Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Stern, Arthur P.
- Abstract:
- Arthur P. Stern (1925-2012) was a Holocaust survivor, engineer, and philanthropist born in Budapest, Hungary. The collection includes his personal and professional papers, such as technical publications, correspondence and printed material from conferences and professional organizations, and company-related correspondence and memos, as well as personal correspondence with family and friends from throughout Stern's life. The collection also includes correspondence and documentation related to the Holocaust and the Stern family's efforts for restitution, as well as correspondence and printed materials related to the many community organizations with which Stern was involved.
- Extent:
- 29.4 linear feet (66 boxes, 1 half box, 2 shoeboxes, 2 flat storage boxes, and 1 carton)
- Language:
- Materials are primarily in English, some materials in French, German, and Hungarian.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Arthur Stern Papers (Collection 2332). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
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The papers of Arthur Stern date from 1938-2013 and include material related to both his personal and professional activities. His professional materials begin with notes and papers from his engineering studies in Switzerland. The Engineering series principally includes company-related correspondence, memos, and travel itineraries from his career at General Electric (1951-1961), Martin Marietta (1961-1964), Bunker Ramo Corporation (1964-1966), and Magnavox (1966-1991). The professional materials also include correspondence and printed material related to conferences and professional organizations, particularly the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which Stern led as President in 1975. Engineering technical publications are included in the Publications series. One strength of the collection is its documentation of patent paperwork and correspondence related to the transistor radio, color television, and GPS systems.
The collection also includes personal correspondence with family and friends from throughout Stern's life, particularly with his parents Leon and Bertha, his brother Robert, and his children. Much of the correspondence with family who remained in Europe is in German and Hungarian. The personal materials also include legal correspondence and documentation related to the Holocaust and the Stern family's efforts for restitution. Another strength of the collection is the oral history transcripts and recordings in which Stern discusses his experience of the Holocaust, including an interview with his son, Claude, and an interview with the USC Shoah Foundation.
Additionally, the collection includes correspondence and printed materials related to the many community organizations with which Stern was involved, particularly after his retirement from Magnavox in 1991. Some notable organizations represented in the collection are the California Humanitarian Foundation for Holocaust Survivors, Americans for Peace Now, and the California Israel Chamber of Commerce.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Arthur P. Stern was a Holocaust survivor, engineer, and philanthropist born in Budapest, Hungary on July 20, 1925. In 1944, he was deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as part of the Kasztner transport and was then taken to a refugee camp in Switzerland. After liberation, he studied at the University of Geneva, the University of Lausanne, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), where he earned a Diplom-Ingenieur and also served as an instructor.
Stern immigrated to the United States in 1951, where he worked for General Electric (GE) in Syracuse, NY and earned his master's degree in electrical engineering at Syracuse University. At GE, he was involved with pioneering technology for the transistor radio and the color television. He then served as Engineering Director of Martin Marietta's electronics division and managed the design of defense systems at Bunker Ramo Corporation. Stern became Vice President of the Magnavox Company in 1966. At Magnavox, he led the team that developed the Navstar Global Positioning System. He retired in 1991 as President of Magnavox Advanced Products and Systems and as Vice Chairman of the Magnavox Government and Industrial Electronics Company (MAGIEC). Over the course of his career, Stern authored a number of technical papers and 12 patents, and was involved with numerous professional organizations including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), of which he served as President in 1975, and the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), of which he was a founder . His work had a lasting impact, as transistor technology and the other solid-state electronics developments that followed paved the way for the chips now found in computers and cell phones.
After his retirement, Stern became active in non-profit and Jewish community organizations, at both a local and national level. He served as Founding President of the California Israel Chamber of Commerce, Vice Chair of Los Angeles Jewish Community Relations Committee, Director of the National Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and Chairman of the California Humanitarian Foundation for Holocaust Survivors.
Stern and his wife, Edith, had three children: Daniel, Jacqueline, and Claude, and seven grandchildren. He died on May 25, 2012 in Beverly Hills, California.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of the Stern family, 2017.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Rebecca Townsend, graduate student in Information Studies, in 2017 under the supervision of Courtney Dean in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT). German language abstracts by Sarah Johnson, Jewish History doctoral student, 2017.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
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- Arrangement:
-
This collection has been arranged in the following series:
- Series 1: Engineering 1948-2011
- Subseries 1.1: Switzerland 1948-1951
- Subseries 1.2: Early career 1951-1966
- Subseries 1.3: Magnavox 1964-2004
- Subseries 1.4: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1972-2011
- Series 2: Publications 1953-2004
- Series 3: Personal materials 1940-2012
- Series 4: Holocaust restitution 1938-2013
- Series 5: Community Involvement 1966-2012
- Physical / technical requirements:
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CONTAINS DIGITAL AND AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains processed digitan and audiovisual materials. Audiovisual materials in this collection will require assessment and possible digitization for safe access. All requests to access digital materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Terms of access:
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Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Arthur Stern Papers (Collection 2332). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
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A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988