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Nir and Inna Feldman collection of Haifa material

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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
Ms. Coll. 1596
Repository:
University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Extent:
  • 8.2 linear feet (12 boxes)
  • 1.70 gigabyte(s)
Language:
English, Hebrew, Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan, German, Arabic, Yiddish, and French
Preferred Citation:
Nir and Inna Feldman collection of Haifa material, 1790-1988, Ms. Coll. 1596, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania
Date:
1790-1988 (inclusive) and 1900-1960 (bulk)
Form:
Photograph albums, Photographs, Negatives (photographic), Maps, Architectural drawings (visual works), and Correspondence
Abstract:
The Nir and Inna Feldman collection of Haifa material documents the city of Haifa's (Israel) culture, infrastructure and immigration. The bulk of the collection dates from the early 1900s until the 1960s, consisting primarily of photographs, architectural drawings and correspondence.

Many scholars refer to Haifa as a "mixed city," denoting the rare integration of its Jewish and Arab populations for decades. As Israel's third largest city, Haifa is commonly overlooked in literature, while maintaining a history of rich cultural and religious tolerance. Although the city of Haifa existed for centuries, it wasn't until the ruler Dahir al-Umar conquered Akko (Israel) and the surrounding area that Haifa transformed into the city it is today. Under al-Umar's rule, he rebuilt Haifa as a fortress near Mount Caramel with a clear view of the sea from which they could spot potential armies. Around the mid-1800s, the Ottoman general Ibrahim Pasha conquered Haifa once again and, during his reign, put into place laws of tolerance which gave rights to all non-Muslim citizens in the city. These policies began an influx of immigration into the city of Jewish, Christian and Muslim Arabs. As a result, in 1868 German Templars, a Christian religious sect, started to immigrate to Haifa building what is now known as the German colony. In the beginning of the 20th century, Eastern European Jews started immigrating to Haifa and developed the Herzliya neighborhood near Mount Carmel.

Towards the end of the Ottoman's rule of the area, the government built what is known as the Hijaz railway, which connected Haifa, Damascus (Syria) and the holy city of Medina (Saudi Arabia). The railway was originally designed as a quick method of transportation for Muslim pilgrims, but it was also used to transport goods. The creators of the railway chose Haifa to be the main hub because of its sea ports which allowed larger boats to dock and transport goods to the region. In 1912 the first Jewish institute, Technikum, now Technion: Israel Institute of Technology, opened its doors to students looking for an education in engineering and architecture.

After Word War I and the area's capture by the British, Haifa was no longer under Ottoman rule and instead fell under Britain's Mandatory Palestine. At this time, Haifa became the British's northern headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, thus beginning a boom of industrialization and rapid growth of the city. The government officially opened Haifa port in 1933, a Jewish trading center in 1934 and an airport in 1942. With the opening of the port, an area which the British drained and expanded, oil refineries and factory plants starting popping up on the coast, boosting Haifa's economy.

With the rise of the Nazis to power, many European Jews fled their countries and "illegally" immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. Through the early 1930s until the end of World War II, Haifa's port saw around a million Jewish immigrants land on its shores. This influx of refugees boosted Haifa's economy and workforce, but also forced expediated construction to accommodate its rapidly growing population. This led to integrated neighborhoods, including Ard al-Yahud and Harat al-Yahud, where Jews and Arabs lived side by side.

Although the many religious and ethnic groups of the city tended to live peacefully together, the events of the 1929 Palestine riots, the 1936–1939 Arab revolt, the establishment of the State of Israel (1948), along with the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, led to the dissolution of ties between the Jewish and Arab citizens of Haifa. By 1950, only a few thousand Arabs remained. In this new era, the neighborhood of Hadar HaCarmel became almost exclusively Jewish, while Arab residents moved to the neighborhoods of Wadi Nisnas and Wadi Salib. After the establishment of the state of Israel, many of the surrounding countries ceased the exchange of goods to and from Israel, leading to closed borders, abandoned train lines, and lost revenue. This eventually led to the decline of industry in the Haifa port area. Although outside commerce greatly decreased after 1948, Haifa's mayor Abba Hushi boosted Haifa's cultural atmosphere in the 1950s and 60s by building community centers, and establishing the city's underground train system, the Carmlit, connecting the various neighborhoods of the city.

