Spitz family
Joel Spitz and Maxine Hart were married in July 1924 (Chicago Tribune, July 10, 1924, 21) , both children of pioneer 1870s Chicago clothing makers. The wedding took place at the Sisson Hotel Apartments, Fifty-Third Street and Lake Shore Drive, Chicago (Chicago Tribune, May 26, 1918, 16), the home of the Max Harts, parents of the bride.
Samuel Spitz & Sons, rooted in an 1876 founded Chicago wholesale clothing firm, made men's sports coats under the "Cricketeer" label, and was sold in 1957 to a Cleveland concern (Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1957, D6, and April 15, 1951, A11).
The precursor of Hart Schaffner & Marx was founded in Chicago in 1872 by Harry and Max Hart, organized in 1879 as Hart, Abt & Marx, after 1887 as Hart, Schaffner & Marx, and incorporated in 1911 under the last name with Harry Hart as president and Max Hart as vice president. Maxine was the daughter of Max, who died in 1928 (Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1928, 1). In 1928 Hart Schaffner & Marx was "known as the largest men's clothing institution in the world." Joel Spitz became a director of Hart, Schaffner & Marx in 1936, joining Maxine Spitz's brother, Abraham Strauss Hart, already on the board (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 28, 1936, 27). The firm, known since 1983 as Hartmarx, is famous for many industry innovations: standard pricing, selling from swatches (not big trunks), the first national men's apparel magazine ad, and in 1936 zippered pants. (The best-known modern Hart Schaffner & Marx suit customer has been Barack Obama.)
Maxine was one of two children of Max and Rebecca Strauss Hart; the other being her brother, Abraham Strauss Hart who was named for his maternal grandfather. Abraham Strauss (1830-1894), an 1848 immigrant to the U.S. from Bavaria, came to Chicago in 1862 and entered the wholesale business. At the time of his death Mr. Strauss was in the firm of Strauss, Yondorf & Rose, wholesale clothing (Chicago Tribune, April 9, 1894, 8).
Joel Spitz was a member of the Caxton Club, book collectors and book arts professionals, beginning in 1941 and served on the club's governing Council in the 1950s. His son-in-law, Kenneth Nebenzahl, joined the Caxton Club in 1955.
Jossy Spitz (Mrs. Kenneth) Nebenzahl, Glencoe, is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joel Spitz, and donated in 1991 to Special Collections, Lake Forest College library, her family's very comprehensive archive on the their 1920s Shaw house and Jensen landscape.
Arthur H. Miller
Archivist and Librarian
for Special Collections
October 14, 2009