Siegfried Altmann Collection
Scope and Content Note
The Siegfried Altmann Collection holds material on Siegfried Altmann himself, the Jewish Institute for the Blind in Vienna, "Israelitisches Blinden-Institute Hohe Warte Wien", and his correspondence with various celebrities and institutions. It consists of a guestbook, a manuscript, correspondence, autographs, articles, and an obituary. Particularly prominent in this collection is material on Siegfried Altmann's lifetime achievement and his communication with famous authors and artists as well as with rabbis.
Series I contains information about Siegfried Altmann. There are a few articles about him, an obituary, and correspondence with the International Red Cross.
In Series II one will find autographs from authors and artists as well as a collection of correspondence with famous personalities, among them Richard Beer-Hoffmann and Bruno Walter.
The last series consists of the guestbook of the Jewish Institute for the Blind Hohe Warte in Vienna.
Dates
- Creation: 1872-1963
Creator
- Altmann, Siegfried, 1887-1963 (Person)
Language of Materials
The collection is in German and English.
Access Restrictions
Open to researchers.
Access Information
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
Readers may access the collection by visiting the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History. We recommend reserving the collection in advance; please visit the LBI Online Catalog and click on the "Reserve" button.
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
Siegfried Altmann was born on July 12th, 1887 in Nikolsburg, Austria-Hungary (now Mikulov, Czech Republic). He studied social work and became the director of the Jewish Institute for the Blind Hohe Warte in Vienna.
Altmann left Vienna in 1939 and immigrated to the United States. He started working as business director of the Austrian Institute in New York until he became director of the entire institute in 1958. Siegfried Altmann died on September 14th, 1963 in New York City.
The Israelitisches Blinden-Institut was founded upon an initiative of Ludwig August Frankl; Jonas Freiherr von Königswarter donated the building, which was inducted on December 1, 1872, with Rabbi Adolf Jellinek and Cantor Salomon Sulzer being present. The institute took care of blind children and young adults, providing them with vocational training.
Extent
0.5 Linear Feet
Abstract
The Siegfried Altmann Collection contains primarily his correspondence with various luminaries and other personalities, the International Red Cross, as well as materials pertaining to the Jewish Institute for the Blind in Hohe Warte, Vienna. Documents consist of a guestbook, a manuscript, articles, an obituary, autographs, and correspondence.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in three series.
Other Finding Aid
An item-level inventory from 1966 is available. It lists a few famous personalities who signed the guestbook and all the names of the correspondents in Series II.
Separated Material
A Torah Scroll and a Megilla of Rabbi Hirsch Perez Chajes as well as a Torah Pointer of Ludwig August Frankl have been moved to the LBI Art and Object Collection.
The photo album of the Jewish Institute for the Blind has been moved to the Photo Collection.
A memoir by Siegfried Altmann is catalogued separately in the LBI memoir collection, ME 11 and MF 71/4.
Processing Information
This collection has been restructured and changed from the old inventory. The Varia Series has been put in a series called Siegfried Altmann. Also the Autograph Series has been renamed into Autographs and Correspondence (Series II), and the folders have been rearranged. The Guestbook Series is now Series III.
Subject
- Altmann, Siegfried, 1887-1963 (Person)
- Beer-Hofmann, Richard, 1866-1945 (Person)
- Hayek, Max, 1882-1944 (Person)
- Torberg, Friedrich, 1908-1979 (Person)
- Walter, Bruno, 1876-1962 (Person)
- Ziegler, Ignaz, 1861-1948 (Person)
- Israelitisches Blinden-Institut (Vienna, Austria) (Organization)
- Red Cross and Red Crescent (Organization)
- Austrian Jewish Representative Committee (Organization)
Genre / Form
- Articles
- Autographs (manuscripts)
- clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- manuscripts (documents)
- Visitors' books
Geographic
Occupation
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the Papers of Siegfried Altmann (1887-1963) 1872-1963 AR 1788
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Meike Bingemann
- Date
- © 2012
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Edition statement
- This version was derived from SiegfriedAltmann.xml
Revision Statements
- November 26, 2012 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository
