Jewish merchants

Aaron Lopez (1731-1782) was a member of the Converso (converted) community of Portugal. In order to freely practice Judaism, he and his family left Portugal and relocated to British North America, settling in Newport, Rhode Island and later, Massachusetts. He began a successful mercantile business and eventually became a key supplier of the American revolutionary forces.

The collection contains numerous shipping records along with correspondence and accounts with merchants, mercantile families, and firms including Henry Lloyd of Boston, Henry Cruger of Bristol, George Hayley of London, William Stead of Sheffield and New Bedford whaler Joseph Rotch. The collection contains manifests, mercantile accounts, notations, correspondence and inventories of estates for several of the children of Aaron Lopez.

The collection mainly pertains to Abraham Liebmann and his son Wilhelm, as well as on Abraham's grandson Siegfried and his great-grandson Albert, including their wives. It contains various documents, poetry and a large amount of correspondence from the 19th century. Prominent topics are related to the education, professional and military careers, politics, and marital lives of the family members. Also included are two restitution cases.

This collection contains a wide variety of materials concerning Albert Dann, his ancestors, and children. Included are genealogical materials, correspondence, biographical information, and official, business, and restitution documents.

The Alfred Jacobsberg collection consists of correspondence between Alfred Jacobsberg and various members of the Jacobsberg family during Alfred Jacobsberg's military service in the German army in World War I. Additionally, there is a small amount of business correspondence and documents dealing with Alfred Jacobsberg’s import business, and some World War I clippings.

An entry of merchandise imported by Asher Levy from Surinam to New York in 1807.

The bulk of the collection consists of one bound scrapbook with documents pertaining to Abraham Jacob, his estate, his son in law David Berliner, David Berliner’s son Abraham Berliner, and his son Moritz Berliner, all in the town of Flatow, ranging 1789-1898. The 456 pages in this scrapbook are in no chronological order. - Also included are three further documents, 1844-1913.

The Bernard Blum Family Collection consists of materials pertaining to the members of the Blum family and includes correspondence, printed materials, photographs, and vital and business documents.

The collection contains documents pertaining to chemist Bernhard Proskauer (1851-1915), his son physician Arthur Proskauer (1880-1960); and his maternal grandfather Gottschalk Rosenberg.

Various decrees issued by rulers before emancipation to the Jewish communities of the towns and provinces of Alsace, Augsburg, Austria, Baden, Bamberg, Berlin, Bohemia, Brandenburg, Braunschweig, Breslau, Cassel, Cologne, Dresden, Eisenach, Frankfurt am Main, Hanau, Hanover, Helmstaedt, Hessen, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Nassau, Nuremberg, Palatinate, Potsdam, Prussia, Rawicz, Rheinfels, Saxony, Schleswig, Schwerin, Vienna, Weinheim, Wolfenbuettel, and Wuerzburg. The decrees concern many aspects of life, including economic activity and taxation, settlement rights, and the regulation of the internal life of the Jewish communities.

The Elkisch Neumann Collection consists of materials pertaining to the members of the Elkisch Neumann family and relate to their efforts to collect compensation from the German government after World War II. Included in the collection are land registers, bail bonds, tax returns, business contracts, account books, and other business documents. However the bulk of materials consists of correspondence with lawyers regarding compensations for Louise Elkisch, née Neumann, Dina Neumann, Ludwig Neumann, and Recha Müller, née Neumann.

The collection contains eight (8) color slide photographs taken by Fred Firschein, a one-time resident of East New York, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Firschein writes in a letter regarding the collection, "The slides are dated May of 1962 and they depict a neighborhood area on Blake Ave. near Ashford St. There were push carts selling all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables, stores selling spices, sour pickles and sour tomatoes from the barrel and Morris Meat Market selling, of course, all kinds of Kosher meats."

The Gerda Dittmann Collection includes personal and business materials pertaining to the Dittmann and Ottensooser families and consists of correspondence, personal, business, and legal documents, clippings, poetry, and notebooks.

This collection contains correspondence, legal documents, and miscellaneous items concerning the personal lives and business interests of brothers Barnard (1738-1801) and Michael Gratz (1740-1811). It also contains the correspondence of Rebecca Gratz (1781-1869), Michael Gratz's daughter.

The first part contains 50 documents from 1804 to 1863. About 20 of them refer to real estate property, houses and land. The documents of the 18th century show no Jewish names; they describe change of ownership of various properties which probably later came into Jewish hands; there is also the story of a certain family Hoffmann. Family Heilbronn appears as property owner in 1811. Various testaments give names of members of families Heilbrunn, Gerber, Rabenstein. Joseph and Sandel Heilbrunn received their concessions as weavers in 1843 and 1848.

The Leo Gompertz Collection primarily documents Leo Gompertz's search for information on Haus Berta, a recreation and training institution for Jewish youth during the late 1930s. The collection also includes a number of photographs of Haus Berta, its staff and residents, as well as some other documents on it and a few personal papers of Leo Gompertz.

This collection contains the legal and personal papers of several generations of the Levy family, including Moses Levy (1665-1728); Moses' sons Nathan Levy (1704-1753), Isaac Levy (1706-1777), Samson Levy (1722-1781), and Benjamin Levy (1726-1802); Samson's sons Moses Levy (1756-1826), Samson Levy, Jr. (1764-1831), and Daniel Levy (1766-1844); Isaac's son Asher Levy (1756-1785); and Benjamin's son Nathan Levy (1759-1846). Materials include business and property records, a letter of renunciation of allegiance to King George III during the American Revolution, correspondence, Continental currency, and wills.

The collection contains original and published materials pertaining primarily to the family of Marietta Bach in Munich, Germany and their textile company. Also included are mostly published materials about Jews in Bavaria during the Nazi period and the November pogrom.

This collection contains Max Jacobson's family papers, as well as a substantial number of materials related to the Jacobson family's internment in the Theresienstadt concentration camp and to Max Jacobson's life as a displaced person in Germany in 1945.

The Reni Roberts (Renate Seefeld) Family Collection holds official papers of the Seefeld and Bash families, pedigree charts, genealogical notes, and family correspondence; the bulk of the collection however consists of 16 photo albums and several loose photographs.

This collection contains the papers of Resi Weglein and reflects various periods of her life, especially the time period 1942 to 1945. Resi Weglein and her husband Siegmund Weglein were deported to Theresienstadt in August 1942, where she helped to provide health services to the detainees. The bulk of the documents in the collection consist of personal correspondence, restitution materials, emigration and immigration papers, and photographs. The collection also includes two handwritten notebooks of Resi Weglein and associated manuscripts which reflect her experiences as a nurse in Theresienstadt. The collection also provides information about the rest of her family, especially her husband Siegmund Weglein, who served in World War I, and her son Walter Weglein (later Weglyn), who was rescued via Kindertransport. Also included are clippings, book reviews, reports and correspondence from the War Refugee Board, and an assortment of materials pertaining to the Theresienstadt period.