Nina Rubinstein Papers

Period 1918-1996 (-2002)
Total size   1.87 m.
ConsultationNot restricted

Biography

Born in Berlin 1908, died in New York 1996; daughter of Alexander N. Rubinštejn (Alexander Stein) and Terese (Tatiana) Rubinstejn, née Mark, both Mensheviks, her parents, originating from Latvia, fled to Berlin 1906; with her mother in exile in Copenhagen 1914-1917; returned with her mother to Petrograd 1917-1918; moved with her mother to the Yiddish speaking grandmother in Latvia and afterwards to Berlin 1918; brought up with German language, learned also Russian; studied sociology at the universities of Heidelberg and Frankfurt am Main 1929-1933; her dissertation on the French political emigration after 1789 was accepted by Karl Mannheim but she withdrew from the university and left Germany 1933 to live in Paris, working as secretary and translator; settled in New York 1940, working as translator for the U.S. Office of War Information 1942-1945 and served with the United Nations from 1955; also a well-known photographer in circles of the United Nations; retired 1968; after her retirement translator of Russian books; admitted to the degree of doctor of philosophy based on her published dissertation of 1933 at the university of Frankfurt am Main 1989.

Content

Letters from Iraklij G. Cereteli (Tseretelli)1946-1947, Lidija O. Dan 1947-1963, Lida and Ernst Jablonsky 1945-1993, Karl and Lotte Kautsky Jr. 1965-1988 , Thésée (Therese) Korzybska 1940, 1989-1990, 1994, Karl Mannheim 1930, [1933], Hanna Papanek 1968-1993, Alexander Stein and Elly Kaiser 1934-1938, 1947-1948 and n.d., Tatiana (Terese) Rubinstein 1934, 1948-1952 and n.d., Boris and Berti Sapir-Willekes Mac Donald 1984, 1989 and n.d., Edith and Eliezer Yapou 1936, 1945-1991 and others; documents on her study at the universities of Heidelberg and Frankfurt am Main 1929-1933; pocket diaries 1941-1942, 1944-1989, 1995; diaries and notebooks 1918-1992 and n.d; documents on her doctorate at the university of Frankfurt am Main 1989; typescripts and manuscripts of articles and reviews 1931-1935, 1940-1941, 1943-1944, 1946, 1959, 1987 and n.d.; clippings of her published articles 1930, 1932-1933, 1936; documents on the United Nations 1952-1960, on her activities as freelance interpreter 1975-1982, on her activities for Amnesty International and similar organizations 1979-1990, on her work as a photograper 1958-1985; documentation on Lydia O. Dan, Albert Einstein, Norbert Elias and others c. 1929-1999; correspondence and personal papers from and correspondence with her mother, Tatiana Rubinstein 1934-1952; documents (partly photocopies) from Hanna Papanek relating to Nina Rubinstein's dissertation 1903-2002.

See also the papers of Alexander Stein, available at the IISH.

Arrangement

Inventory made by Tiny de Boer in 2005