Tag Archives: Top News

Einstein Medical Center History

September 28, 2015History NewsAmerican Jewish History, History News, History of Medicine, Top NewsMargery Sly

Jewish Hospital and Home, 1879 — Illustration of Jewish Hospital and Home designed by Frank Furness and George W. Hewitt, Fourteenth Annual Report of the Jewish Hospital, 1879

On September 23, 1865, Jewish leaders in Philadelphia incorporated the Jewish Hospital Association of Philadelphia, now known as Einstein Medical Center. In the aftermath of the Civil War, the association’s officers, led by Alfred T. Jones, Isadore Binswanger, Samuel Weil, and Mayer Sulzberger, sought to erect a hospital under Jewish auspices in response to the lack medical care afforded to members of the Jewish community and the employment discrimination Jews were subject to at other area hospitals. The preamble to the constitution of the Jewish Hospital Association states “It is the duty of Israelites to take care of the suffering and needy ones among them, and as the sick are especially objects of charity and public solicitude, and since there is no institution now in existence within the State of Pennsylvania under the control of Israelites wherein they can place their sick, and where these can enjoy during their illness all the benefits and consolations of our religion.”

On August 6, 1866, the Jewish Hospital opened for the reception of patients. The original building was located at Haverford Road and 56th Street in West Philadelphia with room for twenty patients–ten for the sick and ten for inmates of the Asylum for the Aged, Infirm, and Destitute. Philadelphia’s Jewish Hospital was the third such hospital to be established in the United States after the Cincinnati Jewish Hospital (1849) and the Jews’ Hospital of New York (1852). In its first five months of operation, the hospital treated twenty-eight patients including three “non-Israelites.” Nonsectarian from its inception, the Jewish Hospital was committed to “reducing or eliminating the attitudes and prejudices that mixed medical practice with religious and moral views.” Unlike other hospitals in Philadelphia at the time, the Jewish Hospital was “was free of charge to all poor and worthy applicants without regard to nationality or creed.”

Jewish Hospital staff, 1896 — Nurses, resident physician Dr. Edwin Jarecki, and Dr. Knipe, Jewish Hospital, York and Tabor Roads, 1896

To learn more about the history of the Albert Einstein Medical Center and its predecessor, the Jewish Hospital, use the hospital archives and these resources in the Special Collections Research Center: Mankind and Medicine: A History of Philadelphia’s Albert Einstein Medical Center by Maxwell Whiteman; Edwin A. Jarecki, M.D. Resident Physician Jewish Hospital of Philadelphia, 1892-1934 by William I. Heine; and History of the Jewish Hospital Association of Philadelphia by Henry N. Wessel.

-Jessica M. Lydon, Associate Archivist SCRC

Remembering 9/11/2001

September 9, 2015History NewsArtists' Books, History News, Top NewsMargery Sly

In 2006, as a tribute to the World Trade Center victims on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, book artist Werner Pfeiffer created Out of the Sky: 9/11. A constructed book, it consists of a series of segments, illustrated by woodcut images of falling victims and their names. When assembled, the book represents a model of the World Trade Center and is over 5 feet tall. As the book is deconstructed for storage, that action mirrors the falling of the towers. The book includes Pfeiffer’s written reflections, colored by his childhood in World War II Germany and his memories of witnessing the towers’ collapse from Pratt Institute’s rooftop in Brooklyn.

Temple University Libraries’ Special Collection Research Center houses number 41 of the limited edition of 52. View the book in Paley Library lobby on Friday, September 11, 2015.

See a youtube video of Pfeiffer discussing Out of the Sky, or read more about Pfeiffer in Jonathan Rinck’s International Sculpture Center blog.

Out of the Sky in Paley on September 11, 2015

Additions to the Artists’ Book Collection

August 19, 2015History NewsArtists' Books, History News, Rare Books, Top NewsMargery Sly

The over seven hundred artists’ books housed in the Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center are a rich resource for Temple faculty and students in a variety of art and humanities disciplines. Artists’ books often defy standard descriptions but are broadly described as any work of original art created in book format or which takes the book as its primary mode of expression. Students, many from the Tyler School of Art, studying topics such as book structures, narrative, 2D foundation principles, and book arts in general, have visited the SCRC reading room to explore and be inspired by examples from the SCRC’s collection.

Clock Work Fish artists's book — Clock Work Fish

In the first weeks of this fall semester, there are already three different courses, two from the Graphic and Interactive Design program in Tyler and one from the English department, whose instructors have integrated the use of SCRC’s artists’ books into their syllabuses. Collecting artists’ books and making them available to users serves our mission to collect, preserve, and make accessible unique materials to enrich teaching and learning at Temple.

