Alfred S. Austrian Collection

Identity elements

Reference code

US ILfC SC/043

Level of description

Collection

Title

Alfred S. Austrian Collection

Date(s)

Extent

0.30

Name of creator

Biographical history

Alfred S. Austrian was born in Chicago June 15, 1870, the son of Solomon and Julia Austrian. He was a Harvard graduate, 1891, and was admitted to the bar, Chicago, in 1893. He married Mamie Rothschild October 1, 1901.

Name of creator

Biographical history

Content and structure elements

Scope and content

Alfred S. Austrian  and Paul M. Godehn, both of the Chicago law firm of Mayer, Meyer, Austrian & Platt, corresponded for the purpose of acquiring rare books and manuscripts with many significant and knowledgeable dealers in the trades.  The collection consists of letters, telegrams, invoices, etc. exchanged with the major U.S. and U.K. book and manuscript dealers of the period, particularly those of Chicago, New York, and London and extending into the 1930s and 1940s. It is not immediately clear if they were acting for a client, not named, or for themselves.  Neither appears among the names of the membership of Chicago’s Caxton Club, a book collectors group. Among the dealer names included in the correspondence, typically with typed letters signed, are Walter Hill, Chicago; A.S.W. Rosenbach, Philadelphia; Thomas Madigan and Walter Benjamin, New York; and Dawson’s and Maggs, U.K.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use elements

Conditions governing access

Physical access

Technical access

Conditions governing reproduction

Languages of the material

    Scripts of the material

      Language and script notes

      Finding aids

      Acquisition and appraisal elements

      Custodial history

      Immediate source of acquisition

      Obtained in 1990 from Kenneth Nebenzahl.

      Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information

      Accruals

      Related materials elements

      Existence and location of originals

      Existence and location of copies

      Related archival materials

      Related descriptions

      Notes element

      Specialized notes

      Alternative identifier(s)

      Description control element

      Rules or conventions

      Sources used

      Access points

      Subject access points

      Place access points

      Name access points

      Genre access points

      Accession area