Fleisher: Biography of Samuel S. Fleisher

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Samuel S. Fleisher (1871 - 1944)

The source of the Fleisher family fortune:

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, Simon B. and Moyer Fleisher, the sons of German Jewish immigrants, founded one of the country’s first worsted woolen mills in southwest Philadelphia. Originally called the Fleisher Yarn Company, the establishment became a world leader in hand knitting yarns and worsted fabric. By 1917, three mills were consolidated into one ten-story structure at 25th and Reed Streets. Simon and Moyer directed the mill jointly until Moyer’s retirement in 1884, at which point younger brother Benjamin W. Fleisher joined the partnership, soon to be known as S. B. and B. W. Fleisher Manufacturing. Samuel Stewart Fleisher, Simon’s son, joined the family business after his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 1892, and was soon appointed vice-president of the company.

A family with a history of social and cultural activism:

Samuel S. Fleisher was born November 27th, 1871 — the third of Simon B. Fleisher and Cecelia Hofheimer's five children. Though Samuel would make his rather broad mark on Philadelphia’s cultural history, his activity and interests were by no means unusual in his family:

Samuel’s elder brother Benjamin went to Japan in 1907 and there took over The Japan Advertiser — which under his direction became Asia's leading English-language newspaper. With the advent of the Second World War, Benjamin was forced to sell the paper in 1940 and return to the United States.

Samuel’s younger brother Edwin was a musician, an avid collector, and sponsored musical transcription. About 1924, Edwin went to Russia to buy sheet music directly from Tchaikovsky, and while there he purchased several Russian icons that he presented to Samuel as a gift (many still hang in the Art Memorial's Sanctuary). Edwin founded the Symphony Club in 1911, and upon his death in 1959 bequeathed his unique and expansive collection of original musical manuscripts to the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Samuel’s younger sister Helen was interested in the education of the recent influx of Russian Jews at the turn of the century. Particularly interested in furthering educational opportunities for women, Helen served as chairperson for the Philadelphia Trade School for Girls, but gave most of her support to what is now the Gershman YM&WHA on Broad Street.

Samuel’s eldest siblings Theresa and Benjamin were the only to marry and have children.

The Fleisher children, well educated and blessed with a large fortune, had a zeal for social reformation and improvement of the lives of Philadelphia’s poorest citizens. The Fleisher’s shared a deep-set belief that education and the arts could enrich people’s lives and relieve them from the tedium and drudgery of their day to day existence. Samuel Fleisher in particular believed in the transformative power of art that could be a means to salvation for those struggling through difficult lives.

The birth of the Graphic Sketch Club:

Samuel was working in the family woolen business — where he was well known for his concern for the factory workers’ welfare and his generosity towards them — when, upon the suggestion of his sister Helen, Samuel hit upon the notion of offering art classes for poor children in the neighborhood where many of his factory workers lived. In 1898, Sam began holding art classes for poor neighborhood boys in the Jewish Union building at 422 Bainbridge Street. The endeavor came to be known as the Graphic Sketch Club, and soon grew to include a larger number of students, including adults and children of all races and nationalities. Classes were offered in a laid back, non-competitive style, to encourage the students to enjoy the process of art-making as a joyful end in itself. Students were only asked to pay for materials, which Sam acquired at the lowest possible prices, and often passed along to needy students without charge.

Due to increased enrollment, in 1906 the Graphic Sketch Club moved to new quarters at 740 Catharine Street. In 1916, Fleisher acquired the large building across the street, which had formerly been known as Saint Martin’s College for Indigent Boys. In 1922, Fleisher acquired the adjacent Romanesque church which had formerly been the Episcopal Church of the Evangelist, and which Fleisher converted to house his private collections of paintings and sculpture and made available to neighborhood residents day and night as a quiet place for contemplation and reflection. The Sanctuary, as Fleisher dubbed it, also served as a salon for musical events hosted by Samuel and his brother Edwin.

Apart from the Graphic Sketch Club, Samuel S. Fleisher had many interests and was much involved in his community and surrounding environs. Samuel founded the Philadelphia School for Occupational Therapy and several clubs, including the Businessmen’s Art Club. He is also said to have had a hand in the founding of the Cape May County Art League. Fleisher was at one time chairman of the Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School project in southern New Jersey, which sought to buy tracts of land for recent Jewish immigrants and promote viable agricultural communities. In light of concern for the plight of the urban poor, Fleisher was appointed to the Vice Commission in 1912, and challenged the mayor to come out to look at the terrible conditions in the slums where Philadelphia’s poorest were living. In 1923, Samuel S. Fleisher received the prestigious Philadelphia Award for his educational efforts.

Despite Samuel S. Fleisher’s many interests and projects, the Graphic Sketch Club remained his proudest achievement, and was the only institution for which he made provisions in his will. Samuel S. Fleisher died on January 20th, 1944, leaving an estate appraised at $2,245,417 (according to the January 22nd, 1944 edition of the Philadelphia Record). The bulk of this estate was left in trust to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the perpetuation of the Graphic Sketch Club, which Fleisher dictated could either be maintained as a museum or a school — but made no stipulation that anything had to be offered to the public free of charge. After 1944, the Graphic Sketch Club became the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, which continues to offer many programs free of charge in honor of Fleisher's singular vision and as a matter of tradition.

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