Ennis Brandenburger Family Collection

The Ennis Brandenburger Family Collection contains documentation of and research on the history of the Brandenburger family of Gailingen and Wil. The collection includes various official and citizenship certificates, family trees and narratives on the family history, contracts relating to marriage or the transfer of property, photographs and a newspaper clipping.

The Brandenburger family's genealogy is the collection's most prominent subject. An oversized family tree shows the descendants of Moses Brandenburger and Sarah Block; Moses Brandenburger was one of the three sons of Samuel Brandenburg of Gailingen who first used the surname Brandenburger. Folder 2 contains a family tree sketch for Mayer Elias Moos and Fanny Weil, whose daughter Clara Moos married Emanuel Brandenburger. In also includes a report by Frank Brandenburger of a visit to the town of Gailingen in 1993 with a description of the state of Gailingen's Jewish cemetery, photographs of it and correspondence regarding the trip. A copy of Eugen Brandenburger's account of the family history includes transcriptions of family documents located elsewhere in the collection. Among the papers of folder 3, which holds the documents from Gailingen for various Brandenburger family members, is a letter from a rabbi of Gailingen to Albert Brandenburger on the family's history, including sketches of family trees and genealogical information that show the relationship between the Brandenburger, Sax, Bloch and Weil families.

The remainder of the collection largely consists of official, legal or business documents of various family members. Certificates regarding the Swiss citizenship of Emanuel Brandenburger and his wife and children will be found in multiple folders, including for Emanuel Brandenburger (among the folder of his oversized documents) and in folder 4. Other family documents show the sale or transfer of property between family members. Some information on Moses Brandenburger's store in Wil will be found in folder 4, which includes advertisements for it, and in folder 5, which includes a photograph of family members in front of the store along with a letter identifying most of them. This final folder also holds a clipping on the Gailingen Jewish Community.