Elie Wiesel
Finding Aid
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About the Collection – Scope & Content
Overview
The Elie Wiesel collection consists of manuscripts, correspondence, printed material, and research materials, among other series. This large collection documents the life and professional work of this extraordinarily prolific writer, journalist, scholar and international public figure. The Elie Wiesel Collection contains source material of interest to scholars of Wiesel’s life and work, the Holocaust, modern Jewish Studies and other subjects.
An extensive collection of Holocaust related material is included, as collected by Professor Wiesel, as well as a wide-ranging correspondence. Several letters are to and from various officials (including Francois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac), individuals, media outlets, and government and private organizations. Letters in English also include several letters from various political figures, including Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, Ted Kennedy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Michael Dukakis, and others. Other notable correspondents include Joan Baez, Pearl Bailey, the Dalai Lama, Armand Hammer, Arthur Miller, Golda Meir, Irving Kristol, Henry Kissinger, Chaim Potok, Yitzhak Rabin, Philip Roth, Carl Sagan, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Gloria Steinem, Isaac Stern, and Joseph Wiseman.
The collection is organized by language, and includes material primarily in English, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish, among other languages.
An extensive collection of Holocaust related material is included, as collected by Professor Wiesel, as well as a wide-ranging correspondence. Several letters are to and from various officials (including Francois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac), individuals, media outlets, and government and private organizations. Letters in English also include several letters from various political figures, including Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, Ted Kennedy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Michael Dukakis, and others. Other notable correspondents include Joan Baez, Pearl Bailey, the Dalai Lama, Armand Hammer, Arthur Miller, Golda Meir, Irving Kristol, Henry Kissinger, Chaim Potok, Yitzhak Rabin, Philip Roth, Carl Sagan, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Gloria Steinem, Isaac Stern, and Joseph Wiseman.
The collection is organized by language, and includes material primarily in English, French, Hebrew, and Yiddish, among other languages.
English-Language Material
The English-language material consists of manuscripts, correspondence, printed materials, professional materials, research materials, film and video, subject files, audio, scrapbooks, and electronic media, among other items.
Manuscripts include memoirs and autobiographical materials, including drafts and fragments of All Rivers Run to the Sea, And the Sea is Never Full, and In the Shadow of Silence, among other short pieces and Wiesel’s reflections on his life. The series also includes novel drafts, page proofs and setting proofs for A Mad Desire to Dance: A Novel, A Beggar in Jerusalem: A Novel, The Fifth Son: A Novel, The Golem: The Story of a Legend, The Testament: A Novel, Twilight, The Judges: A Novel, The Night Trilogy, Crossroads, The Forgotten, The Sonderberg Case: A Novel, and The Time of the Uprooted: A Novel.
Manuscripts also include lectures and speeches, dating from 1967 to 2009; plays, adaptations, and teleplays, including “A Song for Hope,” “The Jews of Silence,” and “Once Upon a Time,” among others, dating 1968 to 1987; screenplays for “A Beggar in Jerusalem” (1970); television and radio program transcripts; book reviews; audio transcripts; voiceover scripts for film and television; poetry; essays and articles; non-fiction works; interviews; and notes. The series also includes some manuscript material written by others (1970s to 2000s).
Correspondence includes letters from various notable and significant individuals; organizations and individuals, both personal and professional in nature as well as general; student letters; requests for autographs, appearances, etc.; reader responses; letters from various colleges and universities; letters arranged geographical by country and state; holiday and various greeting cards; letters with publishers; letters relating to the Holocaust; family letters; open letters; letters pertaining to the Nobel Peace Prize; and letters regarding the Bitburg controversy, among others. Correspondence dates from the 1960s to the 2000s.
Printed materials include articles, op-ed pieces, pamphlets, and other published items regarding various topics (such as the Holocaust, Judaism, and Human Rights), speeches, and book reviews by Wiesel; interviews with Wiesel; and various clippings regarding Wiesel. Also of note are materials regarding the Holocaust, Bitburg, Wiesel’s various honorary degrees and awards, his appearances and lectures, and the Nobel Peace Prize. The series also includes general material, such as booklets, catalogs, magazines and journals, and programs. Printed material dates from the 1960s to the 2000s.
Professional materials include teaching materials, notebooks, datebooks and calendars, schedules, addresses and phone numbers; material on various appearances; conference and symposium material; correspondence; and files regarding Wiesel’s various honorary degrees, awards, and citations. Material dates from the 1970s to 2008.
Research materials include files regarding the Holocaust and World War II, including the Warsaw Ghetto, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald; Judaism and Jewish culture; and general topics, such as religion, psychology, science and technology, the arts, among other subjects.
Film and video includes DVDs and videocassettes. DVDs, all dating within the 2000s, include “Three Encounters with Elie Wiesel” DVDs, several interviews and television appearances, and numerous productions for the Elie Wiesel Foundation For Humanity. Videocassettes include interviews, appearances, speeches and lectures, award ceremony footage, among other general cassettes, dating from the 1990s to the 2000s.
