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Milch Family, Breslau Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 2281

Scope and Content Note

The Milch Family, Breslau Collection consists of documents pertaining to the Milch, Kauffmann and Silbergleit families, related by marriage. Included are official documents, such as marriage and birth certificates, wills and membership cards; family trees; and correspondence. The bulk of the collection consists of documents pertaining to literary historian Werner Milch, including unpublished manuscripts, articles, notes, correspondence and newspaper clippings on various literary topics. The correspondence of Wilhelm Silbergleit includes about thirty letters signed W.A. Meisel from 1839-1841. This is apparently Wolf Alois Meisel, who later became a famous rabbi in Stettin (today Szczecin, Poland) and Budapest and who was the author of several books. Also included is the old item-level inventory by Ilse Turnheim.

Dates

  • 1813-1993
  • Majority of material found within 1813-1939

Language of Materials

The collection is in German with some Hebrew.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Access Information

Part of the collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:

Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

Biographical Note

The Milch family was based largely in Breslau (today Wrocław, Poland) during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Prominent members of the family were Ludwig Milch (1867-1928), a professor of mineralogy and geology at Greifswald and Breslau, and his son Werner Milch (1903-1950), a literary historian and professor at Breslau. He fled to Switzerland with his wife in June 1939 and then to England. He worked at various universities in London before returning to Germany as a professor of literature at the University of Marburg in 1949. The Kauffmann and Silbergleit families are relatives of the Milch family by marriage. Wilhelm Silbergleit became a successful merchant in Myslowitz (today Mysłowice, Poland).

Extent

1.25 Linear Feet

Abstract

The Milch Family, Breslau Collection consists of documents pertaining to the Milch, Kauffmann and Silbergleit families, including official documents, family trees, correspondence, unpublished manuscripts and newspaper clippings. The bulk of the collection consists of the papers of the literary historian Werner Milch.

Other Finding Aid

An item-level inventory listing a significant part of the collection is available and has been retained in series I, folder one. Items in this inventory include numbers that refer to individual items of the collection.

Related Material

The LBI Archive also contains the Werner Milch Collection 1944 (AR 11935); material on Werner Milch is also included in the Pinkus Family Collection (AR 7030). The following books by Werner Milch are included in the LBI Library: Die Einsamkeit. Zimmermann und Obereit im Kampf um die Ueberwindung der Aufklaerung (BJ 1499 S6 M5); Die junge Bettine 1785-1811; ein biographischer Versuch (PT 1808 A4 M5 J7); and Kleine Schriften zur Literatur- und Geistesgeschichte (PT 107 M55). The Library also holds Wolf Alois Meisel’s Juedisch-religioese Vortraege, gehalten und auf Verlangen (BM 740 M45).

Separated Material

During processing the following periodicals were removed to the LBI Library: Die neue Bücherschau (Jan. 1929), Monatsblätter der städtischen Volksbüchereien (Oct. 1930); and Rhythmus der Frauen (1923). Photocopies of the title pages are included in the collection. Chronik unserer Familie (ME 707) and Die Chronik der Familie Silbergleit (ME 600) by Anna Auerbach were removed to the LBI Memoir Collection. Photographs were removed to the LBI Photograph Collection.

Processing Information

This collection’s arrangement is partially based on the collection’s former item-level inventory written by Ilse Turnheim in 1962; the ordering of contents in individual folders follows, when possible, the original ordering of Turnheim. The former series I, II, VI and VII are now series I. The former series III is now series II. The former series IV and V are now series III. Parts of the current series I without individual numbering were not processed by Turnheim.

Title
Guide to the Papers of the Milch Family, Breslau 1813-1993 AR 2281
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Matthew Johnson and Ilse Turnheim
Date
© 2013
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Edition statement
This version was derived from MilchFamilyBreslau.xml

Revision Statements

  • May 2016:: dao links added by Emily Andresini.
  • August 2016:: dao links added by Emily Andresini.

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States