Georg Steindorff Collection

Collection

Identifier: AR 10029

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

The collections contains Georg Steindorff's 1937 journal, calendars, various photographs and some biographical data.

Of interest is the journal, written from February - May 1937, detailing Steindorff's journey to and through America. There is also an original poster for one of his lectures, to be held at the Kaufmännischer Verein Augsburg about the Suez Canal. Folder 6 includes several portraits, including one in which Steindorff appears to be richly decorated with medals (perhaps as Rector of the University of Leipzig). The album of photographs and postcards contains well-preserved images of numerous locations across the European continent, particularly West and Central Europe and the North Sea coast.

Dates

Creation: 1937-1972
Creation: Majority of material found within 1937-1947

Creator

Steindorff, Georg, 1861-1951 (Person)

Language of Materials

This 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.

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

Georg Steindorff was born in Dessau in 1861 and is considered the most important Egyptologist from Germany of his era. The Egyptian Institute of the University of Leipzig was named in his honor in 2008. Georg Steindorff studied Egyptology and oriental languages in Göttingen and in 1893 began teaching at the University of Leipzig. In addition to his academic career in Leipzig, where he received various decorations and served as Dean and eventually Rector, his participated in numerous ground-breaking excavations in Giza, Tjebu und Aniba from 1903 to 1931. Because of his prominent position he was initially somewhat shielded from some of the anti-Semitic excesses of the 1930s, but by 1939 the need to emigrate had become clear and he and his family left for the United States. Here he continued to work and publish until his death in 1951 in California. Steindorff was married to Elise Oppenheimer, the sister of Franz Oppenheimer and daughter of Berlin Reform Rabbi, Julius Oppenheimer.