Kurt Landsberger Collection

This collection contains materials relating to Kurt Landsberger and his mother, Helene née Hoffmann. It consists primarily of Helene's incoming correspondence during the 1910s, in the form of postcards, while she was growing up in German-speaking Prague. It also contains clippings and printed material about Kurt Landsberger.

The materials relating to Landsberger include his Austrian membership card for the Revisionist Zionist group Betar and a poster advertising a June 1940 rally featuring Vladimir Jabotinsky; photocopies of documents concerning the Landsberger's immigration to the United States, and family letters from that time period; a typewritten biography; clippings about Landsberger from local newspapers; clippings about Landsberger's book on William Steinitz, a 19th-century chess champion; photographs of the Schacherl family, mostly in Vienna; and printed materials and collection lists for the Holocaust collections funded by the Landsbergers at the Verona and Pequannock libraries in New Jersey.

The materials relating to Helene Hoffmann consist primarily of Helene's incoming correspondence during the 1910s, from suitors, family, and friends. The bulk is postcards, from all over the Austro-Hungarian Empire (mostly during WWI). Many are illustrated or photo postcards, depicting paintings, street scenes, and cityscapes. Also found here is her correspondence with uncle Gesar Eisler when he was a Russian POW in Tashkent during World War One. Additional items from Helene's youth include an autograph and a poetry book; a household account book of her mother's; a collection of about 100 photo postcards, some signed, of Prague celebrities such as opera singers and actors; and photographs and additional correspondence.