Einzig-Field Family Collection

This collection contains the personal papers of members of the Einzig and Biberfeld (Field) families.

Series I consists mainly of correspondence sent to Johanna Biberfeld (Joan Field) from family or friends starting in 1940. Some of the correspondents address Johanna with the name “Peter.” A few letters are addressed to Johanna’s mother Margaret Einzig. The letters in folder 1 are from Bernhard and Genia Einzig, Johanna’s uncle and aunt who were trying to procure visas to get out of Berlin in the early 1940s. Folder 2 contains letters from Else Margarete Einzig to Johanna Biberfeld. The correspondence in folder 3 is from Johanna’s cousin Rolf Einzig, who was held at an internment camp in Ottowa, Canada in 1941 at the time of the letters. Johanna’s cousin Susan Einzig fled Germany to London, where she became an artist. Her letters are accompanied by a list of her artistic accomplishments printed out in 2004. Johanna’s friend Hilde Mickley writes about hardships after the end of World War II. The letters in folder 6 are from various other relatives and friends.

Series II contains other personal papers of the Einzig and Field family members. The materials related to Heinrich Biberfeld (Henry Field) include records of his university studies from 1919-1923; letters of recommendation and other materials reflecting his career as a physician in Germany, Italy, and the United States; official records of his name change; legal records regarding the revocation of his medical license on the grounds of addiction to morphine and prescription fraud; and correspondence regarding his conversion to Catholicism in the early 1950s. The materials related to Henry Field’s second wife, Charlotte Biberfeld née Schweitzer, include correspondence with Henry, divorce papers, and a notice of her death in 1963. Materials in folder 8 include correspondence between Henry Field and the City of New York Department of Welfare as well as the Hebrew Home for the Aged regarding care for his elderly mother, Ella Biberfeld. Johanna Biberfeld née Einzig (Joan Field)’s materials include letters of recommendation and her death certificate. Her father Alfred Einzig’s World War I military records and death certificates are in folder 12. Her mother Else Margarete Einzig’s papers include her passports, will, and burial plot purchase receipts. The efforts of Bernhard, Genia, Rolf, and Susan Einzig to emigrate from Berlin, Germany are reflected in folder 12, particularly Bernhard and Genia’s efforts to procure passage to Cuba. Jack Field’s materials in folder 15 include education records from Italy, vital records, naturalization records, and records of his birth to Johanna Biberfeld née Hirsch, Heinrich Biberfeld (Henry Field)’s first wife. Folder 16 contains affidavits and other materials related to the immigration of Else Fraenkel, Margarete Einzig’s sister-in-law. A set of genealogical tables for the Fraenkel and Biberfeld families can be found in folder 17. The photographs in folder 18 consist of snapshots of family members at leisure and on trips as well as photographs of graves and picture postcards from the early 20th century. The primary identified subjects of the photographs are Alfred and Margarete Einzig, Joan Field, and Jack Field.