Sylvia Boehm Acker Papers
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Abstract
George Boehm joined the International Brigades as a volunteer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in February 1937, and was killed during the Battle of the Ebro in July or August 1938. The collection was donated by Boehm's widow, Sylvia Diner Boehm Acker, who later married Leon Acker, an International Brigades volunteer from Poland. The collection includes Boehm's letters to Silvia from Spain, memorabilia, clippings, and material relating to Sylvia's lifelong activity with International Brigades veterans' and refugee aid organizations.
Historical/Biographical Note
George Boehm was born in Velika Pisanica, Croatia on November 5, 1897. He sailed to Europe from New York City to volunteer in the International Brigades in Spain in February 1937. An artist, Spanish teacher, and interpreter, Boehm was killed during the Battle of the Ebro in July or August 1938. Boehm's wife, Sylvia Diner Boehm, participated in fundraising and support work for the International Briagdes volunteers in New York City. After George Boehm's death, Sylvia married another Spanish Civil War veteran, Leon Acker, who had served with the Jewish battalion of the Dombrowski Brigade of Polish volunteers. In the decades after the war, Sylvia remained active in committees to aid Spanish Refugees and Spanish Civil War veterans.
Arrangement
Folders are arranged alphabetically.
The files are organized in one series:
Missing Title
- I, Subject Files, 1937-1981.
Scope and Content Note
A substantial portion of the collection consists of George Boehm's letters from Spain to his wife, Sylvia, with notes written by her on the envelopes. Also included are letters to Sylvia from the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade regarding her efforts to learn about George's fate in Spain; clippings about the Spanish Civil War, Spanish refugees, and politics; original artwork and paste-up of a flyer for a dinner-dance sponsored by the Botvin Committee to Aid Jewish Volunteers in Spain (in Yiddish); and an autograph of Dolores Ibárruri.
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Access Restrictions
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives for more information and to schedule an appointment, tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Use Restrictions
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA), were transferred to New York University in November 2000 by the ALBA Board of Governors. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. For more information, contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The Sylvia Boehm Acker Collection was donated to Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives in 1981 by Sylvia Acker. This collection came to New York University in January 2001 as part of the original acquisition of ALBA collections, formerly housed at Brandeis University.
Separated Material
Photographs and posters from the Sylvia Boehm Acker Collection have been transferred to the Non-Print section of the ALBA collection in the Tamiment Library.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processing decisions made prior to 2017 have not been recorded.
