Archival Finding Aid

Use this finding aid at the Online Archive of California

Guide to the Eliasaf Robinson Tel Aviv Collection
M1522

Finding aid prepared by Anna Levia

Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford University Libraries
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, California, 94305-6064
Repository URL: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html
Repository email: speccollref@stanford.edu
© 2007, The Board of Trustees of Stanford University.
All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title:
Eliasaf Robinson Tel Aviv collection

Dates:
circa 1909-1960

Collection number:
M1522

Creator:
Robinson, Eliasaf

Collection Size:
34.5 linear feet
23 manuscript boxes, 27 map folders

Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.

Abstract:
An eclectic mix of materials relating to the history of Tel Aviv. Included are census materials, advertisements from the 1920s and 1930s, maps and completion certificates for buildings constructed between 1935-1948, postcards, photographs, municipal documents, land deeds, visa and employment certification requests, flyers and publicity for cultural events, movie handbills before 1948, and business ads.

Languages represented in the collection:
English
Hebrew

Access

Collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.

Preferred Citation

Eliasaf Robinson Tel Aviv collection, M1522. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Acquisition Information

Purchased and gift, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009. Acquired in December 2005 from Eliasaf Robinson, of Tel Aviv, Israel, with support from Koret Foundation Funds and the Jewish Community Endowment Fund of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties. Accession numbers 2006-083, 2006-085, 2008-015, 2008-023, 2008-056, 2009-089, and 2009-090.

Alternative Forms of Material Available

Digital Collection and Virtual Exhibit available online at
http://lib.stanford.edu/telaviv

As of May 18, 2009, the digitized collection includes over one thousand photographs and postcards, three hundred printed volumes, two hundred large format materials (posters, maps and sewer diagrams) and six linear feet of archival materials.

The collection's curator has selected over 750 digitized images and books to be cataloged and added to Stanford's online Image Gallery. This portion of the collection is searchable by title, subject, and description. Books can be read online and images can be viewed in close-up detail.

Biography / Administrative History

Eliasaf Robinson, a native of the city of Tel Aviv, began to gather the materials relating to Tel Aviv in the 1960s, when he was still a teenager. He belongs to the fourth generation in a family dynasty of booksellers and is the most prominent antiquarian book dealer in Israel. The Jewish settlement that became the city of Tel Aviv was established in 1909. Almost everything in this collection dates from before 1948, the year that the State of Israel proclaimed its independence. The collection documents a vast range of private and public activity in Tel Aviv during its first four decades. Above all, the materials in the collection demonstrate the effectiveness of one of the twentieth century?s boldest and most effective acts of social engineering: the revival and enforced use of the Hebrew language. The modern, largely secular, urban Hebrew culture that emerged there during the 1920s and 1930s is the basis of the Israeli culture of today. The photographs, postcards, maps, architectural plans, and construction permits in this collection also document the growth of the "White City" of Tel Aviv, which in March 2003 UNESCO proclaimed a World Heritage Centre. This recognition was based on the city's "synthesis of outstanding significance of the various trends of the Modern Movement in architecture and town planning in the early part of the 20th century."

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection includes census materials, advertisements from the 1920s and 1930s, maps, blueprints and completion certificates for buildings constructed between 1935-1948, postcards, photographs, municipal documents, visa and employment certification requests, land deeds, and publicity for cultural events, including over two hundred movie posters from before 1948. Note: Approximately 500 book and serial titles that are part of the collection are cataloged separately, and are not described in this finding aid.

Arrangement

Series I, Commercial, consists of seven subseries: Subseries A, Advertisements and promotional materials; Subseries B, Banking and finance; Subseries C, Business cards; Subseries D, Business correspondence; Subseries E, Construction and housing; Subseries F, Litvinsky Bros.; Subseries G, Yehoshua Gordon. Series II, Culture, consists of twelve subseries: Subseries A, Cinema; Subseries B, Habimah; Subseries C, Miscellaneous; Subseries D, Ohel Theater; Subseries E, Palestine Opera and Israel Opera; Subseries F, Palestine Orchestra; Subseries G, Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra; Subseries H, Purim; Subseries I, Sheet music; Subseries J, Sport; Subseries K, Tel Aviv Museum; Subseries L, Writing, unpublished. Series III, Maps, consists of three subseries: Subseries A, Tel-Aviv Yafo, published; Subseries B, Tel-Aviv Yafo, unpublished; Subseries C, Other areas.

Series IV, Noncommercial institutions, consists of eleven subseries: Subseries A, Associations, cooperative societies, and committees; Subseries B, Charities; Subseries C, Other cities; Subseries D, Education; Subseries E, Electric Company; Subseries F, Government of Palestine and Israel; Subseries G, Jewish Agency; Subseries H, Legal documents; Subseries I, Medical; Subseries J, Miscellaneous correspondence, etc.; Subseries K, Political activity.

Series V, Photographs, consists of six subseries: Subseries A, Albums, etc.; Subseries B, Buildings, etc.; Subseries C, Commercial; Subseries D, People; Subseries E, Postcards; Subseries F, Published photos.

Series VI, Tel Aviv Municipality, consists of twelve subseries: Subseries A, Administrative documents; Subseries B, Ephemera; Subseries C, Civil Guard (Mishmar ezrahi) and military; Subseries D, Memorabilia; Subseries E, Letters: incoming; Subseries F, Letters: outgoing; Subseries G, Hawker licensing; Subseries H, Meeting minutes; Subseries I, Sewer Department; Subseries J, Street census; Subseries K, Technical Department; Subseries L, Transportation.

Series VII, Clippings, etc.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Dizengoff, Meir, 1861-1936.
Bet ha-keneset ha-gadol (Tel Aviv, Israel)
Adloyada (Festival)
Architecture--Israel--Tel Aviv--20th century.
City planning--Israel--Tel Aviv.
Immigrants--Palestine--History--20th century.
Purim.
Fasts and feasts--Judaism.
Holidays--Israel--Tel Aviv.
Industries--Israel--Tel Aviv.
Commercial photography--Israel--Tel Aviv.
Children--Israel--Tel Aviv--Pictorial works.
Jaffa (Tel Aviv, Israel)--History--20th century.
Tel Aviv (Israel)--Commerce.
Tel Aviv (Israel)--Economic conditions.
Tel Aviv (Israel)--History.
Tel Aviv (Israel)--Maps.
Tel Aviv (Israel)--Politics and government.
Tel Aviv (Israel)--Population.
Tel Aviv (Israel)--Population--Pictorial works.
Nemal Tel-Aviv (Israel)

Genres and Forms of Material

Postcards.
Posters.