Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Provenance

From the estate of Doug Bowman, local collector of Harrisonburg memorabilia.

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Polly Ney Zindler Correspondence, 1922-1958, SC 0360, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Purchased at Green Valley Auctions December 5th, 2023 sale of the Doug Bowman Estate.

Processing Information

All folders of correspondence comprise letters written to Polly by various correspondents unless labeled otherwise. Letters from Leo Zindler to Polly and from Polly to Leo are foldered separately.

Biographical / Historical

Pauline "Polly" Ney was born in Harrisonburg in 1907 to Jewish parents Annie Sanders Ney and Alfred H. Ney. She attended public schools in the city and Ward-Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee from 1925-1927. Polly was engaged to Leo Zindler (1900-1968), a businessman based out of Houston, Texas, circa September 1927. They married the following February. The couple lived in Houston after their wedding but eventually took up permanent residence in Harrisonburg. She was active in the Ney family's retail clothing business, specifically Alfred Ney's where she worked for decades alongside her husband and later her son Leo Zindler Jr. In 1958, the Zindlers opened a Waynesboro location of Alfred Ney's. Polly died in 2002 and is buried in Beth El Cemetery, Harrisonburg's historic Jewish cemetery.

Scope and Contents

The collection primarily consists of general correspondence and love letters written to Polly Ney Zindler of Harrisonburg. Correspondents include friends, family, and admirers specifically men attending Vanderbilt University who wrote to Polly while she was a student at Ward-Belmont College in Nashville. Love letters from Leo Zindler, Polly's future husband, are included.

Many of the correspondents who wrote to Polly attended Vanderbilt University and were members of the Alpha Gamma chapter of Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT), the first Jewish fraternity. These letters discuss family, school, exams, dating, gossip, and social life. There are also references to going to temple. A frequent correspondent was Joseph Leon Cohen who signed his letters "Jelly" and typically wrote to Polly on ZBT stationery. A photograph of "Jelly" and Polly is included in his March 23, 1927 letter to her.

Love letters from Leo Zindler, which begin in August 1927, discuss the couple's courtship, family and community news, their upcoming wedding, and Polly's wedding ring (size 5 3/4, platinum, heart-shaped, diamonds all around, per February 4, 1928 letter). Zindler frequently wrote from Houston on Ben Zindler's Sons (men and boys clothier) letterhead. The collection also includes letters Polly wrote to Leo in August-September 1928 while she was in Harrisonburg and he was in Houston.

Other correspondents include Polly's parents. Many of these letters are dated 1928 and addressed jointly to Polly and Leo Zindler. Letters from Joseph Ney, Polly's brother, are occasionally interfiled and provide updates on his schooling while he was a student at the University of Virginia. A folders of letters written to Joseph Ney are also included.

Florist cards date to 1958 and offer the Zindlers congratulations and well wishes on the occasion of opening a Waynesboro location of Alfred Ney's.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Bowman, Douglas, 1948-2023
• City and town life -- Virginia -- Harrisonburg
• Department stores -- Virginia -- Harrisonburg
• Family-owned business enterprises -- Virginia -- Harrisonburg
• Green Valley Auctions, Inc.
• Harrisonburg (Va.) -- History
• Harrisonburg (Va.) -- Social life and customs
• Jewish families -- Virginia -- Harrisonburg
• Letters (correspondence)
• Love letters
• Photographs
• University of Virginia
• Vanderbilt University
• Ward-Belmont College (Nashville, Tenn.)
• Zeta Beta Tau (Fraternity)