Tevye's Shirt from Fiddler on the Roof: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Part of a costume worn by actors Harry Goz and Zero Mostel in the role of Teyve in Fiddler on the Roof.

Based on the writings of Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem, the musical play Fiddler on the Roof opened on Broadway in 1964. Set in 1905, the story's protagonist, Tevye is a philosophical dairy farmer who struggles to uphold his Jewish traditions while facing intergenerational family tensions and Russian pogroms.

A massive hit, Fiddler won 9 Tony awards, and was, at the time, the longest running play in Broadway history.

The play's homage to Jewish resilience in the face of the oppression, including the celebratory song To Life, was deeply felt following the horrors of the Holocaust. Giving a sense of the fullness of the Jewish experience, Fiddler represented a religious and cultural minority that had been rarely explored in America's mainstream popular entertainments.

Adapted for the screen in 1971, the play has had numerous revivals and has become a staple of American musical theatre

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1964 - 1971
• wearer: Mostel, Zero
• Object Name: shirt
• Object Type: costume
• Object Type: Costume
• Physical Description: cotton (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 25 in x 33 in x 21 in; 63.5 cm x 83.82 cm x 53.34 cm
• place made: United States: New York, New York City
• general subject association: Musical Theater
• general subject association: Judaism
• general subject association: Immigration
• general subject association: Costume
• ID Number: 1983.0345.03
• accession number: 1983.0345
• catalog number: 1983.0345.03
• Credit Line: Gift of Harry Goz
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.