Articles

The Lee Sommer Collection primarily consists of photographic material of the Lee Sommer family. In addition it contains a small amount of family correspondence, memorial albums, and articles about Hermann Schuelein.

The Leo Baeck Family Collection documents the lives and influential events of members of the Baeck and Berlak families, specifically Leo Baeck, Ruth and Hermann Berlak, and Marianne and A. Stanley Dreyfus. Most prominent is the documentation on Leo Baeck's life; other salient themes include the World War I experience of Hermann Berlak and the Dreyfuses' involvement in preserving the memory of Leo Baeck's life and teachings. The collection includes extensive correspondence; a large accumulation of articles, especially those focused on Leo Baeck; a smaller amount of personal papers, manuscripts, drafts and notes; and a few photographs and slides.

The Leo Wolff Collection consists of personal documents of Leo Wolff and of papers pertaining to the organizations and communities in which he was engaged. Prominent topics are his work for Jewish communities in Germany and the negative influence of Zionism. The documents include biographical articles, family history articles, newspaper issues and clippings, minutes, correspondence, newsletters, notes, and by-laws.

The collection contains correspondence, documents, and newspaper clippings relating to the life and activities of Obermayer in local and national Jewish organizations. Includes: correspondence and other materials concerning the Board of Public Education of Philadelphia on which he served as member and then president 1955-1961 (of special interest are the papers pertaining to communism in the schools, educational television, and the problems of minority students); the American Jewish Historical Society of which he served as a member, president and chairman of the Exec. Council (of special interest is the material pertaining to the litigation over the Society's move to Waltham); the Symphony Club (1959-1966); the Penn. Advisory Committee, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1958-1960); the Penn. Alcoholic Beverage Study (1961-1967); the Heart Association of Southeastern Penn. (1964-1965); the National Committee on Employment of Youth (1965-1968); the American Bar Association Special Committee on Investigation, Solicitation and Handling of Personal Injury Claims (1957-1959); the Committee on Legal Ethics and Grievances (1961-1969); the Penn. Prison Society (1964-1969); the Phila. YM & YWHA (1925-1940, 1967-1968); the Hebrew Sunday School Society (1919-1970); the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, with special reference to Edmond Cahn's opposition to the establishment of Reform Jewish day schools (1964-1965); the Hebrew Union College (1964-1968); B'nai B'rith (1957-1967) and the Philadelphia Bar Assoc. (1937-1977).

The Levi Family Collection primarily tells the story of Eric Levi and his family from Ellwangen, Germany, especially focusing on his loss of schooling in Ellwangen and later service in the United States Army during World War II. The collection also includes information on the family of Inge Levi (née Thalheimer), the Thalheimer family of Bensheim. The collection includes many photographs, official documents, newspaper clippings, military records, articles about Eric Levi as well as the Thalheimer family, some correspondence, a scrapbook, and other documentation.

This collection documents the genealogical origins of Arthur Levi (1919-2018) and his wife, Kitty Pappenheim Levi (1925-2022).

The Lewald, Löwenstein, Nachmann and Rothschild family papers contain first and foremost documents related to the genealogy of these families.

The Lilli Liegner Collection centers on the work of this social worker and her role within the Jüdischer Frauenbund in Breslau. A smaller amount of material relates to the history and individual members of the Liegner and Rawicz families. Included in this collection are reports, correspondence, organizational papers and newspaper clippings on the Jüdischer Frauenbund of Breslau. In addition, the collection contains personal and official papers of family members along with a family tree and personal correspondence.

The collection contains papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Linda Rutta. The materials focus on her activism as an undergraduate student at City College of New York, and her relations with the family of the Soviet Jewish Refusenik, Victor Ozar. The collection includes materials from the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ), such as a Soviet Jewry fact sheet, college campus action outline, and correspondence with SSSJ regarding Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience. Also included is Rutta's correspondence with the Ozar family.

