Berkman Family Papers, 1891-2003 (bulk 1970-2001) Rauh Jewish Archives Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania MSS#416 29 boxes and 3 shelf volumes; 15 linear feet Biographical Sketch of the Berkman Family Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman, who came to Pittsburgh in 1936 and 1938, respectively, made significant contributions to both the Jewish community and the wider community through their philanthropic gifts and their active participation in a wide variety of civic, cultural, and professional organizations. Allen Hugh Berkman, the youngest of the four children of Hyman and Sarah (Helman) Berkman, was born in Canton, Ohio, on January 7, 1912. His parents had emigrated from Lithuania in 1907. Listed as a horse dealer at the time of Allen’s birth, Hyman Berkman was, by the time of his death in 1952, the president of Steel Trading Corporation. He and an older son, Louis, had founded the Louis Berkman Company of Steubenville, Ohio. Allen’s brother Jack was an attorney and an executive in the communications industry. The elder Berkmans resettled in Pittsburgh in 1936. Allen attended public schools in Cadiz and Canton, Ohio; at age sixteen, he was valedictorian of his graduating class at Wells High School in Steubenville, Ohio. In 1933 he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan, where he was a member of three honor societies, including Phi Beta Kappa. Allen continued his studies at Harvard Law School, where he was awarded the L.L.B. (J.D.) degree in 1936. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania State Bar in 1936 and opened a law practice in the Frick Building in downtown Pittsburgh in 1937, in affiliation with attorneys Tinker, Henry, and Connelly. Allen Berkman and Selma Wiener met on a blind date in August, 1936, became engaged in December, 1937, and were married in Dallas on March 20, 1938. They moved to Pittsburgh shortly after their honeymoon and lived the rest of their lives in Pittsburgh. Selma Wiener’s paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from Germany. before the Civil War and settled in Mississippi. Her maternal grandmother was born in the United States and raised in New York City, where she met her husband, who worked in the manufacture of artificial flowers. Selma’s father Eli Wiener moved to Texas alone at age fourteen and began working in the lumber business. Other business interests of his were in railroads, other building materials, and foundries. Eli married Selma Loewenstein in 1906. Selma Wiener, the youngest of Eli and Selma’s four children, was born in Keltys, Texas, on August 8, 1916. The family moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, and Selma attended public schools there until 1931, when the family moved to Dallas. She was graduated from Highland Park High School there in 1932, at age fifteen. She attended Sophie Newcomb College for two years and then transferred to Wellesley Berkman Family Papers, page 2 College, where she majored in psychology, graduating at age nineteen in 1936. She taught nursery school briefly in Dallas before her marriage. Allen and Selma Berkman settled in the East End of Pittsburgh. They lived at 5411 Albemarle Avenue from 1943 to 1970. They moved to 803 Devonshire Street in 1970; this house was designed in 1929 by the architect Brandon Smith for William Larimer Jones, Jr., the son of the president of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation. The Berkmans moved to 5000 Fifth Avenue in 1985 and lived there until their deaths. Selma and Allen raised five children: Barbara B. Ackerman, Susan B. Rahm, Richard L. Berkman, Helen B. Habbert, and James S. Berkman. Allen Berkman continued his law practice until shortly before his death. One of his early law partners was David Glick (1895-1964), a leader of the Pittsburgh legal and civic communities who, in 1936-1938, had served as an emissary from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to Nazi Germany and to South America to help in the relocation of thousands of Jews to safety from the Holocaust. In 1964 Allen was a founding member and senior partner in the firm Berkman Ruslander Pohl Lieber & Engel, which occupied offices on the 20th floor (and later also the 19th and 18th floors) of the Frick building, including the original private office quarters of Henry Clay Frick. By the 1980s the firm employed approximately 55 attorneys. After 1989, Allen Berkman was of counsel to the Kirkpatrick & Lockhart firm. Both Allen and Selma Berkman were very active in civic and philanthropic affairs in the Jewish community and the wider Pittsburgh community. Selma served as president of the Sisterhood of Rodef Shalom Congregation and as a board member of the Visiting Nurses Association, the Rehabilitation Institute of Pittsburgh, and the Women’s Committee of Carnegie Institute, in addition to active membership in many other cultural institutions. Allen served on many boards, often in leadership positions, including those of the Pittsburgh Trust for Cultural Resources, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, American Jewish Committee, Montefiore