Scope and Content Note
The papers of Benjamin Charles Gruenberg (1875-1965) and Sidonie Matsner Gruenberg (1881 1974), husband and wife, span the years 1878 1972, with the bulk of the material dating from 1895 to 1965. The collection consists of correspondence, diaries, journals, speeches and writings, notes, newspaper clippings, printed matter, scrapbooks, and other papers relating to the Gruenbergs' personal lives and professional careers. The papers are organized into two parts with overlapping series. Part I is arranged into Diaries, Correspondence, Subject File, Speeches and Writings File, Scrapbooks, Printed Matter, and Miscellany. The series in Part II include Journals and Diaries, Correspondence, Subject File, Writings File, and Miscellany. Most of the material is in English, with some Hebrew and German.
The Gruenberg papers document the Gruenbergs' work as educators and authors, including diaries, journals, and correspondence featuring their personal and family relationships as Jewish immigrants and authorities in their fields. Sidonie set up the Child Study Association of America in New York, and was its director from 1923 to 1950. She taught parent education and child training in many institutions, and was on the editorial board of Parents Magazine from 1926 and of the Literary Guild of America from 1929. Her husband, Benjamin, considered a leader in the field of research in science teaching, was for many years a researcher or consultant to numerous governmental agencies and educational organizations in the fields of public health education and medical economics. He was also a lecturer at many institutions, and editor and author of a number of books, some in collaboration with his wife. Both were associated with the Society for Ethical Culture in New York. Topics of significance in the collection include parenting, cultural assimilation and progressive education, child development, sex education, the teaching of science in secondary schools, and the popularization of the behavioral and natural sciences.