The Lipsky Family Papers reflect the professional and personal activities of Eleazar Lipsky (1911-1993), his father, Zionist leader Louis Lipsky (1876-1963), and his mother, Charlotte Lipsky (1879-1959), as well as other family members. Eleazar Lipsky was a lawyer, novelist, Zionist and the head of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in the early 1960s. While working on a multi-part family novel, Eleazar Lipsky gathered and arranged much of the family material in this collection. In addition to family history, the collection contains information on the American Zionist movement, Bernard Richards’s role in the Committee of Jewish Delegations at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, and various legal battles involving such parties as the Jewish Week, the American Examiner, Doubleday, Philip Hochstein and Lillie Shultz. The materials include correspondence, an unfinished manuscript, legal transcripts, clippings, speeches, research materials, financial documents, miscellaneous writings and a few photographs.

This collection centers on the lives of Liselotte Sperber and her family members. The collection documents her early life and the major experiences that would shape it as well as the lives or significant life events of several family members, including her sister, parents, in-laws and daughter. The collection contains prolific correspondence, official and educational documents, childhood writings, copies of articles and newspaper clippings, and a few photographs.

This collection contains writings, minutes, financial records, correspondence, printed materials, newspaper clippings, and photographs relating to Broido's employment, investments, and Jewish and non-Jewish communal activities. It includes material regarding the department store, Gimbel Bros. (1934-1966), where he was associated with Bernard Gimbel, and where he served as Executive Vice President and as Chairman of the Advisory Committee (1953-1961); Temple Emanu-El (1957-1970), where he served as trustee and opposed secession from the Union of American Hebrew Congregations; the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (1944-1976), serving as President from 1965-1975, and where he was involved in the investigation of the Charles Jordan murder in Prague (1967); the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (1953-1972) where he served as trustee and played an active role in financial matters and relations with the Hebrew Union College; the United Jewish Appeal (1941-1972) where he served as President (1951-1952), trustee and member of the Board of Directors; the New York City Community College (1956-1972) where he served as trustee; and the Department of Commerce and Industrial Development of the City of New York (1961-1971) where he served as Commissioner (1961-1966).

The MACHAL, the acronym for “mitnadvei hutz laAretz” ("Volunteers from Abroad"), consisted of about 3500 men and women from over 40 countries from a variety of social and religious backgrounds who volunteered to fight for the establishment of Israel. This collection is unique in that it deals specifically with the experience of MACHAL and Aliyah Bet volunteers from Canada and the United States and others living in the United States. The collections consists of files on 500 volunteers, over 2000 original and reproduction photographs, numerous audio-visual material, books, manuscripts, and memoirs.

The Manfred Lewandowski Collection documents the professional life of cantor Manfred Lewandowski with a focus on some of his more prominent compositions. It additionally holds some genealogical material on the Lewandowski family. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, newspaper clippings and copies of photographs; also included are sheet music, official and professional documentation including certificates, family trees and genealogical notes, and an essay on cantorial music.

This collection comprises the papers of the physician Manfred Mayer-Zachart, including material on his family, service in World War I and professional work. The papers include a large amount of family correspondence, including wartime letters, medical articles, and many photographs. In addition there is some professional correspondence and educational and family papers. Notes on patients are included in the collection but access to them is restricted.

This collection documents the medical career of Marczel Haas (1900-1979) through his education and occupational activities. Items pertaining to his education include Gymnasium transcripts, university enrollment books, matriculation certificates, and diplomas. Haas’s medical career is documented by correspondence pertaining to his medical license, letters of recommendation, contracts for positions at hospitals in Breslau and Cluj, offprints of medical articles written by Haas, and professional certificates, including his New York State medical license.

This collection contains personal papers of Margaret Gabali Rosenfelt (1912-2005), including official documents as well as correspondence with family, German and French authorities, and her friend Rudolf Schneider, a Stuttgart architect. A diary and memoirs are also included.

This collection holds the papers of the author Margarete Susman, with a focus on the significant events of her life and her relationships with others. In addition to drafts of her memoirs the collection contains extensive correspondence with Gertrud Kantorowicz, Georg Simmel and Karl Wolfskehl. Other items include newspaper clippings, among them many obituaries, other correspondence, a few photographs and other papers.

The Marianne Steinberg Ostrand Collection documents the education, emigration, and early professional life of the physician Marianne Steinberg Ostrand as well as the lives of members of her family, especially her husband, engineer Arnold Ostrand, and her mother and siblings, with much documentation of the emigration or attempted emigration from Germany of her family members. About half the collection is correspondence. In addition it contains many educational certificates, official documents, diaries, notebooks, notes, and a friendship album, travel memorabilia, and newspaper clippings and articles.