Nir and Inna Feldmann, the collectors of this material, pulled together hundreds of documents and individual archives concerning the city of Haifa to create the Nir and Inna Feldman collection of Haifa materials. According to Arthur Kiron, Schottenstein-Jesselson Curator of Judaica Collections, "The collection also comes with strong provenance – having been collected within the same family for two generations."

Works consulted:

Gold, Nili Scharf. Haifa: City of Steps. Waltham, Massachusetts: Brandeis University Press, 2018.

Goren, T and Y. Safran. "Ideas and Plans to Construct a Railroad in Northern Palestine in the Late Ottoman Period." Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 46, no.5, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2010.504556. Accessed 24 July 2024.

Kidron, A. "Separatism, coexistence and the landscape: Jews and Palestinian-Arabs in mandatory Haifa." Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 52, no. 1, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1080/00263206.2015.1081177. Accessed 24 July 2024.

Schnitzer, Shira. "Haifa." The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World. : Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference. Date Accessed 19 Jul. 2024 https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-684. Accessed July 19, 2024.

Yazbak, Maḥmūd, and Yfaat Weiss. Haifa Before & After 1948 : Narratives of a Mixed City. Dordrecht: RoL, 2011.

The Nir and Inna Feldman collection of Haifa material consists of 11 boxes containing over 6,000 items pertaining to Haifa's culture, infrastructure and Israeli immigration. The bulk of the collection dates from the early 1900s until the 1960s, though there are items from the 1790s, 1860s and 1980s. The majority of the collection consists of photographs, architectural drawings and correspondence. Most of this collection dates from the era of Mandatory Palestine (1917-1948), demonstrating the rapid infrastructure and cultural development of the area, as well as the influx of immigrants from European Jews fleeing the Holocaust.

The Nir and Inna Feldman collection of Haifa material is arranged into eight series: "Haifa culture," "Haifa infrastructure," "Correspondence," "Film," "Robert Ziller photographs," "Rudolf Jonas materials," "Reuven Adler materials," and "Moshe and Leopold Gerstel materials."

Note: The items in this collection were collected by Nir and Inna Feldman and Nir's father before him. Although the common thread throughout this collection is the city of Haifa, most of these materials are former archives or individual items bought at auction, and put together by a family of collectors.

Sold by Robinson Bookseller, 2023 boxes 1-11, 2025 box 12

At Princeton University Library Manuscripts Division: United Nations Mission to Palestine, 1948-1949, C1240, https://findingaids.library.upenn.edu/records/PRIN_MUDD_C1240

At the Avie and Sarah Arenson Built Heritage Research Center's archives: Gerstel Moshe and Gerstel Leopold, https://heritage.technion.ac.il/en/archive-eng/

At the Getty Museum: Erich and Luise Mendelsohn papers, 1894-1992, 880406, https://www.getty.edu/research/collections/collection/113YN4?tab=about

At the New York University Libraries: Hisham Khatib Collection – Prints, 1880s – 1930s, AD.MC.030, https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/akkasah/ad_mc_030/

At the Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary: Shin Shalom Papers, 1941-1951, ARC-104, https://archives.jtsa.edu/repositories/2/resources/59

People
Organization
Subject
Place
Occupation

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Finding Aid Author
Hope Jones
Finding Aid Date
2024 July 30
Access Restrictions

The bulk of this collection is open for research use; however, certain materials in Box 6, Folder 6 are restricted because they contain personally identifiable information.

Additionally, use of the film in box 11 is restricted, however the content of those films has been digitized and is available for research use (see items described as "Digital Content (Reading Room Access Only)" along the right-hand side in the Collection Inventory). These computer files are reading-room access only on a dedicated computer in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.

