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Guide to the Benjamin M. Levaco Papers, circa 1900-1999
OCH/BML
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Collection Title: Benjamin M. Levaco Papers
Dates: circa 1900-1999
Identification: OCH/BML
Creator:
Levaco, Benjamin M., 1911-1998
Physical Description:
2.90 linear feet
Language of Materials:
English
Russian
Hebrew
Chinese
English
Russian
Hebrew
Chinese
Repository:
Old China Hands Archives
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.
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.
This Collection is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
The China Society of
Southern California
Ephemera
Paper records
Photographic material
Publications
Shanghai (China) -- 20th
Century
Levaco, Benjamin
M.
Forgotten of Harbin
Essays
Poetry
Tourism -- China
Andy Villalobos, May 2012
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.
The collection is open to research use.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style
manual, or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
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
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. 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.