Manuscripts
Leo Newmark diaries and family materials
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- Description
- Collection of nine diaries, scrapbooks, and family histories kept by Leo Newmark and Harris Newmark between the 1880s and 1938, as well as an unidentified German diary kept in 1850. Individual items include the manuscript of Leo Newmark's California family Newmark: an intimate history (c.1970), which traces Newmark's father J.P. Newmark and other family members from their origins in Prussia to their arrival in Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as being an autobiographical history of Newmark's youth. There are also four diaries kept by Leo Newmark, including his 1900 account of his travels in Europe (including Gibraltar, Naples, Rome, Venice, Zurich, Strasburg, Berlin, Copenhagen, and London) and a 1912-1931 diary which includes references to Newmark's travels from London to New York aboard the Laconia, his impressions of World War I and the Russian Revolution (includes the remarks "I didn't see any reason to object to the sinking of the Lusitania," "War was declared about a week ago but except for the newspapers there is no visible sign of warlike proceedings," and "Russia's revolution gives the Allies and Americans a fine opportunity to orate about 'making the world safe for Democracy' . . . [but] for us Jews there are many pros and cons"), and to the Graf Zeppelin's arrival in San Francisco in August 1929. Newmark's diaries include frequent references to his scholarly activities and are written in English, German, French, Ethiopic, and Arabic. Also included is Newmark's book of "Random Recollections" (1927), which recalls his meetings with Ambrose Bierce, Louis Pasteur, Jacques Loeb, Walther Rathenau, Franklin K. Lane, and Baron Lister; Newmark's scrapbook, which includes newspaper clippings and obituaries relating to his family members and acquaintances; and Harris Newmark's 1883-1908 scrapbook, which includes clippings, notes, letters, photographs, and ephemera relating to the Newmark and Loeb families.
