Finding Aid to the Rosalie Meyer Stern papers, 1867-1996
Finding Aid written by The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life staff
The Bancroft Library
© 2011
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Finding Aid to the Rosalie Meyer Stern papers, 1867-1996
Collection Number: BANC MSS 2010/604
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
- Finding Aid Written By:
- The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life staff
- Date Completed:
- June 2011
© 2011 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Collection Title: Rosalie Meyer Stern papers
Date (inclusive): 1867-1996
Collection Number: BANC MSS 2010/604
Creators :
Stern, Rosalie Meyer, 1869-1956
Extent:
Number of containers: 5 cartons, 1 oversize box, and 1 oversize folder
(Linear feet: 5.4)
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: This collection is primarily comprised of correspondence and ephemera documenting Rosalie Meyer Stern's familial and social
life. Also included are diaries, biographical and genealogical material relating to Stern's maternal and paternal relations,
newsclippings, some materials on Rosalie’s paternal uncle, Leon Zadoc-Kahn, the Grand Rabbi of France, and photographs. Most
of the collection centers on Rosalie Meyer Stern’s life as a daughter, sister, cousin, mother, and grandmother. There is relatively
little material relating to her role as a civic leader.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English, French, German, and Hebrew.
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted
in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is
given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.Materials in this collection may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition,
the reproduction of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor
restrictions, privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected
by copyright 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 owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively
with the user.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720-6000. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
[Identification of item], Rosalie Meyer Stern papers, BANC MSS 2010/604, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, The
Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Stern, Rosalie Meyer, 1869-1956--Archives
Stern, Sigmund--Correspondence
Kahn, Zadoc, 1839-1905--Family
Jews--Cultural assimiliation--California--San Francisco
Jewish women--California--San Francisco
San Francisco (Calif.)--Genealogy
Correspondence--California--San Francisco
Diaries--California--San Francisco
Diaries--California--San Francisco
Family papers--California--San Francisco
Photographs--California--San Francisco
Photographs--California--Los Angeles
Western Jewish History Center. 268
Judah L. Magnes Museum. WJHC 1971.003
Bancroft Library. Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
The Rosalie Meyer Stern papers were gifted to The Bancroft Library by the Judah L. Magnes Museum in 2010.
No future additions are expected.
Collection is arranged into eight series: Correspondence, Social Life, Diaries, Biographical and Genealogical, Meyer Family
Essays, News Clippings, Leon Zadoc-Kahn Material, and Photographs. The Correspondence series is further divided into three
subseries: Incoming, Outgoing, and Special Family Correspondence.
Processed by the Judah L. Magnes Museum staff in 1968. Additional processing by The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
staff in 2011.
Rosalie Meyer Stern was a civic and social leader of San Francisco. In 1892, she married Sigmund Stern, the president of Levi
Strauss and Company. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, Stern converted her house into a Red Cross factory.
During World War I, she became the first woman associate field director for military relief in the West; worked with the Red
Cross at Camp Fremont Base Hospital; helped furnish troops with supplies; and collected money. In 1917, she served on the
Garden Committee of the San Francisco Park and Recreation Department; in 1918, she formed the Garden Hospital Committee for
the United States Veterans Hospital Number 24; and in 1919 she was appointed the president of the San Francisco Playground
Commission. Stern also bought land that was scheduled for urban development and gave it to the city of San Francisco for the
establishment of Sigmund Stern Grove, as a memorial to her husband and helped form a committee to underwrite free summer concerts
held in the Grove. She also organized the San Francisco Junior Symphony and was a founder of the San Francisco Opera Association.
She held board positions on the board of the World War I Fatherless Children of France (and received the Chevalier de l'Ordre
National de la Legion d'Honneur from France in 1938); Associated Jewish Charities; Pioneer Kindergarten Society and Children's
Agency; Community Chest; and the Women's Board of the San Francisco Museum of Art. She funded construction of Stern Hall,
at the University of California, Berkeley; took an active interest in forty-eight scholarships that were established at the
University of California, Berkeley by Levi Strauss and Company; and served on the Entertainment Committee for the World's
Fair that was held on Treasure Island (1939-1940). She also served on committees of the War Relief Fund and of the National
Recreation Association, in addition to being an honorary member of the California Recreation Society.
