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Guide to the Mary Grace Heller Cope collection
MS0009
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Title: Guide to the Mary Grace Heller Cope Collection
Dates: 1896-1982 Bulk 1959-1982
Collection number: MS0009
Creator:
Cope, Mary Grace Heller (daughter of Dorothy Lubin Heller) and the descendants of David Lubin
Collection Size:
0.5 linear feet
(1 box)
Repository:
Center for Sacramento History
Sacramento, California 95811-0229
Abstract: The Mary Grace Heller Cope Collection covers a time period from 1896 through 1982. The collection contains copies of David
Lubin's correspondence and writings during his lifetime, and tributes that were published after his death. The collection
also contains family correspondence to archival institutions regarding the donation and use of David Lubin's documents starting
in 1959 and continuing until 1982. The collection is 0.5 cubic feet in size.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Physical location: SP: 28:I:4, 4:G:1 (Drawer I)
Collection is open for research use.
All requests to publish or quote from private manuscripts held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted
in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Center for Sacramento History as
the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also
be obtained by the patron. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.
[Identifcation of item], Mary Grace Heller Cope Collection, MS0009, Center for Sacramento History.
Received from Mary Grace Heller Cope on December 27, 2011 by the Center for Sacramento History (accession #2012/013).
Processed and finding aid prepared by Alexander C. Guilbert, 2013.
David Lubin was born in Klodawa, Poland in 1849. His father died while he was still an infant. His mother, Rachel, eventually
married Solomon Weinstock and the family moved to England. The family immigrated to the United States in 1855. David Lubin
left school at the age of 12 and embarked on a series of odd jobs that took him back and forth across the United States.
David Lubin went to San Francisco, California in 1874 to help his recently widowed sister, Jeannette, and his step-brother,
Harris Weinstock, run a dry goods store. Later that year he decided to open his own store, and unable to find a suitable location
in San Francisco, decided to try his luck in Sacramento.
By 1875, Harris Weinstock joined David Lubin in Sacramento. The business prospered and evolved from a dry goods store into
a department store and mail-order business. The business was incorporated in 1888 as Weinstock, Lubin & Company. Meanwhile,
the store's success allowed David Lubin to focus on his interest in agriculture and the small farmer, specifically, farming
collectives and the California Fruit Exchange.
David Lubin's first marriage to Louisa Lorraine Lyons produced six children. Due to the infidelity of his wife, the couple
divorced in 1896. He then left the country with his children for a trip to Europe to avoid the publicity. After returning
to the United States at the end of the year, Lubin and his family took up residence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and sought
input on President William McKinley's revision of tariffs. His suggestions were not adopted, but while in Philadelphia he
met and later married Florence Platnauer in 1897. David Lubin, his new wife, and children then moved to San Francisco, California.
David Lubin wrote a book,
Let There Be Light, about his ideas of a universal religion that was published in 1900.
Working with his son Simon, from his first marriage, David Lubin developed the idea for an international chamber of agriculture
and unable to obtain support in the United States he pursued his goal in Europe. In 1904, Italian King Victor Emmanuel III
gave political and monetary support to David Lubin's idea. In 1905 a world conference was held with representatives of 41
countries. The result of the conference was the inauguration of the International Institute of Agriculture (IIA) headquartered
in Rome. Lubin was appointed the permanent United States delegate to the IIA. During World War I, Lubin continued his work
with the IIA from Rome.
In 1916 Lubin met H.G. Wells and the two men corresponded until Lubin's death on January 1, 1919 a victim of the influenza
epidemic.
The IIA was dissolved in 1946 and its functions and several of its assets were transferred to the Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations. The David Lubin Memorial Library was dedicated in Rome in 1952.
David Lubin's second marriage produced three children, Dorothy Sophie, Grace, and Theodore. This collection was donated by
Mary Grace Heller Cope, the daughter of Grace Lubin Finesinger.
Information for this biography was partially derived from
Weinstock's: Sacramento's Finest Department Store by Annette Kassis.
The Mary Grace Heller Cope Collection is arranged in two series: 1. David Lubin and 2. Family. Items span the years 1896 to
1992, with the bulk of items being the family correspondence to archival institutions dating from 1959 through 1982. The total
of both series consists of one-half cubic foot containing documents. Correspondence documents are often photocopies or typewritten
transcriptions of the originals.
The first series, David Lubin, is divided into eight subseries: Correspondence; H. G. Wells; Book,
Let There Be Light; Writings; International Institute of Agriculture/Food and Agriculture Organization; Tributes; Biographical Information;
and Correspondence between family members and archival organizations (FAO, American Jewish Archives, and the Western Jewish
History Center of the Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum).
The second series, Family, is divided into two subseries: American Jewish Archive Interviews and Newspaper Clippings.
For additional information regarding David Lubin, researchers should consult the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
at the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.