Leonard Fein Papers
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains correspondence, press clippings, and photos relating to Fein's career and activities while editor-in-chief and publisher of Moment magazine. Correspondence includes reactions to a letter sent to Israeli members of PEACE NOW on the eve of the Begin-Sadat summit (1978); a statement criticizing Begin government policies (1980) and public reactions to that statement; a discussion of American Jewish support of Israel's West Bank settlement policy during Prime Minister Begin's tenure in office; Fein's views on Aliyah to Israel, intermarriage, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and the politics of MK Meir Kahane; and a letter from Hodding Carter III (Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Department Spokesman for White House) "concerning the U.S. role in negotiations for peace in the Middle East" (January 19, 1979). The collection contains Fein's personal correspondence from 1977-1984.
The collection also includes correspondence and materials relating to the operation of Moment magazine; a dispute over Melvin Urofsky's review of the Brandeis/Frankfurter connection; reactions to Fein's proposal for a Jewish hunger project, HaMazon; and information on a proposed relationship between Moment and FORTHCOMING, a Jewish literary magazine.
The collection also has materials relating to the American Jewish World Service, the Multi-Issue Political Action Committee (MIPAC), and the New Israel Fund.
Individual correspondents include Moshe Arens, Wolf Blitzer, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Gerson Cohen, Moshe Dworkin, Arie Eliav, Lawrence Gould, Tom Hayden, Philip Klutznick, Norman Lear, Jacob Neusner, William Novak, Alexander Schindler, Harold Schulweis, Yossi Shavit, and Elie Wiesel.
Dates
- Creation: 1973-1987
Creator
- Fein, Leonard J. (Person)
Access Restrictions
The collection is open to all researchers, except items that may be restricted due to their fragility, or privacy.
Use Restrictions
No permission is required to quote, reproduce or otherwise publish manuscript materials found in this collection, as long as the usage is scholarly, educational, and non-commercial. For inquiries about other usage, please contact the Director of Collections and Engagement at mmeyers@ajhs.org.
For reference questions, please email: inquiries@cjh.org
Biographical Note <extptr actuate="onload" altrender="Contact Sheet" href="http://digital.cjh.org/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=4714811" show="embed" title="Contact Sheet"/>
Leonard "Leibel" Fein was born on July 1, 1934 in New York, New York. Fein attended the University of Chicago for his undergraduate students and earned his Ph.D. in political science from Michigan State University. He was a professor at MIT and Brandeis University in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1975, Fein and Elie Wiesel founded Moment Magazine. Fein was the editor-in-chief until he departed the magazine in 1987. In 1985, he founded MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and set up the National Jewish Coalition for Literacy in 1997. Fein died on August 14, 2014 in New York.
Extent
1.5 Linear Feet (3 manuscript boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Hebrew
Abstract
This collection contains correspondence, press clippings, and other materials relating to Fein's career and activities while editor-in-chief and publisher of Moment magazine.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged alphabetically.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Leonard Fein, 1987.
Processing Information
In 2016, an EAD container list was prepared from a PDF of the box list. In 2017, folder titles were rewritten in pencil, the collection was alphabetized, and additional description was added.
Subject
- Eliav, Arie L., 1921-2010 (Person)
- Novak, William (Person)
- Klutznick, Philip M., 1907-1999 (Person)
- Neusner, Jacob, 1932-2016 (Person)
- Schulweis, Harold M. (Person)
- Wiesel, Elie, 1928-2016 (Person)
- Fein, Leonard J. (Person)
- Brzezinski, Zbigniew, 1928-2017 (Person)
- Kahane, Meir (Person)
- Arens, Moshe (Person)
- Hayden, Tom (Person)
- Cohen, Gerson D. (Gerson David), 1924- (Person)
- American Jewish World Service (Organization)
- New Israel Fund (Organization)
- Munaẓẓamat al-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīnīyah (Organization)
- Title
- Guide to the Leonard Fein Papers, 1973-1987 P-582
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Nicole Greenhouse
- Date
- © 2017
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- 2016-11-22: PDF box list converted to EAD finding aid. Finding aid encoding revised by Janine Veazue.
- 2017-2-21: Additional description and rehousing by Nicole Greenhouse.
- September 2020: RJohnstone: post-ASpace migration cleanup.
Repository Details
Part of the American Jewish Historical Society Repository
