Guide to the Ofra D. Core Collection
Undated, 1909-2010

AR 25421

Series I: Hugo Bergmann, undated, 1909-1996.

Scope and Content:

This series contains materials by and about Ofra Core's father-in-law, the noted German-Jewish and Israeli philosopher Hugo Bergmann (1883-1975). Bergmann was the son-in-law of famed Prague salon hostess Berta Fanta, and a committed Zionist who emigrated from Prague to Palestine in 1919. He helped found the library for what would later become Hebrew University. He was also a professor of philosophy there until 1955.

The series contains over twenty letters, written in Hebrew, from Hugo Bergmann to his son Uri Bergmann. On the back of one letter from 1948 is written a German letter to Hugo's wife Else Bergmann. Other correspondence includes almost 40 pages of typed copies of Hugo Bergmann's letters to his wife and parents during his service in the Austrian military, as well as a handful of letters from and between Hugo and his other children Martin and Eva. The series also contains a few of Hugo Bergmann's writings, primarily undated typescripts in Hebrew, as well as clippings about him. Other materials about him and his family include an excerpt from his mother's diary, and copies of other writings about him by his contemporaries such as Max Brod.

The photographs in this series include 1996 snapshots of the Fanta pharmacy in Prague; a portrait of Bergmann; two snapshots from a birthday celebration at the university in 1963; and a photo-postcard with Berta Fanta taken in Marienbad in 1910. See also the photo album in series II for additional photographs of Hugo Bergmann.

Series II: David Core (Uri Bergmann), undated, 1933-2010.

Scope and Content:

This series contains materials by and about David Core (born Uriel ("Uri") Bergmann), who was Hugo Bergmann's son and the husband of Ofra Core. It contains a handwritten Hebrew poem by Nobel laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon, written for Core on the occasion of his Bar Mitzvah in 1935. The folder also includes a typescript, a transliteration, and an English translation of the poem.

The series includes a photo album that contains snapshots, mostly of Core's youth in Palestine/Israel. It also includes photos with his wife Ofra. Some other family members are also pictured, including Hugo Bergmann. Some Hebrew is written on the back of some of the photos. Negatives of a few prints are found in following folder, as are some loose photographs, including one of poet S. Y. Agnon. Photocopies of many of the scrapbook pages and of the loose photos were sent to Ofra Core, who identified some of the persons.

The series also includes Core's vital and educational records, many as photocopies, as well as some identification cards. The Mayuka materials folder contains printed and manuscript material about Core's engagement with the Mayuka movement, a Japanese Christian sect with Zionist beliefs. The Various folder includes ephemera, clippings about Israel and the politician Yehoshafat Harkabi, correspondence with congressman Ed Koch about the inclusion of birth place data on passports, and off-prints of psychological articles by relatives.

Series III: Ofra D. Core, undated, 1942-2004.

Scope and Content:

This series contains professional and educational materials by Ofra Core. She was chief of the Registry Section at United Nations Headquarters, New York, and wrote many internal manuals and guidelines. She also published articles in archival journal The American Archivist. The professional and consulting materials here include a CV, correspondence, and a book review. The publications are mostly United Nations records management manuals.

Her educational materials are entirely in Hebrew and include some class notes and her dissertation, "Tchernichovsky and Schneour as the Successors of Judah Leib Gordon, Micah Joseph Lebenson, and Abraham Dov Ben Lebenson." She received an MA in Humanities from Hebrew University, Jerusalem, in 1945.