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Collection Data
- Description
- Herbert Jacob Seligmann (1891-1984), writer and civil rights activist, published books and articles on civil rights, World War II, artists, and related topics. Papers document the career and personal life of Herbert J. Seligmann through letters, writings and printed and visual materials. A prolific writer, he published books and and contributed to many newspapers and magazines. His works include studies of the civil rights of African-Americans and the rise of Nazism during World War II, reviews of fine art books, and articles about artists such as Vincent A. Hartgen, John Marin and Georgia O'Keeffe. Clippings of his articles are contained in the scrapbooks, 1920-1946. Visual materials consist of photographs, slides and negative roll films of Seligmann's trips through the United States and Europe. Photographs of Europe include pictures of Jews in the Netherlands, Poland and Romania. These pictures were taken by Seligmann when he traveled to Europe after World War I as publicity director for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Photograph album contains pictures of Haiti during the 1920's, the Adirondacks and western United States.
- Names
- Seligmann, Herbert J. (Herbert Jacob), 1891- (Creator)
- Seligmann, Lilias H. MacLane (Addressee)
- Dates / Origin
- Date Created: 1894 - 1984
- Library locations
- Manuscripts and Archives Division
- Shelf locator: MssCol 2719
- Topics
- Hartgen, Vincent A.
- Marin, John, 1870-1953
- O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986
- Seligmann, Herbert J. (Herbert Jacob), 1891-
- Haiti -- History -- American occupation, 1915-1934
- New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1898-1951
- New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1951-
- Jews -- Netherlands
- Jews -- Poland
- Jews -- Romania
- Genres
- Documents
- Photographs
- Clippings
- Albums (Books)
- Notes
- Biographical/historical: Herbert J. Seligmann, the son of Albert and Carrie (Metzger) Seligmann, was born on November 13, 1891 in New York City. He graduated from the School of Ethical Culture and from Harvard University, cum laude (1912). As a writer and civil rights activist, Seligmann wrote articles and books advocating the civil rights of African-Americans. During the years 1919 through 1932, he was the publicity director for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
After World War I, Seligmann also held the position of publicity director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and traveled throughout Poland, Romania and Latvia. During World War II, he administered the Washington Bureau of the Overseas News Agency and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He wrote a series of articles on fine arts and artists; he had friendships with artists such as Vincent Hartgen, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Alfred Stieglitz.
His publications include The Negro Faces America (1920); D. H. Lawrence, An American Interpretation (1924); Sun and Tides (poems, 1932); Man and Bird Together, a memoir of Albert R. Brand; and Voyages. He was also a contributor of numerous articles for periodicals and newspapers. Married twice, first to Lilias H. MacLane (1893-1964), Seligmann was survived by his second wife Lise Seligmann. He died on March 3, 1984 at the age of 92.
- Content: The papers reflect Seligmann's career as a writer and civil rights activist and to a lesser extent his personal life, through letters, documents, writings, and printed and visual material. The General Correspondence covers several subjects including Seligmann's position as publicity director for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Other correspondence includes Seligmann's letters to his first wife, Lilias H. MacLane Seligmann, and acknowledgements (1964-1966) regarding three books titled In Memory of Lilias - Collected Poems of Herbert J. Seligmann 1919-1964, A South Carolina Independent of the 1880s: J. Hendrix McLane, and Alfred Stieglitz Talking: Notes on Some of His Conversations, 1925-1931.
The typescripts are comprised of Seligmann's writings, and include "Marsden Hartley," "Georgia O'Keeffe" and his autobiography Voyages. The commonplace books contain four decades of his observations, thoughts and poetry from the 1940s through the 1980s. The travel diaries pertain to trips to Europe, Chicago, New Mexico and elsewhere. Notes and miscellaneous papers complete the typescripts. Seligmann was widely published as evident from the scrapbooks (1920-1946) of clippings of his articles on fine arts, civil rights and World War II. The printed material contains the periodical Manuscripts (1922-1923), miscellaneous articles and other periodicals.
Seligmann's photographic skills are evident in pictures of New York City, Maine and other locales. An album of rare photographs of Haiti (to which Seligmann was sent as a reporter by the Nation during the 1920s) contains pictures of Haitians going about such daily activities as shopping, grinding coffee and attending religious services. There are several pictures of Haitian prisoners photographed during the Caco War. The album also includes images of the Adirondack Mountains and the western United States (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah). Individuals photographed include Lilias MacLane Seligmann, Georgia O'Keeffe, Vincent A. Hartgen and John Marin. Other photographs in the collection include contact sheets of Seligmann's photographs of the Jewish communities of Holland, Poland and Romania taken in 1936 as part of his work for the Joint Distribution Committee, and a portrait of Seligmann taken by Alfred Stieglitz. Assorted prints and Seligmann's diplomas complete the collection. The slides contain chiefly photographs taken on vacation trips.
The collection also contains a small amount of material pertaining to Seligmann's first wife, Lilias H. MacLane Seligmann (1893-1964), including photographs; writings; correspondence; clippings; and letters and poems that Seligmann wrote to her. Included is her essay “Experiment with Dancing in Infantile Paralysis,” in which she outlines her experiences teaching dance to children recovering from polio. The essay is accompanied by still photographs from a motion picture that was created in conjunction with the experiment.
- Acquisition: Gift of Lise Seligmann (Mrs. Herbert J. Seligmann) 1992-1996.
- Physical Description
- Extent: 8.5 linear feet (27 boxes)
- Type of Resource
- Text
- Still image
- Identifiers
- NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b11628276
- MSS Unit ID: 2719
- RLIN/OCLC: NYPW92-A219
- Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 806f2dc0-7492-0139-aeee-0242ac110002