Use Restrictions

Copyright restrictions may exist. In the case of photographs created by Rudolph Jonas, copyright belongs to the State of Israel if the photograph was taken after August 24, 1958. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Collection Inventory

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Scope and Contents

The series "Haifa culture" consists of materials concerning Haifa's youth movements, athletics, tourism, art and the Haifa Workers' Party dating from the 1890s until the 1980s. Youth groups and scouts such as the Meshotetei BaCarmel, Hillel scouts, Geula scouts, Hadar HaCarmel, Maccabi Hatzair, and the Wanderers of the Carmel in Haifa are photographed and/or have their flags included in this collection. There are hundreds of postcards, photographs and lithographs depicting the Haifa area from the 1860s until the 1980s taken by photographers such as Eric Matson, Shmuel Yosef Schweig, Shlomo Narinsky and Felix Bonfils. The subseries "Art and Literature" contains playbills for theater performances in Haifa as well as an engraving of the bay of Haifa. There are hundreds of letters of correspondence from the Haifa Workers' Party to various parties in Haifa concerning union negotiations with factories in the area. The subseries of this section include: Art and literature; Athletics; Business ephemera; Haifa scouts and youth movements; Haifa Workers' Party; Family photographs and negatives; Travel, tourism and landscapes.

Graphic artwork advertisements and samples, undated.
Box 1 Folder 1
Palceramic and Kedar Ceramics photographs and correspondence, (1943-1948, 1966, 1968).
Box 1 Folder 2
Shin Shalom (Shalom Yosef Shapira) poetry, undated.
Box 1 Folder 3
"Zionist Review" issue with an article concerning the Italians bombing Haifa, 1940 October 2.
Box 1 Folder 3
Haifa Theater performance photographs of "Ghetto" by Yehoshua Sobol and "The Pessoptimist" by Emil Habibi, 1980s.
Box 1 Folder 4
Art cutouts from newspapers and magazines, 1935, 1939, 1941, 1954, 1963, 1966.
Box 1 Folder 5
"He Walked Through the Fields" by Moshe Shamir playbill, 1966 August.
Box 1 Folder 5
"Traditional Student Ball" at Technion advertisement, 1954 April 14.
Box 1 Folder 5
Ella Goldstein and Zvi Zeitlin performance at Orah Theatre advertisement, 1941 February 6.
Box 1 Folder 5
"Othello" playbill at the Theatron Ivri Haifa, undated.
Box 1 Folder 5
"Haifa Nights" advertisement, 1977 December 2.
Box 1 Folder 5
The Burj fortress copper plate, captioned "The Bay of Haifa from the Slopes of Carmel", undated.
Box 1 Folder 5
New York Open Theatre advertisement, undated.
Box 1 Folder 5
"Carnegie Hall" playbill for its premiere at Armon Theatre, undated.
Box 1 Folder 5
Correspondence to and from Haifa theaters, undated.
Box 1 Folder 5
Charlotte and Gerda Meyer portrait of Hanna Rovina, undated.
Box 8 Folder 1
Amnon Benami (Judelson) diploma from Technion, undated.
Box 8 Folder 1
Mordechai Avniel watercolor of Haifa Bay, 1950.
Box 9 Folder 1
"Flower Exhibition" posters, 1977, 1985.
Drawer OS FF 01
