Call Number:

SCRC 32

Repository:

Temple University Libraries: Special Collections Research Center

Extent:

0.21 linear feet (1 box)

Language:

English and Yiddish

Preferred Citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Hannah Jeanette Hoffman Elbert Correspondence and Photographs, SCRC 32, Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Date:

1871-1983 (inclusive)

Creator:

Elbert, Hannah Jeannette Hoffman, 1902-1985

Form:

Correspondence and Photographs

Abstract:

Hannah Jeanette Hoffman was born in 1902 to Charles and Fanny Binswanger Hoffman. She studied at Smith College and was the school's first Jewish graduate in 1923. Hannah traveled to Israel, then Palestine, to live at Kibbutz Tel Yosef in the Jezreel Valley. While living there, she met her Israeli born husband Mordecai Elbert, with whom she had three daughters Isabella, Niele, and Yael. Hannah died of a heart attack in 1985.

The Hannah Jeanette Hoffman Elbert Correspondence and Photographs consists primarily of handwritten letters addressed to Hannah from family members in both English and Yiddish. The correspondence is separated into two groups. The 1st is a grouping of letters to Hannah from members of the Solis-Cohen family, primarily the four sisters Bertha, Miriam, Elinor, and Edith, cousins of Hannah Elbert. The Solis-Cohen sisters' correspondence is dated 1921-1983, the bulk of which is written by Bertha. A few letters, penned by Jacob Solis-Cohen are addressed to both Hannah and her parents, Fanny and Charlie Hoffman. The 2nd grouping of correspondence consists of handwritten letters and post cards addressed to Hannah from her uncle, Hyman P. Binswanger, dated 1907-1936. In addition to the correspondence, the collection also includes unidentified family photographs of the Hoffman and Binswanger families of varying sizes including cabinet cards. The photographs are the earliest dated material in the collection. There are no images of Hannah Elbert among the photographs as they are all dated prior to her birth in 1902.