Alexander Marx (1878–1953) was an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...

and

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

Biography

Born in

Elberfeld Elberfeld is a municipal subdivision of the Germany, German city of Wuppertal; it was an independent town until 1929. History The first official mentioning of the geographic area on the banks of today's Wupper River as "''elverfelde''" was ...

, Germany, son of George Marx, a banker, and Gertrud Marx-Simon, a published poet. Alexander Marx grew up in

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

(

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

). He spent a year in a Prussian artillery regiment where he excelled in horsemanship. Later he studied at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

and at the Rabbiner-Seminar (Berlin), marrying in 1905 Hannah the daughter of R' David Zvi Hoffmann, rector of the Seminar. In 1903, Marx accepted

Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter (‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the ...

's invitation to teach history at the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism as well as a hub for academic scholarship in Jewish studies ...

and be its librarian. Marx came to Jerusalem in the 1950s to give Ben Gurion the prize from the J.T.S. His siblings include Moses Marx, another librarian, and Esther Marx, wife of S.Y. Agnon.

Works

Marx published articles in many languages and was at home in both classical and Semitic languages. Marx contributed monographs and articles to journals on a wide variety of subjects, published two volumes of collected essays (''Studies in Jewish History and Booklore'' (1944); ''Essays in Jewish Biography'' (1947)), and with Max L. Margolis wrote ''A History of the Jewish people'' (

Jewish Publication Society of America The Jewish Publication Society (JPS), originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English. Founded in Philadelphia in 1888, by Reform Rabbi Joseph Krauskop ...

, 1927, 1962). This pioneering work, stressed economic and social life, organization and legal status. It offers the reader a soundly researched, authoritative, and objective Jewish history in one volume. In later years he also served as a member of the publications committee of the Jewish Publication Society of America.

As librarian

The Jewish Theological Seminary Library on his arrival in 1903 contained 5,000 volumes and 3 manuscripts. At his death it possessed 165,000 books and over 9,000

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, Samaritan,

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

, and

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

manuscripts, comprising the largest Judaica collection in the world. Much of Marx's research in early Jewish printing remains unpublished.

References

1878 births 1953 deaths American librarians German emigrants to the United States 19th-century German Jews Historians of Jews and Judaism Jewish Theological Seminary of America faculty Prussian Army personnel Writers from Königsberg Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary alumni {{Library-bio-stub