Mother's Day Poster by Gabrieli, 1951 December 26.
Drawer OS FF 01
Booklet illustrating dances, including the "Bat Carmel", 1959.
Box 12 Folder 1
Dimitri Smirnoff concert program at "Ein-Dor" Hall, 1933 February 9.
Box 12 Folder 1
François Lang concert program at "Maccabi" Hall, 1932 February 24.
Box 12 Folder 1
Jan Kubelik concert program at "Beth Hamaccabi" Hall, 1932 December 15.
Box 12 Folder 1
Worker's Choir of Haifa concert program at the Amphitheatre, 1931 August 6.
Box 12 Folder 1
Jascha Heifetz concert program at the "Ein-Dor" Theatre Haifa, 1932 February 25.
Box 12 Folder 1
Second Maccabiah spring concert program [Hebrew], undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
Recital program for F. Saphir's Music & Piano House, 1931 January 14.
Box 12 Folder 1
Haifa firstborn celebration program, 1932.
Box 12 Folder 1
Maccabi Choir of Haifa concert program, 1930 July 14.
Box 12 Folder 1
"Hapoel" sports meeting album, 1938.
Box 1 Folder 6
"Mishmar and Sport" photograph album, 1939.
Box 9 Folder 2
Uri Brenner athletics photograph album, 1949-1952.
Box 9 Folder 3
District Annual Sports Meeting programs, 1930-1932.
Box 12 Folder 1
Maccabi Haifa sports programs, 1928-1933.
Box 12 Folder 1
Soccer teams and games, sixteen photographs, 1938.
Box 12 Folder 1
Business cards, undated.
Box 1 Folder 7
Advertisements and calendars, undated.
Box 1 Folder 7
Gray hat and plastic color swatches, undated.
Box 1 Folder 7
Block letters notepad, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
L. Danon Haifa sticker, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
Matalon corset and bra salon advertising bag, 1961.
Box 12 Folder 1
Uri Brenner youth movements photograph albums, 1944-1946.
Box 1 Folder 8-9
Young Maccabi group photograph albums, 1940s.
Box 1 Folder 10-11
Hashomer Hatzair photograph album, 1945.
Box 1 Folder 12
"Wanderers of the Carmel in Haifa" photograph album of a trip to Mount Hermon and Kurdani, 1937.
Box 1 Folder 12
Youth or scout movements, unidentified photographs, undated.
Box 1 Folder 12
Badges for Haifa youth movements, undated.
Box 2 Folder 1
Lions Club International flag, undated.
Box 2 Folder 1
"Maccabi youth movement" photographs, 1943-1949.
Box 2 Folder 1
Youth movement membership certificates, undated.
Box 2 Folder 1
"Meshotetei BaCarmel" embroidered scout flag, 1925.
Box 10
"Hillel" embroidered scout flag, 1950s.
Drawer OS FF 01
"Geula" embroidered scout flag, 1950s.
Drawer OS FF 01
"The Jamboree" conference poster, 1961.
Drawer OS FF 01
Haifa Workers' Party correspondence, 1932-1945.
Box 2 Folder 2-3
Zvi Feigin photographs, undated.
Box 2 Folder 4
Photographs and negatives of unknown families and travel, undated.
Box 2 Folder 5
Haifa family album, 1924-1925.
Box 2 Folder 5
Souvenir folders with color photographs of Haifa, 1950, 1960.
Box 2 Folder 6
Unidentified postcards and photographs of Haifa, undated.
Box 2 Folder 6
Black and white photographs of a zoo, undated.
Box 2 Folder 6
Shmuel Yosef Schweig photographs of the "Big Flour Mills" and "Beit Itin", 1920s.
