Essays

This collection contains papers of Abraham Moshe Bernstein, a renowned cantor, choir master, composer of Jewish liturgical and secular music, music teacher, musicologist, writer, and translator. The bulk of the materials consists of Bernstein’s liturgical compositions and arrangements in both published and manuscript form, as well as a substantial collection of manuscripts and published works by various composers and arrangers. The materials include Hasidic folk songs and melodies, religious songs, Jewish hymns, popular songs, children’s songs, operettas, liturgical pieces, and musical exercises for students; choral volumes and partbooks; unidentified and fragmented musical manuscripts; manuscripts of Bernstein’s own writings; personal correspondence; a photo of Bernstein on his deathbed; secular and religious songs, Sabbath hymns, Hasidic folk songs and melodies, assembled by Bernstein for the S. Ansky Jewish Historical Ethnographic Society in Vilna.

The materials in this collection constitute a semi-random sample of the pre-war archive that was transferred to the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic following the liquidation of the Vilnius Jewish Museum in 1949. The collection includes records of YIVO work and activities, financial records, correspondence, and publications; documents about pogroms in Ukraine, and Red Army and Soviet activity in Vilna and Bialystok; and a significant amount of records of socialist, communist, and Zionist political parties, as well as associated newspapers and one-time publications.

This collection contains the papers of Babette Wampold and the Alabama Council to Save Soviet Jews and documents their activities on behalf of the American Soviet Jewry Movement. The collection is comprised of correspondence, case files, clippings, newsletters, photographs, and trip reports.

The collection contains handwritten and typed manuscripts of essays by Bernhard Boyneburg about Richard Wagner and various other topics. Also included is the copy of a letter from the International Tracing Service of the Red Cross about the fate of Bernhard Barber, his wife and his son.

The collection contains 77 letters and essays by Daniel Lessmann. The letters start in 1813 when Daniel Lessmann was just 19 years old and they continue to the year 1831 when he died.

The Dr. I. Edwin Goldwasser Papers document the professional achievements and personal life of Dr. Goldwasser and his extended family. The bulk of the materials are related to his work as the first Executive Director of Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, and his subsequent philanthropic activities. The collection also contains a series with genealogical materials related to the larger Goldwasser family, assembled by his descendants. There are drafts and notes on his various writings, both published and unpublished; essays on “Jewish Women of the Bible” and “Jewish Women at the Bar of History” are included in the collection, as is a copy of his published book Method and Methods in the Teaching of English.

The Eliane and Roger Herz-Fischler Family collection contains the papers of their ancestors, including members of the Holländer, Sommer, Fischler (formerly Fischleiber or Fischleber), Furcht, Katzenstein and other related families. The collection focuses on documentation of their lives in Germany and the emigration of some family members and consists of official documents such as birth, death, and naturalization certificates, photographs, correspondence, educational papers, some genealogical notes, and a painting.

The collection contains writings, along with a small amount of personal and business correspondence, of Erich Drucker, a German businessman and active member of the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, who immigrated to the United States from Nazi Germany in 1941 and subsequently became a book dealer in New York City. A prolific writer throughout his life, Drucker regularly kept diaries, and wrote poems, essays, sketches, reflections, and aphorisms. The materials include notebooks dating from Drucker's youth in Germany; typescripts of poems, prose and diaries that he produced in the United States; business correspondence from the year 1933 of the firm Drucker headed in Berlin before his emigration – Drucker & Gotthelf, a representative of clothing manufacturers; and Drucker's edited copies of letters written to him by his friend Elise Tilse, of Berlin, in the years 1946 to 1947.

This collection contains the papers of Ernst Mueller: mathematician, writer, philosopher and librarian. The most prominent material here are his unpublished writings, including autobiographical items such as diaries and memoirs along with essays, articles and drafts of longer works. Major themes of the collection reflect Mueller's interest in Kabbalah and anthroposophy, in addition to a number of works relating to various areas of Jewish studies. Other materials in this collection include correspondence of Ernst Mueller and his wife Frieda, notes, many poems of himself and his brother Edmund, and a few biographical articles and official papers.

This collection is comprised of the historian Franklin C. West's research on Emil Ludwig and his works. It primarily includes an extensive amount of notes and articles assembled during West's research. In addition, there is some correspondence and drafts of articles.

The Fred Cahnmann Family Collection documents portions of the lives of Fred Cahnmann and other Cahnmann family members. In addition it provides genealogical research on the Cahnmann and related families. The collection includes many family trees, correspondence, photographs, official documents, articles and newspaper clippings and research notes.

This collection depicts the life and work of the author Georg Hermann. The main focus of this collection is his literary estate, and the collection contains extensive manuscripts of both his fiction and non-fiction writings, including novels, shorter fiction, essays, and articles. In addition, it also holds correspondence, clippings, photos, official documents and papers, writings by others about Georg Hermann and his work, and a few photos.

The collection holds the professional and private documents of George Harry Asher. The emphasis is on correspondence, writings and official papers. Advertising proofs reflect Asher's work and career. Prominent among the material is an autobiographical sketch and correspondence between Asher and his mother, shortly before her deportation in 1941. The collection also holds material, such as correspondence, manuscripts and articles about Oskar Maria Graf, a close friend to Asher.

This collection contains the research of University of Miami professor of photobiology and medical researcher Elli Kohen. Professor Kohen was a prolific writer in a variety of topics ranging from photobiology to the history of cats to the study of Ladino and Sephardic Jewry. The bulk of this collection contains his notes and drafts of essays and book chapters on the history of Sephardic and Turkish Jews.

