Ernst Kantorowicz correspondence Digital

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Scope and Contents

The Ernst Kantorowicz correspondence consists primarily of letters to Kantorowicz from fellow scholars representing various fields in the humanities. Roughly thirty unique individuals are among the correspondents. Other documents in the collection include one short typed manuscript, one business card, and a typed introduction on behalf of a speaker giving a lecture (this appears to have been given by Kantorowicz for Dom Anselm Strittmater). Some letters express thanks to Kantorowicz for having loaned the offprint in which the letter was found, and which was authored by a third party. In some cases the letter to Kantorowicz is accompanying a courtesy copy of an article written by the letter's author.

Dates

Creation: 1940-1942, 1950-1963, 1985

Creator

Kantorowicz, Ernst Hartwig, 1895-1963 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers are welcome to publish, reproduce, and use the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center’s holdings in accordance with U.S. Copyright Law. Under the Fair Use doctrine, users may freely reproduce materials for personal research, teaching, and/or scholarship. Under the same doctrine, users may cite or publish selected passages and/or quotations for comment and criticism. In accordance to U.S. Copyright Law, researchers seeking to reproduce and/or publish materials in the entirety and/or for commercial purposes will require the permission of the copyright holder.

The Institute for Advanced Study holds the copyright to materials generated by Institute employees over the course of their work for the Institute. Where the Institute for Advanced Study holds the copyright, researchers are free to reproduce materials for one-time, non-commercial purposes. For all other cases, researchers are responsible for contacting the Archives Center to request permission at: archives@ias.edu For all materials for which the Institute is not the copyright holder, researchers that choose to pursue publication and/or reproduction are responsible for determining the individual who does hold the copyright and requesting permission directly from that individual. Researchers with questions regarding the reproduction or use of archival materials can contact the Archives Center to request help at: archives@ias.edu.

Biographical / Historical

Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz was born on May 3, 1895, to a Jewish family in what is now Poznan, Poland. He served in the German Army during World War I, then studied philosophy at the University of Berlin. He moved to the University of Heidelberg to study history with Karl Hampe and Friedrich Baethgen, two noted medievalists. While in Heidelberg, Kantorowicz became involved with the so-called Georgekreis, a group of artists and intellectuals devoted to the German poet and aesthete Stefan George and who shared an interest in art, literature and Romantic mysticism.

He served on the faculty of the University of Frankfurt until 1933, when he was forced to resign by the Nazi regime. He taught briefly at Oxford University, then joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley. He remained at Berkeley until 1949, when he left after a controversy in which he refused to sign a loyalty oath. He then joined the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study, where he was a Professor in the School of Historical Studies from 1951 until his death on September 9, 1963.

Extent

1.0 folders

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Overview

Custodial History

With the aid of researchers, archivists identified the correspondence that comprises this collection in the Instittue for Advanced Study Historical Studies-Social Science Library's collection of Ernst Kantorowicz offprints collection is in the holdings of the Institute for Advanced Study's Historical Studies-Social Science Library. Archivists and researchers reviewed the offprints and removed for correspondence for preservation and public access over the course of 2011 and 2012.

This collection additionally provides evidence that there was at least one addition made to the Library's Ernst Kantorowicz offprints collection after the initial transfer. This one identified instance is described in the 1985 gift letter to the Library from Homer Thompson, Faculty member of the Institute's School of Historical Studies, of a Kantorowicz-authored offprint

Existence and Location of Copies

To preserve the provenance of the items and support accessibility for all users, photocopies of the original documents were placed in the Historical Studies-Social Science Library's Ernst Kantorowicz offprints collection in the same location where each item was found and, correspondingly, digital and print copies of identifying pages from the offprints collection have been placed with the original documents in this collection.

Processing Information

Archivists and researchers worked together to identify and remove original correspondence from a collection of offprints donated the Institute for Advanced Study Historical Studies-Social Science Library in 2011 and 2012. Upon removal, materials were copied and copies were placed within the off prints to retain vital information about each individual item's orginal order. Archivists subsequently rehoused original correspondence in acid-free containers for long-term storage and preservation and arranged materials chronologically.