New Rochelle (N.Y.)

This collection documents the personal life and professional career of art director, editor, and photographer Kurt Safranski (1890-1964), who co-founded the photo agency Black Star in 1935. The collection also includes information about the career and life of Kurt’s daughter, Tina Fredericks-Koch, née Safranski (1922-2015), who worked as an art director for magazines and in real estate.

This collection contains the personal papers of members of the Leiter and Berliner families of Hamburg and Berlin. Some members of these families immigrated to the United States in the late 1930s while others survived World War II in Amsterdam, as forced laborers in Berlin, or in Theresienstadt. Materials include vital documents, official papers, personal correspondence, poems, clippings, official announcements and orders, banking records, restitution materials, and a few photographs.

This family collection primarily focuses on the immigration of Werner and Vera Gamby from Hamburg to New York. In addition, it documents the immigration of Vera Gamby's parents and the attempted immigration and later deportation of Werner's mother, aunt, and other family members. The collection also contains documentation and research on family genealogy and photographs of family members. The collection includes correspondence, photographs and photo albums, official documents, family trees, and unpublished manuscripts by family members.