| 1861 | Eugene Meyer immigrates to Los Angeles from Strasbourg, France. |
| 1867 | Meyer marries Harriet Newmark. |
| 1869 | Rosalie Meyer is born. |
| 1871-1884 | Eugene and Harriet add four daughters and three sons to their family. |
| 1883 | Eugene accepts a position at the London, Paris and American Bank. The family relocates to San Francisco. |
| 1891 | Rosalie is engaged to Emil Greenebaum but breaks engagement at the request of her father. |
| 1891-1892 | Rosalie travels to Paris with Eugene and sister, Elise. Meets Sigmund Stern. |
| 1892 | Marries Sigmund Stern. |
| 1893 | Gives birth to daughter, Elise. |
| 1895 | Eugene Meyer accepts partnership with Lazard Freres and relocates Harriet and Rosalie’s siblings to New York City. |
| 1900 | Rosalie and Sigmund build a house on Pacific Street in San Francisco. |
| 1906 | Rosalie and Sigmund purchase land in Atherton for a summer home. |
| 1914 | Elise marries Walter Haas. |
| Rosalie enrolls in Jessica Peixotto’s American History class at the University of California, Berkeley. | |
| 1916 | Elise gives birth to Walter Haas, Jr., Rosalie’s first grandchild. |
| 1917 | Rosalie joins boards of the Pioneer Kindergarten Society and the Children’s Agency. |
| 1918 | Rosalie appointed Associate Field Director of Military Relief for the American Red Cross. |
| Peter Haas is born. | |
| 1919 | Rosalie appointed to San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Commission. |
| 1925 | Rhoda Haas is born. |
| 1928 | Sigmund dies of cancer. |
| 1931 | Rosalie purchases a tract of land, later named the Sigmund Stern Recreation Grove, and donates it to the City. |
| 1939 | Elise is appointed president of the board of Mt. Zion Hospital. |
| 1955 | Elise is appointed as trustee of the Museum of Modern Art. |
| 1956 | Rosalie dies. |
| 1964 | Elise is elected as president of the board of the Museum of Modern Art. |
| 1990 | Elise dies. |
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection is primarily comprised of correspondence and ephemera documenting Rosalie Meyer Stern's familial and social
life. Also included are diaries, biographical and genealogical material relating to Stern's maternal and paternal relations,
newsclippings, some materials on Rosalie’s paternal uncle, Leon Zadoc Kahn, the Grand Rabbi of France, and photographs. Most
of the collection centers on Rosalie Meyer Stern’s life as a daughter, sister, cousin, mother, and grandmother. There is relatively
little material relating to her role as a civic leader.
Correspondence, the largest series in the collection, offers insight into the experience of Rosalie Meyer Stern as well as
the lives of multiple generations of her extended family (including the Meyers, the Sterns, the Haases, and the Newmarks).
Rosalie Meyer Stern's incoming correspondence constitutes the bulk of the correspondence series and dates from 1878 through
1955. The majority of the letters were written by family members to Rosalie between 1880 and 1930. While many of the letters
were penned from
Los Angeles, there are also those that were written by relatives living in San Francisco, New York, St. Louis, and France,
and some travel letters from various parts of the United States and from abroad. There are letters from or about Rosalie’s
paternal aunt and uncle, Ernestine and Leon Zadoc Kahn, the Grand Rabbi of France, Judah Magnes, Felix Frankfurter, Florence
Prag Kahn, Justice Brandeis, Michael Stein (Gertrude’s brother), and Levi Strauss. There is extensive correspondence from
Rosalie’s parents, Eugene and Harriet Newmark Meyer; Rosalie’s brothers, Eugene, Jr. (an appointed government official and
owner of the Washington Post), Walter (an investment banker), and Edgar (who died on the Titanic); and her sisters, Elise
(who first married Abraham Stern, Sigmund’ s brother, and later married De Souza Dantes), Florence (a philanthropist married
to George Blumenthal), Ruth (Mrs. George Cook), and Aline (Mrs. Charles Liebman). There is also a fair amount of correspondence
from and to Rosalie’s daughter and son-in-law, Elise Stern and Walter Haas. In the Special Family Correspondence subseries
is an especially notable 1867 letter from Rosa Newmark (Rosalie's grandmother) in Los Angeles, California to Sarah Newmark
describing in detail Harriet Newmark's Los Angeles wedding, house, and trousseau.
The other major component of the collection is ephemera from Rosalie Meyer Stern's social life. These materials paint a picture
of the social milieu in which the Meyer, Stern, and Haas families lived. There are invitations to weddings and other social
events, calling and business cards, dance cards, ocean liner passenger lists, itineraries, as well as wills, lists of
condolence senders, a few financial records, and information about clubs and societies.
Series 1 Correspondence. 1867-1965
Physical Description:
Cartons 1-3; Carton 4, folders 1-7; Oversize Box 1; Oversize Folder 1B
Subseries 1.1 Incoming Correspondence. 1878-1955
Physical Description:
Cartons 1-2; Carton 3, folders 1-43; Oversize Box 1
Contains files (arranged chronologically) of general incoming correspondence from 1878 through 1955 and files of incoming
correspondence from identified correspondents including: Eugene Meyer, Harriet Newmark Meyer,Lucy Simon, Rosalie Meyer's siblings
(including Florence Meyer Blumenthal, and Ruth Meyer Cook), Ernestine and Leon Zadoc-Kahn, and Elise Stern Haas and Walter
Haas Jr. There are also some files of incoming correspondence in this subseries on particular topics, including congratulatory
letters for Rosalie's silver wedding anniversary and letters regarding war orphans, civic work, Judah Magnes, and the Paderewski
controversy. Also included in this subseries is an oversize scrapbook of congratulatory telegrams sent to Sigmund and Rosalie
Meyer Stern on the occasion of their wedding in 1892.
