Guide to the Berkman Family Papers, 1891-2003, (bulk 1970-2001)
Arrangement
Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Berkman Family Papers
Creator
Berkman family
Collection Number
MSS#416
Extent
15 linear feet29 boxes and 3 shelf volumes
Date
1891-2003
Date
1970-2001
Abstract
Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman, who came to Pittsburgh in 1936 and 1938, respectively, made significant contributions to both the Jewish community and the wider community through their philanthropic gifts and their active participation in a wide variety of civic, cultural, and professional organizations. These papers include correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, notebooks, programs, and photocopies of articles, vital records, and obituaries.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
The guide to this collection was written by Martha L. Berg.
Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman, who came to Pittsburgh in 1936 and 1938, respectively, made significant contributions to both the Jewish community and the wider community through their philanthropic gifts and their active participation in a wide variety of civic, cultural, and professional organizations.
Allen Hugh Berkman, the youngest of the four children of Hyman and Sarah (Helman) Berkman, was born in Canton, Ohio, on January 7, 1912. His parents had emigrated from Lithuania in 1907. Listed as a horse dealer at the time of Allen's birth, Hyman Berkman was, by the time of his death in 1952, the president of Steel Trading Corporation. He and an older son, Louis, had founded the Louis Berkman Company of Steubenville, Ohio. Allen's brother Jack was an attorney and an executive in the communications industry. The elder Berkmans resettled in Pittsburgh in 1936.
Allen attended public schools in Cadiz and Canton, Ohio; at age sixteen, he was valedictorian of his graduating class at Wells High School in Steubenville, Ohio. In 1933 he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a member of three honor societies, including Phi Beta Kappa. Allen continued his studies at Harvard Law School, where he was awarded the L.L.B. (J.D.) degree in 1936. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania State Bar in 1936 and opened a law practice in the Frick Building in downtown Pittsburgh in 1937, in affiliation with attorneys Tinker, Henry, and Connelly.
Allen Berkman and Selma Wiener met on a blind date in August, 1936, became engaged in December, 1937, and were married in Dallas on March 20, 1938. They moved to Pittsburgh shortly after their honeymoon and lived the rest of their lives in Pittsburgh.
Selma Wiener's paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from Germany. before the Civil War and settled in Mississippi. Her maternal grandmother was born in the United States and raised in New York City, where she met her husband, who worked in the manufacture of artificial flowers. Selma's father Eli Wiener moved to Texas alone at age fourteen and began working in the lumber business. Other business interests of his were in railroads, other building materials, and foundries. Eli married Selma Loewenstein in 1906. Selma Wiener, the youngest of Eli and Selma's four children, was born in Keltys, Texas, on August 8, 1916. The family moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, and Selma attended public schools there until 1931, when the family moved to Dallas. She was graduated from Highland Park High School there in 1932, at age fifteen. She attended Sophie Newcomb College for two years and then transferred to Wellesley College, where she majored in psychology, graduating at age nineteen in 1936. She taught nursery school briefly in Dallas before her marriage.
Allen and Selma Berkman settled in the East End of Pittsburgh. They lived at 5411 Albemarle Avenue from 1943 to 1970. They moved to 803 Devonshire Street in 1970; this house was designed in 1929 by the architect Brandon Smith for William Larimer Jones, Jr., the son of the president of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. The Berkmans moved to 5000 Fifth Avenue in 1985 and lived there until their deaths. Selma and Allen raised five children: Barbara B. Ackerman, Susan B. Rahm, Richard L. Berkman, Helen B. Habbert, and James S. Berkman.
Allen Berkman continued his law practice until shortly before his death. One of his early law partners was David Glick (1895-1964), a leader of the Pittsburgh legal and civic communities who, in 1936-1938, had served as an emissary from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to Nazi Germany and to South America to help in the relocation of thousands of Jews to safety from the Holocaust. In 1964 Allen was a founding member and senior partner in the firm Berkman Ruslander Pohl Lieber & Engel, which occupied offices on the 20th floor (and later also the 19th and 18th floors) of the Frick building, including the original private office quarters of Henry Clay Frick. By the 1980s the firm employed approximately 55 attorneys. After 1989, Allen Berkman was of counsel to the Kirkpatrick & Lockhart firm.
