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Else Lasker-Schüler Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 265

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.

Dates

  • Creation: circa 1913-2002
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1913-1942

Creator

Language of Materials

This collection is in German and English.

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

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.

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet (12 folders)

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 .

Other Finding Aid

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

Related Material

See also the manuscripts:

  1. Else Lasker-Schüler: A German-Jewish poet in exile by Evelyn Torton Beck , MS 835 (1971; English ; typescript: 12 pages + 6 pages of footnotes)
  2. Form Und Struktur der Bildlichkeit bei Else Lasker-Schüler by Brigitte Baldrian , MF 304 [1924; typescript; 259 pages; German ; Dissertation for Albert Ludwig Universität zu Freiburg]
  3. Else Lasker-Schüler by Walther Huder , MS 834 (1965; German ; typed transcription of a lecture delivered at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin: 7 pages)

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 Collection AR 265 C .

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 Instituts volume 8 (Tel-Aviv: Verlag Bitaon, 1965; pages 1-6; call number DS 135 G3 A26).
Title
Guide to the Else Lasker-Schüler Collection, circa 1913-2002, bulk 1913-1942 AR 265
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Timothy Ryan Mendenhall
Date
© 2011
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Revision Statements

  • March 2012: Links to digital objects added in Container List.

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States