Subseries 1.3 Special Family Correspondence. 1867-1939
Physical Description:
Carton 4, folders 4-7, Oversize Folder 1B
Subseries consists of an 1867 letter (in English, with transcription) from Rosa Newmark (Rosalie's grandmother) in Los Angeles,
California to Sarah Newmark describing in detail Harriet Newmark's Los Angeles wedding, house, and trousseau; letters to Eugene
Meyer and Harriet Newmark Meyer from his family in France sent between 1867 and 1879 (written in French, German, and Hebrew
or Yiddish); a copy of an 1867 letter in Hebrew or Yiddish from Sephora Meyer to her children (in oversize folder 1B); an
1892 telegram from Sigmund Stern to Eugene Meyer asking for Rosalie's hand in marriage as well as correspondence between Sigmund
Stern and Eugene Meyer and the Meyer and Stern families regarding the engagement; and one folder of correspondence of Walter
Meyer (1935-1939), including a 1935 letter from Justice Louis Brandeis.
Series 2 Social Life. 1875-1956
Physical Description:
Carton 4, folders 8-39; Carton 5, folders 1-7; Oversize Box 1
Scope and Content Note
This series contains an assortment of materials that document Rosalie Meyer Stern’s social and family life,
including invitations, programs, dance cards, household documents, travel itineraries, calling cards, wills, and a Lowell
Birthday Book from 1893 (in oversize box).
Series 3 Diaries. 1881-1892
Physical Description:
Carton 5, folders 8-10
Scope and Content Note
This series contains Rosalie’s diaries, including one from January to March 1886, written while living in San
Francisco, one from her trip to Paris with Elise and Eugene Meyer in 1891-1892, and fragments written on
special occasions during 1881-1888.
Series 4 Biographical and Genealogical. 1943-1964
Physical Description:
Carton 5, folders 11-23
Scope and Content Note
This series contains mostly unpublished biographical material, including family histories and memoirs of the extended Meyer-Newmark
family. "Ship’s Log Around the Horn 1853" is the published version of the diary kept by Rosalie’s maternal grandfather, Meyer
Newmark, on his trip as a 12 year old from New York to San Francisco. There is a undated, typed manuscript, written by Rosalie,
which includes an account of the 1906 earthquake. This series also includes a number of handwritten genealogies of the extended
Meyer-Newmark family and a certificate of induction into the French Legion of Honor given to Rosalie Meyer Stern in 1938 (in
oversize folder 1B).
Series 5 Meyer Family Essays. 1884-1926
Physical Description:
Carton 5, folders 24-27
Scope and Content Note
This series contains a variety of family papers and essays, including an academic paper by Edgar Meyer and a series of short
essays by Rosalie Meyer Stern.
Series 6 Newsclippings. 1892-1996
Physical Description:
Carton 5, folders 28-35; Oversize Folder 1B
Scope and Content Note
This series contains newsclippings about Rosalie Meyer Stern and her extended family.
Series 7 Leon Zadoc-Kahn Materials. 1897-1930
Physical Description:
Carton 5, folders 36-40; Oversize Box 1
Scope and Content Note
This series contains pamphlets (mostly in French) and clippings pertaining to Leon Zadoc-
Kahn, the Grand Rabbi of France who testified at the trial of Alfred Dreyfus.
Series 8 Photographs and Pictorial Material. circa 1885-1957
Physical Description:
Carton 5, folders 41-53
Scope and Content Note
This series is comprised of photographs of Rosalie Meyer Stern's family. Included are images of the following: Joseph and
Rosa Levy Newmark (circa 1885); Eugene and Harriet Meyer Newmark in front of their Los Angeles home (circa 1890-1900); the
Meyer, Newmark, Loeb, and Kaufmann children (circa 1885); Meyer family headstones (circa 1955); Sigmund Stern, Rosalie Meyer
Stern, and Elise Stern (circa 1913-1925); Walter Meyer; Walter and Elise Stern Haas and family (circa 1903-1920); Walter Jr.,
Rhoda, and Peter Haas (circa 1923-1925); Pacific Avenue homes damaged in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire (stereograph);
Sigmund Stern's old house on Powell Street; Rosalie Meyer Stern's travel in the 1950s; Walter S. Heller in a biplane (circa
1914); miscellaneous unidentified individuals. There is also a photo album (circa 1900) with unidentified images.