Guide to the Marks Family Papers, 1905-2001 (bulk 1946-1949)
1818-2011
Metadata Details
- Title
- Marks Family papers 1905-2001 (bulk 1946-1949)
- Creator
- Subject
- Livingston, Lena Marks, Marks, Theodore, Marks, Samuel, Lindenberg, Elvira, CARE (Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) USA., CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere) USA., Food relief, World War, 1939-1945, Streptomycin, Jews--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh, Jews--Romania--Bucharest
- Description
- This collection provides a detailed record of the of effort of one American family to provide assistance to family members whose lives in Romania were severely disrupted in the aftermath of World War II. The collection is stored in one archival box and consists of seven folders with contents arranged in approximately chronological order. Correspondence makes up the bulk of the collection, with some news clippings, deeds, receipts, and handwritten notes., Marks Family papers, 1905-2001, MSS 1006, Rauh Jewish Archives, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center, Geraldine Marks Gomberg Gift 2013 2013.0083, Members of the Marks family, originally from Austria, moved to Romania in the 19th century, using the surname Moskovici. Louis Moskovici immigrated to the United States and changed his name to Marks; his brother Bernard Moskovici remained in Bucharest, Romania, and had a daughter Elvira, who married Henry Lindenberg. The family maintained their connections through correspondence, primarily between Elvira Lindenberg and her American cousin Lena (Marks) Livingston, a daughter of Louis Marks. In the aftermath of World War II, the American cousins made concerted efforts to send relief in the form of money, food, and material goods to their relatives in Bucharest. Lena Marks Livingston and her siblings Samuel and Theodore Marks worked with CARE (originally named Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe, and now named Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere), an organization founded in 1945 by 22 American organizations to send food packages to European survivors of the War. Originally the packages, for which American sponsors paid ten dollars each, contained surplus U. S. Army rations; later the food packages were customized for different countries. CARE began service to Romania in the spring of 1947, and Lenas letters to Elvira contain details about when she ordered packages, along with family news. Elvira responded with details about which packages actually got to her and reports of her family struggle to survive in the devastated Romanian economy. Her records include detailed lists of the food contents of each package, such as beans, sugar, powdered milk, tea bags, and gelatin, as well as receipts from CARE and promotional materials from the CARE office at the courthouse in Pittsburgh. Later in 1947, Elvira wrote that her husband Henry had been diagnosed with tuberculosis and requested that the Marks family try to send streptomycin, the first antibiotic used in the treatment of TB. Since the drug was available only in the United States, the Marks family had to obtain an export license to ship it, and then Elvira needed an import license to receive it in Romania. Despite burdensome bureaucratic procedures, the antibiotic shipments did reach Elvira., Gift of Geraldine Marks Gomberg, Processed MSS 1006 10/2013 M. Berg, Finding aid available.
- Publisher
- Contributor
- Marks family, Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center (depositor)
- Date
- 1818-2011
- Type
- Collection, Text
- Format
- Identifier
- Source
- Language
- eng
- Relation
- http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=hswpead;cc=hswpead;rgn=main;view=text;didno=US-QQS-MSS1006, pdcp_noharvest
- Coverage
- Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Romania, Bucharest
- Rights
- Copyright Not Evaluated. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/