Series II: Manuscripts

'Moses Mendelssohns Leben und Werk'. Draft chapter in 2 parts: 'Politisch-philosophisch Aktivitaet 1781-82' and 'Sachwalter meiner Glaubensbrueder'. German, 65 pp.; typed; ca. 1969. Portions of a biography on Mendelssohn

'Three Phases of Modern Jewish Scholarship'. 1959; English, 31 p.; typed. Lecture surveying Jewish historiography from 1850 to 1959

'Leo Baeck and the Jewish Mystical Tradition'. English, 21 pp. + 8 pp. notes; typed, some handwritten corrections. Lecture on Leo Baeck's attitude towards mysticism

Alexander Altmann was born in Kaschau (Koice), Slovakia on April 16, 1906. He received a degree in philosophy from the University of Berlin, where he also taught, and he served as a rabbi in Berlin from 1931-1938, after his ordination from the Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin. In 1938 he left Nazi-Germany and immigrated to England, where he served as a rabbi in Manchester. Here he founded the Institute of Jewish Studies. In 1959 he resigned as chairman of this institute in exchange for a position at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. From 1976 to 1978 he was also a visiting professor at both Harvard University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was an Associate at the Harvard University Center for Jewish Studies until his death on June 6, 1987. The main topic of his academic research was Jewish philosophy and mysticism, with a focus on Moses Mendelssohn

The main content of this collection is material used by Alexander Altmann in his research. The bulk of the items consist of notes and photocopies with notes. The main point of these notes pertain to the life and philosophy of Moses Mendelssohn. The correspondence consists almost entirely of letters to other archives, libraries and scientists in Altmanns search for source material. A few manuscripts and essays by Altmann himself deal with Jewish theology and the philosophy of Moses Mendelssohn

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