Eva Lowenherz Collection

The Eva Lowenherz Collection is divided into two series for written and visual materials respectively:

Within Series I the folders are arranged alphabetically. Highlights include Eva’s childhood Autograph Book (album amicorum, folder 1/3) from 1925-1927, containing poems and sentiments in German from her friends and/or classmates, and a few stickers and drawings. One short inscription in ballpoint pen is dated 1968. Folder 1/4, Biographical, contains an assortment of items from Eva’s life after emigrating to New York (with one undated document handwritten in German, possibly from when she was still in Germany). The earliest dated item in the biographical folder is a 1937 letter of introduction from Max G. Lowenherz on behalf of a Miss Eve Conant (presumably a professional alias for Eva), indicating that she was then working with his agency, probably shortly before they were married. Also from 1937 is a catalog from the “Fourth International Salon” in New York, sponsored by the Pictorial Photographers of America, listing one photograph from the exhibition by Eva Cohnreich. Dating to 1946 are sets of tourist postcards from Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park. In the 1950s there are letters from the administrators of Teela-Wooket, the summer camp daughters Claire and Peggy attended in Vermont, and a profile of Eva and her travels as a photographer in The Larchmont Times. A 1997 yearbook, in German, from the Schloss Reichersbeuern Max-Rill-Schule, includes a memorial article about Eva’s life and her involvement with the school in the 1970s. The article quotes from an earlier statement Eva had written in Aufbau, and from a letter Eva wrote to the school explaining why she decided to spend a year working and living with students in Germany despite disapproval from family and friends: During her decades in the United States Eva had remained interested and informed about “the German [… culture and] politics, and now wanted to see” what it was like in Germany at that time. There is a photograph album in Series II which documents her time there.

The majority of the documents in Series I are Correspondence – letters to and from friends from the 1930s to 1950 (folder 1/7); between Eva and her first husband, Max Lowenherz, 1938-1960, when he was travelling for business during their marriage (folder 1/8); and correspondence, poems and other documents between Eva and her fiancé Peter Sterk, primarily 1987 (folders 1/11 and 1/12). The last folder in Series I, folder 1/13, contains five Diaries, 1987-1991.

Series II contains photographs and photograph albums. There are four folders of Photographs of family and friends, many undated. Folder 1/14, circa 1916-1957, contains photographs of Eva from childhood in Germany, and with Max after emigrating. Folder 1/15 is mostly Eva and Max’s children, especially Claire. Later in Series II there is an album of a trip to Europe with Eva, Max, and probably Peggy and David, from circa late 1950s. Folder 1/16, circa 1910s-1930s, contains unidentified pre-war family and friends; one grouping are probably photographs of Eva’s parents. Included are negatives of Eva, Max and Claire from early in the marriage; two larger negatives may be earlier, in Germany; one negative of Claire as a teen/young woman with a snow sculpture is in color. Folder 1/17, circa 1970s-1992, documents Eva’s travels and visits after her marriage to Max, and during her engagement to Peter Sterk.

There are nine Photograph Albums in the collection. The five pre-WWII albums reveal Eva’s developing interest in photography, and her interest in creating documentary stories of people and places. Only some of these albums have captions, like the albums in folders 1/18, “Sommer 1930”, and 1/19 (which includes a cruise to England with Eva and her parents). “Sommer 1935” in folder 1/21 documents travels to the Alps and other European landscapes and also contains captions, which the remaining albums do not. The small green album in folder 1/22 appears to be from various visits and travels, likely in the United States, around the time of Eva and Max’s wedding, circa 1937-1938. Some of the photographs are duplicated or similar to loose photographs with those dates in folder 1/14.

The four post-war albums include a family trip to Europe aboard a large ship, picturing Eva and Max and probably middle daughter Peggy and son David, circa late 1950s-early 1960s. This album is oversized and housed with oversized materials. Pictured are Eva and most likely students and staff at school and in the mountains; the album ends with images of buildings in Manhattan. Two small albums document daughter Claire’s wedding, and the photographs retained from her 1987 relationship and engagement with Peter Sterk. Related loose photographs with Peter Sterk are in folder 1/17.