Colonel Seymour J. Pomrenze Papers

This collection comprises the papers of Colonel Sholom (Seymour) Jacob Pomrenze (1916-2011). It contains materials relating to Pomrenze’s role as the first director of the Offenbach Archival Depot (OAD) in early 1946, as well as documentation of his career as a records management and archives consultant for the American Jewish cultural sector. It also includes some biographical material.

The Offenbach Archival Depot (OAD) was the United States Army’s collection point for cultural materials that had been looted by the Nazi unit Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR). Pomrenze was the first leader of the OAD. Materials found here are originals and photocopies of documentation created at the OAD. A highlight is two three-inch binders entitled "Library Markings found among the looted books in the archival depot." Prepared under the direction of the depot's second leader, Captain Bencowitz, the binders contain thousands of photographs of ex libris and library markings found in the books processed by the OAD. Photocopies of other OAD materials, such as correspondence, monthly reports, and photograph albums, are also found here. Other materials concern Pomrenze’s subsequent engagement with the scholarly community studying the OAD and similar restitution issues, as well as his own recounting of the story of the depot in lectures, writings, and an oral history. Also found here is a small book of Exodus in Hebrew, published in Paris in 1809.

Materials from Pomrenze’s second career, as a records management and archives consultant after his retirement from the Army in 1977, make up the bulk of this collection. These include files from his extensive roster of clients, primarily Jewish non-profit organizations. The largest volume of papers concerns his work for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Council of Jewish Federations, and the United Jewish Appeal. He also worked for dozens of other organizations, such as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and its Mordecai Kaplan Archives. The types of documents found include correspondence, memos, notes, records management plans, research requests, sample records handling forms, box and folder lists, surveys, organizational charts, and consulting agreements. Pomrenze often arranged for Jewish cultural organizations to transfer their records of enduring historical value to an appropriate archival repository, such as the American Jewish Archives (AJA), the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS), and YIVO, and that is reflected in these files. Also found here are records management materials that are not client-specific, such as policies from various clients on access of materials to outside researchers; teaching materials from Pomrenze's tenure as a professor of records management at American University; and general records management documents. Also included are what appear to be Pomrenze's general correspondence files, which contain correspondence with researchers, various records management clients and archives, ARMA, SAA, and students, as well as some clippings and business cards. Pomrenze was assigned by the National Archives in 1949 to document President Truman's inauguration and inaugural gala, and programs, a clipping, and a manual about records of inaugural committees can also be found here. This collection also contains Pomrenze's published writings on records management, as well as his alphabetical subject files. The materials are primarily related to records management -- clippings, manuals, catalogs, vendor correspondence, sample forms, retention schedules, and the like. There are also materials relating to Offenbach and restitution of books, including items about the Jewish materials still in Lithuania. Additional documents relating to specific clients of Pomrenze's, such as records surveys and manuals, are also found in the subject files.

The collection also contains some personal materials, including awards and associated correspondence, and biographical and informational documents such as Who's Who entries, clippings of articles about Pomrenze (mostly photocopies), some military records, and CVs.