This collection pertains to the personal lives of Gustav and Hannah Landau née Stein, especially centering on their lives in the 1930s. The focus of the collection is the handwritten correspondence exchanged between the couple, as well as their experiences with Zionism and the youth group Kadimah. Other notable items include a photo album and school and university papers.

The Hugo Fantl Collection provides a brief glimpse into the life of businessman Hugo Fantl as well as a more detailed view of his family's restitution claims. Included are papers of Hugo Fantil such as official, military, professional and financial documents, restitution correspondence and legal papers.

This collection contains the family correspondence and papers of the engineer Julian Spiegel. About half the collection consists of copies of the family's letters to Julian and Kaethe Spiegel. In addition the collection includes copies of legal and official correspondence, official documents, family trees, educational and professional papers and various other personal papers.

The Kern-Martin Family Collection contains extensive family correspondence and documentation of members of the related Kern-Martin, Kern, Temple, and other families. Correspondence with friends, colleagues, and more distant relatives is included. Other family members' papers include many family photographs, education documents, writings and diaries, official documents, obituaries, and other papers.

The Kornstein-Rosenthal Collection documents the most notable events in the lives of members of the Kornstein and related families, especially of Adolf and Suse Kornstein. Prominent in this collection is the comprehensive family correspondence, providing a view of the daily events of family members for nearly two decades. In addition, the collection contains a detailed narrative based on these letters. Other material includes educational and official papers, some compositions of family members, family trees and other genealogical information and photographs.

The Ludwig Misch Collection documents the musical career and life of the musicologist Ludwig Misch. Included in this collection are numerous essays and reviews about several composers, memoirs, personal correspondence and a small amount of family papers. Those documents give an impression of Ludwig Misch's varied activities in the field of music.

This collection describes the work and lives of the composer, conductor, and accompanist Warner S. Bass and his wife, the singer Marion Corda Bass. Most prominent among the materials of this collection are the music scores created by Warner Bass; they include works he composed, arranged, orchestrated, transcribed, or performed. Other items include personal documents, correspondence, published sheet music, photographs, essays, notes, concert and recital programs, press releases, and clippings.

The Max Busyn collection centers on material about the German-Jewish philosopher Constantin Brunner and the circle of devotes around him. The collection consists primarily of essays and correspondence between several followers of Brunner, who tried to reactivate the circle and to republish Brunner's work in the 1950s and 1960s after the Nazis had destroyed it.

The Max Rieser Collection predominantly documents the life and work of the lawyer, philosopher and writer Max Rieser. The main subjects of the collection are his life, his writing and his publishing work. The collection consists of manuscripts, correspondence, clippings, official documents and photographs.

This collection contains material relating to Norman Salit's activities with various organizations, including the Synagogue Council of America, the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the Wartime Emergency Commission for Conservative Judaism, the Boy Scouts of America, the Jewish Education Committee, the American Child Guidance Foundation, Religion in American Life, the Valley Forge Foundation, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and the National Community Relations Advisory Council. There are also speeches, writings, sermons, items related to Sharit's legal work and Zionist activities, as well as some letters from Mordecai Kaplan.

The collection mainly comprises manuscripts of Paul Collin in English, including two autobiographical narrations in the form of typescripts; and four completed books (copies of typescripts, in binders) that he distributed to friends. Three of the books convey a mixture of personal reminiscences and ruminations on various historical, social and political topics; one is a collection of jokes, in both German and English. There is also a small binder of recipes handwritten in German, along with some recipes on loose notes, and a few items of miscellaneous correspondence, including one photograph. Also included are a tribute and an obituary for Collin that were published in bulletins of the Jewish Council of 1933 (San Francisco), of which he was a longtime member.

The Paula Elkisch Collection contains her writings on psychoanalysis and her poetry and prose. It also contains her research notes as background information on those writings.

The Philipp Loewenfeld Collection mainly consists of legal documents and correspondence with Loewenfeld's colleagues.

This collection consists of the writings of Gunter Hirschberg and Hedwig Burchard (Ruth Hirschberg's mother). The bulk of the collection is Hedwig Burchard's writings. In addition, Ruth Hirschberg's Poesiealbum (1929) can be found in the collection, along with a family tree of the Burchard family.

The Rabbi Robert L. Lehman Collection focuses on the development of a rabbi and of his role leading his congregations. The collection includes copious sermons, substantial correspondence, articles, newspaper clippings, notes, congregational and conference publications, photographs, diplomas, and a few objects.

This collection contains programs and papers read at the Annual Meetings of 1915-1916, the resolution passed at a special meeting in 1915 regarding the founding the School for Jewish Communal Work, the pension plan proposals, and correspondence regarding the Summer School for Social Work held jointly with the Jewish Chautauqua Society. Includes correspondence with the American Jewish Committee, National Americanization Committee, National Conference of Jewish Charities, New York City Board of Education, and the U.S. Dept. of Labor Immigration Bureau relating to the work of the association. Contains also the correspondence of Cyrus Adler, Ludwig Bernstein, Louis d. Brandeis, Lee K. Frankel, Israel Friedlander, Oscar Leonard, Louis Levin, Irving Lipsitch, Minnie F. Low, Louis Marshall, Belle Moskowitz, Milton Reizenstein, H.L. Sabsovich, Philip Seman, and Morris D. Waldman.