patients to support the family.
The Goldbergs' son, Maxwell H., Massachusetts Agricultural College Class of 1928, received a Ph.D. from Yale University and returned to his alma mater to become, eventually, head of the English Department. In 1988 he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Massachusetts.
