The collection contains items related to Leopold and Adelheid Zunz, such as articles about them, portraits, and copies of letters. Also included are a handwritten catalog of Leopold Zunz's library and over 800 visiting cards; more than 270 contain original autographs. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence of Leopold Zunz and his wife, Adelheid (née Berman) with friends and relatives, including Philipp Ehrenberg, Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg, Salomon von Hönigsberg, and Meier Isler. Also included are letters from Adelheid Zunz, often with postcripts by her husband, Leopold Zunz, to Julie Ehrenberg (née Fischel)

Born in Detmold on August 10, 1794, Leopold Zunz was educated at the Samson'sche Freischule in Wolfenbüttel, and the universities of Berlin and Halle. In 1819, he was a founding member of the Verein fuer Cultur und Wissenschaft der Juden in Berlin, in which prominent intellectual figures like Eduard Gans, Heinrich Heine, M. I. Jost and Immanuel Wohlwill gathered. From this club, the so-called Wissenschaft des Judentums emerged, mainly based on two early works of Zunz, the programmatic article "Etwas über rabbinische Litteratur" (1818) and the major ground-breaking study on Jewish sermons, Die gottesdienstlichen Vortraege der Juden, historisch entwickelt (1832). After receiving his doctorate in 1821, he worked as a preacher and teacher and became the editor of the journal Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums. In 1822, he married Adelheid Bermann (1802-1874). In later years, he retreated more and more from his public duties and dedicated his life to the study of Jewish literature. He died in Berlin on March 17, 1886. Born in Pyrmont on April 2, 1802, Adelheid Bermann married Leopold Zunz in 1822 and died in Berlin on August 18, 1874

20-page inventory, 18-page name-index to the visiting cards

Leopold and Adelheid Zunz: An Account in Letters 1815-1885, edited with an Introduction by Nahum N. Glatzer, Leo Baeck Institute, East and West Library, 1958

Gottold Weil: Das Zunz Archiv. in: Leo Baeck Institute Bulletin, no. 7 (June 1959)

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