Collections : [Florida Atlantic University Libraries]

The Arlyn Austin Katims Civil War Collection focuses upon the Civil War from the Union position. Within the collection are illustrations, currency, and a number of artifacts from the era. Items of special interest include an authentic mourning card from Abraham Lincoln's funeral and newspapers reporting Lincoln's death.

The collection of Cantor Morton Pliskin consists of manuscript music, print music, personal songbooks, personal papers, programs, and pictures relating to his professional life as a cantor. Music books have been cataloged and relocated to Rare Books. Audio recordings have been relocated to Judaica Sound Archives. Cantor Pliskin was known as a "wunderkind" cantor who started singing next to his father who was a cantor at the age of 13. After his family moved to Chicago he studied at the Hebrew Theological College of Jewish Studies in Chicago, the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and the University of Northern Illinois (where he focused on cantorial history). After graduating and serving as a cantor in Minneapolis for a few years he returned to Chicago where he served at the congregations of Lincolnwood Jewish Congregation and A.G. Beth Israel. Cantor Pliskin also had well established relationships with Cantor Moses Silverman and Dr. Bauer. He passed away on January 9, 2008.

In 2012, Cantor Murray Yavneh donated his collection of nearly 200 pieces of print music, music manuscripts, song books, and periodicals to Florida Atlantic University. The collection dates from 1863 to 1976 and includes: cantorial music Hebrew and Yiddish songs, American popular standards, and instrumental works.

In 1991, the family of Zvi Aroni [neé Shalom Zvee Aronowitz] donated his collection of print music, music manuscripts, personal songbooks, pictures, programs, and video recordings relating to his professional life as a cantor. Music books have been cataloged and relocated to Rare Books. Audio recordings have been relocated to Judaica Sound Archives. Cantor Aroni studied voice with Cantor Samuel Kavetsky and had a close relationship with the composer, Reuven Kosakoff. Many of their manuscripts can be found in the Collection. Cantor Aroni came to America in 1947 where he served as cantor in synagogues in Philadelphia and New York City. From 1964-1968 he served as Cantor of the Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue in Toronto, Canada. It was here that he was able to realize his dream of reviving the boy choir and integrating it into the service. From 1968-1979 Cantor Aroni lived and sang in NYC. He was Cantor at Beth Torah in North Miami Beach until his death in 1990.

This collection of World's Fair memorabilia was donated to Florida Atlantic University by Charna Larkin. The Larkin family established an endowment in 2004 tosupport the study of the American presidency at FAU. The endowment also supports the annual Alan B. Larkin Symposium on the American Presidency, which hosts public lectures by best-selling authors and distinguished scholars. In addition to collecting original signed letters from every U.S. president from George Washington to George W. Bush, Alan B. Larkin also collected memorabilia from World's Fairs.

The majority of correspondence dates from 1841 to 1916.  Other miscellaneous documents date through 1970. These letters and postcards represent leisure and business correspondence to and from the Clarkes and reflect concerns, beliefs and opinions of ordinary men and women of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The photos within this collection date from the 1840s and include various methods of processing illustrative of the evolution of photographic procedures.  The majority of the photos are in carte de visite format.  Also included in the collection are cabinet mounted photos and Kodak box camera snapshots.  Additionally, photos taken in the 1970s depict the Clarke's ancestral home, Patmore Manor in Bishop Stortford, England. The transcription of an oral history interview conducted in 1998 with Alice B. Wilkes is also included.

The Derna DePamphilis Music Collection includes opera scores (many with her performance notations) and libretti. The libretti collection consists of late nineteenth and early twentieth century libretti from various publishers. The majority of the works are from Italian composers, but there are also some representations of French, German and English works.

John O'Sullivan (1939-2000) was a professor of history at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. O'Sullivan attended Fordham University for his undergraduate studies and then Columbia University where he attained a M.A. and Ph.D. After graduating in 1971, he came to Florida Atlantic University where he served as chair of the History Department (1975-1978) and devoted his entire academic career. Dr. O'Sullivan received numerous research fellowships including the American Philosophical Society, the American Historical Association, and the Sloan Foundation.

Samuel A. Portnoy (1920 - 2004) was a professor of History at Florida Atlantic University (1963-1991) in Boca Raton, Florida.  Dr. Portnoy was a native New Yorker and received his bachelor's degree and Ph.D.  from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and his master's from the University of Chicago. In 1963, he began teaching history at Florida Atlantic University where he was actively involved in the planning of the University's academic program.  He was also first chairman of the Department of History at FAU.  His areas of specialization include Russian and Soviet history, 19th and 20th century European history, and Modern Jewish history. Dr. Portnoy was also a prominent lecturer, speaking on subjects of current and historic importance.  These subjects included the Middle East, the Gorbachev revolution, German unification, and select topics in modern Jewish history (Hasidism, Zionism, Jewish labor and social movements in Europe and the United States), and various aspects of Yiddish culture.  Much of his research was focused on the Jewish Labor Bund and the life of Vladimir Medem, a Russian Jewish political leader.  Portnoy's publications include articles in both Yiddish and English for the journals Labor History, Dissent, and Yiddish. He is also the editor-translator of Vladimir Medem's memoirs entitled: The Life and Soul of a Legendary Jewish Socialist and Henryk Erlich and Victor Alter – Two Heroes and Martyrs for Jewish Socialism.