Scope and Content Note
The papers of Rudolph M. Loewenstein (1898-1976) span the years 1919-1975, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period between 1962 and 1973. The collection focuses on the work of Loewenstein, a Freudian psychoanalyst who studied in Berlin and Paris and later practiced in Paris and New York City. Born in Poland, Loewenstein moved to Paris after World War I. He became a naturalized French citizen, married, and began a family. When war was declared against Germany, he joined the military corps and was decorated in 1940 with the Croix de Guerre for meritorious service. The Nazi persecution of Jews forced Loewenstein and his family to leave France in 1942 and immigrate to the United States. In 1973 Loewenstein's health began to deteriorate, and he was forced to give up his practice. He died in 1976. Included in Loewenstein's papers are correspondence, writings, miscellaneous biographical information, and other material pertaining to his work and to the history of psychoanalysis during his lifetime. Collection material is in English, French, and German. The papers are organized into four series: Correspondence, Professional Papers, Subject File, and Writings.
With the exception of some immigration and naturalization papers and other legal documents, the collection contains no documentation of Loewenstein's early life in Poland, his studies in Berlin and Paris in the 1920s and 1930s, or his successful psychoanalytic practice in Paris during the 1930s and early 1940s. The papers primarily chronicle his life in the United States, especially the last decade of his career. Among the prominent correspondents are Princess Marie Bonaparte, Jean Bruller Vercors, K. R. Eissler, Princess Eugenie of Greece, Anna Freud, Marjorie Harley, Jean Jeanès, Lawrence S. Kubie, Max Lévy-Mate, Arthur Miller, Guy de Rothschild, and Raymond de Saussure. The papers also include correspondence between Loewenstein and several psychoanalytic organizations in the United States and throughout the world, including ones in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Topeka, as well as others in France and Israel. Subjects discussed range from family and personal affairs to professional matters. Some of the correspondence is in French.
The series entitled Professional Papers provides insight into Loewenstein's involvement in psychoanalytic organizations on the local, national, and international level. He was particularly active in the New York Psychoanalytic Society and the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, serving on numerous committees and as vice resident and president of the institute. His presidential file, consisting of three folders, documents his tenure in office. The series also details his activities as a training analyst and lecturer.
The Subject File contains items relating to Loewenstein's personal life, such as address and appointment books, diplomas, certificates, legal papers, financial records, travel information, identification papers, photographs, and medical records. His patents on various inventions illustrate another aspect of Loewenstein's activities.
The Writings series contains more than thirty-five papers by Loewenstein on psychoanalytic themes. Also included are eulogies for colleagues, unidentified manuscripts, miscellaneous notes, and papers discussing writings by others, and drafts and offprints of such writings. Subjects discussed include free association, the ego, defense mechanisms, Sigmund Freud, psychoanalytic theory, and phallic passivity. This series also contains drafts in both French and English of perhaps his most famous work, Christians and Jews: A Psychoanalytic Study.