אברהם יהושע השל היה מלומד והוגה דעות בעל שם בינלאומי, תיאולוג ופעיל חברתי ופוליטי. השל נולד בוורשה, פולין, נצר למשפחת רבנים חסידיים מיוחסת ולמד פילוסופיה בברלין. הוא גורש מפרנקפורט והגיע לוורשה ומשם עקר ללונדון ערב הפלישה הגרמנית לפולין. לאחר שהות קצרה בלונדון היגר השל לארצות הברית. בתחילה לימד בבית המדרש לרבנים של התנועה הרפורמית בסינסנטי, ולאחר מכן עבר לסמינר היהודי התיאולוגי בניו יורק שם שימש כפרופסור לאתיקה ולקבלה עד מותו בשנת 1972. בנוסף להשתתפותו הפעילה בנושאים של צדק חברתי ובדיאלוג הבין-דתי, היה השל גם מלומד ומורה רוחני ותרם תרומה חשובה למדעי היהדות. כהוגה דעות של הדת היתה מטרתו של השל להגביר ולהעמיק את התובנות הרוחניות של היהדות ובמהלך חייו השפיע על דורות של יהודים ולא- יהודים. הארכיון האישי של אברהם יהושע השל מקיף את השנים 1880-1998 ומתעד את חייו האישיים, האקדמיים והציבוריים. הארכיון כולל תכתובות, כתבים של השל ועליו, כתבי יד מודפסים, קטעי עיתונות, כתבים שיצאו לאור ומעט תמונות וחפצי קודש. האוסף מספק תובנות לזהותו של השל כמנהיג רוחני ומסביר כיצד היה מעמדו זה קשור בקשר עמוק לחייו האישיים והמקצועיים. האוסף מחולק לפי הנושאים הבאים: חומר מוקלט, התכתבויות, חומר אישי ומשפחתי, פעילות ציבורית, חומר מוגבל וכתבים. Abraham Joshua Heschel was an internationally known scholar, author, activist, and theologian. He was born in Warsaw, Poland into a distinguished family of Hasidic rebbes, and studied philosophy in Berlin, Germany. In 1938 he was deported from Frankfurt to Warsaw where he escaped to London just before the Nazi invasion. After a brief time in London he immigrated to the United States, first teaching at the Hebrew Union College and then at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America where he taught as Professor of Ethics and Mysticism until his death in 1972. In addition to his active participation in social justice issues and his interfaith work, Heschel was also a scholar and religious thinker who made significant contributions to Jewish studies. As a philosopher of religion, his goal was to make the spiritual insights of Judaism understandable and over the course of his lifetime influenced generations of Jews and non-Jews. The Abraham Joshua Heschel Papers span the years 1880 to 1998 and document Abraham Joshua Heschel's personal, academic, and public life. Items in this collection include correspondence, writings by and about Heschel, typescripts, clippings, printed material, and a small amount of photographs and artifacts. The materials in the collection provide insight to Heschel's identity as a spiritual leader and how this role was inextricably connected to his personal and professional life. The collection is organized into the following series: Audio, Correspondence, Personal and Family Materials, Public Activity, Restricted, and Writings.
The Abraham Joshua Heschel Papers span the years 1880 to 1998 and document Abraham Joshua Heschel's personal, academic, and public life, including his long-term involvement and leadership in social activism and other public activities, his reputation as a compelling and sought-after public speaker, and his far-reaching influence as a scholar and religious thinker. Items in this collection include correspondence, writings by and about Heschel, typescripts, clippings, printed material, and a small amount of photographs and artifacts. The materials in the collection provide insight to Heschel's identity as a spiritual leader and how this role was inextricably connected to his personal and professional life.
The collection is organized into the following series: Audio, Correspondence, Personal and Family Materials, Public Activity, Restricted, and Writings. Heschel maintained a meaningful, yet complex filing system. To balance preserving the original order with making the collection as accessible to researchers as possible, several key elements have been added to the collection guide:
•Scope note at the folder level. In many cases folder titles in the collection were reused, abbreviated, in Hebrew, or did not exist. Short descriptions of folder contents have been included not only to provide context for the materials, but also to make distinctions between the varying titles.
•Supplied/enhanced folder titles. In the case of missing or abbreviated titles, supplied titles (in brackets) were created. For folder titles written in Hebrew, the original folder title was documented along with its transliteration and English translation.
•Language extent. There are varying degrees in the amount of language materials in each folder and oftentimes multiple languages are represented in a single folder. To assist researchers, each folder description includes a note identifying the language(s) and their extent in the folder, with the dominant language listed first. The absence of a note indicates that all materials in the folder are in English. The following language categories are used: "A few" indicates that 1-25% of the materials are in another language(s); "Some" 26-65%; "Most" 66-99%; and "All" 100%.
Additionally there was a large of amount of clippings included in the Heschel collection which were generally in fragile condition. Where possible, these clippings were photocopied for preservation purposes and the originals discarded.