Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1615

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

29.5 linear feet (46 boxes)

Language:

English, German, Hebrew, French, Yiddish, Russian, Swedish, Hungarian, Dutch; Flemish, and Polish

Preferred Citation:

Eric Mandell collection of Jewish music material, 1810s-1876, Ms. Coll 1615, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1810s-1976 (inclusive)

Creator:

Mandell, Eric, 1902-1988

Form:

Synagogue music, Sheet music, Songs, Songbooks, Correspondence, Articles, Concert programs, and Posters

Abstract:

Eric Mandell (1902-1988) was a cantor and collector of rare and popular Jewish sheet music, books and catalogs. The Eric Mandell collection of Jewish music material contains musical works from over five hundred composers of Jewish music from the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection also contains Eric Mandell's personal materials such as correspondence, research notes, columns he wrote, various periodicals and newsletters.

Eric Mandell was born Erich Mendel in Gronau, Westphalia, Germany on June 14, 1902 to musically inclined parents. As a teenager, Mandell studied at the Jewish Teachers' Training College in Münster, receiving certification as a teacher and cantor in 1922. After receiving his certification, Mandell moved to Bochum, Germany where he became the music director and cantor of Synagogue Bochum as well as a teacher at a Jewish day school. According to Ronna Zallman Honigman's thesis entitled "Eric Mandell: His Life and Work," Mandell "…began collecting music at age fifteen by putting an advertisement in the local Jewish newspaper seeking synagogue music" (9). In November, 1938, during Kristallnacht, Eric Mandell was interned in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp until December 7, 1938 (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). "In 1939, Mandell began to feel that his collection of music was no longer safe in Germany. He transferred his collection to cousins in Holland. There was a period of about five years when his cousins were forced to live underground. When they finally returned from hiding, the collection was gone…Nothing from his first collection, to his knowledge, survived the war" (Honigman 11-12). After his release from Sachsenhausen, Mandell travelled to England where authorities detained him in the Kitchener displaced-persons camp.

At Kitchener, Mandell met his future wife, Martha Wolff, whom he married on August 28, 1940 in Surrey, England (The National Archives at Philadelphia). In January 1941, Eric and Martha Mandell immigrated to the United States where they settled in New York City. In the fall of 1941, Eric and Martha Mandell moved to Philadelphia, where Mandell became music director of Har Zion Temple, conducting both youth and adult choirs. "In 1942, [Mandell] established the music department at Gratz College, where he taught until 1956" (David Lee Preston). During this time, Mandell started to collect music again, reaching out to cantors and Jewish music catalogs in order to obtain copies of rare and unknown Jewish music. By 1970, Mandell had amassed such a collection that he donated it to Gratz College, housing it in the newly dedicated Abner and Mary Schreiber Music Library. In 1981, Gratz College conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters upon Eric Mandell for his work at the college and in the community (Honigman 32). In addition to Mandell's collection and work as a professor and music director, he was a member of the Society for the Advancement of Jewish Liturgical Music, the Assembly of Synagogue Musicians and the Cantor's Assembly of America. According to Honigman, Mandell composed and arranged about fifteen songs during his life. Eric Mandell died on February 6, 1988 in Philadelphia.

Honigman, Ronna Zallman. Eric Mandell: His Life and Work. 1982. Gratz College, Master's thesis, in Shalom Altman materials, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania, unprocessed collection.

The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA; NAI Title: Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1/19/1842 - 10/29/1959; NAI Number: 4713410; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21

Preston, David Lee. "ERIC MANDELL, 85, CANTOR AND JEWISH MUSICOLOGIST." Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA), FINAL ed., sec. LOCAL, 8 Feb. 1988, p. C09. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current, https://infoweb-newsbank-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0FA5BD299B01E287&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/0EB29E1617F50F8E. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.

RG-11.001M, Sachsenhausen "Strength Reports," United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Washington, DC.

The Eric Mandell collection of Jewish music material contains musical works from over five hundred composers of Jewish music from the 19th and 20th centuries ranging from rare to popular pieces of music. The collection also contains Eric Mandell's personal materials such as correspondence, research notes and columns he wrote for the Jewish Exponent and the Har Zion Bulletin.

The Eric Mandell collection of Jewish music material is arranged into five series: I. Sheet music, II. Eric Mandell materials, III. Cantor Assembly materials, IV. Research materials, and V. Concert programs and posters. Additional descriptions of these series can be found on their corresponding pages in the finding aid.