The Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
History of the Archives
In his will of 1950, Einstein appointed his secretary, Helen Dukas, and his
close associate, Otto Nathan, as trustees of his estate. Nathan was also
appointed as sole executor. In his Will, Einstein stipulated that his literary
estate will ultimately become the possession of the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.
Following Einstein's death in 1955, Dukas and Nathan devoted themselves
tirelessly, for more than a quarter of a century, to organizing the papers
and acquiring additional material. As a result of their efforts, the Archives
grew threefold. In the 1960's, Helen Dukas and Gerald Holton of Harvard
University started to systematize the material, thereby rendering it
accessible to scholars and preparing it for eventual publication in The
Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, a joint project of the Hebrew
University and Princeton University Press.
In 1982, the Einstein Estate vested all literary rights in the Hebrew
University and Einstein's personal papers were forwarded to the Jewish
National & University Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
becoming the nucleus of the Albert Einstein Archives. In subsequent
years, additional material was dispatched from Einstein’s Princeton
residence, namely his personal collections of reprints, photographs,
medals, and diplomas as well as his private library (in 1987), including
sheet music and records.
In July 2006, more than 1000 letters to and from family members,
presumably the last large lot of original archival material, which has been
sealed for twenty years after the death of Margot Einstein, was made
accessible at the Albert Einstein Archives.
Holdings of the Archives
The material in the Albert Einstein Archives consists of four main
categories: textual materials, audiovisual materials, books, and artifacts. In
total, the Albert Einstein Archives includes more than 50,000 items. The
scientific material comprises a quarter of the material, the non-scientific
material three quarters.
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1. The textual materials consist of both manuscripts and printed
materials:
 The manuscript materials can be divided into three main groups:
 Personal material: Einstein’s personal documents, family
correspondence and travel diaries.
 Scientific material: manuscripts of Einstein’s scientific papers and
lectures, his correspondence with scientific colleagues and his lecture
notebooks. This material includes the original manuscripts of Einstein’s
articles on such topics as the general theory of relativity, quantum
mechanics, and the unified field theory. It also contains his
correspondence with the most important physicists of the 20th century,
e.g., Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Max Born, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin
Schrödinger, and Hendrik A. Lorentz.
 Non-scientific material: manuscripts of articles, speeches, lectures, poems
and such as politics, society, philosophy and culture. This material
includes Einstein’s aphorisms as well as correspondence dealing with
matters outside the field of science, writings on such subjects as pacifism,
Judaism, the nuclear threat, and civil rights, as well as his correspondence
with famous contemporaries, e.g., Sigmund Freud, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Walther Rathenau, Thomas Mann, Bertrand Russell, and Albert
Schweitzer.
 Printed material: this material consists of a vast collection of reprints
of Einstein’s articles as well as newspaper clippings, commercial
calendars, posters, and postcards which all feature Albert Einstein.
2. The audiovisual materials consist of four main collections:
 Photographs: our photograph collection consists of formal and
informal portraits of Einstein from his earliest years until his death. It
also includes photographs of Einstein with family members, friends,
colleagues and associates and depicts Einstein at various events and
occasions. This collection also contains a number of cartoons
featuring Einstein as well as reproductions of paintings and busts
which depict him.
 Sound recordings: this collection includes recordings of Einstein’s
voice in German and English, speaking on various subjects, such as
the famous formula E=mc2, the role of universities in society, and the
nuclear threat.
 Film footage: this collection features Einstein in newsreels at events
such as a Palestine Campaign dinner in New York in 1931, his arrival
at the Los Angeles pier holding his violin case in 1933, and his
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meeting with David Ben Gurion in 1951. The collection also includes
video copies of documentaries on Einstein made by various
production companies.
 Multimedia products: in recent years, Einstein has begun to figure
prominently in multimedia. As part of our efforts to compile a
comprehensive record of Einstein’s role in modern culture, we also
started to collect this material.
3. The Albert Einstein Archives Library - the Library consists of two
main collections:

Einstein's private library: Einstein’s personal library was transferred
to the Hebrew University in 1987, following the death of Einstein’s
step-daughter, Margot Einstein. The library includes books, musical
scores and records collected by Einstein throughout his life. The
books deal with science, European and American politics and
society, literature and culture, religion and philosophy, Judaism and
Israel. The musical scores contain works by Einstein’s favorite
composers, especially Mozart, Bach, and Handel. The records range
from classical music to Israeli folk music
Secondary literature: we also possess a collection of books by and
about Einstein. Copies of all new editions of Einstein’s books are
deposited with us by the publishers and we acquire copies of new
books about Einstein.

