Lessing Julius Rosenwald (February 10, 1891 – June 24, 1979) was an American

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

, a collector of rare books and art, a

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

patron, and a philanthropist.

Biography

Born in Chicago, Lessing J. Rosenwald was the eldest son of

Julius Rosenwald Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions i ...

, a clothier who became part-owner and was president of

Sears, Roebuck and Company Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

from 1908 to 1923, and chairman from 1923 to 1932. Lessing left

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and went to work for Sears in 1911 as a shipping clerk, and in 1920, was given the responsibility of opening a catalog supply center for the growing mail-order company in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He resided for many years in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. In 1913 he married Edith Goodkind and together they had five children: Julius "Dooley" Rosenwald II, Robert L. Rosenwald, Helen Rosenwald Snellenburg, Joan Rosenwald Scott, and Janet Rosenwald Becker. Giant Bible of Mainz

Succeeding his father, he was chairman of Sears from 1932 until 1939, when he dedicated himself full-time to collecting rare books and art, as well as managing the family charities, chiefly the Julius Rosenwald Fund, which made fellowship grants directly to hundreds of African-American artists, writers, researchers and intellectuals. In 1943, he pledged to donate his collections of rare books and art. After his death, 2,600 rare books, which trace the illustrated book through the last six centuries, and 5,000 reference books were given to the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

, which remains one of the most distinguished collections in the Rare Books and Special Collections division. Additionally, 27,000 prints and drawings were donated to the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, both located in Washington, D.C. He was one of the founding donors of the National Gallery of Art when it opened in 1941. The " Giant Bible of Mainz" has been on permanent display in the great entrance hall of the Library of Congress since Rosenwald donated it in 1952, when it was 500 years old. Rosenwald held his collection at his private gallery, the Alverthorpe Gallery, within the Abington Art Center. He was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

in 1947. Rosenwald was also a

enthusiast, and donated money to support American chess. He sponsored the U.S. Chess Championship from 1957 to 1969. Abraham Entertaining the Angels

Political activities

Rosenwald was the best known

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

supporter of the

America First Committee The America First Committee (AFC) was an American isolationist pressure group against the United States' entry into World War II. Launched in September 1940, it surpassed 800,000 members in 450 chapters at its peak. The AFC principally supporte ...

, which advocated American neutrality in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

before the attack on

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

, and was led by his successor at Sears-Roebuck and lifelong friend

Robert E. Wood Robert Elkington Wood (June 13, 1879 – November 6, 1969) was an American military officer and business executive. After retiring from the U.S. Army as a brigadier general, Wood had a successful career as a corporate executive, most notably ...

. Just three months after its founding, he resigned from the committee's board in December 1940 over concerns about

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. He became director of the Bureau of Industrial Conservation in the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

during World War II. In 1943, Rosenwald accepted the invitation to become President of the

American Council for Judaism The American Council for Judaism (ACJ) is a religious organization of American Jews committed to the proposition that Jews are not a national but a religious group, adhering to the original stated principles of Reform Judaism, as articulated in t ...

, an association of

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the Palestine (region) ...

Reform Jews, a position he held until 1955; after that he remained chairman of the board. During this time, Rosenwald was also active in rescue efforts of European Jews, and urged the United States to admit large numbers of refugees, both Jew and Gentile.

International renown

Lessing J. Rosenwald's importance as a rare book collector and donor to the Library of Congress is featured in

David Baldacci David Baldacci (born August 5, 1960) is an American novelist. An attorney by education, Baldacci writes mainly suspense novels and legal thrillers. His novels are published in over 45 languages and published in over 80 countries, having sold ove ...

's novel, '' The Camel Club'', London (Pan Books) 2006, p. 164 ff. In 1971 he was honored with the Sir Thomas More Medal for Book Collecting, "Private Collecting for the Public Good," by the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

Gleeson Library and the Gleeson Library Associates.Sir Thomas More Medal for Book Collecting.
University of San Francisco Library and the Gleeson Library Associates. Retrieved from The Wayback Machine July 22, 2024.

References

External links

Abington Art Center
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060523232351/http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/ggfound/ggfound-43145.0.html National Gallery of Art, founding donor, Lessing J. Rosenwaldbr>Lessing J. Rosenwald Archive, 1913–2005
from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenwald, Lessing J. 1891 births 1979 deaths American art collectors American book and manuscript collectors American businesspeople in retailing American people of German-Jewish descent American retail chief executives Chess patrons Jewish art collectors Jewish American anti-Zionists American anti-Zionists America First Committee members Jewish American sportspeople Jewish chess players Sears Holdings people American anti-war activists Businesspeople from Chicago People from Jenkintown, Pennsylvania People associated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art Rosenwald family Philanthropists from Illinois 20th-century American chess players 20th-century American businesspeople Reform anti-Zionists 20th-century American Jews Members of the American Philosophical Society Jews from Illinois Jews from Pennsylvania

Biography

Political activities

International renown

Further reading

References

External links