Box 2 Folder 7
Panoramic photographs of Haifa city, undated.
Box 2 Folder 7
Photographs of Haifa port and the railway, undated.
Box 2 Folder 7
Israeli display album by Photo Brenner, 1940s.
Box 2 Folder 8
Haifa neighborhoods photograph album, 1967.
Box 2 Folder 9
Shlomo Narinsky postcard album of people and places in Israel, 1921.
Box 2 Folder 10
Moshe Gross photographs, 1950s-1960s.
Box 2 Folder 11
Penguin restaurant (Nahariya, Israel) photographs and negatives, 1960s.
Box 2 Folder 11
"Dan" breakfast menu, undated.
Box 2 Folder 11
Dan Carmel menu, undated.
Box 2 Folder 11
Israeli landscape coloring book, undated.
Box 2 Folder 11
Cafe Pe'er menu, 1940s-1950s.
Box 2 Folder 11
Süd Ahuza (Hod Hacarmel) booklet.
Box 2 Folder 11
Haifa postcard folders, 1900s.
Box 2 Folder 12
Haifa neighborhood and streets photograph album, undated.
Box 2 Folder 12
Souvenir coasters, dish and brass item, undated.
Box 2 Folder 13
Haifa pocket album of postcards, ephemera and photographs, 1900-1960.
Box 3 Folder 1-2
Haifa pocket album of postcards, ephemera and photographs, 1900-1960.
Box 3 Folder 3-4
British soldier's photograph album of Israel, 1945.
Box 3 Folder 5
World War I and British battalions photographs on Mount Carmel, 1918-1919.
Box 3 Folder 6
Photograph album of people's travels, undated.
Box 3 Folder 6
Erican Matson's "American Colony" photograph album, 1940s.
Box 3 Folder 7
"Trip to Israel" photograph album, 1940s.
Box 3 Folder 8
Haifa pocket album of postcards, ephemera, envelopes and photographs, 1940s-1950s.
Box 3 Folder 9-10
Israeli photograph album of over 700 photographs, including panoramas, 1940s-1950s.
Box 8 Folder 2
Felix Bonfils photograph of Haifa's Old City, 1860s.
Box 9 Folder 1
Technion postcards, circa 1920s.
Box 12 Folder 1
Bahai Temple musical post cart, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
Dagon grain silo postcards (two items), undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
"View of sea from Mount Carmel" postcard, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
"View From Mt. Carmel" postcard, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
"Centre on Mr. Carmel" postcard with writing, 1960 July 1.
Box 12 Folder 1
Zion Hotel postcard, with writing, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
"HAIFA The Municipality" postcard, with writing, 1950 November 19.
Box 12 Folder 1
"Napoleonic canon" postcard, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
Haifa Seafarers Branch greeting postcard, 1959.
Box 12 Folder 1
Child's drawing book, undated.
Box 12 Folder 2
Gabi Ahuva Ziniuk ID, 1959.
Box 12 Folder 2
The Association for Advanced Studies in Science (Pevzner House) card, undated.
Box 12 Folder 2
Rachel Yaakov Kindergartens and Day Care Centers pamphlet, undated.
Box 12 Folder 2
Empty Optophot negative sleeve, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
Hebrew Reali School of Haifa "Happy New Year" card, undated.
Box 12 Folder 2
Idit Haifa Ministry of Education and Culture paper, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1

