Person

Miller, Evelyn 1916-1996

1916-1996

Evelyn Miller was Abraham de Sola's great-grand-daughter. Born in August 1916 to Marguerite Mendes and Samuel Silver, she married Emmanuel Miller and had two children, Rica Judith and Jonathan Miller. She died at the age of seventy-nine in Montreal in May 1996. Evelyn Miller worked as an archivist, historian, collector and writer, focusing on the history of Canada and Montreal's Jewish communities. Her research, archival initiatives and writing also centered on the history of her own family genealogy, including the de Solas, Harts, Davids and Josephs, each of which are founding families of Canada's Jewish community.

Evelyn Miller's matriarchal lineage included the Mendes and de Sola families. The de Solas can be traced to the ninth century with settlement on the Iberian Peninsula. After expulsion from Spain, the de Solas first settled in Amsterdam and then England, where David Aaron de Sola (Reverend Abraham de Sola's father) was a cantor at the Shearith Israel (London).

Despite not having earned a university degree, Evelyn Miller achieved considerable success as a writer, historian and archivist. Her education included completion of the Carleton University Summer archival studies program and a fellowship to Union Theological Seminary. In the 1960s Evelyn Miller co-authored "Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue (Shearith Israel) Montreal, 1768-1968", with Esther Blaustein and Rachel Esar. The article was published In the Jewish Historical Society of England's Micellanies Par VIII, and was written in honor of the congregation's bicentennial. Evelyn Miller also wrote the history of the Golden Age AssOCiation, and the Young Man's and Women's Hebrew Association, both affiliated organizations of the Canadian Jewish community. Her publications include numerous scholarly journal articles, as well as newspaper articles appearing in The Canadian Jewish News. Evelyn Miller's writing on her own family history included "Enter the Jew: The Jews of Quebec 1759-1882", written In the 1970s and published in the Jewish Historical Society of Canada's Journal (Spring 1978). This work recounted the history of early Canadian Jewish families focusing on the Harts, de Solas and Josephs.

Among Evelyn Miller's archival legacies is her active collection and care of the de Sola papers as they related to her family and McGill University, a collection she loaned to the McGill University Archives for the purposes of microfilming In 1973. This project resulted in her collaboration with the McGill University Archives on The Microfilm Guide to the Abraham de Sola Papers, published by the McGill University Archives In 1973. Evelyn Miller maintained an active presence In community and cultural organizations, working as a volunteer with the McCord Museum, the Canadian Jewish Congress Archives, and the Montreal Jewish Historical Society. She was also honorary archivist for Montreal's Jewish Public Library (JPL) throughout the 1970s.

Throughout her career as an archivist and researcher Evelyn Miller maintained a correspondence with some of the most prominent institutions and scholars In the field of Jewish history. Among these contacts include: Jacob Radar Marcus, Jonathan Sarna, Bernard Wax, (Director of the American Jewish Historical Society), as well Rabbi Jonathan Plaut from the Congregation Beth EI of Windsor. Evelyn Miller's research also led to correspondence with various research institutions and libraries including the Historian's office of the U.S. Department of State, the Chief of the House Library, U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Library of Congress, the National Archives of Canada, and the National Library of Canada (now the Library and Archives of Canada).