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Kate Wallach Collection

 Collection
Identifier: AR 25009 / MF 926

Scope and Content Note

This collection documents the personal and professional life of the lawyer Kate Wallach. Among the papers in the collection are personal and official papers, correspondence, articles on legal matters, photographs and newspaper clippings.

Documentation recounting Kate Wallach's personal life will be found in Series I: Personal, and include such items as personal letters, as well as official documents and certificates. Personal correspondence between her and her family (mainly her parents and brother) in the time between 1933 and 1943 can be found in Subseries 1. Subseries 2 holds official documents such as certifications, Curricula Vitaes, naturalization papers and passports. Subseries 3 contains photos of Kate Wallach.

Series II: Published Material consists of writings from newspapers or other small publications concerning the life and career of Kate Wallach. It also holds her dissertation and other published works.

Series III: Professional Correspondence contains official letters between Kate Wallach and several colleagues from various law libraries. There is some published material mixed in with the correspondence.

Dates

  • Creation: 1828-1997

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection is primarily in German and English.

Access Restrictions

Open to researchers.

Collection is microfilmed; use MF 926.

Access Information

Readers may access the collection by visiting the Lillian Goldman Reading Room at the Center for Jewish History. We recommend reserving the collection in advance; please visit the LBI Online Catalog and click on the "Request" button.

Use Restrictions

There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:

Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org

Biographical Note

Kate Wallach was born in Krefeld (near Duesseldorf), Germany, in 1905, into a well-to-do Jewish family. Her father, Ludwig Wallach was a partner in a wholesale silk firm, and her mother Bertha Wallach (born Schoenberg) was a housewife. The family moved to Berlin where Kate completed her secondary school in 1923. She had one brother, Ernst Wallach, born in 1909, a retailer, who moved to the Netherlands in 1933.

Kate emigrated to the United States of America in November 1935, as she was unable to practice law at that time in Germany. Her brother Ernst followed her in 1938, but their parents still remained in Berlin-Dahlem. Though the situation continued to worsen for Jews in Germany, the parents held back from leaving the country, partly because Kate's grandmother was still alive and too old to relocate. In 1941 Kate's father died of heart failure, and her mother and grandmother were deported to Theresienstadt. Her grandmother died in Theresienstadt, while Kate's mother was deported to Auschwitz, where she died in 1944.

Kate Wallach studied law at a number of German universities and was awarded the Dr. Jur. at the University of Cologne in 1931. She immigrated to the United States in 1935. After obtaining an LLB degree at the University of Wisconsin she decided to enter the field of law librarianship, achieving a BALS.

She was very active in the American Law Library Association and was elected President of that organization in 1961. Besides chairing many committees she published numerous articles in legal journals as well as extensive bibliographies. She spent her retirement years in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She died in 1979.

Extent

3 Linear Feet

Abstract

This collection documents the life and work of the law librarian Kate Wallach. Contained in this collection are papers relating to her personal life, mainly her correspondence between her and her parents and her brother when she was already in the United States, as well as official documents and professional correspondence between her as a law librarian and members of other academic libraries. Kate Wallach was among the first 150 women to practice law in the state of Wisconsin.

Microfilm

Collection is available on 5 reels of microfilm (MF 926).

  1. Reel 1: 1/1-1/6
  2. Reel 2: 1/7-1/14
  3. Reel 3: 1/15-2/34
  4. Reel 4: 2/35-2/45
  5. Reel 5: 2/46-2/51

Processing Information

Boxes 1-2 has been processed to the folder level, with much of the collection left in its original order. Box 3 has been processed to the box level only.

Title
Guide to the Papers of Kate Wallach (1905-1979) 1828-1997 AR 25009 / MF 926
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Anja Wiegand
Date
© 2008
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is in English.
Edition statement
This version was derived from KateWallach.xml

Revision Statements

  • 2010-04-07 : encoding of linking to digital objects from finding aid was changed from <extref> to <dao> through dao_conv.xsl

Repository Details

Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository

Contact:
15 West 16th Street
New York NY 10011 United States