Scope and Contents

The series "Haifa infrastructure" consists of photographs of construction, factories and workers, architectural drawings and maps. Many of the photographs taken of construction are from Charlotte and Gerda Meyer and Amiram Erev, while the architects whose drawings are included in the collection are Erich Mendelsohn, Munio Gitai-Weinraub, Dora Gad and Alfred Mansfeld. The majority of the construction photographs are of the Israeli Labor party's construction firm, Solel Boneh, and of the Dagon grain silo in the city of Haifa. Researchers may also consider the "Moshe and Leopold Gerstel materials" series which contains architecture notes and drawings.

Erich Mendelsohn's correspondence for Rambam Hospital in Haifa, 1936-1939.
Box 4 Folder 1-2
Erich Mendelsohn's correspondence for Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital in Jerusalem, 1932-1939.
Box 4 Folder 3
Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital photographs, undated.
Box 12 Folder 2
Erich Mendelsohn architectural drawings and correspondence, 1937-1938.
Box 4 Folder 4
Munio Gitai-Weinraub, Dora Gad and Alfred Mansfeld correspondence and architectural drawings, 1946, 1956, 1961, 1978.
Box 4 Folder 5
Munio Gitai-Weinraub, Dora Gad and Alfred Mansfeld ephemera from the ZIM tourist ships whose interiors they designed, undated.
Box 4 Folder 5
Munio Gitai-Weinraub, Dora Gad and Alfred Mansfeld architectural drawings, undated.
Box 8 Folder 3
Munio Gitai-Weinraub, Dora Gad and Alfred Mansfeld architectural drawings and correspondence, undated.
Box 10 Folder 1-3
Abba Khushi and Chaim Topol correspondence, concerning the building of a filming complex at the base of Mount Carmel, 1968-1969.
Box 4 Folder 6
Dagon grain silo prospectus and photographs, 1950s.
Box 4 Folder 6
Naval Ship Haifa triangular flags, undated.
Box 4 Folder 6
Rassco neighborhoods photograph album, undated.
Box 4 Folder 7
Stencil template, "The guardian of the property of absentees", undated.
Box 4 Folder 6
"Port of Haifa" booklet on the opening of the Haifa Port, 1933 October 31.
Box 4 Folder 7
Bat Galim neighborhood photographs and booklet, 1938, 1949.
Box 4 Folder 7
Keren Kayemeth Leisrael Ltd. correspondence, 1937-1947.
Box 4 Folder 7
Charlotte and Gerda Meyer, Ata–curdana factory photograph album, undated.
Box 4 Folder 8
Charlotte and Gerda Meyer, Dagon grain silo photographs, undated.
Box 4 Folder 14
Wadi Salib neighborhood and Hamra Square, three construction photograph albums, 1936-1937.
Box 4 Folder 9-11
Amiram Erev, photograph of Haifa port, undated.
Box 4 Folder 12
Haifa port and the railway photographs by unknown photographer, undated.
Box 4 Folder 13
Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital photographs, undated.
Box 12 Folder 1
Haifa Auditorium photograph and letterheads, undated.
Box 12 Folder 2
"Bat Galim" neighborhood founding documents and postcards, 1922-1988.
Box 12 Folder 2
Amiram Erev photographs of numerous factories such as: "Phoenicia" Glass works factory, "Vulcan," "Autocars," "Hamegfer," "Dagon," "Plada," and "Nesher", 1950s-1960s.
Box 5 Folder 1-2
Amiram Erev photographs of construction workers, undated.
Box 5 Folder 6-7
"Views of Haifa Port" photograph album, 1960.
Box 5 Folder 3
Hanan Sade's "The Port Album" photograph album, 1970.
Box 5 Folder 4
Zvi Yehuda Greenbaum photograph album of Haifa, 1930s.
Box 5 Folder 5
Pinchas Rutenberg photograph album of electrical lines in Italy (unclear how this album connects to this collection), 1924.
Box 5 Folder 9
Joseph Roux, Haifa Bay, 1790.
Box 5 Folder 8
German Templars, Haifa city, 1900.
Box 5 Folder 8
Haifa city and Hod Carmel, 1935.
Box 5 Folder 8
Haifa city, undated.
Drawer OS FF 01
Haifa city up to Naqoura, Lebanon, 1954.
Box 12 Folder 2
Haifa Bay Development Co. Ltd., 1926.
Box 12 Folder 2

Scope and Contents

The series "Correspondence," contains mostly unidentified and unrelated letters. There are two separate collections of letters sent to the Nathanson Family and to the Beth-Sefer Reali Ivri school (Hebrew Reali School of Haifa) that are grouped together because of their organizational and personal connection.

Letter from the Jewish Committee, 1922 November 16.
Box 12 Folder 2
Beth-Sefer Reali Ivri (Hebrew Reali School of Haifa), (1934-1939).
Box 5 Folder 10
"Moladah" nursing home and early hospitals, 1937-1941.
Box 12 Folder 2
Nathanson Family, 1947-1949.
Box 5 Folder 10
Letter from the Hadar HaCarmel Committee, 1956.
Box 12 Folder 2
Unidentified, 1922-1982.
Box 5 Folder 10 Box 12 Folder 2
Letter from A. E. Prince of the O.E.T.A. (South) economic section, undated.
Box 12 Folder 2
Letter from the Palestine Baltic Ships-Supplies to the British Bank Ltd., undated.
Box 12 Folder 2

Scope and Contents

The series "Film" consists of four 16mm films by an unknown creator dating from the early 1950s. These films capture the Independence Day parades of 1953, the Haifa port, events at Technion, and an advertising film for the 1951 elections. Use of these films is restricted, however the content of those films has been digitized and is available for research use (see items described as "Digital Content (Reading Room Access Only)" along the right-hand side in the Collection Inventory). These computer files are reading-room access only on a dedicated computer in the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.

