George Garrington Collection

Correspondence, personal documents, and photographs in this collection show the life of George Garrington from his youth in Berlin, through the war years spent in England, to his later life in the United States. These materials document his relationships with family and friends, as well as his education, immigration, military service, career, and organizations with which he was involved.

His relationships are shown most clearly through correspondence received from various friends, colleagues, and family members. In addition to cards, notes, and postcards, letters to Garrington update him about his friends and family members’ lives, and inquire about his own well-being, health, residences, and work in turn. Cards and letters in the first series were very often accompanied by family photographs, which have been removed to Series III.

The photographs in Series III show George Garrington, his family and friends, and the places that he lived and worked. Photographs of George date from his youth in Berlin through his later years in California. Additional photographs pertaining to Garrington chronicle his apartment and car in Santa Monica, California, as well as his military service and professional career. Garrington’s earlier homes of England and Germany are documented through pictures of scenery and landscapes, landmarks, and former residences. Garrington’s immediate and extended family are also documented both before and after the war, including his parents Erich and Wally Grünbaum, brother Emil (later Ephraim), and members of the related Callmann and Lehwess families.

The documents in this collection provide information regarding George Garrington’s education, immigration, military service, career, and organizations with which he was involved. Biographical information about Garrington can be found in the vital documents folder. Some information is available regarding the Grünbaum family, primarily in the restitution files.

The educational records date from Garrington’s primary schooling in Berlin, through his time at North Gloucestershire Technical School in England, to courses he took at the University of California Extension in the 1960s and 1970s. Professional records include résumés, professional correspondence, employer statements and letters of reference, job applications and offer letters, employee reviews, employee identification cards, business cards, and membership records for professional organizations. Membership cards for some of these organizations, as well as non-professional organizations, are also available. Garrington’s involvement with the Boy Scouts and Toc H is further documented by additional materials in Series II. Garrington’s immigration to England and military service there are also elucidated in Series II, as is his later immigration to the United States.

Restitution files document claims for restitution of property, bank accounts, jewelry, and valuables belonging to George’s maternal grandmother Lea Neumann, mother Wally Grünbaum, and paternal aunt Klara Rattner, all of whom perished in the Holocaust. Garrington also filed claims on his own behalf for damage to body and health, as well as a pension claim. A folder of Grünbaum family documents provides further information on the family.