Bismarck, Otto, Fürst von, 1815-1898

The bulk of the collection contains family correspondence mainly in typescript. The most extensive part are the letters from Olga Cohen to her son Max from 1882 to 1893. The collection also contains a manuscript with notes of conversations Eduard Cohen had with Otto von Bismarck as well as a letter of condolence from Bismarck to Eduard Cohen's children. In addition, there are miscellaneous letters, memorabilia, and genealogical notes.

This collection documents the life and work of Eduard Lasker, a German politician and jurist, who was member of the Prussian House of Representatives between 1865 and 1879, and later on member of the German Parliament (1867). He played a decisive role in the process of German Unification (1870), and gained importance as a co-founder and leader of the National Liberal Party and chief opponent to Chancellor Bismarck. The collection includes a great amount of photographs, identity cards, membership cards and business cards, but the core consists of obituaries, transcripts of some of his speeches and essays of other scholars, a draft of a constitution of the North German Federation with marginal comments by Lasker, letters, newspaper clippings, scholarly papers, essays, articles and a review.

The collection contains certificates issued and signed by various heads of state throughout Europe conferring medals and honors upon Ernst von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy; letters to Mendelssohn-Bartholdy from Bernhard von Bülow, Otto von Bismarck, and Auguste Viktoria; and handwritten letter from Mendelssohn-Bartholdy to historian Adolf von Harnack regarding collections at the Königliche Bibliothek zu Berlin, of which Harnack was director.

The collections consists of so called “Rothschildiana”, which describe assorted documents of interest pertaining to the Rothschild family and their influence on the economic history of Europe. Specifically, there are original autographs; transcripts of original documents; photographs; correspondence; and manuscripts about aspects of the Rothschild family. Of special interest is an extended family history by Albert J. Phiebig, The descendents of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, which was compiled in the 1940s.