Both Allen and Selma Berkman were very active in civic and philanthropic affairs in the Jewish community and the wider Pittsburgh community. Selma served as president of the Sisterhood of Rodef Shalom Congregation and as a board member of the Visiting Nurses Association, the Rehabilitation Institute of Pittsburgh, and the Women's Committee of Carnegie Institute, in addition to active membership in many other cultural institutions. Allen served on many boards, often in leadership positions, including those of the Pittsburgh Trust for Cultural Resources, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, American Jewish Committee, Montefiore Hospital, Rodef Shalom Congregation (president 1976-1982), Vocational Rehabilitation Center of Allegheny County, World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, the National Conference for Community and Justice (formerly National Conference of Christians and Jews), and the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Club of Pittsburgh
In 1972 they established the Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman Charitable Trust, which is currently administered by the Pittsburgh Foundation. In 1975 the Trust distributed approximately $8,000; by 2000, the assets of the Trust were above five million dollars and approximately $425,000 was distributed, with approximately twenty-five per cent going to Pittsburgh organizations. The Berkmans made significant financial contributions to the Carnegie Science Center, Heinz Hall, the Benedum Center, the Byham Theater, the restoration of the Rodef Shalom sanctuary, and the establishment of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania (formerly the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Archives), among many other projects. In 1989, they funded a chair for scholarship in Jewish law and practice at the Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati; the chair was named in honor of Solomon B. Freehof, Rabbi Emeritus of Rodef Shalom Congregation.
The Berkmans received many awards and honors from local and national organizations in recognition of their contributions. At the time of Selma's death on November 30, 1995, the Berkmans had been married for 57 years. Allen Berkman endowed a violin chair at the Pittsburgh Symphony in her memory. Allen Berkman was 91 years old when he died on May 29, 2003.
Scope and Content Notes
The Berkman Family Papers are housed in 29 archival boxes and 3 shelf volumes and are arranged in seven series. Series have been designated for the Wiener and Berkman families; Berkman family foundations and charitable trusts; Organizations; Properties; Law firms; David Glick; and Miscellaneous documents These papers include correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, notebooks, programs, and photocopies of articles, vital records, and obituaries. They provide information about members of the Berkman family and about their professional and community activities.
Series I: Wiener and Berkman Families
This series contains genealogical and family history materials, personal mementos, and records of daily life for the Wiener and Berkman families and for the family of Allen and Selma Berkman. It has been divided into three subseries.
Subseries I: Wiener Family
This subseries contains information about the history of the Wiener family in Louisiana and Texas and about Selma Wiener Berkman. It includes information about the varied business interests of Eli and Samson Wiener, primarily in lumber, oil, and railroads. Of note are scrapbooks Selma kept during her elementary and high school years. Included also are larger wrapped volumes of her scrapbook from Sophie Newcomb College (1932-1934) and a later workbook on her family history. See also Weiner family tree in MSO#416, Box 1 Folder1. Selma's check registers for the 1970s provide a glimpse of what was involved in running her large household as well as her philanthropic activities. Example of the poems Selma wrote on the occasions of birthdays and anniversaries of friends and family members are also included. This subseries also includes cassette tapes and transcripts of oral history interviews of Selma Berkman (with some contributions by Allen Berkman) conducted by the National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Chapter, in 1988 and 1992.
Subseries II: Berkman Family
This subseries contains biographical material on the Berkman family of Ohio and Pittsburgh, including Hyman, Sarah, Jack, and Louis Berkman and Celia Berkman Monheim. There are also clippings and mementos kept by Allen from his high school in Steubenville, the University of Michigan, and Harvard Law School. Included are a record book he kept of the fees received from his legal practice from 1937-1956 and briefs from his early court cases. Rolodex cards, an address book and engagement calendars give an idea of the breadth of his personal and professional acquaintance. There are correspondence files, primarily cards and letters he received in 1995, when he sustained injuries in an accident and when his wife Selma and his brother Jack passed away. There are by no means sufficient examples of his correspondence to indicate the wide variety of his activities and interests. Included in this subseries are cassette tapes and transcripts of oral history interviews of Allen Berkman conducted by the National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Chapter, in 1981 and 1982. An additional oral history interview, conducted by Barry Alfonso for the Heinz History Center in 2003 and previously catalogued as MSC#416, is part of this subseries but has been added to the box containing the Berkman Family Photographs. It now bears the label MSP#416, Box 1, Folder 12.
