The Price Library of Judaica houses a growing collection of more than 50 unique archives. A complete list is available in the Libraries’ Finding Aids for Special Collections. Below are brief descriptions of select archives that illustrate the breadth and distinctiveness of the Price Library’s holdings.
The Holocaust and Aftermath
Emanuel Merdinger Papers: Emanuel Merdinger (1906–1997) was a chemist, Holocaust survivor, and professor whose career spanned Europe and the United States. Born in Suceava, Romania, Merdinger earned multiple advanced degrees and held prominent academic and scientific positions before becoming Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida. In addition to correspondence, documents and newspaper clippings, the collection contains his autobiography documenting his World War II experiences in a concentration camp.
Izaak and Bertie Cohen Papers: This archive documents the survivorship experience of a young Dutch Jewish couple living in Rotterdam during the Nazi occupation. The collection also preserves their remarkable puppet theater, including hand-carved puppets, sketches, scripts, and props. Transforming their desperate circumstances into artistic expression, Izaak and Bertie Cohen created and performed puppet shows while confined to a single room, hiding for two years in the apartment of a courageous Dutch woman who risked her life to shelter them.
Richard M. Feist Papers: Richard M. Feist (b. 1923) served in the British Army’s East Surrey Regiment during World War II, later joined the Jewish Brigade, and worked at 55 Search Bureau in Germany assisting Holocaust survivors in locating relatives. The collection comprises papers documenting postwar efforts to aid displaced persons and survivors. It includes correspondence from survivors and relatives, military documents, reports, photographs, and newspapers.
Schönwald Family Correspondence: This collection contains more than 120 letters, postcards, and telegrams written by Curt and Regina Schönwald to their son Henry (Heinz), documenting their daily lives in Nazi Germany between 1939 and 1941 and their efforts to leave the country. Written primarily in German and carefully numbered, the correspondence recounts Curt’s unsuccessful attempts to obtain a visa to Cuba and the family’s material and emotional hardships under escalating anti-Jewish persecution. In 1942, the couple was deported to the Trawniki camp near Lublin, Poland, and may have been murdered there in 1943.
Stirt Family Collection: This collection centers on a series of letters sent from the Kovno Ghetto by Irving Stirt’s sister and friends. Written in Yiddish, they document the lives of these young people under the shadow of Nazi occupation and reveal the network of friendships that sustained them before they were murdered at Ninth Fort. Supplemented by several photograph albums referenced in the letters and Stirt’s own diary, the materials provide insights into the experiences of separation and loss, survivorship, and displacement during World War II.
Florida, Latin America and the Caribbean:
Collection on Jewish Organizations in Cuba: This collection documents the activities of over 60 Jewish communal organizations based in, operating in, or corresponding with others in Havana from the 1920s to 1967. The materials, including letters, agreements, registries, affidavits, event flyers and tickets, reflect immigration to Cuba and the U.S., as well as organizational life, religious practice, and cultural and welfare activities within the community. They also document collaboration with international Jewish relief organizations, such as HIAS.
Price Library of Judaica Latin American and Caribbean Collection: This composite collection contains a variety of documents relating to Jewish communities and individuals in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, with the largest number of materials from Argentina. Many of the documents concern Jews who fled Europe during and after World War II. Of particular interest is a ship’s manifest listing 30 Polish and German Jews arriving in Havana from Antwerp aboard the Iberia on May 16, 1939: just eleven days before Jewish refugees on board the S.S. St. Louis were turned away.
Reverend Benjamin Safer and Family Collection: This collection preserves the papers of Rabbi Benjamin Safer, brought from Lithuania to serve as Jacksonville’s first rabbi for the small Orthodox community. In addition to his personal and official documents, it includes his notes and sermons written in English using Hebrew script. The collection also holds his grandson Edwin Safer’s genealogical research, family history volumes, bar mitzvah scripts, and photographs of ancestral sites in Lithuania and historic Jewish life in Jacksonville.
St. Augustine First Congregation of the Sons of Israel Collection: This collection documents the historic St. Augustine First Congregation Sons of Israel, Jewish life in the city, and the personal and family histories of its members. It includes extensive research on the Hebrew Cemetery, with records of tombstones, burials, correspondence, maps, photographs, and Cemetery Association materials.
Israel
Etz Hayim Yeshiva (Jerusalem) Correspondence and Documents: This small archive include letters and records in Hebrew concerning the yeshiva’s operations, history, and organization. Founded in 1841 by Chief Rabbi Shmuel Salant, Etz Hayim was an Orthodox yeshiva focused on advanced study of the Talmud and Torah, originally located near the Hurva Synagogue and expanded to Jaffa Road in 1908. The collection also documents the impact of the 1929 riots, during which the yeshiva was badly damaged and its students temporarily displaced.