Siegfried and Ruth Kummer Bodenheimer Family Collection
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains the personal documents of the Bodenheimer and Kummer families, mostly relating to Siegfried and Ruth Bodenheimer, dating from the late 1800s to 2014. The collection is made up of photographs, postcards, school and military documents, restitution applications, naturalization certificates, passports, and other vital documents.
Names found in this collection include Bodenheimer, Kummer, Stern, Berger, Mauskopf, Guttman, Leichtman, Boden, and Gould.
Dates
- 1878-2014
- Majority of material found within 1928-1996
Creator
- Bodenheimer, Siegfried, 1921-2013 (Person)
- Bodenheimer, Ruth Kummer, 1922-2012 (Person)
Language of Materials
The collection is in English, German, Hungarian, and Hebrew.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open to researchers.
Access Information
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
Biographical Note
Siegfried Bodenheimer was born on May 27, 1921 in Mannheim, Germany to Isidor and Yette Stern Bodenheimer. He attended the Oberrealschule in Wiesloch until 1934, when he was sent to the United States at age 13 with the Jewish Foundling Society on the S.S. New York. He first lived in Illinois and then moved to New York, where he was placed with the Leichtman family for four years. In 1940, he graduated from Stuyvesant High School. He attended one year at City College in New York, then joined the Army Air Forces in 1943. He was an air operations specialist and later a counterintelligence officer during World War II, serving in the European Theater of Operations for eleven months. Bodenheimer was honorably discharged in 1946. After the war, Bodenheimer worked as a greeting-card plant manager.
Ruth Kummer was born January 25, 1922 in New York to Hungarian parents, Sam and Rose Berger Kummer. She attended Washington Irving High School and graduated in 1939. In 1941, she graduated a two year program in Costume Design at the Pratt Institute. On October 6, 1946, Kummer married Siegfried Bodenheimer. They had two children, Carol and Mark. Ruth passed away in 2012 and Siegfried died on December 19, 2013.
Extent
1.25 Linear Feet (in one record carton, one manuscript box, and two oversized folders)
Abstract
This collection contains the personal documents of Siegfried and Ruth Kummer Bodenheimer, dating mostly from before the couple was married in 1946. It holds vital documents, family photographs, postcards, secondary school documents, and materials related to Siegfried’s service in the United States Army during World War II.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by family name.
Separated Material
Upon accessioning, a Shabbos lamp, two menorahs, shofar, honorary plaques for Siegfried and Ruth Bodenheimer, and a knife with "Karlsbad" engraved on it were separated to the LBI Arts and Objects Collection.
A flash drive with additional family images and captions was separated to the LBI A/V collection.
Published books, Von juedischen Braeuchen... by S. Mueller and an album Olympia 1932 were separated to the LBI Library.
An embroidered cotton challa cover was separated to the LBI Arts and Objects Collection.
Processing Information
In 2015, the collection was rehoused and refoldered. Photograph albums were unbound and interleaved with acid-free paper.
- Archival materials
- Black-and-white photographs
- Bodenheimer family
- Bodenheimer, Isidore, 1889-1972
- Bodenheimer, Ruth Kummer, 1922-2012
- Bodenheimer, Siegfried, 1921-2013
- Bodenheimer, Yette Stern, 1891-1979
- Bronx (New York, N.Y.)
- Certificates
- Kindertransports (Rescue operations)
- Kummer family
- Kummer, Rose Berger, 1897-1984
- Kummer, Samuel
- Photograph albums
- Postcards
- Pratt Institute
- School yearbooks
- Stuyvesant High School (New York, N.Y.)
- United States -- Emigration and immigration
- United States. Army Air Forces
- Washington Irving High School (New York, N.Y.)
- Wiesloch (Germany)
- World War, 1939-1945
- Title
- Guide to the Siegfried and Ruth Kummer Bodenheimer Family Collection 1878-2014 (bulk 1928-1996) AR 25624
- Author
- Processed by Nicole Greenhouse
- Date
- © 2015
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Sponsor
- as part of the Leon Levy Archival Processing Initiative, made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation.
Revision Statements
- March 2016:: dao links added by Emily Andresini.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
