Guide to the Papers of Joseph Bornstein (1899-1952),
1917-1952

AR 4082/MF 650

Series I: Personal, undated, 1941-1943

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Scope and Content:

This series contains a few items belonging to Joseph Bornstein; besides his portrait and several negatives, one can also find here documentation required for immigration into the United States. Besides forms there are also affidavits submitted on behalf of Joseph Bornstein and his correspondence with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service. Two of the affidavits were submitted by Joseph Bornstein's brother and sister who were granted citizenship in the United States earlier. The folder also contains a short biographical sketch of Joseph Bornstein.

Series II: Correspondence, 1941-1952

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by name.

Scope and Content:

This series contains correspondence that deals mostly with re-connecting with friends in exile. The friends informed Joseph Bornstein about their whereabouts during the Second World War and their after-war life and asked about their mutual friends, most frequently about Alfred Polgar, Valeriu Marcu, Thomas Mann, and Leopold Schwarzschild. It also includes eighteen letters Joseph Bornstein wrote to Jacqueline Lindner, later his wife, from his trip to Santa Monica, California.

Series III: Writings, undated, 1945-1952

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Scope and Content:

The majority of material pertains to Joseph Bornstein's book Politics of Murder. It contains several chapters and research material, as well as correspondence with publishers regarding this book. Other contracts and correspondence give away some of the intentions and plans of Joseph Bornstein that remained unfinished due to his early death. He continued to pursue his interest in investigating various cases of political violence before and after the Second World War. There are some research notes and correspondence regarding a project on the "Final Solution" and preparatory work on "Hidden Gold," a story about ten tons of gold that disappeared from the Reichsbank safe. The series also contains a short text about the Russian writer Boris Pil´niak (1894-1937), "The Story of the Unextinguished Moon." This text gives a fictional account based of the true story of Boris Pil´niak, whose novel on criminal doctors in the Soviet Union during Stalin's rule. Some parts of Joseph Bornstein's work were prepared for separate publication in magazines.

1) Politics of Murder

2) Other works

Series IV: Professional, 1926, 1945-1952

Arrangement:

Arranged by topic.

• Subseries 1: Hesse, Hermann
• Subseries 2: Moravia, Alberto
• Subseries 3: Others
  • A) Correspondence
  • B) Manuscripts

Scope and Content:

This series contains letters that relate to Joseph Bornstein's work at the literary agency with Liesl (Elisabeth) Frank. This agency represented foreign authors, among them Hermann Hesse and Alberto Moravia, in the American literary market, and tried to place American authors with European publishers, as well. The manuscripts and some correspondence also suggest that Joseph Bornstein tried to offer political works of Valeriu Marcu to American publishers. Most of the correspondence is addressed to Liesl Frank.

Subseries 1: Hesse, Hermann, undated, 1946-1948

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Scope and Content:

The material in this series relates to the activities of the literary agency to find a publisher for some of the works of Hermann Hesse. It contain letters to Walter Meier, who handled the foreign rights for Hermann Hesse's works while Hermann Hesse was hospitalized, including the offer for option, beginning of the collaboration, and conditions under which Joseph Bornstein and Liesl Frank ought to represent Hermann Hesse. Some of Hermann Hesse's works were already represented by other agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom. Correspondence with the lawyers of Hermann Hesse and with other agencies, namely the European-American Literary Agency and Rochefort Productions, which further clarified the terms of representation regarding the works of Hermann Hesse. Contracts and reviews of Hermann Hesse's books published in the United States, as well as shorter pieces by Hermann Hesse can also be found in this subseries. There are also some letters that document the interest of Paramount Pictures to adapt Steppenwolf into a movie, but they dropped the idea in the end.

Subseries 2: Moravia, Alberto, 1945-1952

Scope and Content:

The bulk of this subseries is the correspondence with publishers placing Alberto Moravia's books or answering questions regarding the rights. The subseries contains contracts, clarification of conditions and rights, as well as some publicity and book reviews of Alberto Moravia's books. Among the books that Liesl (Elisabeth) Frank and Joseph Bornstein represented in the United States were La Romana (Woman of Rome); Mascerata (The Fancy Dress); La Disubbidienza (Disobedience), and Agostino.

Subseries 3: Other, undated

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Scope and Content:

This subseries consists of correspondence with publishers regarding other authors, among them writings of Valeriu Marcu, Gideon Scharlach, and Gerhard Haug in the United States. Several manuscripts are anonymous, but three of them were attributed to Valeriu Marcu.

A) Correspondence

B) Manuscripts

Series V: Joseph Roth, 1917-1939

Arrangement:

Arranged by topic.

• Subseries 1: Personal
• Subseries 2: Handwritten notes
• Subseries 3: Poems
• Subseries 4: Correspondence
  • A) Personal
  • B) Professional

Scope and Content:

This series consists of material related to Joseph Roth. It contains a few of his personal documents, some handwritten notes, and a collection of his poems. The biggest part of this collection is Joseph Roth's correspondence, both personal and business. A clear division, however, could not be made, since Joseph Roth discussed business issues with his friends and many of his friends worked as editors or literary agents. There are over four hundred letters in this series spanning the years 1926-1939, with the exception of the family correspondence that reaches back till 1917. In these letters Joseph Roth discussed a broad scale of topics from politics and religion to the Jewish question.

Subseries 1: Personal, undated, 1926-1939

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains several personal items belonging to Joseph Roth and his wife Friederike (Friedl) Roth. Along with some of his membership cards, there are also various hotel receipts in this series, a business card of Friederike Roth, and copies of pictures from Siberia.

Subseries 2: Handwritten notes, undated, 1927, 1937

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains circa one hundred and thirty loose pages (usually notebook pages) with various notes, observations, reminders, and addresses, often related to Joseph Roth's trips. There are notes from various German cities, some French, and a large number of notebook pages from his trip to Russia. Several pages contain research notes.

Subseries 3: Poems, undated, 1917?

Arrangement:

The poems in the folder are separated into four portions and are in order alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

This subseries consists of seventy-eight poems written by Joseph Roth, divided into four portions and within which they are arranged alphabetically. There is no reason for this division given nor is one discernible. Some of them were written during Joseph Roth's military service. The poems were in a dossier that was labeled Wasno Pauli Grüber 1917 and Eigentum von Paula Grüber 1939 [Property of Paula Grüber].

Subseries 4: Correspondence, 1917-1939

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetical by the last name of the addressee.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains both business and personal correspondence. The personal letters were often reactions and comments of readers on Joseph Roth's articles. There are usually not more then one or two letters from one correspondent. A majority of the letters comment on the articles published in the German-language exile publications, such as Das Neue Tagebuch. One can find here several letters and cards from members of Joseph Roth's family, including his step-parents, his uncle Norbert Grübel and his cousin Paula Grübel. Other individuals whose letters can be found here include Isaac Babel, Lion Feuchtwanger, Victor Gollancz, Egon Erwin Kisch, Thomas Mann, Carl von Ossietzky, Max Picard, Alfred Polgar, Max Reinhardt, and others.

The business correspondence holds letters with various literary agents, editors of various European publishing houses and pertains to the rights to Joseph Roth's books, royalties, contracts, and various negotiations. Most of the correspondents are represented by a single letter or by only a few letters, except the publishing houses Allert de Lange N.V. (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Oprecht Verlag (Zürich, Switzerland), Em. Querido's Uitgeverij (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Uitgeverij De Gemeenschap (Bilthoven, the Netherlands). Their correspondence with Joseph Roth contains ten letters.

A) Personal

B) Professional