The artists’ books collection, which includes titles from the former library at Tyler School of Art, has grown exponentially over the last few years with several new titles added annually. The following artists’ books have recently been added to the SCRC’s collections, and we invite users to visit them.

The artists’ book shown above demonstrates the often whimsical quality of the book arts. Created by Guy Himber, Clock Work Fish is made entirely from LEGOs and consists of illustrations printed on vinyl pages. It is fully functional and consists of over 200 LEGO parts. More information and images can be found in the Libraries’ catalog record.

Another recent acquisition, this artists’ book by an Egyptian artist, Islam Mahmoud Mohamed Aly, is entitled Echoes. It is a finely wrought piece of craftsmanship, combining a traditional Coptic binding with the modern technology of laser engraved image and laser etched wooden boards. Inspired by the chants of protestors during the Egyptian Spring of 2011, the Arabic words for Bread, Freedom, and Social Justice are repeated throughout the design. More information and images can be found in the Libraries’ catalog record.

Cosmeceutical Collection artists' book — Cosmeceutical Collection

Unlike the first two examples which fuse unusual materials and illustrative techniques with the familiar codex structure, this artists’ book by Alicia Bailey entitled Cosmeceutical Collection, uses non-traditional “book” structures in the form of cosmetic containers, including an eyeshadow case, a mascara wand, and a compact case, to house her three miniature books. Bailey writes of the work: “…given my mistrust of both consumerism and culturally dictated notions of female beauty, I am also repulsed by these shrines to artificial beauty.” This title is so new to the collection that it’s not yet cataloged, but will be available soon.

Kimberly Tully
Curator of Rare Books
Special Collections Research Center

From the Philadelphia Jewish Archives: Hollywood Mysteries

July 16, 2015History NewsAmerican Jewish History, Film history, History News, Top NewsMargery Sly

Scholars have long been interested in the cultural and socioeconomic conditions that led Jews to success in the early film industry. Jewish immigrants, and particularly those from Eastern Europe, were adept at developing film technology and skilled at writing, directing, and marketing movies. Even the moguls who created Hollywood’s studio system–William Fox, Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer, and Adolph Zukor, among others–were Jewish immigrants who rose from unprepossessing circumstances to become some of the most powerful men in the country. In books, articles, and documentaries, historians and film buffs have attempted to explain this unique aspect of film history.

What’s been less well-studied, however, is the relationship between Hollywood and Philadelphia’s own rich Jewish history. And I must admit that I’ve never given it much thought either, despite being a Philadelphia Jewish Archives collections project archivist in the Special Collections Research Center and classic film enthusiast. That changed, however, after I discovered an intriguing letter in the Robert B. Wolf and Morris Wolf Papers.

Robert and his father, Morris, were prominent members of the Philadelphia Jewish community. Morris served with the American Red Cross during World War I and was stationed in Paris. It was among his letters from France that I came across a curious passage:

Dated December 26, 1918, the letter is addressed to Morris’ father, Edwin. “Dear Father:” Morris wrote, “I made my first visit to a moving picture house last evening….There was a picture of Gaby Deslys’s, which I thought was very good. It seems to me that Goldwyn would make a tremendous hit by trying to get say five pictures a year with this star for the United States.” He later reminded, “I suggest that you speak to Goldwyn about it.”

Call me crazy, but was Morris Wolf referring to THE Sam Goldwyn? The famous producer of dozens of classic American films? If he was, then what was the connection between the Wolf family and the Hollywood film industry?

A search of the collection produced more hints, but frustratingly few answers. I found an employment contract for First National Pictures, a film company that merged with Warner Bros. in 1928. The collection also includes a 1959 Philadelphia Inquirer article that mentions that the family starred in and produced Westerns at a Montgomery County motion picture studio (Betzwood, anyone?)

Hoping to find more information, I turned to secondary sources. To my surprise, I found that little has been written about Philadelphia Jews and their role in the national film industry. To be sure, Siegmund Lubin’s career has been well documented, but there are significant gaps in the literature on this subject.

So, if anyone out there decides to tackle this topic, Morris Wolf and I will be eagerly awaiting your findings. Until then, feel free to use the Robert B. Wolf and Morris Wolf Papers and take a stab at unravelling the mystery yourself….

