5.

4.

The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

is supported by Koret Foundation, Taube Foundation,
Hellman Family Foundation, Magnes Museum Foundation,
Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco,
In San Francisco, German Jewish immigrants laid the foundation for
the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties,
Jewish community life in the city, creating benevolent societies, syn-
Jim Joseph Foundation, Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund,
agogues, and schools. At the same time they influenced the making
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, Walter and Elise Haas Fund,
of the new metropolitan area, supporting education, the arts, and
and Lumina Foundation.
social causes, thus translating German Jewish ideals shaped by the
haskalah to the realm of civic engagement in the new world.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by the generous support
of the founding Friends of the Magnes:
Barry and Debbie Cohn, Frances Dinkelspiel, Rosalie Eisen,
Robert D. Haas, Adele Hayutin, Dana Shapiro, Janet Traub,
Marjorie and Barry Traub, and Chen C. Wang.

Illustrations:

1. Levi Strauss & Co. Invoice for the purchase of clothing. San Francisco, February 25,
1858
Exhibition dates: March 1–July 1, 2011
Courtesy Levi Strauss & Co. Archives Bancroft Library Gallery
Hours: Monday–Friday 10–4
2. Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (German, 1800–1882), Lavater and Lessing Visit Moses
Mendelssohn (detail), Germany, 1856, Oil on canvas
Gift of Vernon Stroud, Eva Linker, Gerda Mathan, Ilse Feiger and Irwin Straus in memory of
Frederick and Edith Straus
75.18, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, The Bancroft Library

3. Anonymous, Lilienthal Family Portrait (detail), Germany, ca. 1816, Oil on canvas
Gift of Theodore and Wendy Lililenthal
2006.10, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, The Bancroft Library

4. University of California, “Levi Strauss Scholarship” Balance Sheet, June 30, 1904 www.magnes.org
Records of the Regents of the University of California, CU-1, University Archives, The Bancroft
Library

5. Augusto Ferran (Spanish, 1813–1879), View of Harbor at San Francisco, California,

1850, Oil on Canvas
Robert B. Honeyman, Jr. Collection of Early Californian and Western American Pictorial
Material, BANC PIC 1963.002:1356--FR, The Bancroft Library
 1.
With the establishment of The Magnes Collection of
Jewish Art and Life at UC Berkeley in July 2010, unique
materials documenting the Jewish experience in North-
ern California were gifted to The Bancroft Library by the
former Judah L. Magnes Museum.
The Magnes archives of Western Jewish Americana have
served as an important source for several f­ oundational
studies of Jewish history in California. Researchers often
relied on the combination of Magnes and Bancroft
­collections in their work. Now, the p­ hysically integrated
collections of both institutions bring unparalleled
resources under one roof, making them even more
­accessible for teaching and research.
This inaugural exhibition draws on art, artifacts, books,
and archival materials from The Magnes Collection of
Jewish Art and Life, The Bancroft Library, and the Levi
Strauss & Co. Archives. The resulting synergy stretches
the boundaries of California history, connecting German
Jewish history before 1849 to the establishment of the
Jewish community in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Alla Efimova , Jacques and Esther Reutlinger Director
Francesco Spagnolo, Curator of Collections
January 24, 1848: Gold is found by James W. Marshall at Sutter’s Mill,
Coloma, California, a town in the Sierra Foothills.
February 21, 1848: Karl Marx publishes the Manifesto of the Communist Party
in London.
2.
In 1856, Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, an artist later labeled as the first
modern Jewish painter, portrayed an imagined meeting among
scholars Moses Mendelsohn (1729–1786), Gotthold Ephraim L ­ essing
(1729–1781) and theologian Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) in
Mendelssohn’s Berlin home.
The scene refers to two foundational moments in the history of
German Jewish cultural interactions. The actual ­meetings between
Mendelssohn and Lavater, which took place in 1763–64, were
followed by the failed attempt on the part of the theologian to con-
vince Mendelssohn to embrace Christianity. The much celebrated
friendship between Mendelssohn and Lessing, one of the high points
of the haskalah, or ­Jewish Enlightment, came to be ­considered a
paradigm of the ­possi­bility of a harmonious cohabitation between
Germans and Jews.
By the mid-19th century, the philosophical debates of the haskalah
spread throughout Europe, and were translated into the political and
social realms by the Emancipation movement. Jewish contribution
to society at large became the norm but did not go unchallenged.
The decade in which the painting appeared was pivotal for German
Jews: their hopes for emancipation were shattered by the failed
revolutions of 1848–49. The revolutions also spurred emigration to
the United States, including to San Francisco, where the Gold Rush
opened unprecedented opportunities for social success and civic
engagement.
February 24, 1848: The monarchy of King Louis-Philippe is overthrown in
France, resulting in the proclamation of the Second Republic.
3.
The history of individuals and families from their roots in Southern
Germany to their settlement in California is broadly documented in
the Magnes archives and museum holdings. The materials related
to the Haas and Lilienthal families of San Francisco provide a par-
ticularly insightful illustration of the span of this immigration story,
including family portraits, ritual objects, personal and professional
papers, photographs, and business records.
The families who immigrated from Germany to the Bay Area
­follow­ing the Gold Rush maintained close ties to each other. Many
came from Bavaria, particularly from Reckendorf, a ­village north of
Bamberg. In San Francisco, they forged ­business partnerships and
formed extended families, whose influence still impacts the texture
of the city.
The history of commerce in California is extensively documented at
The Bancroft Library. The papers of individuals and families from
The Magnes Collection add to this wealth of research material on
the pioneer businesses of the West Coast.
February 27, 1848: The revolution reaches Germany, where an assembly in
Mannheim adopts a resolution demanding a bill of rights. Demands for
constitutional and civil reforms and the unification of Germany are made
throughout the German-speaking lands.
September 26, 1849: The first celebration of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New
Year) in San Francisco is held in a wood-framed tent. Today, this early
Jewish presence in California is acknowledged by a bronze plaque on
the 700 block of Montgomery Street in San Francisco.