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Baron Horace (Naftali Herz) de Gunzburg Papers

 Collection
Identifier: RG 89

Scope and Content Note

Baron Horace (Naftali Herz) de Gunzburg Collection consists of diverse materials that pertain to the state of Jews in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century and to the philanthropic activities of Horace and Joseph Gunzburgs. Materials comprising the collection shed light on the Gunzburg family's involvement in improving Jewish education, civil rights movement, and their efforts to improve general well being of the Jews in the Russian Empire.

The collection consists of correspondence with high ranking Government officials, religious and political figures, and individuals seeking assistance. There are also petitions, memoranda, and recommendations sent to the high ranking government official by Joseph Gunzburg and other prominent Jewish merchants. Additionally, there are petitions by Jewish doctors, government resolutions, official memoranda, minutes of meetings, reports, speeches, and statements.

Bulk of the collection consists of materials pertaining to the activities of the Hevrah Mefitsei Haskalah (Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, Rus. Обшество для Распространения Просвещения Между Евреями в России) which was founded by Joseph Gunzburg in 1863. These materials include correspondence between E. Levin and Joseph Gunzburg, correspondence with individuals seeking financial assistance, minutes of meetings, correspondence related to the Russian-Jewish press and book publications, and a proposal to change the mission of the Society.

There are also materials dealing with the Committee for the Improvement of Daily Life of Jews in the North-West Region (Комиссия по Улучшению Повседневной Жизни Евреев в Северо-Западном Регионе) that includes reports by the delegates of the meeting, speeches, minutes of meetings, and statements.

Dates

  • 1850-1904

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is in Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and German.

Access Restrictions

The collection has been digitized and is available online without restrictions. The physical collection is closed.

Use Restrictions

The images, documents, film footage, audio materials, and texts displayed in any portion of this web site may be copyrighted. Permission to use this web site is given on condition that the user agrees to follow U.S. copyright laws. The user agrees that she or he assumes liability for any copyright violations resulting from unauthorized use of items appearing on this web site and to hold YIVO harmless from any action involving copyright infringement. It is the responsibility of the user to carry out a due diligence search under U.S. copyright laws to determine the copyright status of items displayed on this web site.

Biographical Note

Gunzburg family was a prominent Jewish family well known in Russia and Europe for their successful careers as financiers as well as for their philanthropic activities.

Baron Joseph Gunzburg was born in 1812 in Vitebsk. After the Crimean War of 1853 he opened a bank in Saint Petersburg that became one of the largest banks in Russia until its closure in 1891. In 1863 he founded Hevrah Mefitsei Haskalah (Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, Rus. Обшество для Распространения Просвещения Между Евреями в России) and worked hard to improve the level of Jewish education, repeal anti-Jewish legislations, and integrate Jewish population into Russian society.

His son, Baron Horace (Naftali Herz) de Gunzburg was born in Zvenigiridka in 1833. In 1863 he was one of the founders of the Shevrah Mefitsei Haskalah (Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, Rus. Обшество для Распространения Просвещения Между Евреями в России) and in 1878 became its president. Like his father Joseph, Horace Gunzburg advocated for wider right for the Jews of Russia and also supported many funds and societies aimed to improving general well-being of Russian Jews.

Extent

0.625 Linear Feet

Abstract

Baron Horace (Naftali Herz) de Gunzburg Collection consists of diverse materials that pertain to the state of Jews in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century and to the philanthropic activities of Horace and Joseph Gunzburgs. Materials comprising the collection shed light on the Gunzburg family's involvement in improving Jewish education, civil rights movement, and their efforts to improve general well being of the Jews in the Russian Empire. Bulk of the collections consists of materials pertaining to the activities of the Hevrah Mefitsei Haskalah (Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, Rus. Обшество для Распространения Просвещения Между Евреями в России) and to the Committee for the Improvement of Daily Life of Jews in the North-West Region (Комиссия по Улучшению Повседневной Жизни Евреев в Северо-Западном Регионе)

Arrangement

The collection consists of a single series:

  1. Series I: Baron Horace (Naftali Herz) de Gunzburg Papers

Related Materials

The Baron Horace (Naftali Herz) de Gunzburg Collection is a part of the Tcherikower Archive that is comprised of collections with call numbers between RG 80 and RG 89

Title
Guide to the Baron Horace (Naftali Herz) de Gunzburg Papers 1850-1904 RG 89
Author
Originally processed by YIVO Archives staff and by Marek Web in the 1960's and 1970's. Materials further processed, described, prepared for digitization and finding aid encoded by Yakov Il'ich Sklar in 2017.
Date
©2017
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Sponsor
Processed, conserved and digitized as part of the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Online Collections project (2015-2022). Additional work funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Repository Details

Part of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States