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Margy and Martin Meyerson Collection

Guide to the Margy and Martin Meyerson Collection
ARC .MS.54

Summary Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Contents Note
Administrative Information
Controlled Access Headings

Summary Information

Repository: University of Pennsylvania: Archives at the Library of the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies
Creator - Compiler: Meyerson, Margy and Martin
Title: Margy and Martin Meyerson Collection
ID: ARC .MS.54
Date [bulk]: Bulk, 1950-1981
Date [inclusive]: 1936-2000
Extent: 2.0 Linear feet
Physical Description: Good
Language: English
Languages: Portions of this collection are in Hebrew.
Abstract: The Margy and Martin Meyerson collection consists of approximately 113 items, including ephemeral pamphlets, maps, photographs, brochures, bulletins, policy papers, booklists, investment prospectuses, tourist industry material, as well as government publications, off-prints, monographs and individual serials volumes, documenting the early decades of the modern State of Israel. Especially notable are four beautiful hand-painted Oriental, perhaps Kurdish, Jewish amulets.

Preferred Citation Note

[Identification of item], in the Margy and Martin Meyerson Collection, Library at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania ARC MS 54, [Location within collection].

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Biographical Note

Martin Meyerson was the fifth president of the University of Pennsylvania, from 1970-1981, and was associated with Penn for over fifty years. With his background in city planning, he brought a unique perspective to the university, focusing on producing cutting-edge research to benefit society.

He began his academic career in 1948 at the University of Chicago before coming to Penn in 1952 as an associate professor of city and regional planning. In 1957, he left for Harvard University and later served as dean of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California at Berkeley. While at Berkeley, he served as acting chancellor during the student unrest of the Free Speech movement. He then served as president of the State University of New York at Buffalo before returning to Penn as president in 1970.

After leaving the presidency, Martin remained active at Penn as University Professor of Public Policy Analysis and City and Regional Planning and as chair of the University of Pennsylvania Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania Press, the Institute for Research on Higher Education, and the Monell Chemical Senses Center. He was also co-chair of Penn's 250th anniversary celebration. Martin also served on the boards of the Mahoney Institute of Neurological Sciences, the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies, and the Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis and Response. He also chaired the Universitys Fels Center of Government program until February 1996. With his wife Margy, he was Co-President of the Friends of the Library, in which capacity they served on the Library's Board of Overseers.

As an expert on national, regional, urban, and industrial development, Martin was a United Nations advisor and delegate, as well as a consultant to several West African nations and to the Governor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. He founded London's Centre for Environmental Studies and Japan's International Centre for the Study of East Asian Development and was an advisor to France's Institut National de la Communication Audiovisuelle. He served as Chair of the International Institute for Education and President of the International Association of Universities and held leadership positions with dozens of American organizations dedicated to urban affairs, education, science, foreign policy, conservation, and the arts. He served on several White House task forces and on the councils of a number of government agencies.

His books included Politics, Planning, and Public Interest; Housing, People, and Cities; Face of the Metropolis; and Boston: The Job Ahead. With Dr. Dilys Winegrad, director and curator of the Arthur Ross Gallery, he wrote Gladly Learn and Gladly Teach, a history of Penn.

(Excerpts from University of Pennsylvania News, "Death of President Emeritus Martin Meyerson" June 6 2007)

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Scope and Contents Note

The Margy and Martin Meyerson collection has been arranged into eleven subjects by topic: 1) Investment in Israel (1 folder) 2) Jewish Community: Congresses, Essays, etc. (3 folders) 3) Social Studies (1 folder) 4) Tour Itinerary (n.d.) (1 folder) 5) Tourist Information: Maps, Pamphlets, etc. (2 folders) 6) Building Israel: Land, Planning, etc. (2 folders) 7) Building Israel: Politics (1 folder) 8) Art and Fashion (1 folder) 9) Education (2 folders) 10) Misc/Unidentified (1 folder) 11) Amulets (1 box)

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