The Philip I. and Muriel M. Berman Papers: Collection II provides extensive documentation of the various interrelated interests and activities of Philip and Muriel Berman. These include their involvement with Jewish causes, such as State of Israel Bonds, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Publication Society, and Hadassah; collecting art (especially outdoor sculpture), donating art (especially to educational institutions and hospitals), and encouraging artists (Israeli artists among others); promoting cooperative Jewish-Christian relations; representing the American Jewish Committee at United Nations conferences; and working to foster community projects at the local level.

Collection II contains records ranging in date from 1863 to 2004. Two books are the earliest items: an 1863 schoolbook (Series VII, Box 67, Item 12) and The American Jewish Year Book 5660, published in 1899 as the first publication of the Jewish Publication Society (Series VII, Box 68, Item 2). The earliest unpublished item appears to be a photograph (ca. 1907) of Muriel Berman’s father Dr. Solomon Mallin (Subseries III.H, Box 32, Folder 11). This photograph is identified and dated on the back in the hand of Muriel Berman. Most of the records, however, belong to the period 1942-1997. As in Collection I, there is a wide variety of formats, including correspondence, business records, legal briefs, photographic prints, books, albums, posters, plaques, and even small sculptures. Occupying a total of 121 linear feet, the Collection is organized into eleven Series, seven of which are divided into a total of forty-six Subseries. For each Series that is not subdivided, as well as for each Subseries, a separate introduction is provided in this guide.

Just as Collection I consisted largely of records created and/or preserved at the Bermans’ office by Philip Berman, the contents of Collection II seem largely to have been created and/or saved by Muriel Berman at their home, 2000 Nottingham Road, Allentown. There are exceptions, such as the Warminster file in Series IV: this file seems to have been created entirely by and for Philip Berman. But the notes and labeling in Muriel Berman’s handwriting on many other files clearly indicate that they were hers, as for instance Subseries I.A, the Art and Artist File. Clearly, also, one of her strong interests was preservation of family memorabilia. Thanks to her, the Collection contains, for example, scrapbooks (Subseries VI.A, Box 65, Item 3; cf. Subseries III.C, Box 28, Folder 8 through Box. 29, Folder 8) from the early years of the Bermans’ marriage, a wide variety of family memorabilia, including photographs (as in Subseries IV.H, Box 31, Folder 18 through Box 32, Folder 16), and extensive files on the activities of both Muriel and Philip Berman (e.g. Subseries II.B, Box 23, Folder 14 through Box 26, Folder 8).

As might be expected, there is some overlap of Collection II with Collection I. Not only are numerous photographs and newspaper articles duplicated in the two collections, but the same major themes pervade both, especially the passion for art and the tireless support of Jewish causes. The serious researcher may, it is true, find Collection II more of a challenge to work with than Collection I, because the files in Collection II are less rigorously organized and are also fragmented into so many small groups. He or she will discover, in addition, that in the finding aid for Collection II the contents of the folders are very selectively recorded and do not list every potentially interesting item in the folders. Nevertheless, the researcher who perseveres is likely to be amply rewarded, both by surprising factual discoveries and by better acquaintance with Philip and Muriel Berman.

Highlights of the Collection are, as in Collection I, too numerous to list in detail. Some of the more significant items are: a ten page typescript narrative, composed ca. 1959, of Philip Berman’s business career, written in the third person either by him or by an interviewer and filled with factual detail (Box 34, Folder 5); an eight page draft for a talk, dated May 16, 1965, on what it means to be a Jew, partly typed and partly handwritten, by Philip Berman (Box 21, Folder 16); the transcript of an oral history interview with Philip Berman conducted in 1996 by the Center for American Jewish History at Temple University (Box 48, Folder 9); ample files on Hadassah in various places (e.g. Series I.C, Boxes 7-10; Series II.A, Boxes 14-15; Series II.B, Boxes 18-20); letters from a variety of notable people, including Henry Moore (Box 2, Folders 13-14), Thomas “Tip” O’Neill (Box 6, Folder 15), Teddy Kollek (Box 34, Folder 18), Ephraim Katzir, President of Israel (Box 45, Folder 3), Eleanor Roosevelt (Box 7, Folder 16), Yitzhak Rabin (Box 62, Folder 2); and signed photographs of Jimmy Carter (Box 17, Folder 17), Bill Clinton (Box 17, Folder 19); Hubert Humphrey (Box 49, Folder 15), Sofia Loren (Box 49, Folder 18), George London (Box 49, Folder 21), Tenzing Norgay (Box 49, Folder 27), Binyamin Netanyahu (Box 49, Folder 27). There are also, in other categories, such items as a typescript carbon of the “Bylaws of The Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation” (Box 86, Folder 16); a printed drawing by Francoise Gilot with a poem by Jonas Salk (Box 87, Folder 7); autographed books by Jack Kemp and Tenzing Norgay (Box 67, Items 11 and 9); bronze, silver, and gold centennial medallions of the Metropolitan Opera (Box 83, Item 16); a pen used by Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the act to establish the National Foundation for the Arts and the Humanities (Box 80, Item 19); a wrench used to assemble Alexander Calder’s “Stabile” in Jerusalem (Box 82, Item 2); and a small bronze sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz (Box 82, Item 15). Notable as one of the more surprising items is a printed 1944 program for a dinner of The Traffic Club of Reading, Pennsylvania, for which the Guest Speaker was The Honorable Harry S. Truman, United States Senator, State of Missouri (Box 36, Folder 9).

Lastly, special mention must be made here of Series XI, which contains an estimated 12,650 photographic prints mounted in polypropylene pages which in turn are housed in thirty-seven three-ring binders. Most of these photographs record outdoor sculptures seen in museums, sculpture parks, and exhibitions. The identification of these is sparse, but they nevertheless should prove to be a valuable resource for future researchers.