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Magnes collection on Judah L. Magnes, 1870-2004.
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Collection Overview
Title:
Magnes collection on Judah L. Magnes, 1870-2004Creator/Contributor:
Judah L. Magnes Memorial MuseumCreator/Contributor:
Western Jewish History Center, 203.Creator/Contributor:
Judah L. Magnes Museum, WJHC 1968.030.Creator/Contributor:
Bancroft Library, Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life.Creator/Contributor:
Online Archive of CaliforniaAbstract:
The collection consists of materials collected by the Magnes staff between the early 1960s and the early 2000s that document
the life and influence of Judah L. Magnes. Some of these materials are original documents and photographs acquired from Magnes
family members and other donors. Other materials in the collection were acquired as a result of years of research and collecting
by the Magnes staff. These later items include many photocopies of items from other archives in the United States and Israel.
The collection is divided into the following series: 1. Personal; 2. Public Activities; 3. Press, Clippings and Miscellaneous
Materials on JLM; 4. Sources on JLM; and 5. Photographs. Series 1 consists of items relating to Judah L. Magnes' early years
in the San Francisco Bay Area, including materials from his high school years in Oakland; items relating to JLM's college
years, including early essays; correspondence with family members; materials on some of the children of Judah and Beatrice
Magnes; genealogical materials; items relating to Beatrice Magnes; JLM's notes and some diaries; and personal documents, including
passports, dating from 1912-1941, diplomas (see oversize), and a few bookplates. Series 2 consists of a chronological file
of materials relating to JLM's public activities. Among these materials are correspondence, essays, published and manuscript
versions of public addresses, reports from organizations to which JLM contributed his time and efforts, and JLM's writings
(articles and pamphlets). Topics of particular interest in Series 2 include the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, the
Kehillah of New York City, Zionism, relief to Europe's Jews during and after World War I, peace rallies during World War I,
Jewish culture and identity, Hebrew University, and the founding of the state of Israel. Series 3 consists of a chronological
series of press, clippings, and other materials that discuss the work and influence of Judah L. Magnes. These materials date
from 1898 through 2004. Series 4 consists of materials gathered by Magnes staff documenting the various archival and bibliographic
sources on Judah L. Magnes available to researchers in the United States and in Israel. Series 5 consists of photographs and
photo albums, including photographs of the Magnes family; photographs and portraits of JLM as a child, a young man, and an
adult; and group portraits and photographs that include JLM. The photographs date from the 1870s through the 1960s and include
images from Oakland, California, New York, Eastern Europe, and Israel. Among the photographs are also pages from two photo
albums, one with photographs of the Magnes family in Oakland (circa 1880-1900) and the other showing the childhood home of
JLM's mother Sophie Abrahamson in Filehne, Prussia (Poland). Images from this photo album include street scenes of Filehne
and images of the interior and exterior of the town's synagogue.
Date:
1870 (issued)Subject:
n-us-ca -- n-us-ny -- a-is--- -- ee----- -- a-tu--- -- n-us---Jews -- California -- Oakland
Jews -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area
Jews -- New York (State) -- New York
Jews, American -- Israel
Jews, American -- Palestine
San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, Calif., 1906
Jewish-Arab relations -- History -- 1917-1948
War relief -- Europe, Eastern
War relief -- Turkey
World War, 1914-1918 -- Civilian relief -- Europe, Eastern
World War, 1914-1918 -- Civilian relief -- Turkey
Zionists
Zionists -- United States
Juifs -- Californie -- Oakland
Juifs -- Californie -- San Francisco, Région de la baie de
Juifs -- New York (État) -- New York
Juifs américains -- Israël
Juifs américains -- Palestine
Tremblement de terre de San Francisco, Calif., 1906
Relations judéo-arabes -- Histoire -- 1917-1948
Secours aux victimes de guerre -- Europe de l'Est
Guerre mondiale, 1914-1918 -- Secours aux civils -- Europe de l'Est
Civilian war relief
Jewish-Arab relations
Jews
Jews, American
Politics and government
Presidents
Universities and colleges -- Faculty
War relief
Zionists
Europe, Eastern -- History -- 20th century
Palestine -- Politics and government -- 1917-1948
Europe de l'Est -- Histoire -- 20e siècle
Palestine -- Politique et gouvernement -- 1917-1948
California
California -- Oakland
California -- San Francisco Bay Area
Eastern Europe
Israel
Middle East -- Palestine
New York (State) -- New York
Turkey
United States
Agudat Iḥud (Israel)
American Jewish Committee.
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Federation of American Zionists.
Hebrew Union College -- Faculty
Jewish Community of New York City.
Judah L. Magnes Foundation.
People's Council of America for Democracy and Peace.
Temple Emanu-El (New York, N.Y.)
Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit bi-Yerushalayim -- Presidents
Agudat Iḥud (Israel)
American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
Federation of American Zionists
Hebrew Union College
Jewish Community of New York City
Judah L. Magnes Foundation
People's Council of America for Democracy and Peace
Temple Emanu-El (New York, N.Y.)
Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit bi-Yerushalayim
Magnes, J. L. (Judah Leon) -- 1877-1948 -- Congresses
Magnes, Beatrice L
Magnes, Jonathan -- 1912-1980
Buber, Martin -- 1878-1965
Szold, Henrietta -- 1860-1945 -- Correspondence
Szold, Henrietta -- 1860-1945 -- Pictorial works
Buber, Martin -- 1878-1965
Magnes, Beatrice L
Magnes, Jonathan -- 1912-1980
Magnes, J. L. (Judah Leon) -- 1877-1948
Szold, Henrietta -- 1860-1945
College presidents
Rabbis
Note:
Formerly: Western Jewish History Center Collection Number 203.