Subseries III: Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman Family
This subseries contains personal records of the Berkmans as a family. Of note are a scrapbook they kept for their engagement and wedding in 1937 and 1938, correspondence with their children and grandchildren, and a folder of family correspondence that includes examples of the poems Selma wrote for Allen on his birthdays and their anniversaries.
Series II: Family foundations and charitable trusts
This series contains correspondence and reports for the Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman Charitable Trust and for the H.L. and Louis Berkman Foundation. While these reports are not complete, they do give an idea of the types of organizations supported by the Berkmans over the years and of the family decision-making process involved in the selection of organizations to receive the grants. See also Pittsburgh Foundation folders in the Organizations Series.
Series III: Organizations
This series, arranged in alphabetical order, contains correspondence, reports, clippings, certificates, and other materials that document the Berkmans' philanthropic and hands-on involvement in a wide variety of civic, cultural, and religious institutions in Western Pennsylvania, nationally, and internationally. Many of these folders include honors and awards presented to the Berkmans to recognize their participation. Of particular note are organizations which Selma and/or Allen Berkman served in leadership positions. These include the Allegheny County Bar Association, where Allen established the David Glick Memorial Committee and also served on the Centennial Committee and the John H. Sorg Fund; the American Jewish Committee, which honored Allen with its Human Relations Award in 1981 and 2001; the Bicentennial Committee of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County; the Carnegie Museum, where Selma served on the Women's Committee; Harvard Law School; and the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Club of Pittsburgh, of which Allen was President in 1981, during a major renovation project.
Allen served on the Board of Governors and the Board of Overseers of Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion for more than thirty years and was awarded an honorary doctorate there in 1993; Allen and Selma together established the Loewenstein-Wiener Fellowships and the Solomon B. Freehof Chair in Jewish Law and Practice at the College. The Berkmans gave a major gift to establish the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Archives (later the Rauh Jewish Archives) at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania; Allen was active with the National Conference of Christians and Jews; Selma worked on the National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Chapter's oral history project. The Berkmans contributed substantially to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and to one of its most important constituent organizations, the Pittsburgh Symphony Society. Other organizations which benefited from both hands-on and financial contributions by the Berkmans included the Rehabilitation Institute of Pittsburgh, the Visiting Nurse Association, the Vocational Rehabilitation Center of Allegheny County (Life's Work of Western Pennsylvania), and the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh. There is extensive documentation of Allen Berkman's presidency of Rodef Shalom Congregation, from 1976-1982. Additional information about Allen and Selma Berkman's involvement with Rodef Shalom may be obtained from the Rodef Shalom Congregation Archives, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (http://rodefshalom.org/who/history/).
In addition to organizations with which the Berkmans had personal involvement, there are also files for many local and national organizations to which they made monetary donations, including a Miscellaneous folder, arranged alphabetically, of one-time donations. Two folders document Allen's membership in Investment Club 50, a club initiated in 1950 by eight charter members, most of whom were members of Rodef Shalom Congregation; the club was active until 1996, when its assets were distributed to the members.
The documents in the Organizations Series provide not only a view of the breadth of Allen and Selma's community involvement but also an understanding of the development and extent of the philanthropic community of Western Pennsylvania.
Series IV: Properties
This series is divided into four subseries, one for each of the three residences of the Berkman family in Pittsburgh and one for a collection of catalogues relating to the Berkmans' architectural renovations of these properties. Additional documentation, in the form of architectural sketches and drawings, may be found in the Berkman Family Oversize Materials (MSO#416).