Personal papers of the American Soviet Jewry movement activist Marilyn Labendz, who participated in the MetroWest Conference on Soviet Jewry, chaired the MetroWest mobilization to Summit II, and Women's Interfaith Plea for Soviet Jewry. The collection contains speeches, memos, correspondence, pamphlets, news clippings and digital photographs.

Marion E Kenworthy (1891-1980) was one of the founders of the Non-Sectarian Committee for German Refugee Children. Starting in 1938, they organized a lobbying effort to have the U.S. Congress allow for the migration of refugee children from Europe to the United States. This collection documents, through correspondence, depositions, meeting minutes, and more, the group’s activities. Of particular importance is the congressional testimony relating to the 1939 Wagner-Rogers bill.

This collection contains papers of the philosopher, author and scholar Martin Buber. Notable among the papers are his letters to his colleague and friend Franz Rosenzweig on a number of subjects, including their translation of the Bible. Other material consists of typescripts of lectures, a few letters to other individuals, photographs, invitations and some material on events about him.

This collection focuses on research about Moses Mendelssohn. Included is research correspondence, photocopies of Mendelssohn's handwritten documents and numerous articles on Mendelssohn and his work.

This collection consists of the personal and professional documents of the dermatologist Max Wolf as well as personal documents of other members of the family, including his wife Margareta Wolf. The collection encompasses official and professional documents, copies of correspondence, photographs and articles and educational certificates.

The Papers of Max J. Kohler (1871-1934) document his life's work as lawyer, historian, writer, researcher, and defender of Jewish and immigrant rights. Correspondents include many of Kohler's contemporaries in the field of history and immigration law including Cyrus Adler; William Taft; John Bassett Moore; Mortimer Schiff; David Hunter Miller; Baron and Baroness de Hirsch; the Straus Family including Oscar Straus; Luigi Luzzatti; Leon Huhner; and Julian Mack. Subjects include U.S. immigration law, American-Jewish history, Col. Alfred Dreyfus, Haym Salomon, Ellis Island, Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler, the publication God in Freedom, international treaties, and the Peace Conference of 1919.

The Max Kurrein Family Collection documents the professional life of metallurgist and professor Max Kurrein and to a smaller extent the genealogy and lives of several other family members. Various types of materials are included, such as official, educational and professional certificates, correspondence, biographical essays, a photo album and photographs, family trees and articles.

This collection contains the research files of Melinda Guttmann on Bertha Pappenheim, also known as "Anna O." It is primarily comprised of documentation of Melinda Guttmann's work on Bertha Pappenheim as well as extensive accumulated research on her, most of which has been translated into English. Included are Melinda Guttmann's manuscripts and notes, as well as copies of many articles on Bertha Pappenheim and the culture and time in which she lived.

The collection documents three generations of a Jewish American family: the Metz, Greene, and Stone families. The collection contains correspondence between family members, newspaper clippings, photographs, scrapbooks, baby, confirmation, and wedding photo albums, and ephemera.

The Milch Family, Breslau Collection consists of documents pertaining to the Milch, Kauffmann and Silbergleit families, including official documents, family trees, correspondence, unpublished manuscripts and newspaper clippings. The bulk of the collection consists of the papers of the literary historian Werner Milch.

The Milton Steinberg (1903-1950) Papers documents the personal and intellectual life of the American author, philosopher, rabbi, teacher, and theologian. The collection contains correspondence, writings, photographs, audio recordings, and memorabilia. In addition to numerous articles, he authored several books including, The Making of the Modern Jew (1934), As A Driven Leaf (1939), A Partisan Guide to the Jewish Problem (1945), Basic Judaism (1947), A Believing Jew (1951), Anatomy of Faith (1960), and A Prophet’s Wife (2010). In a professional career that lasted a little over twenty years, he served as rabbi at three synagogues, primarily at the Park Avenue Synagogue. In addition, he was active in the community at large, and worked with many Jewish community and civic organizations. As a disciple of Mordecai Kaplan, he and others helped to establish the Reconstructionist movement of American Jewry.