Formerly: Judah L. Magnes Museum Collection Number WJHC 1968.030.
COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.
Transfer; Judah L. Magnes Museum; 2010.
Objects, including Cantor's hat, tefillin, "Keep Out of War" arm badge from 1917 peace rally, and ribbon pin from the Eva
Magnes Memorial Family Society (1918) transferred to the museum holdings of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life for
separate handling and cataloging.
Judah L. Magnes occupied himself with many endeavors. He was a rabbi; an educator; an organizational leader; an independent-minded
social activist and humanist. Although Magnes was born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, he achieved national recognition
as a leader of the Jewish community in New York and, in 1922, after he moved to Palestine, where he played an important role
in the creation of a Jewish university and a Jewish national home. Growing up in the Bay Area, he attended Oakland High School,
a public high school, where he became an editor of the school's biweekly magazine, the Aegis; pitched for the baseball team;
and excelled as an orator. At this time, he also showed an interest in Judaism and an independence of mind. After high school,
he attended and then graduated from the University of Cincinnati where, as an editor of the university's annual, he led a
protest against the censorship of student criticism of the faculty and against the Spanish-American War. In 1900, Magnes was
ordained a Reform rabbi from Hebrew Union College, thus becoming the first native-born Californian who was ordained a rabbi.
From 1900 to 1902, he studied at the German universities of Berlin and Heidelberg (he received his Ph. D. from Heidelberg
in 1902) and at the renowned Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judentums (the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies), where
he was strongly influenced by cultural Zionism.
From 1903 to 1905, Magnes served as a librarian and a teacher of Bible translation at Hebrew Union College. In 1904, he served
as the rabbi of Brooklyn's Temple Israel, which he left because he was thought to be too much of a Zionist and too religiously
conservative. He was also thought to have associated too much with revolutionaries. In 1905, he gained recognition as a Jewish
leader when he became the chair of the Jewish Defense Association, an organization that was created to aid the Jewish self-defense
movement in Russia. From 1905 to 1908, he was the secretary of the Federation of American Zionists and became its most influential
spokesman in America and abroad. In 1906, he joined the executive body of a new organization, the American Jewish Committee;
he also was concerned with the relief of San Francisco after that year's earthquake and fire. From 1906 to 1910, he served
as an associate rabbi in New York's Temple Emanu-El, but he resigned from that position after he called for a "counter-reformation"
of Reform Judaism. In 1911, Magnes accepted his last post as a rabbi, for the conservative New York congregation B'nai Jeshurun.
From 1909 to 1922, Magnes organized and served as the chairman of the New York Kehillah, a democratic Jewish community organization
that was created to aid the revival of Jewish culture and the alleviation of the immigrants' social and psychic problems.
From 1912 to 1920, he organized and led the Society for the Advancement of Judaism. In 1914, the year World War I broke out,
he engaged in American Jewish efforts to help European Jews. In 1916, he headed the first relief mission to Eastern Europe
for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC), and he became deeply involved in relief work for the Jews living
in Eastern Europe and the Ottoman Empire, an involvement extending after the end of the war. In 1915, Magnes broke with official
Zionism (and segments of the American Jewish leadership) over a new emphasis on political goals. In 1917, he condemned the
British Balfour Declaration as imperialist opportunism and pleaded the importance of the Arab question. In that same year,
he joined with a group of radicals and social reformers in the pacifist movement and became one of its leading spokesmen.
He also help found and then direct the National Civil Liberties Bureau (a predecessor of the American Civil Liberties Union).
After 1922, Magnes settled in Palestine. In 1925, he played a leading role in the founding of the Hebrew University; became
its first chancellor (1925-1935); and served as its first president (1935-1948). While working for Hebrew University, in addition
to recruiting refugee scholars, he also continued to promote the idea of a Jewish cultural renaissance, which was in line
with his conception of the university as a center of humanistic studies (and which was also in line with his devotion to spiritual
Zionism). His support of the humanities came into conflict with both Chaim Weizmann and Albert Einstein who wished to stress
the natural sciences and medicine. During his entire career, Magnes worked for an Arab-Jewish understanding and remained a
dissenter in the Zionist movement, by always arguing for a bi-national state. He was also politically independent, and was
often involved in controversy over political pronouncements. In 1939, he was a chairman of the AJJDC's Middle East Advisory
Committee; in 1942, he helped to establish Iḥud [Union], in order to advance a bi-national program. After Magnes's death,
in 1948, the Judah Magnes Foundation was inaugurated to grant scholarships to Arab students who were enrolled at Hebrew University.
In 1962, the first Jewish museum in the western U.S. was named after Magnes.
Preferred citation: Magnes collection on Judah L. Magnes, BANC MSS 2010/709, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life,
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Materials in English.
Type:
Speeches, addresses, etc.articles.
correspondence.
diaries.
drafts (documents)
Genealogies.
photographs.
Proceedings.
scrapbooks.
Photographs
Diaries
Conference papers and proceedings
History
Pictorial works
Personal correspondence
Albums (Books)
Albums (Books)
Diaries.
Photographs.
Journaux intimes.
Photographies.
Albums personnalisés.
Physical Description:
3 cartons, 1 box, and 2 oversize folders (3.4 linear ft.)
Language:
English
Identifier:
2005579915
http://magnes.org/scholars/research-information/research-request-form
http://magnesalm.org/notebook_fext.asp?site=magnes&book=156589
Origin:
CaliforniaCopyright Note:
COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.