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Dinner for University in Exile at Waldorf-Astoria Hotel photograph

 Collection
Identifier: NA-0028-01

Abstract

The collection is comprised of a photograph of attendees at a dinner for the New School for Social Research's University in Exile held on January 15, 1936 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Dates

  • 1936 January 15

Creator

Extent

.082 Gigabytes (1 TIF file)

1 Items (1 photograph)

Language of Materials

English

Content Description

The collection is comprised of a photograph of attendees at a dinner for the New School for Social Research's University in Exile held on January 15, 1936 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. The dinner, whose guests included members of the New School's graduate faculty and Board of Trustees, celebrated the early success of the University in Exile and raised funds for its perpetuation at the New School. A letter to Alvin Johnson from President Franklin D. Roosevelt was read aloud at the event in which he applauded the University in Exile's commitment to "freedom of scientific inquiry untrammeled by religious or racial restrictions [as being] deeply rooted in the American tradition." The toastmaster for the evening was Felix Frankfurter. Other speakders included Alvin Johnson; George E. Vincent, former head of the Rockefeller Foundation; Isaiah Bowman, president of Johns Hopkins University; Hamilton Fish Armstrong, editor of the quarterly Foreign Affairs; Ira A. Hirschmann, chair of the University in Exile board of trustees, and Karl Brandt, a member of the graduate faculty. The grandmother of the photograph's donor attended the function, along with 300 guests. Inscription: "University in Exile" The Waldorf-Astoria Jan. 15, 1936.

"Roosevelt Hails University in Exile As Symbol of American Freedom" New York Times (1923-); Jan 16, 1936; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research use. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment.

Historical note

The University in Exile, which formally came to be named the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, was established by Alvin Johnson, director of the New School for Social Research, in 1933. Through his work in Europe editing the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, Johnson became aware of the increasingly hostile and dangerous political climate in Germany. After Hitler seized power in 1933, Johnson sought a way to provide refuge to Jewish and anti-Nazi scholars, and over the spring of 1933 he launched an intensive fund raising campaign. Ultimately, with most of the funds coming from industrialist Hiram J. Halle and the Rockefeller Foundation, Johnson succeeded in offering teaching posts at the New School to ten European scholars whose lives and livelihoods were threatened. Called the University in Exile, the program's initial faculty members, appointed in October 1933, were Karl Brandt, Gerhard Colm, Arthur Feiler, Eduard Heimann, Herman Kantorowiez, Emil Lederer, Hans Speier, Erich von Hornbostel, Max Wertheimer, and Frieda Wunderlich. Later appointments made in 1938 included Austrian professors Erich Hula, Felix Kaufman, and Ernst Karl Winter, and Italian scholar Nino Levi. By June 1934, the University of the State of New York granted a provisional charter to the New School for Social Research, allowing the institution to award MSS (Master of Social Science) and DSS (Doctor of Social Science) degrees. Before completing registration (accreditation) with the State of New York, a Committee of Requirements for Degrees was established in 1934. The Graduate Faculty Constitution and By-laws were ratified in 1935. The Graduate Faculty's absolute charter was granted on January 17, 1941. Throughout the 1930s and during World War II, Alvin Johnson continued his work to help scholars escape from Europe and find refuge at the New School and other American universities.

Title
Guide to the University in Exile Waldorf Astoria Hotel photograph
Status
In Process
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin