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Harold von Hofe papers

 Collection
Identifier: 0390

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Scope and Content note

The collection comprises materials related to Harold von Hofe's tenure as a librarian at USC. The collection contains manuscripts, research notes, articles, and correspondence. Most materials are related to Lion and Marta Feuchtwanger as well as other German-speaking exiles. Three boxes contain manuscripts for a book von Hofe was preparing about correspondence between Lion Feuchtwanger and Benjamin Huebsch. One box contains materials about Marta Feuchtwanger. Box 5 contains von Hofe's transcriptions of Lion Feuchtwanger's diaries, including his annotations.

Dates

  • Creation: 1904 - 2000
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1940 - 1990

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Rights Statement for Archival Description

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Biographical/Historical note

The son of German musicians who immigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century, Harold von Hofe was born in Plainsfield, N.J., on April 23, 1912. In 1939, after earning a bachelor's degree from New York University and a doctorate from Northwestern University, von Hofe relocated to Los Angeles and took a job teaching German at USC. He became a professor and served as chair of USC's German department from 1945-1956 (as well as from 1963-68 and 1971-74). Von Hofe's scholarly work focused largely on the work of writers who fled Germany for Southern California during the Holocaust. An eminent scholar in the field of German exile studies, Von Hofe's expertise was built on the relationships he developed with members of the German émigré community in Los Angeles during World War II. From 1959 to 1963, von Hofe served as chair of the USC Division of Humanities.

Von Hofe played a large role in acquiring one of USC's most prized scholarly research collections--the library of German-Jewish author Lion Feuchtwanger. In the early 1940s, the then-associate professor visited Feuchtwanger's Pacific Palisades home, Villa Aurora, and became friends with the author (Jud Süss) and his wife, Marta. Following Feuchtwanger's death in 1958, Von Hofe convinced Marta that USC would be the ideal place to preserve her husband's collection of more than 30,000 volumes that include Hebrew, Greek and Latin classics; a pre-Luther translation of the Bible; German and German-exile literature; books and materials relating to the French Revolution; rare first editions and secondary works by authors such as Luther, Kant, Goethe, Schiller, Voltaire and Rousseau; and a collection of texts and translations--including a 1493 Florentine edition--of works by first-century Jewish historian Josephus Flavius.

Von Hofe became a close colleague of--and adviser to--Marta Feuchtwanger. Following her death in 1987, he served as executor of her estate and subsequently dedicated the latter part of his career to publishing Lion Feuchtwanger's extensive correspondence, thereby making these rich primary source materials available to scholars.

Among von Hofe's books: A German Sketchbook (co-authored with Ludwig Marcuse, 1979), Faust: Leben, Legende und Literatur (1965) and Eine Reise durch Deutschland (1960), among dozens of others. He also edited, annotated and published numerous volumes of Feuchtwanger's correspondence.

Harold von Hofe died Feb. 3, 2011 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 98.

Adapted from: Dan Knapp: In Memoriam--Harold von Hofe, in: USC Libraries, Libwire, retrieved 07/14/2011 from http://dotsx.usc.edu/newsblog/index.php/main/comments/in_memoriam_harold_von_hofe_98/

Extent

15 Linear Feet (36 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

German

Abstract

The collection comprises materials related to von Hofe's tenure as a librarian at USC as well as manuscripts, research notes, articles, and correspondence. Most materials are related to Lion and Marta Feuchtwanger as well as other German-speaking exiles.

Acquisition

Boxes 1-5, and 11-32 were deposited at USC after von Hofe retired. Boxes 6-10 were given to USC after von Hofe passed away.

Processing note

Processed by: Michaela Ullmann, Adi Ben-Michael Data-entry by: Lauren Weindling, Matthew Gehm

Title
Finding aid for the Harold von Hofe papers
Status
Completed
Author
Michaela Ullmann data transfer: Adi Ben-Michael, Matthew Gehm
Date
2011 July
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
English

Revision Statements

  • 2022 May: Bo Doub updated the finding aid to include material relating to Arnold Zweig added to the collection from accrual no. 2022-049.

Repository Details

Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States