Access to the collection is in accordance with the policies of Brandeis University Libraries, Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department.

Requests to publish material from the collection should be directed to the Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department.

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Biography

Maurice Samuel was born in Rumania on February 8, 1895. Growing up in a Yiddish speaking environment inspired him later in life to embark on a writing career that included journalistic as well as literary expression.

Moving to England at a young age, Samuel acquired his childhood and secondary school education in Manchester. In the course of his university years, Samuel made the acquaintance of Chaim Weizmann, with whom he established a longstanding friendship and collaborative effort regarding the Zionist movement. Samuel left his studies at Manchester University and moved to the United States around 1914.

After living in New York City's Lower East Side, Samuel found himself back in Europe as a recruit in the U.S. army during World War I. Assignments in a variety of capacities-from training recruits to secretary and interpreter-placed Samuel in close contact with European Jewish life and prompted his intense study of Jewish history and culture, including the Hebrew language.

In addition to writing and publishing activities, Samuel became an outspoken freelance lecturer on Jewish themes and, alongside Mark Van Doren (Pulitzer prize winning poet and professor at Columbia University), appeared for nearly twenty years on The Eternal Light-the Words We Live By radio program.

Thrice married and the recipient of many awards and honorary degrees in the course of his lifetime, Maurice Samuel passed away in New York City on May 4, 1972, at the age of seventy-seven.

Scope and Content

The Maurice Samuel collection consists of seventy-two folders holding correspondence, literary pieces, newspaper reviews and photographs; dated material ranges from the 1910s to the 1930s. Most of the correspondence consists of personal war-time accounts Maurice Samuel addressed to a single individual. Of particular interest are descriptions of rural life in wartime France and experiences in the barracks. Other collection components include 1920s literary reviews on the controversial book You Gentiles and poems written on loose papers.

Cataloging Entries

The following catalog entries provide controlled subject access to the collection. All these entries are searchable in the Brandeis University libraries' on-line catalog LOUIS to find materials of related interest.

Series Description

This series, arranged chronologically, contains correspondence, including letters written from the barracks in World War I. Some of the correspondence is addressed to his wife, Marie Syrkin. A few documents and literary reviews are contained within this series .

This series contains legal paperwork and publication reviews.

This series contains poems and exercises.

Eight photographs (three signed) of Samuel druing his service in World War I.

Creator:	Maurice Samuel
Title:	Collection, 1915-1936
Identification:	MWalB00017
Quantity:	1 manuscript box
Repository:	Brandeis University Libraries

Maurice Samuel Collection, 1915-1936

Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department, Brandeis University Libraries

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Biography

Scope and Content

Cataloging Entries

Series Description

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