The shared archive
A hundred years in photographs.
One century, one archive. Filter by organization or scrub the decades; every print across Camp Naivelt, the School and UJPO lives here.


Pete Seeger persuaded members of the Naivelt Youth Singers (pictured here) to form a Canadian version of the Weavers, some heeded his call and formed The Travellers
1950

MWS students celebrate Sukkes at Camp Naivelt in 2005
2005

A family music jam in a screened cabin
2020

Every table taken, seen from the back of the room
2026

Naivelters re-enact Soviet children’s commune
2008

Morris Winchevsky Centre official opening announcement, 1961
1961

David Wall at the protest
2023

Bowling was a popular pastime and social occasion amongst members throughout the country
1950

Members of UJPO Winnipeg protest the US/Israeli attack on Iran, 2026
2026

“No Gentlemen, We Will Not Be Silenced!” statement of the UJPO National Executive Committee
1950

On stage, mid-answer
2025

A group photo of Camp Naivelt children
1990

At the tsimbl
2025

“A Benefit Celebration”, Morris Winchevsky School / Camp Naivelt poster
2000

Michele Landsberg (with Stephen Lewis) gives a bagel brunch talk in 2016
2016

UJPO headquarters at 83 Christie
1950

Members (including Vochenblatt editor Joshua Gershman, centre) protest the post-war admittance of Nazi war criminals into Canada
1960

Camp Naivelt’s 100th anniversary weekend ended with a lively parade, August 2025 (Photo by Robert Bergman)
2025

UJPO marches against the Mike Harris agenda during the Metro Days of Action, 1998
1998

A child reads at the microphone
2026

Labour League children’s mandolin orchestra, 1930s
1930

Playing under the shelter at the end-of-year potluck
2025

A hydro crew works on the power lines at Camp during the “Great Hydro Crisis”
2005

2008 Oy Di Velt pageant
2008

Children of Toronto’s Morris Winchevsky Shule (MWS) marching against fascism in the 1930s and demanding hot lunches in the public schools
1930

Marching Disorder, formed by Shule parents, regularly perform at UJPO holiday celebrations and political rallies. Here, performing at the 2026 Third Seyder
2026

Children watch a performance inside the Lasowsky Centre
1990

American movie star and singer Paul Robeson, a long-time friend of UJPO, dropped in to meet MWS children at UJPO’s home, 83 Christie Street, in 1956 on his way to sing for a union convention in Sudbury
1956

Crowds gather under the “Mazeltov Naivelt! 60 Years Young” banner for the 60th anniversary, 1985
1985

“60th Anniversary Souvenir” program, 13th National Convention
1986

In 2008, Naivelters staged an inter-generational community arts production, Oy di Velt, melding the history of a children’s commune in Russia and Naivelt’s radical roots
2008

Dreidels still spinning on the floor
2024

UJPO Toronto organized mass meetings and fundraising events after Montreal’s UJPO headquarters was padlocked by Quebec’s fascist premier, Maurice Duplessis, in January 1950
1950

A delegation of members participate in the first UJPO anti-Occupation Israel/Palestine tour in 2005
2005

Glasses raised at the head table
2025

A frame drum held up at the microphone
2025

“A Musical Tribute: Camp Naivelt Remembers Pete Seeger” program
2014

A full house for the evening
2025

American movie star and internationally-renowned singer Paul Robeson performs at Massey Hall with UJPO’s Toronto Jewish Folk Choir in May 1949
1949

Musicians under the chandelier
2025

In 1938, Camp Naivelt hosted veterans of the Mackenzie Papineau Battalion who dug trenches to replicate the battlefields of Spain and held an anti-fascist carnival to raise money for returning wounded veterans
1938

UJPO community members, alumni of the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir, perform at a City of Toronto ceremony naming a laneway after the choir
2010

Until the “Great Hydro Crisis” of 2005, trees regularly fell on the power lines. After a summer without power and a debate about solar, Naivelt finally buried the lines
2005

Signing books afterwards
2025

The Labour League was instrumental in fundraising to send an ambulance to Canada’s anti-fascist Mackenzie Papineau Battalion in Spain
1930