"IDF parade on Independence Day in Haifa," "Haifa Port" "Industrial fair at the Technion of Haifa" and the "Advertisement for the General Zionists Party for the upcoming election," optical disks (physical access copies).
Box 5 Folder 12
IDF parade on Independence Day in Haifa, 16mm film, 1953.
Box 11
IDF parade on Independence Day in Haifa, digital access copy, 1953.
Digital Content (Reading Room Access Only) pusp-1896-001
Haifa port, 16mm film, 1950.
Box 11
Haifa port, digital access copy, 1950.
Digital Content (Reading Room Access Only) pusp-1896-002
Industrial fair at the Technion of Haifa, 16mm film, 1950.
Box 11
Industrial fair at the Technion of Haifa, digital access copy, 1950.
Digital Content (Reading Room Access Only) pusp-1896-003
Advertisement for the General Zionists Party for the upcoming election, 16mm film, 1951.
Box 11
Advertisement for the General Zionists Party for the upcoming election, digital access copy, 1951.
Digital Content (Reading Room Access Only) pusp-1896-004

Scope and Contents

The series "Robert Ziller photographs" consists of over 50 black and white and color photographs by Ziller. These photographs are of the streets in 1930s Germany and France, and workers Haifa. This series also contains an article about Ziller in the periodical "The Register," published in 1983.

Biographical / Historical

Robert Ziller (1914-2010) was born in Berlin, Germany where he worked as a photographer with UFA studios and in Paris as an assistant to French cinematographers. In 1934, with the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, Ziller moved to Mandatory Palestine. While there, Ziller became a newspaper photographer and worked in the film industry. In 1947 he moved to London and then to the United States in 1951. While in the United States, he worked with the United Nations for whom he took photographs and films.

Works consulted:

"Collection of Avant-garde Photographs by the Photographer Robert Ziller." Kedem Auction House Ltd., 29 Jan. 2014, https://www.kedem-auctions.com/en/content/collection-avant-garde-photographs-photographer-robert-ziller. Accessed July 19, 2024.

Germany and France black and white photographs, 1932.
Box 5 Folder 11
Color photographs of people and neighborhoods, undated.
Box 5 Folder 11
"The Register" article about Ziller, 1983.
Box 5 Folder 11

Scope and Contents

The series "Rudolf Jonas materials" consists of correspondence, around 1,000 photographs and 700 negatives from Haifa in the 1940s and 1950s. These photographs document the culture and history of Haifa and surrounding areas by capturing events at the university, Technion, the Druze community of Mount Carmel, visits from the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (1947), workers in factories, legal and "illegal" immigrants to Mandatory Palestine after the Holocaust, and the establishment of kibbutzim.

Biographical / Historical

Rudolf Jonas (1898-1972) was born in Bydgoszcz, Poland. After serving in World War I, he joined the local Zionist movements which led him to visit Mandate Palestine in the 1920s to photograph the area. In 1933, with the rise of the Nazi party, Jonas permanently moved to Mandate Palestine where he documented life on kibbutzim as well as immigrants trying to escape the Holocaust. Throughout his life he published photographs and wrote for Keren Hayesod and Keystone.

Works consulted:

"Archive of the Photographer Rudolf Jonas – Important and Extensive Collection of Photographs and Negatives from the "Yishuv" Period until the 1950s." Kedem Auction House Ltd., 16 Oct. 2012, https://www.kedem-auctions.com/en/content/archive-photographer-rudolf-jonas-%E2%80%93-important-and-extensive-collection-photographs-and. Accessed July 19, 2024.