Subject files include materials regarding biographical information for Wiesel (1968 to 2005); the United States Holocaust Memorial Council (ca. 1970s to 1980s); Boston University (1976 to 2008); Bosnia (1990 to 2002); Sighet (1904 to 2012); Jews in the Soviet Union (1966 to 2000); educational material (1965 to 2013); and material regarding the Nobel Peace Prize mostly dating around 1986.
The collection includes other materials such as eight scrapbooks regarding clippings, poetry, photographs, and those compiled by students for Wiesel; CD-ROMs and floppy disks; audio material (1970s to 2000s), including cassettes and CDs, regarding various lectures by Wiesel at Boston University, KCH lectures, interviews with Wiesel, among material not by Wiesel.
French-Language Material
The French language material includes manuscripts, correspondence, printed material, and material regarding the Academie Universelle des Cultures.
Manuscripts include lectures, speeches, plays, memoirs (including Memoir in Two Voices, co-written with Francois Mitterand), novels, short pieces, and non-fiction and religious writings by Wiesel. The series also includes some of Wiesel’s notebooks, including notes taken while Wiesel was studying at the Sorbonne. Also includes are anthologies of Wiesel’s writings and writings by others, including screenplay adaptations, interviews, and various materials sent to Wiesel. Material dates from the 1970s to the 2000s, and includes numerous undated pieces.
Correspondence includes personal and professional letters, from organizations and individuals; letters from publishers and media; letters from various notable and significant individuals; and general correspondence. Material dates from 1960 to 2010.
Printed materials include articles by Wiesel, reviews of Wiesel’s various books, articles about Wiesel, articles containing quotes by or mentions of Wiesel, interviews with Wiesel, and general material. Items date from 1961 to 2008.
Material regarding the Academie Universelle des Cultures includes printed material (1986 to 2002), manuscripts (1998 to 2002, including some undated), alphabetical and chronological correspondence files (1992 to 2006), and professional material dating from 1993 to 2005.
Hebrew-Language Material
The Hebrew language material consists of manuscripts, correspondence, printed material, and research material.
Manuscripts include various notes regarding trips to India and Israel, speeches, lectures, and articles regarding Judaism written by Wiesel as well as a French radio program on the Book of Job. The series also contains drafts regarding Paris, The Jews of Silence, The Gate, and various articles by Wiesel for Yedioth Aharonoth. Also included are screenplay adaptations of La Ville de la chance (The Town Beyond the Wall), a staged reading version of Zalmen, or: The Madness of God, a radio play version of Dawn, and Wiesel’s original Hebrew draft of Night, including an unpublished chapter (in French). Manuscripts date from 1950 to 2009.
Correspondence includes personal and professional letters, regarding organizations in Israel and individuals; letters regarding the Holocaust; letters regarding Yedioth Aharanoth; and letters from various notable and significant individuals. General correspondence includes recommendations for books, requests, invitations, and correspondence regarding the Nobel Peace Prize. Material dates from the 1950s to the 2000s.
Printed material in the collection includes articles by Wiesel reporting from Paris, France and the United States. The series also includes articles about Wiesel published by the Israeli press. Material dates from 1956 to 2015.
Research material includes items pertaining to the Holocaust, Hasidism, and Judaism and is mostly undated. Holocaust material includes booklets and magazines, as well as material regarding The Black Book, Romania and faith after the Holocaust, among other topics. Hasidism material includes files on various rabbis. Judaism material includes files regarding anti-Semitism, Israel and Jerusalem, various notable figures, and Zionism, among other topics.
Yiddish-Language Material
The Yiddish language material consists of manuscripts, correspondence, printed material, and research material.
Manuscripts consists of writings and non-fiction works by Wiesel, including “Memoirs of Jerusalem,” “Entries in a Journal,” various article drafts, among others; speeches and lectures by Wiesel, include Wiesel’s Berlin address (1987); and writings by others. Material is primarily undated, but dated material ranges from approximately 1946 to 1987.
Correspondence includes personal and professional letters, regarding both organizations (such as the Jewish Daily Forward) and individuals; various notable and significant individuals; and general correspondence. Letters date from approximately 1955 to 2008.
Printed material includes subject files; magazine, journal and newspaper articles by and about Wiesel; and booklets dating from 1941 to 2013. Subject files, dating from approximately 1954 to 2007, include a variety of topics, such as: the Holocaust, Israel, Jewish identity, journalism, the United Nations, book reviews, and various countries, among other subjects. Magazine and journal articles by Wiesel include those published under his pseudonym “Elisha Carmeli” and are primarily undated. Newspaper articles by Wiesel date from 1948 to the 1990s and were published in the Jewish Daily Forward, Algemeiner Journal, among other various periodicals. General clippings date from 1946 to the 2000s.
Research material includes material on various topics including the Holocaust and Hasidism, dated 1950 to 1964, as well as undated material.
Other material in the Elie Wiesel collection includes photographs; artwork; and memorabilia, including several honorary degrees, certificates, awards, and textiles, among other items.