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Richard Detlev Loewenberg Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 6005

Scope and Content Note

This collection documents part of the life and professional work of the physician Richard D. Loewenberg. The papers of this collection are largely comprised of personal documents, manuscripts, writings and correspondence as well as the published works of Richard D. Loewenberg. The collection thereby shows two main emphases: His time in Hamburg and his years in the United States; the Shanghai period is not covered by any of the papers.

Biographical information about Richard Loewenberg including two curricula vitae, a biographical text on him and an employment reference are held in Series I. Diaries and several notebooks, including poems, translations of poems, manuscripts, metric and shorthand exercises, records of his father as well as a tale and a stage play, all written by Richard Loewenberg during his time in Germany, are contained in Series IV. Included are two bound volume of papers and several notes, comments, quotations and newspaper clippings covering the timeframe after his immigration to the United States.

Series II holds several letters from the later period of Richard D. Loewenberg's life. Additionally, there is a letter to his mother where he describes a meeting with Martin Buber in 1929. Several newspaper clippings including poems together with other literary works written during 1918-1932 are held in Series III. In addition, this series contains a large number of typescripts and offprints, mostly related to Loewenberg's medical profession, written after his immigration to the United States.

Dates

  • Creation: 1911-1956

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is in English, German, Esperanto, and Japanese.

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

Richard Detlev Loewenberg was born as the son of Jenny and Jakob Loewenberg in Hamburg in 1898. He studied medicine at the Universities of Goettingen, Freiburg and Hamburg, where he received his M.D. degree in 1923. Following an internship and residencies in internal medicine and neurology, he was assistant in neuropsychiatry at the University Hospital in Hamburg from 1929 to 1933. In 1931 he married Sophie Borowicz. Their son Peter was born two years later. After the Nazis came to power, the family immigrated to Shanghai, where Richard D. Loewenberg continued to work as instructor and part-time consultant at the Shanghai Mercy Hospital for Nervous Diseases from 1933 to 1937. Afterwards he immigrated to California, and started to work at St Joseph's Hospital where he passed his State Board examination in 1939. After three more years of staff work in the same hospital, he became Assistant Division Surgeon at the Western Pacific Railroad Hospital in Portola, CA. Later he went to Bakersfield, CA where he worked as the Director of Mental Hygiene Division at the Kern Country Health Department and as Chief of Neuropsychiatric Service at the Kern General Hospital. In 1946 he was certified as psychiatrist by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In 1948 he had to give up his position but continued publishing articles about medical and general subjects. Later he started to lecture at the University of Southern California where he died of an apoplexy during one of his lectures on April 29, 1954.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet

Abstract

This collection documents the life and work of Richard D. Loewenberg, a German physician who immigrated via Shanghai to the United States. Contained are several of his manuscripts on general as well as medical topics, offprints and clippings of his published articles, correspondence, poems, personal documents, notebooks and diaries.

Other Finding Aid

A previous 2-page finding aid is existent.

Related Material

The diaries of Richard D. Loewenberg ((DM 10)) are digitized and catalogued separately. In addition the LBI Archives maintains the archival collection of his father Jakob Loewenberg (AR 1200).

A number of published works by Richard D. Loewenberg are also available in the LBI Library:

  1. Collected papers, 1923-1931 (R 117 L6 C6)
  2. Ein Charakterologe des XVIII. Jahrhunderts (B 2681 L4 Z7 L6)
  3. "Eine Seele, die sich selber fand." Das Jubilaeum eines Buches [von Clifford W. Beer] und seine Bedeutung fuer China von R. D. Loewenberg (RC 461 L6)
  4. Last German papers (R 117 L6 L3)
  5. Ueber den Selbstmord in Hamburg in den letzten fuenfzig Jahren (1880-1930) (HV 6543 L58)

Processing Information

The collection was processed in 2011 in preparation of the EAD finding aid, with the creation of series and addition of description. In that regard the folders were arranged topically.

Title
Guide to the Papers of Richard D. Loewenberg (1898-1954) 1911-1956 AR 6005
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Christian Zech
Date
© 2011
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Edition statement
This version was derived from RichardLoewenberg.xml

Revision Statements

  • January 13, 2012 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.
  • October 11, 2017: Link to digital objects added to Folder 7 in Container List.

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States