Hirsch Family Collection, Mergentheim

The Hirsch Family Collection, Mergentheim holds the papers of Abraham Hirsch, his children and one grandson. The collection consists of various official, business and personal documents as well as four folders of personal correspondence.

The first folder contains the papers of Abraham, Salomon, Marie, Wolf, Samuel and Jakob Abraham Hirsch as well as of Babette Loewensohn. Documents of Abraham Hirsch and his children include marriage and business contracts, extract from business logs, wills, inventories of possessions, and tax books. A citizenship document is present for Wolf Hirsch. Among Jakob Abraham Hirsch's papers are a eulogy and a document conferring his house to his son Samuel Hirsch as a wedding present. Papers of Samuel Hirsch include his military papers and an announcement of his engagement. Included in this folder is an item-level inventory of the collection's documents.

The bulk of the collection consists of family correspondence. The first two folders of correspondence are letters sent to Wolf and Jakob Abraham and Esther Hirsch; these letters are entirely in handwritten Hebrew script. Letters sent to Jakob Abraham and Esther Hirsch are primarily from friends and relatives. The concluding two folders are the courtship letters of Jakob Abraham Hirsch in Mergentheim and Esther Cohn (later Hirsch) in Wassertrüdingen, beginning a few months prior to their marriage and continuing through the first year of it. These letters often mention their family members and some of their activities.