— Jenna Marrone, SCRC Project Archivist

Photograph of Morris Wolf in uniform, 1918

Launching Aeon

June 30, 2015History NewsHistory News, Top NewsMargery Sly

On July 1, 2015, after beta testing in June (thank you, testers), the Special Collections Research Center is launching its new ‘Aeon’ system—an on-line user registration, request, and circulation tracking system.

Aeon was developed by Atlas Systems, Inc. and replaces hand-written paper registration forms and call slips, in-house databases, Excel spreadsheets, and many other forms of tracking, with a single, centralized system for all special collections and archives circulation functions. Researchers can register online, request items from home by clicking on a “request item” link within Temple’s Diamond catalog and SCRC finding aids, and monitor their use of materials within their own accounts. Staff can track a book or box’s travels from the stacks to the reading room, exhibition, class presentation, cataloging, or digitization and back again to the stacks.

Used by over 40 special collections and archives units in academic and independent research libraries all over the country, Aeon improves the user experience, generates reliable statistics, provides better collection security, and informs collection development. Aeon’s usefulness is recognized across the archives and special collections research community, and researchers enjoy the familiar interface that speeds their work at major research institutions, including, locally, the University of Pennsylvania and the American Philosophical Society.

Sign up for your SCRC Researcher Account today and engage with the rich and varied special collections and archives that Temple University Libraries offers it students and faculty, scholars from all over the world, and the general public.

Walter Massey Phillips, Philadelphia Renaissance Man

May 11, 2015History NewsHistory News, Philadelphia History, Top NewsMargery Sly

Tugs list kept by Phillips — Page from a notebook kept by Walter Massey Phillips recording tugboats seen on the Delaware River, 1920s. Walter Massey Phillips Papers, SCRC 136, Special Collections Research Center.

Walter M. Phillips, Sr. (1912-1985) was active in Philadelphia civic affairs for more than thirty years, particularly during the period of the 1940s-1960s, which was known as the “Philadelphia Renaissance.” During this time, political organizers worked for reform of what was seen as an immensely corrupt city government. While Phillips was an enormous political presence behind the scenes, he never held a political office, and by all accounts his reticent personality kept his significant role in the Philadelphia reform movement from wider renown. However, noted architect and city planner Edmund Bacon once called Phillips “the greatest single figure in the renaissance.”

A graduate of Episcopal Academy, Princeton, and Harvard Law School, Phillips was a chief organizer of the City Policy Committee, President of the Citizens’ Council on City Planning, Board Member of the Greater Philadelphia Movement, President of the Philadelphia Housing Association, Executive Secretary with the Delaware River Basin Advisory Committee, Trustee of Lincoln University, Director of the Honey Hollow Watershed Association, and Board Member of the Committee of Seventy. He managed Joseph Clark’s successful race for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1951, served in Clark’s cabinet as City Representative and Director of Commerce through 1955, and was the (unsuccessful) reform candidate against Mayor James Tate in the 1963 Democratic primary election.

Phillips during mayoral race — Walter Massey Phillips during the 1963 mayoral race, May 1963. Walter Massey Phillips Papers, SCRC 136, Special Collections Research Center

After retiring, Phillips initiated an oral history project, and, between 1974 and 1980, interviewed approximately 160 of the local civic and government leaders with whom he had worked. The interviews generally discuss Philadelphia city government and history between the late 1930s and the 1970s.

The Special Collections Research Center holds Phillips’ personal papers as well as cassette tapes, transcripts (many of which are now available online), and background information from his oral history project. His papers document his life, career, and the nature of civic decision making at the policy level in mid-twentieth century Philadelphia. In addition to records from and related to the many Philadelphia organizations and networks in which Phillips was involved, there are also personal items, such as family photos and a diary of Phillips’ 1936 trip to the Yukon.

–Katy Rawdon, Coordinator of Technical Services, SCRC

Franklin H. Littell Papers open for research

March 11, 2015History NewsHistory News, Legal History, Religion, Top NewsMargery Sly

The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) at Temple University Libraries is pleased to announce that the Franklin H. Littell collection is open and available for research.

View the finding aid on the Libraries’ website, along with portions of the papers which have been digitized. Dr. Littell’s extensive library is cataloged and is available for use along with the papers in the SCRC reading room on the Ground Floor of Paley Library.

Franklin Littell (1917-2009), emeritus professor of religion at Temple University, led a distinguished career that spanned more than seventy years. He was a pacifist and activist, proponent of the Christian Laity and an advocate for new religious movements, an historian, political commentator and supporter of the State of Israel. He devoted ten years to work with the Protestant Churches and Laity in US-occupied Germany and more than fifty years to the study and remembrance of the Holocaust and German Church Struggle. He career is marked by strong beliefs in interfaith understanding and religious liberty.

