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Levaco (Benjamin M.) Papers
OCH.BML
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Benjamin M. Levaco Papers
Creator:
Levaco, Benjamin M., 1911-1998
Identifier/Call Number: OCH.BML
Extent:
2.90 linear feet
Date (inclusive): Circa 1900-1999
Abstract: Benjamin Levaco was a Russian-born Jew
who moved to China with his family in 1915 at the age of four. He grew up in Harbin and
Tientsin, and after graduating high school began working for a sausage casing company in the
1930s. After World War II, he opened his own casing company with plants in Shanghai,
Hangchow, Tientsin and Peking. He fled China with his wife in 1950, immigrating to New York
City. He retired in the Los Angeles area, and traveled to China multiple times in the 1990s
before his passing in 1998. The collection contains items from Levaco's life in China, as
well as items related to his continued interest in the Old China Hands experience during his
retirement.
Language of Material: English,
Russian,
Hebrew,
Chinese
Series I: Personal Materials, circa 1920s-1998
Subseries A Correspondence, 1929-1996
Subseries B: Groups and Organizations, 1959-1996
Subseries C: Travel, 1982-1994
Subseries D: Narratives and Poetry, 1978-1994
Subseries E: Miscellaneous Documents and Ephemera, circa 1920-1999
Series II: Collected Publications and Narratives, circa 1917-1999
Subseries A: Scholarly Works and News Clippings, circa 1917-1999
Subseries B: Memoirs and Personal Narratives, 1943-1984
Series III: Photographs and Photocopied Images, circa 1900-1999
Benjamin (Ben) Levaco was born to Michael and Rachel Levaco in Kainsk, Siberia in 1911. His
family moved to Harbin in 1915 to escape the rising Bolshevik forces in Russia, where his
father ran a variety of businesses. In 1918, the family moved again to Yokohama, Japan,
where Levaco attended Saint Joseph's College. The family lived in Japan until 1923, when the
Great Kanto Earthquake hit and destroyed most of the city of Yokohama. The Levaco's were
left without a home, business, or liquid assets as all records of their bank accounts were
lost to the destruction of the earthquake. The family then moved to Tientsin, China, where
Michael Levaco was able to establish a haberdashery. Benjamin attended the British Grammar
School in Tientsin, graduated in 1927, and found employment in an American firm dealing in
natural sausage casings, the Oppenheimer Casing Company.
As a part of his employment, Levaco traveled extensively throughout the interior of China
and Mongolia to buy casings, and as a result became proficient in Chinese. In 1936, he was
made the manager of a branch office in Shanghai, and worked there until 1941 when the
occupying Japanese forces terminated all American-run businesses. During this time he worked
as a real-estate agent, and after the war decided to establish his own casing export company
with a few partners. His company, Huhzung Trading Company, owned plants in Shanghai,
Hangchow, and expanded in 1948 to Tientsin and Peking as well. This business ran
successfully until 1949, when Levaco decided to leave in the wake of the Communist
takeover.
After hastily wrapping up his business affairs and losing much in the process, Levaco
received a U.S. Immigration Visa in October of 1950, and moved to New York City with his
second wife, Nata. Levaco worked a variety of jobs, including as a salesman for the
Oppenheimer Casing Company and a Canadian casing company. Nata passed away in 1955 from
cancer, and Levaco married his third wife, Sonia, in 1956. In 1971, he began working for the
Independent Casing Company of Montreal, where he stayed for 20 years, even working over the
phone when he and Sonia moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1986. Sonia passed away in
1989, but Levaco continued to live in the area, close to their daughter Gail and her family.
Levaco took a number of trips to China in his later life, and was involved in a number of
organizations for Old China Hands and Jewish people who formerly lived in China. He passed
away in 1998, at the age of 87.
The
Benjamin M. Levaco Papers contain items from Levaco's life
in China, as well as items related to his continued interest in the Old China Hands
experience during his retirement. The collection is arranged in three series:
Personal Materials (circa 1920-1998),
Collected
Publications and Narratives
(circa 1917-1999), and
Photographs
and Photocopied Images
(circa 1900-1999).
Series I,
Personal Materials, contains five subseries:
Correspondence (1929-1996),
Groups and
Organizations
(1959-1996),
Travel (1982-1994),
Narratives and Poetry (1978-1994), and
Miscellaneous Documents and Ephemera (circa 1920-1998). The
Correspondence subseries consists of letters sent to and from Benjamin Levaco
covering a variety of topics, including a series of love letters written by Levaco to a
former girlfriend, Tania. The
Groups and Organizations subseries
consists of newsletters, correspondence, and other documents related to a number of groups
in which Levaco was involved. These groups include Jewish organizations, groups related to
the Old China Hands experience, and a creative writing group. The
Travel subseries consists of brochures, postcards, ephemera, and arrangements
related to the various trips Levaco took to China in the 1990s. The
Narratives and Poetry subseries consists of stories, essays, and poetry written by
Levaco mostly about his life and family. Also included are translations done by Levaco of
his father Michael's poetry written in Russian in China. The
Miscellaneous Documents and Ephemera subseries consists of a number of items
related to Levaco's personal life in China and America, including identification documents,
records of property owned by Levaco in Hungjao, genealogical information, and grades from
his grammar school in Tientsin.
Series II,
Collected Publications and Narratives, contains two
subseries. Subseries A,
Scholarly Works and News Clippings (circa
1917-1999,) contains articles, presentations, and news clippings collected by Levaco related
mostly to the Jewish experience in China as well as information on China in general.
Subseries B,
Memoirs and Personal Narratives (1943-1984),
contains narratives and stories collected and sent to Levaco written by others about their
experiences living and visiting China and Japan.
Series III,
Photographs and Photocopied Images, consists of
photographs and photocopied pictures of Levaco's life in China and America as well as his
trips to China in the 1990s.
Related Material
The collection is open to research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gail Levaco Goldman, 1998.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Andy Villalobos, May 2012
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ephemera
Documents
Photographs