Subseries I: 5411 Albemarle Avenue
This subseries, which consists of only one folder, contains a relatively small amount of documentation, including appraisals, title documents, sale agreements, correspondence, receipts for renovations and repairs, newsclippings, and other documents relating to the Berkmans' ownership of this residence from 1943-1970.
Subseries II: 803 Devonshire Street
This subseries provides, through appraisals, mortgage and title documents, sale agreements, correspondence, engineering reports, invoices for renovations and repairs, newsclippings, and other materials, extensive documentation of the Berkmans' purchase, renovations, and sale of this residence (1969-1989). Included are documents related to the shared ownership of the building by the Berkmans and Carnegie Mellon University in the 1980s.
Subseries III: 5000 Fifth Avenue
Documentation of the condominium purchased by the Berkmans in 1983 includes correspondence with architects and building management and invoices for renovations and repairs, as well as condominium association newsletters and minutes of council meetings.
Subseries IV: Catalogues
These catalogues, for the most part undated, are for appliances, architectural and decorative elements, furniture, floor and wall coverings, and bathroom fixtures; they were used by the Berkmans in renovating the Devonshire Street and Fifth Avenue residences.
Series V: Law firms
This series includes reports, correspondence, newsclippings, etc., of a general nature, regarding the two law firms with which Allen Berkman was associated: Berkman Ruslander Pohl Lieber & Engel and Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. Four Berkman Ruslander Pohl Lieber & Engel folders contain extensive documentation of the firm's occupancy of offices in the Frick Building in downtown Pittsburgh, including leases, union agreements, reports on renovations, and floor plans.
Series VI: Glick, David
This series consists primarily of secondary biographical materials about David Glick, who was a law partner of Allen Berkman's, specifically about his 1936-1939 work as an emissary from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to Nazi Germany to help in the relocation of German Jews. These include an article Glick wrote for the Harvard Law Review; correspondence with members of the Glick family; and an extensive research report by Allen Hepner which contains copies of archival documents from the German government, translated correspondence, and internal reports of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Series VII: Miscellaneous
This series contains material about two friends of the Berkman family, Alexander Lowenthal and Lucile Johnson Rosenbloom, and about Anna Tomko, who was for many years employed as a housekeeper by the Berkmans. After Tomko's retirement, Selma Berkman actively assisted in the management of her day-to-day affairs.
Arrangement
Series I: Wiener and Berkman Families
Subseries I: Wiener Family
Subseries II: Berkman Family
Subseries III: Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman Family
Series II: Family foundations and charitable trusts
Series III: Organizations
Series IV: Properties
Subseries I: 5411 Albemarle Avenue
Subseries II: 803 Devonshire Street
Subseries III: 5000 Fifth Avenue
Subseries IV: Catalogues
Series V: Law firms
Series VI: Glick, David
Series VII: Miscellaneous
Conditions Governing Access
No Restrictions.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials came in two accessions and were combined into one body of papers in 2005.
Acc#2004.0001 Gift of Richard L. Berkman, for the Estate of Allen H. Berkman. Re-catalogued materials were added in Jun 2014.
Preferred Citation
The Berkman Family Papers, 1891-2003, MSS#416, Rauh Jewish Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Martha L. Berg in August 16, 2005,with revisions by Martha L. Berg on June 9, 2014.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Separated Materials
One box (.5 linear feet) of photographs has been separated and described as MSP#416.
One folder of oversize photographs has been separated and described as MSR#416.
Two corrugated enclosures and one box containing oversize materials have been separated and described as MSO#416.
Approximately seventy books and publications have been separately catalogued in the Library; for a complete listing, see the donor file.
Subjects
Corporate Names
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (New York, NY )
Rodef Shalom Congregation (Pittsburgh, PA)
Rehabilitation Institute (Pittsburgh, PA )
Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (Cinncinnati, Ohio )
American Jewish Committee (Pittsburgh, PA )
Vocational Rehabilitation Center (Pittsburgh, PA )
National Conference of Christians and Jews (Pittsburgh, PA )
World Affairs Council (Pittsburgh, PA )
Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania--Rauh Jewish Archives (Pittsburgh, PA)
