Hannah Jeanette Hoffman Elbert Correspondence and Photographs

 

1871-1983

 

SCRC 32

 

Elbert, Hannah Jeannette Hoffman, 1902-1985

 

0.21 linear feet (1 box)

 

Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries

 

Materials in English and Yiddish

 

 

 

Hannah Jeanette Hoffman was born in 1902 to Charles and Fanny Binswanger Hoffman. She graduated from Smith College 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 first 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 second 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.

 

 

 

A record for this collection is available in Temple University’s online library catalog: http://diamond.temple.edu/record=b5744521~S30 

 

Collection is open for research.

 

This collection may be housed off-site at the Library Depository, and require up to two business days to retrieve. Please review the finding aid and be prepared to identify specific materials to be retrieved. Contact the Special Collections Research Center in advance of your visit, so that materials may be relocated to the reading room for research. 

 

The Hannah Jeanette Hoffman Elbert Correspondence and Photographs are the physical property of the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries. Intellectual property rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. Researchers are responsible for determining the identity of rights holders and obtaining their permission for publication and for other purposes where stated.

 

[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. 

 

Special Collections Research Center:

Hoffman, Leon S. Ideals and illusions: the story of an Ivy League woman in 1920's Israel. New York, NY : S.P.I. Books, 1992. http://diamond.temple.edu/record=b5515140~S30

 

 

 

Donated in September 2012 by Yael Kook, daughter of Hannah Elbert

 

Finding aid prepared according to contemporary archival standards in January 2015 by Jessica M. Lydon, Associate Archivist. 

 

 

 

The following headings have been used to index the description of this collection in Temple University’s electronic catalog:

 

Binswanger, Hyman P.

Cohen, J. Solis (Jacob Solis), 1838-1927

Elbert, Hannah Jeannette Hoffman, 1902-1985

Hoffman, Charles

Hoffman, Fanny

Solis-Cohen, Bertha

Solis-Cohen, Edith

Solis-Cohen, Elinor

Solis-Cohen, Miriam 

 

Jewish families -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia

 

Philadelphia (Pa.)

 

Correspondence

Photographs