4. Artifacts - the artifact collection consists of two parts:


Einstein’s diplomas and medals: Although Einstein did not
bequeath his personal effects to the Hebrew University, the
Archives possesses most of Einstein’s personal collection of
honorary diplomas and medals, the most prominent of these being
the Nobel Prize certificate and medal.
Einstein trivia: In recent years, objects of trivia relating to Einstein,
such as T-shirts and other memorabilia, have become popular and
these are also collected as evidence of Einstein’s mythical status.
The Importance of the Albert Einstein Archives
The Albert Einstein Archives contains the largest collection of original
manuscripts by Einstein in the world and includes his vast correspondence
with the most influential physicists and intellectuals of the 20 th century. The
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Archives continues its exhaustive compilation of material about Albert
Einstein.
The Albert Einstein Archives constitutes an extremely valuable historical
resource. It is considered one of the most significant sources for the
history of modern physics. In addition, the Archives is an especially
important source for the history of ideas and ideological movements as
pacifism, socialism and Zionism as well as for German, Jewish, European
and American intellectual, political, and social history of the 20th century.
Einstein did not wish that any physical monument or memorial be erected
in his name. The preservation of his papers, which most authentically
reflect his ideas and person, affords a far more fitting means of
maintaining his legacy.
As the central repository of Einstein's papers, the Archives provide service
to on-site users of the archival material. The Archives also receive
requests from hundreds of users every year from around the world to
identify, locate and photocopy specific materials.
Sharing the Einstein Heritage with the World
Ever since the Hebrew University became the custodian of Einstein’s
intellectual heritage, it has participated with other institutions or initiated
programs and projects in which this treasure is shared with the academic
community, the cultural and educational world and the general public. The
Hebrew University was able to undertake this mission because of the
existence of the Albert Einstein Archives and the dedicated work of its
staff.
The Hebrew University has been a partner with Princeton University Press
- and now also with Caltech – in the ambitious project of publishing a
scientific edition of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Ten volumes
have already been published.
A cooperative effort between the Albert Einstein Archives and the Einstein
Papers Project at Caltech produced the Einstein Archives Online website –
www.alberteinstein.info – which was launched in May, 2003. It enables
access to some 3,000 high-quality digitized images. Thirty-nine of these
are also be provided (in PDF format) as they appear in The Collected
Papers of Albert Einstein, published in German by Princeton University
Press, with historical and scientific annotations in English; some of the
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documents are accompanied by English translations. An extensive
archival database and finding aid allows for the direct searching and
browsing of more than 40,000 records of Einstein and Einstein-related
documents. These concern his scientific and nonscientific writings, his
professional and personal correspondence, notebooks, travel diaries,
personal documents, and third-party items.
Since 1999, the Albert Einstein Archives has designed and produced
exhibitions shedding light on the multifaceted aspects of Einstein’s
scientific work, his public activities and his private life. Such exhibitions
were shown in the major cities of Australia and New Zealand; in the Far
East – Korea, Hong-Kong, Singapore; in Latin America – Mexico, Brazil
and Argentina; in Germany and in England.
In 2002, the Albert Einstein cooperated with the American Museum of
Natural History in New York and the Skirball Cultural Center in Los
Angeles in producing a unique exhibition on Albert Einstein's Life and
Science, which was shown in New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles
and is now being exhibited in the Science Museum in Jerusalem.
The Albert Einstein Archives was particularly active during the Einstein
Year in 2005, cooperating with a large number of academic and cultural
institutions worldwide and assisting in events related to the Einstein
legacy. In this context the Archives worked with the Max Planck Institute to
produce another major exhibition "Albert Einstein, Engineer of the
Universe", which was also shown in Italy.
The Albert Einstein Archives produced and published popular books
presenting highlights of the archival collections to the general public.
Several versions, in different languages, of such books have been
published:
 "Albert through the Looking Glass", 1998
 "Albert Einstein – privat und ganz persoenlich", 2004
 "Albert Einstein – derriere l'image"
 "Albert Einstein – detras de la imagen"
A Japanese translation of "Albert through the Looking Glass" is in
preparation.
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