Jennie Mannheimer [Jane Manner] Papers

Manuscript Collection No. 259

1880-1952. 0.8 Linear ft.

ACCESS AND PROVENANCE
The Jennie Mannheimer [Jane Manner] Papers were donated to the American Jewish Archives by Edna B . Manner, New York, NY in 1963 and 1968. Edna B. Manner, by the act of donating the Jennie Mannheimer [Jane Manner] Papers to the American Jewish Archives, assigned the property rights to the American Jewish Archives. All literary rights to material in the collection are retained by the individual authors or their heirs. Questions concerning rights should be addressed to the Executive Director of the American Jewish Archives. The papers are available to researchers in the reading room of the Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH top

Jennie Mannheimer was born New York on 9 January 1872, and attended the Rochester Real-Schule, German American Institute of Rochester, NY for her early education. In 1884, her family moved to Cincinnati in order for her father, Sigmund Mannheimer, to take a professorial position at the Hebrew Union College. In Cincinnati, Mannheimer attended Hughes High School. She was one of first two women to receive B.A. in Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew Union College in 1892; she also earned Bachelor of Letters from the University of Cincinnati that year.

Mannheimer established the Cincinnati School of Expression in 1894 to teach the art of every day speech and voice culture for speech. Mannheimer directed the school until 1912. Mannheimer also directed the Drama department of the Cincinnati College of Music from 1900 through 1907.

Beginning in 1913, Mannheimer gave a series of modern drama readings at the Cincinnati Womens Club. The readings were a great success, and Mannheimer also gave them in New York City. She eventually moved to New York City, changing her professional name to Jane Manner, to continue a career as reader and teacher, and then director of Jane Manner Drama Studio. In New York, Mannheimer gave numerous recitals and readings and directed plays, performing at Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, and the Waldorf Astoria, where she gave recitals for 7 consecutive years. She published books on drama and speech, including The Silver Treasury, Prose and Verse for Every Mood (1934).

Jennie Mannheimer died on 26 May 1943.
The biography was prepared using material from the collection and Profiles of Ohio Women, 1803-2003 edited by Jacqueline Jones Royster (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2003).

Related AJA Collections
PC-2828 Jennie Mannheimer Photo file.
MS-162 Eugene Mannheimer Papers, 1902-1951.
SC-15086 Mannheimer Family Papers 1898-1995.
PC-2827 Mannheimer Family Photo file.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE top
The Jennie Mannheimer [Jane Manner] Papers consist of a diary, notebooks of quotations and readings, a scrapbook, programs and bulletins, and miscellaneous material relating to Mannheimers career. The papers include programs and advertisements relating to Mannheimers work as head of the Cincinnati School of Expression and as an interpretive reader in Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Also included are a memorial booklet of her brother, Rabbi Eugene Mannheimer, Des Moines, Iowa; a picture of a window ventilator invented and patented by Louise Mannheimer, and an autograph book including the signature of Isaac Mayer Wise.
BOX AND FOLDER LISTING top
Box Folder	Contents
1	1	Diary.  1906-1916.
	2	Notes on Bible Studies and Studies in Ethics and Morals (Rockdale Temple Sabbath 
		School).  1890.
	3	"Poesies" and "Quotations" (Notes and Clippings in Diaries).  Circa 1910s-1930s.  
	4	Readings with Music (Notes and Clippings in Diary).  Circa 1930-1940s.  
	5-6	Programs and Bulletins.  Various dates, circa 1880s-1930s
2	1-4	Programs and Bulletins.  Various dates, circa 1880s-1930s
	5	Scrapbook (mainly clippings on Mannheimer's career).  1895-1914.  
	6	Miscellaneous. (Includes information on Eugene Mannheimer, autograph album including 
		signature of I. M. Wise, newspaper clippings.)  1880-1952.  
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