Hospital, Rodef Shalom Congregation (president 1976-1982), Vocational Rehabilitation Center of Allegheny County, World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, the National Conference for Community and Justice (formerly National Conference of Christians and Jews), and the Harvard- Yale-Princeton Club of Pittsburgh In 1972 they established the Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman Charitable Trust, which is currently administered by the Pittsburgh Foundation. In 1975 the Trust distributed approximately $8,000; by 2000, the assets of the Trust were above five million dollars and approximately $425,000 was distributed, with approximately twenty-five per cent going to Pittsburgh organizations. The Berkmans made significant financial contributions to the Carnegie Science Center, Heinz Hall, the Benedum Center, the Byham Theater, the restoration of the Rodef Shalom sanctuary, and the establishment of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania (formerly the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Archives), among many other projects. In 1989, they funded a chair for scholarship in Jewish law and practice at the Hebrew Union College- Berkman Family Papers, page 3 Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati; the chair was named in honor of Solomon B. Freehof, Rabbi Emeritus of Rodef Shalom Congregation. The Berkmans received many awards and honors from local and national organizations in recognition of their contributions. At the time of Selma’s death on November 30, 1995, the Berkmans had been married for 57 years. Allen Berkman endowed a violin chair at the Pittsburgh Symphony in her memory. Allen Berkman was 91 years old when he died on May 29, 2003. Scope and Content Note The Berkman Family Papers are housed in 29 archival boxes and 3 shelf volumes and are arranged in seven series. Series have been designated for the Wiener and Berkman families; Berkman family foundations and charitable trusts; Organizations; Properties; Law firms; David Glick; and Miscellaneous documents These papers include correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, notebooks, programs, and photocopies of articles, vital records, and obituaries. They provide information about members of the Berkman family and about their professional and community activities. Series I: Wiener and Berkman Families This series contains genealogical and family history materials, personal mementos, and records of daily life for the Weiner and Berkman families and for the family of Allen and Selma Berkman. It has been divided into three subseries. Subseries I: Wiener Family This subseries contains information about the history of the Wiener family in Louisiana and Texas and about Selma Wiener Berkman. It includes information about the varied business interests of Eli and Samson Wiener, primarily in lumber, oil, and railroads. Of note are scrapbooks Selma kept during her elementary and high school years. Included also are larger wrapped volumes of her scrapbook from Sophie Newcomb College (1932- 1934) and a later workbook on her family history. See also Weiner family tree in MSO#416, Box 1 Folder1. Selma’s check registers for the 1970s provide a glimpse of what was involved in running her large household as well as her philanthropic activities. Example of the poems Selma wrote on the occasions of birthdays and anniversaries of friends and family members are also included. This subseries also includes transcripts of oral history interviews of Selma Berkman (with some contributions by Allen Berkman) conducted by the National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Chapter, in 1988 and 1992. Subseries II: Berkman Family This subseries contains biographical material on the Berkman family of Ohio and Pittsburgh, including Hyman, Sarah, Jack, and Louis Berkman and Celia Berkman Monheim. There are also clippings and mementos kept by Allen from his high school in Steubenville, the University of Michigan, and Harvard Law School. Included are a record book he kept of the fees received from his legal practice from 1937-1956 and Berkman Family Papers, page 4 briefs from his early court cases. Rolodex cards, an address book and engagement calendars give an idea of the breadth of his personal and professional acquaintance. There are correspondence files, primarily cards and letters he received in 1995, when he sustained injuries in an accident and when his wife Selma and his brother Jack passed away. There are by no means sufficient examples of his correspondence to indicate the wide variety of his activities and interests. Included in this subseries are transcripts of oral history interviews of Allen Berkman conducted by the National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Chapter, in 1981 and 1982. Researchers may also be interested in the transcripts of oral history interviews of Allen Berkman conducted by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in 2003 (separately catalogued in the Library). Subseries III: Allen H. and Selma W. Berkman Family This subseries contains personal records of the Berkmans as a family.