MS 196 Israel S. Gomborov Collection

One of the most important skills for archivists-in-training to learn is how to write a finding aid.  These documents often look simple and straightforward, but processing a collection and writing a finding aid can be time-consuming and aggravating.  The larger the collection, the more complicated the process.  I like to ease my new interns and volunteers into archives work by tasking them with our smallest collections first.

We measure our collections by linear feet – essential how much shelf space they occupy.  Our largest collection (the Baltimore Hebrew University Archives) is over 160 linear feet.  Our smallest collections are .25 linear feet – about 3 inches.  The following finding aid was completed this summer by volunteer Jennifer Swisko as her first foray into archives work.  While it is one of those ‘smallest collections,’ it contains documents as important and interesting as the ones in our larger collections.

Israel S. Gomborov (c.1880-c.1946) Collection

1899-1935

MS 196

ACCESS AND PROVENANCE

The Israel S. Gomborov Collection was donated to the Jewish Museum of Maryland by Mrs. Max Gutman in 1988 as accession 1988.172. The collection was processed in 2011 by Jennifer Swisko.

Access to the collection is unrestricted and available to researchers at the Jewish Museum of Maryland. Researchers must obtain written permission of the Jewish Museum of Maryland before publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library’s usual practices

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Israel S. Gomborov was born around 1880 and died around 1946.  He immigrated to the United States in 1889.  He began his religious education at the age of seven and he completed his studies at Gretz College of Philadelphia.  He received his secular education at Temple University, Baltimore University, Catholic University of America, and the Southern Normal University.

Israel S. Gomborov eventually moved to Baltimore, Maryland to attend Baltimore University School of Law.  In 1902 he married Hannah Leah Gold of Philadelphia.  In the same year Gomborov passed the Maryland State Bar in Baltimore at the same time as Ms. Etta H. Maddox, the first woman ever admitted to the bar in Maryland.  He was a  member of the court of appeals of Maryland and the United States District Court Bars and authored  “The Law of Attachment in Maryland,” 1926.  He also wrote a translation and annotation of the “Jewish Civil Code.”

Gomborov was an active member of the Maryland Jewish community and was one of the founders and the first president of the Beth Tfiloh Congregation of Baltimore City.  Gomborov wrote articles on Jewish subjects that appeared in the Jewish Comment and the Baltimore Jewish Times.  His articles also appeared in the Tageblatte, Jewish Gaurdian of New York and other publications.

Gomborov was one of the six delegates from Baltimore City to attend the first American Jewish Congress.  He was a Grand Master of I.O.S.I., Grand Secretary of the I.O.B.S. of Baltimore, Commander of the Knights of Macabees, President of the Council of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of Baltimore, a Vice-President of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, and a member of the Jefferson Lodge.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The Israel S. Gomborov Collection consists primarily of articles, a scrapbook, a personal notebook and magazines related to the writings and career of Israel S. Gomborov.  Most of the materials are newspaper clippings or articles mentioning or written by Israel S. Gomborov.  The materials are written primarily in English with some exceptions, including the personal notebook of Israel S. Gomborov which is written in Yiddish.