Personal photographs and correspondence, undated.
Box 7 Folder 1
Albums containing Rudolf Jonas photography, 1939.
Box 7 Folder 2
Photographs of unidentified people and the city of Haifa, undated.
Box 7 Folder 3
Photographs and negatives United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, 1947.
Box 7 Folder 4
Photographs of immigrants, undated.
Box 7 Folder 5
Photographs of gatherings and events, undated.
Box 7 Folder 6-7
Photographs of kibbutzim and youth organizations, undated.
Box 7 Folder 8-9
Photographs of landscape and travel, undated.
Box 7 Folder 10
Photographs of the military and government, undated.
Box 7 Folder 11
Photographs of workers, undated.
Box 7 Folder 12
Photographic negatives of the city and citizens of Haifa, undated.
Box 7 Folder 13-14

Scope and Contents

The series "Reuven Adler materials" consists of academic and personal materials, correspondence, drawings, paintings and graphic art. Many of the graphic artworks are drafts or samples of his art that commercial advertisers published. There are some early works by Adler from when he was just beginning his venture into the arts.

Biographical / Historical

Reuven Adler (1943-2022) was born in Warsaw, Poland and moved, with his parents, to Israel in 1948. Adler founded the Adler Chomski & Warshavsky media consulting company which worked with many Israeli politicians including Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert and Isaac Herzog. This collection contains pieces of his graphic artwork used in Israeli advertising and logos.

Works consulted:

Jerusalem Post Staff. "Israeli media giant Reuven Adler passes away at 78." Jerusalem Post, 25 Jan. 2022, https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-694479. Accessed July 19, 2024.

Personal materials and correspondence, undated.
Box 6 Folder 1
Graphic artwork, paintings and drawings, undated.
Box 6 Folder 2-4

Scope and Contents

The series "Moshe and Leopold Gerstel materials" consists of correspondence, architectural drawings, citizenship papers and immigration material from the 1920s until the 1970s. Moshe and Leopold Gerstel designed many buildings for cities in Israel, but the bulk of this series contains correspondence between Moshe and his two sons Leopold and Oswald Sam. In addition to this correspondence with his sons, the series contains many documents relating to Moshe Gerstel's successful attempt to get his sons out of Romania in 1941 to Mandatory Palestine during the Holocaust. This series also contains personal family photographs, though many of them are not labeled. Note: Many materials in this series overlap with material in the "Haifa infrastructure" series.

Biographical / Historical

Moshe Gerstel (1886-1961) was born in Jaryczów Nowy, Poland where he served in World War I. In 1922, Gerstel moved to Romania where he received his degree in architecture, married Tanica Marcovici and had two children, Leopold and Oswald Sam. With the increasing prevalence of the Nazi party, Gerstel moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1935. While in Haifa, Moshe Gerstel built the Talpiot Market Hall and the Polyclinic on Mount Carmel.

Leopold Gerstel (1925-2010) was born in Iasi, Romania to Moshe Gerstel and Tanica Marcovici. In 1941, Romania officially entered World War II and instituted a number of antisemitic laws which affected Leopold and his family. His father, Moshe, coordinated with Tanica to have the boys sent to Mandatory Palestine, through Turkey, in November 1941. After immigrating to Mandatory Palestine, Leopold attended Technion in Haifa and later became an architect in Israel, as well as a professor in Vienna, Innsbruck and New York City.

Works consulted:

Köberl, Rainer. "im memoriam leopold gerstel (1925 – 2010)." aut. architektur und tirol, https://aut.cc/magazin/aut-feuilleton/im-memoriam-leopold-gerstel-1925-2010. Accessed July 19, 2024.

"Moshe Gerstel." Centre for Documentary Architecture, 13 Sept. 2019, https://documentary-architecture.org/archive/persons/moshe-gerstel. Accessed July 19, 2024.

Correspondence, academic certificates, family photographs, and passports (certain materials restricted due to personally identifiable information), (1922-1945).
Box 6 Folder 5-6
Bank records, receipts, and university payments, 1955-1960.
Box 6 Folder 7-8
Architectural drawings and photographs, 1935-1952.
Box 6 Folder 9-10
Correspondence between Moshe Gerstel with Leopold and Oswald Sam; drawings by the children; educational/university materials, 1930s.
Box 6 Folder 11
Materials relating to Leopold and Oswald Sam's immigration from Romania to Israel, (1940-1941).
Box 6 Folder 12
Architectural drawings and materials, undated.
Box 6 Folder 13
Photographs, photographic negatives and a passport, undated.
Box 6 Folder 14

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