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Simon Gratz autograph collection, 1343-1928

Extent:

190.0 linear feet (; 633 boxes (18 volumes in boxes))

Abstract:

The collection was assembled by Simon Gratz, Philadelphia lawyer, school board member, and trustee of the Free Library. He began collecting at age 17 and, by the time he died, amassed about 175,000 manuscripts and portrait engravings and lithographs. Many of the latter he personally commissioned. In 1916 he became a vice-president of the Historical Society. Gratz continued until the end of his life to deal with such notable American collectors as George Brinley, Louis J. Cist, Adrien Joline, Charles J. Jones, E.H. Leffingwell, and Joseph J. Mickley. The dealers with whom he dealt included Charavay in Paris, Naylor and Maggs in London, Cohn in Berlin, Benjamin in New York, and A.S.W. Rosenbach in Philadelphia. The records of his transactions survive from 1861 to 1925 in his "Autograph Journals." On January 1, 1925, Gratz noted that his collection had, because of astute sales and exchanges, "cost less than nothing." Gratz acquired his collection by exchange with and purchase from a...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

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Israel Song Festival programs and postcard collection, 1970-1982 (inclusive) 1973-1974 (bulk)

Extent:

.25 linear feet

Abstract:

Israel Song Festival was a music competition that occurred in Israel in the 1960s and 1970s, in concurrence with Israel's Independence Day celebrations. This collection consists of seven programs for the Israel Song Festival, ranging from 1970 to 1982, and 53 postcards of Israeli singers.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Archives at the Library of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies [Contact Us]