Renee Aldor Collection

The Renee Aldor Collection consists most prominently of family photographs but also holds documentation relating to Renee and Ernst Aldor's emigration, Ernst Aldor's internment in Dachau, and other subjects. In addition to the photographs, a photo album and photographic postcards, various official documents including identification papers and immigration documentation, and some correspondence.

The collection's photographs comprise about half the collection and consist of both loose photographs and a photo album. They include two folders of family photographs. The first of these (1/8) shows Renee Aldor and others; especially prominent are views of family members at various locales in New York City, including in Fort Tryon and Central Parks, but also including several winter and summer scenes. The second folder of family photos (1/9) hold later photographs, with many showing family weddings or holidays, especially Thanksgiving and include some identified photos. Many photos in this folder were taken in San Francisco; others show the gravestones of Renee Aldor's parents. Another folder (1/7) contains photographs and photographic postcards of Bolivia. Although unidentified, most of these seem to be professional photographs, with various scenes of Bolivian residents in traditional dress, landscapes, and buildings; a few are nonprofessional photographs taken of famous buildings or family members posing for pictures. The folder of photographs of tours show unidentified tour groups; postcards (1/11) are mostly blank and are from Morocco, Vermont, Yugoslavia, Warsaw and Greece. Notable is the photograph album from the early 1930s, whose photographs are identified but do not include Renee Fanto or Ernst Aldor. Most of them show family or friends in various outdoor locations primarily in Austria, but also including Germany or Switzerland. Many of these photos depict individuals hiking, camping, swimming or skiing.

Much of the remainder of the collection holds Renee and Ernst Aldor's personal or immigration papers. In the collection's first folder is documentation, especially letters, that refer to his internment in Dachau. It includes a letter by Renee Aldor to the Gestapo while trying to find him once their Bolivian visas had been approved and a letter from Ernst Aldor to the Gestapo requesting an extension of his permission to remain in Vienna while they awaited their ship's departure. The folder also includes two brief notes from Ernst to Renee while he was at the camp. The second folder, whose documents consist entirely of photocopies, holds various anecdotes by Renee Aldor, primarily reminiscences of events in Austria prior to their departure. Such anecdotes include a conversation overheard on a streetcar or comments made in front of a memorial to Maria Therese. Included with Renee Aldor's writings is a 1928 poem for Ernst Aldor by Fritz Gerstl.

Two folders relate to the couple's emigration. The first (1/3) holds various emigration paperwork required for a visa, such as Renee Aldor's passport, identification papers of Ernst Aldor, residence registrations and receipts for fee payments. Documents in Spanish largely relate to their entrance into Bolivia and preparation for immigration to the United States. Included in this folder is a postcard by Richard Fanto to the couple, written while he was in Stanislawow and telling of his life there. The second folder of immigration papers consists of documents attesting to the financial stability of Emil Deutsch, Renee Aldor's cousin and the couple's American immigration sponsor.

Various personal papers of Renee and Ernst Aldor will be found in folder 5. Included is a photocopy of the couple's marriage certificate, Renee Aldor's Austrian Heimatschein, and a certificate of appreciation for her extensive volunteer work at the Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged. An oversized certificate shows Ernst Aldor's membership in the Institute of Radio Engineers in 1957. The final folder of the collection holds exhibition pamphlets for Natalie Stryks, Renee Aldor's sister, as well as 1939 postcards to Walter Stryks in Paris from his father.