Singing at the head table
2026

Tuba at the Hanukkah party
2024

Wrapped in a tallis at the microphone
2023

United Jewish Peoples Order member benefits card
1940

UJPO’s Montreal Jewish Folk Choir remained a beloved institution in the 70’s even as Quebec Jews began to make the exodus down the 401 and the Montreal membership dwindled
1973

Musicians jam in a screened cabin at dusk
2020

Not in my name
2023

Sukkes at Camp Naivelt, 1997
1997

A folk band performs on the Camp Naivelt stage
1990

Purim and Hanukkah celebrations, 1980s
1980

New Year’s Eve Cabaret 1990s produced by David Abramowitz (top right)
1990

Hanging the decorations
2025

The 1998 pageant Arum Dem Fayer, a night of fire and theatre that involved the entire Camp community
1998

By the 2010s, Music Week became a beloved annual tradition
2010

Pete Seeger performs with The Travellers at the CNE in 1963
1963

Members of the UJPO Youth Singers, seen here performing at a peace rally in the early 50’s, would later form The Travellers, central figures in the Canadian folk revival
1950

The Bakan-Bennett family host a socially-distanced pandemic movie night, “Circle Cinema”
2020

While their elders endlessly debated politics, the younger generation of Naivelters were more interested in sports and music. Volleyball was the most popular sport at Camp during the 1950s
1950

Mir Lernen un Kemfn (“We Learn and Struggle”), a 1934 children’s textbook used in the shules. Among other things, the book discussed potential careers, how to protest and strike, and how to draw your own hammer and sickle
1934

Children gather with a Yiddish harvest (Sukkes) sign outside a camp cabin
1940

Members of UJPO’s newly formed singing group, Zing! Zing! Zing!, perform at the Ashkenaz Festival in 2018
2018

Canadian Communist Party leader Tim Buck campaigns at Camp Naivelt in 1945
1945

Naivelt hayride, 1957
1957

The “Red Camper Colony,” the adult section added when Camp Kindervelt moved to a rented farm in Rouge Hills, pictured under its Yiddish banner in 1928
1928

UJPO’s Avrom Yanovsky, one of Canada’s best known left-wing political cartoonists, often gave “Chalk Talks” which many members remember as helping spark their love of art
1960

After 64 years, UJPO said goodbye to the Winchevsky Centre with a nostalgic send-off
2025

The Toronto Jewish Folk Choir performs at the annual Warsaw Ghetto Uprising commemoration at the Winchevsky Centre, 1990s
1990

Shule Sukkes celebration at Naivelt, children stage a Sukkes play (“Fun Camp tsu shule… fun shule tsu Camp”)
2000

UJPO’s annual Third Seyder, 1986
1986

Winnipeg General Strike, 1919
1919

MWS Montreal students gather on stage in the early fifties while their principal, renowned Yiddish poet Sholom Shtern, accompanies them on piano
1950

“The Jewish Folk Choir with Paul Robeson”, Massey Hall concert poster, 1948
1948

Long-time Naivelter Avrom Yanovsky, one of Canada’s best known left-wing political cartoonists, often gave “Chalk Talks” which many remember as helping spark their love of art
1960

The band playing from the aisle, among the audience
2025

Naivelt children represent the six founding mothers (Leah Linzon, Ethel Temkin, Rae Watson, Bella Goodis, Gertie Blugerman and Becky Lapedes) during the Arum Dem Fayer pageant held at Camp in 1998
1998

Cabins glow at dusk on the hill
2020

Music Week Choir
2010

The klezmer players at the edge of the stage
2025

Campers spell out Yiddish lettering across the hillside at Camp
1930

UJPO delegation, anti-Occupation tour, Israel/Palestine, 2005
2005

Three members at the podium together
2026

An outdoor children’s concert outside the Centre
1990

Community musicians perform at a Camp Naivelt concert
2010

Members of UJPO Winnipeg, including the late, beloved grande dame of the organization, Roz Usiskin (centre), march at a May Day rally
2000

Pete Seeger would become a regular visitor to Camp Naivelt. Here, he gives an outdoor concert for a community gathering. (Photo by Barbara Blaser)
1950

Gathering under the shelter
2025

Naivelters remember Izzie Fine’s trademark phrase ending a game, “This Bingo is correct!”
1990

