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Guide to the Else Lasker-Schüler Collection, circa 1913-2002, bulk 1913-1942

AR 265

Processed by Timothy Ryan Mendenhall

Leo Baeck Institute

Center for Jewish History

15 West 16th Street

New York, N.Y. 10011

Phone: (212) 744-6400

Fax: (212) 988-1305

Email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

URL: http://www.lbi.org

© 2011 Leo Back Institute, New York. All rights reserved.
Center for Jewish History, Publisher.
Finding aid encoded in EAD 2002 by Timothy Ryan Mendenhall on 2011-10-07. Finding aid written in English.
March 2012 Links to digital objects added in Container List.

Creator: Lasker-Schüler, Else,1869-1945
Title: Else Lasker-Schüler Collection
Dates: circa 1913-2002
Bulk Dates: bulk 1913-1942
Abstract: This collection contains letters and cards sent by Else Lasker-Schüler to Carl Seelig, Georg Koch, members of the Asher family and others, as well as 3 handwrittens drafts of poems which appear in Lasker-Schüler's Hebräische Balladen.
Languages: This collection is in German and English.
Quantity: 0.25 linear feet : 12 folders.
Identification: AR 265
Repository: Leo Baeck Institute Archives
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Biographical Note

Else Lasker-Schüler was a leading figure in the German avant-garde in the pre-war years. A poet, novelist, dramatist, illustrator and short story writer, she moved in 1933 to Switzerland before finally resettling in Jerusalam in 1940. She died in 1945.

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Scope and Content Note

This collection contains letters and cards sent by Else Lasker-Schüler to Carl Seelig, Georg Koch, members of the Asher family and others, as well as 3 handwrittens drafts of poems which appear in Lasker-Schüler's Hebräische Balladen.

The three manuscript poem do not vary in terms of textual content from their corresponding published versions, "Zebaoth," "Jakob und Esau," and "Sulamith" in Hebräische Balladen. Most of the letters and cards date from the period of Lasker-Schüler's exile in Switzerland and are personal and informal in nature. A few items date from her Berlin years, notably a card to Walther Rathenau (1921) and three cards to the artist Georg Koch. In addition, a few items of the correspondence were sent while on visits to Jerusalem, and one card dates to her final years there. The correspondence paints a vivid picture of the author's experience of displacement and of various experiences and hardships, personal, financial, and bureaucratic, that she had in Switzerland. A few of the letters contain drawings, some within the text of the letter and a couple on separate sheets included with the letter. Some of the correspondence has been translated into English (see folder 11). The final folder contains a a photo of Laker-Schüler's gravesite in Jerusalem, a German commerative postage stamp bearing her image, and finally an illustrated brochure advertisement for the Gesamtausgabe in zehn Bänden published by Paul Cassirer in 1919-1920.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Access Information

Readers may access the collection by visiting the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History. We recommend reserving the collection in advance; please visit the LBI Online Catalog and click on the "Request" button.

Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011
email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

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Access Points

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

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Related Material

See also the manuscripts:

See also the Frederick Asher Family CollectionAR 11877 and the Asher and Lewin Families CollectionAR 6188.

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Separated Material

A portrait photograph of Lasker-Schüler has been removed to the LBI Photograph Collection.

Clippings (originally filed as Else Lasker-Schüler Collection under the call number AR 983) have been removed to the Else Lasker-Schüler Clippings CollectionAR 265 C.

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Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); Else Lasker-Schüler Collection; AR 265; box number; folder number; Leo Baeck Institute.

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Other Finding Aid

The original German-language inventory is available in folder 1.

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Bibliography

Correspondence with Carl Seelig and Georg Koch was published in Briefe von Else Lasker-Schüler (Edited by Margarete Kupper. Munich: Kösel-Verlag, 1969) available at the LBI Library under call number PT 2623 A8 A12.

Three of the letters in this collection were published and annotated in Bulletin des Leo Baeck Institutsvolume 8 (Tel-Aviv: Verlag Bitaon, 1965; pages 1-6; call number DS 135 G3 A26).

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Container List

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.Follow the links to access the digitized materials.

 

Container list:

Box Folder Title Date
1 1 Manuscripts of poems from Hebräische Balladen: "Zebaoth," "Jakob und Esau," "Sulamith" circa 1913?
1 2 Letters and cards to Louis and Ines Asher 1922-1939
1 3 Letters and cards to Robert Asher 1930-1937
1 4 Letter to Carola Kaufmann 1934
1 5 Cards to Georg Koch 1913-1919
1 6 Cards to Edda Lindwurm-Lindner 1927-1936
1 7 Card to Walther Rathenau 1921
1 8 Letters and cards to Carl Seelig 1920-1939
1 9 Card to Dr. Stadler 1933
1 10 Card to Hans Zenger 1942
1 11 English translations by Hilde Waring of Lasker-Schüler's correspondence to Kaufmann, Koch, and Seelig circa 2002
1 12 Varia: Photograph of gravesite, postage stamp, brochure of Lasker-Schüler's works published by Cassirer-Verlag circa 1920-1978
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