Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1690

Repository:

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

Extent:

15 linear feet (24 boxes)

Language Note:

The bulk of the material is in English but a small amount is in Hebrew, Yiddish and Japanese.

Preferred Citation:

Albert Mordell papers, 1835-1965, Ms. Coll. 1690, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1835-1965 (inclusive)

Creator:

Mordell, Albert, 1885-1965

Form:

Correspondence, Family papers, Writings (documents), and Scrapbooks

Abstract:

The papers of author, editor, literary critic and lawyer Albert Mordell (1885-1965) contains correspondence, drafts, typescripts, articles, clippings, publications, notes, photographs, scrapbooks, financial and legal documents chronicling the life and literary work of Mordell.

Albert Mordell was born on August 13, 1885 in Philadelphia to Phineas and Anna Feller Mordell. Mordell, known as Azzie, was the eldest of 9 children: Mildred "Mollie" (1886-1971), Louis (1888-1978), Meyer "Maurice" (1889-1978), Bessie (1891-1979), David (1894-1965), Lena (1897-1916), Miriam (1900-1966) and Freda (1903-1911).

Mordell graduated from Central High School in 1903. A lack of funds prevented Mordell from attending college and a lack of desire precluded him from becoming a rabbi as his father wanted, so he took the state preliminary examination to qualify as a self-taught law student, and registered in the office of William M. Lewis, Esq. He abandoned his studies in 1906 and headed to New York City to devote himself to a literary career. His time in New York failed to launch his literary career so he returned to Philadelphia to continue his study of the law. Mordell passed the bar exam and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1910.

Despite his career in law, Mordell's passion was in literature and writing. He edited and contributed to numerous works, and was particularly drawn to the writings of Lafacadio Hearn, Guy de Maupassant, and Henry James, often translating and compiling their works for American audiences. His own essays and articles explored shifting literary values and the evolving role of the poet in society, and appeared in local and national publications.

Mordell was active in civic organizations and served on the editorial boards of The Jewish Publication Society and the Jewish Quarterly Review.

Mordell passed away on February 15, 1965.

This collection of correspondence, drafts, typescripts, articles, clippings, publications, notes, photographs, scrapbooks, financial and legal documents chronicles the life and literary work of Albert Mordell.

Series I., Correspondence contains correspondence from a variety of authors, publishers and admirers regarding Mordell's literary works. The correspondence with authors consists mainly of thank yous to Mordell for sending copies of his writings. There is significant correspondence between Mordell and V.F. Calverton, Isaac Goldberg, E. Haldeman-Julius, H.L. Mencken, A.P. Moore, Queena Pollack and Upton Sinclair, which provides more discussion on literary views. Correspondence with Sinclair, regarding the collaboration on the unpublished work, The Fighting Sinclairs can be found in the Albert Mordell writings series.

Series II., Family contains correspondence between Mordell family members. Several letters from Phineas Mordell are written in Hebrew and all of Annie Mordell's letters are written in Yiddish. The correspondence between siblings discusses the financial hardship the family faced as well as their everyday activities.

Series III., Louis J. Mordell material is divided into 2 subseries: a. correspondence and b. Louis J. Mordell writings. Louis J. Mordell was a mathematician whose research focused on number theory. A majority of the correspondence in this subseries are photocopies. The correspondence consists of letters between Louis, his siblings and parents. The writings subseries contains some of Louis's 270 articles on number theory and algebraic geometry published between 1913 and 1962.

Series IV., Albert Mordell writings contains 3 subseries: a. articles and book reviews; b. books; and c. research. This series contains drafts, notes, typescripts, galley proofs, articles, correspondence and research material for Mordell's published and unpublished writings.

Series V. Little Blue Books contains an incomplete run of Little Blue Books, published by E. Haldeman-Julius. Some of the authors include Isaac Goldberg, Frank Harris, Henry James, Joseph McCabe, Julius Montizen, Upton Sinclair, Mark Twain and others. Mordell's Dante and other Waning Classics were published as Little Blue Books, Nos. 109-110, in 1923 and are housed with Mordell's other writings in Series IV., subseries b.

Series V. Scrapbooks contains scrapbooks Mordell assembled to document his literary career. Largely compiled of newspaper clippings, the scrapbooks contains announcements of Mordell's published works, reviews of his writings, and articles he wrote for various newspapers. These scrapbooks are fragile and should be handled with extreme care.