Yiddish placards carried onto the stage
2025

Labour League City Committee, 1936
1936

The klezmer band playing behind the seyder table
2026

Labour League Bluz (Wind instruments) Orchestra
1930

“Mazeltov! Camp Naivelt, 60 Years” newsletter cover, March 1985
1985

The head table under the chandeliers, beneath the centennial banner
2026

The march moves down the street
2023

A large gathering of campers and Labour League members at Camp in the 1930s
1930

In the 20s and 30s, the organization’s shules emphasized proletarian Jewish values and the importance of keeping the Yiddish language alive. Here, students at Winnipeg’s Liberty Temple shule assemble with Lenin’s portrait in the background
1930

A shofar blown in the middle of the march
2023

Alan Cantor leads children in a bagel-making workshop at the Lasowsky Centre
2020

The UJPO Dance Ensemble rehearses during the 1940s
1940

UJPO participates in an Indigenous solidarity rally Caledonia, 2013
2013

Children of Winnipeg’s Liberty Temple shule stage a pageant in the 1920s. The Yiddish sign at left reads, “Our future lies in the emergence of the new Yiddish school”
1920

Music Week orchestra rehearsal
2010

Speakers at the annual Peace Tea
2024

Protest singer Phil Ochs performed at Naivelt in 1973
1973

Dogs trot along the road past the cabins in autumn
1980

The Toronto Jewish Folk Choir on stage for the centennial
2026

The conductor, arms raised, and the choir behind her
2026

The crowd at the corner, under the Jews Against Israeli Apartheid banner
2023

Members of UJPO regularly participated in weekly Shabbat ceremonies during the 2024 encampment at U of T protesting the Israeli invasion of Gaza
2024

Members of the Camp Naivelt committee gather in front of a monument to Sholom Aleichem designed by Naivelter Avrom Yanovsky (photo courtesy Ontario Jewish Archives)
1930

Months after the re-election of Donald Trump, UJPO used its annual Third Seyder to once again sound the alarm about the growing threat of fascism just as the organization did in the 1930s while the world buried its head in the sand
2025

Branch 3, Labour League, late 1920s. Women finally agreed to join the Labour League when they were assured they would not be treated as an auxiliary
1920

Sitting in a circle on the grass
2025

UJPO dance ensemble
1940

A delegation representing Polish Jewry is honoured on the Janusz Korczak platform at Camp Naivelt in 1946
1946

Scene from a UJPO Yiddish theatre production
1940

Naivelters gather for an outdoor sing-along
1950

Raising the sukkah together in the park
2025

Camp Kindervelt in Rouge Hills, 1927, Becky Lapedes (top left), one of the founders of the Camp and a UJPO stalwart for decades
1927

A young Naivelter plays piano during a Camp performance
1990

The centennial banner: a hundred years of secular Jewish culture and social justice
2026

In recognition of UJPO’s role in the anti-Apartheid movement, Maxine Hermolin was asked to make a presentation to Nelson Mandela at Queen’s Park when he visited Toronto in June 1990, shortly after his release from Robben Island
1990

A folk band performs on the Camp Naivelt stage
1990

The night of the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, June 19, 1953, virtually every member of the UJPO remembers where they were, assembling in their communities to protest and mourn this great injustice
1953

UJPO members protest the Gulf War, 1991
1991

The building, photographed before it closed
2025

Horns and reeds in among the audience
2026

Sam Lipshitz delivers a speech in front of the Dance Hall at the opening ceremony of Camp Naivelt on June 28, 1936
1936

The hall filled for the seyder
2026

The Toronto Labour League purchased a building at 414 Markham as its first permanent home. Here, students of Morris Winchevsky shule pose outside the building
1920

A performer on stilts carries a painted banner during the Oy di Velt pageant
2008

Young women pose on the hillside above the original Dining Hall
1940

Hands up in the hall during the seyder
2025

Delegate ribbon, 7th National Convention, Montreal, 1968
1968

Winnipeg children stage a play directed by long-time shule teacher Leybl Basman
1940

“Workers of the World Unite”, Labour League gathering
1920

Speaking in front of the Order’s banner on the last night in the building
2025

A camp klezmer/marching band performs during a pageant procession
1990

Camp Naivelt celebrated its 60th anniversary with a concert at the Lasowsky Centre in the summer of 1985
1985

A father and child walk hand in hand along a Camp Naivelt path
2020
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