The Littell and Sachs families donated Dr. Littell’s papers and library to Temple in 2010, where they were the focus of a three-year cataloging and processing project. Processing of the collection was funded through a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Inc., and generous support from Norman Braman.

Reading Orphan Train

February 17, 2015History NewsHistory News, Top NewsMargery Sly

This year’s One Book, One Philadelphia book is Christina Baker Kline’s Orphan Train, which traces the story of an Irish immigrant girl who lands in New York City, loses her family in a tenement fire in 1929, and is sent west on an orphan train. It “connects us with the importance of heritage and memories in shaping who we are, the value of intergenerational relationships, and the fundamental power of family.”

The Temple Libraries Book Club will discuss the book tomorrow, February 18, 2015, at noon in Paley Lecture Hall. All are welcome.

The novel could just as easily have told the story of immigrants arriving in Philadelphia, and that range of experience is featured in the spring exhibit, found on the ground, first, and mezzanine floors of Paley Library. Drawn from the archival and rare book collections in the Special Collections Research Center, the exhibit looks at themes from Orphan Train through the lens of Philadelphia history.

From the Philadelphia Jewish Archives: the Leo L. Honor Papers

January 7, 2015History NewsReligion, Top NewsMargery Sly

The Leo L. Honor Papers, a recently processed collection now open for research, is one of a few collections in the SCRC that document the growth of Jewish education in Philadelphia in the twentieth century. Dr. Leo Lazarus Honor was an educator who for much of his career taught Jewish teachers how to teach, and, in the process, mentored a generation of Jewish educators. Dr. Honor was an advocate for religious education and believed that an engaging curriculum of Jewish studies would encourage young people to identify with their heritage from an early age. Honor was well known for emphasizing religious education based on unity, rather than uniformity. His dedication to the Jewish teaching profession and his inclusive approach to religious education made Honor a leading and well-respected Jewish educator.

For more information about the Leo L. Honor Papers, view the online finding aid

-Jenna Marrone Olszak, Project Archivist and Jessica M. Lydon, Associate Archivist, Special Collections Research Center

Science Fiction Manuscripts in the Libraries: Three Examples

August 5, 2014History NewsHistory News, Science Fiction, Top NewsMargery Sly

Recently, a reference request came in through the Special Collections Research Center general email, asking for information about three of our science fiction manuscript collections: the Stanley G. Weinbaum Papers, the Lloyd Arthur Eshbach Papers and Fantasy Press Archives, and the Arthur Leo Zagat Manuscripts. While the Weinbaum papers already had a finding aid on our web site, it needed revision. The Eshbach and Zagat collections had finding aids in electronic format, but they had not yet made it onto our web site.

Photograph of Stanley G. Weinbaum, undated.

We call these “legacy finding aids” – finding aids written some years ago, that likely do not meet current archival structures and standards, and which require some revision before we can make them available online. Working through these finding aids and posting them to our web site is an often lengthy process, but a satisfying one in that it greatly increases awareness of the collections in question.

The Paskow Science Fiction Collection within the SCRC is perhaps best known for its extensive holdings of science fiction and fantasy books. In addition to multiple editions of primarily 20th century books, the collection contains pulp magazines, general and Star Trek/Klingon-related fanzines, posters, fliers, and convention ephemera.

Less well known is the fact that the science fiction collection also contains manuscript materials. The papers of Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, Tom Purdom, John Varley, Stanley G. Weinbaum, Felix Gotschalk, Arthur Leo Zagat, the Enterprising Women Fan Fiction Collection, and the Arthur Langley Searles Collection of H. P. Lovecraft Research Files are a few of the gems found in the collection.

Letter from Wonder Stories to Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, January 27, 1931.

The Weinbaum, Eshbach, and Zagat collections all contain a mix of manuscripts of published and unpublished short stories and novels, and correspondence with editors, agents, publishers, and authors. Much of the material is from the 1930s and 1940s, and provides a glimpse into that era of science fiction writing and publishing, particular in the pulp magazine area.

First page of a corrected typescript for Lloyd Arthur Eshbach’s story, “The Beast-Men.”

SCRC staff are working to verify existing inventories, update and standardize the format of finding aids, and prepare our collections for research use. The Weinbaum, Eshbach, and Zagat papers are three such collections that are now ready and waiting for interested researchers to visit the SCRC and discover their amazing content.

–Katy Rawdon, Coordinator of Technical Services, SCRC