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Jakob Wassermann Autographs Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 253

Scope and Content Note

In Series I, the collection contains 37 letters and postcards written by Jakob Wassermann to family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, covering a variety of topics, from the deeply personal (his negative feelings toward his wife), to the professional (the sale of his books), and to the mundane (his appreciation for the United States). Most letters are accompanied by typed transcripts.

Private correspondence is addressed, among others, to his cousin Frieda Hirsch (2 copied letters, 1916); and to Elly Hirschfeld-Peterson (4 letters, 1899-1919). Private and professional in nature are his letters to the writers Arthur Schnitzler (1923), who had congratulated Wassermann to his 50th birthday; to Sophie Hoechstetter (4 letters, 1906-1907); to Robert Held (1921); to Oskar Schmitz (1908); to Montague „Monty“ Jacobs (1903); and to Max Krell (1926). A statement about Jewish identity was sent to H.W. Callmann (1933).

Wassermann’s professional correspondence is represented by four letters to his publisher Fischer (1918-1923), one of them accompanying a manuscript; and to the editor Hanns von Gumppenberg in Munich (3 letters, 1910-1911).

A postcard was sent to the artist [Susanne] Carvallo-Schulein (1930), who drew Wassermann’s portraits. He also sat for the artist Emil Orlik, as he admitted to Elly Hirschfeld-Peterson in 1899.

Series II: Manuscripts contains next to two short handwritten essays, two complete versions of Jakob Wassermann’s novel Gaensemaennchen in his own hand. The novel was published in 1915.

Dates

  • Creation: 1898-1933

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is in German.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Access Information

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

Jakob Wassermann was born 1873 in Fuerth, Germany. He worked as a journalist in Germany and in Switzerland, before publishing his first novel ‘Melusine’ in 1896. Shortly after he moved to Austria where he lived alternatively in Vienna and in the spa-town Altaussee, where he died in 1934.

Writer (1874-1934).

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet

Abstract

The collection contains 37 letters and postcards written by Jakob Wassermann to family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances, covering a variety of topics, from the deeply personal (his negative feelings toward his wife), to the professional (the sale of his books), and to the mundane (his appreciation for the United States). Most letters are accompanied by typed transcripts.

Arrangement

  1. Series I: Correspondence, 1898-1933
  2. Series II: Manuscripts, undated

Other Finding Aid

See inventory.

Title
Guide to the Jakob Wassermann Autographs Collection, 1898-1933  AR 253
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by LBI Staff
Date
© 2009
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Revision Statements

  • February 2013:: 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