TABLE OF CONTENTS


Introduction

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement Note

Restrictions

Related Material

Administrative Information

Search Terms

Box Folder Listing

Series A. Manuscripts. 1972-1989.

A Finding Aid to the Walter G. Peiser Manuscripts. 1972-1989.

Manuscript Collection No. 805

NHPRCFunding, in part, for the arrangement and description of this collection was provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Introduction

Repository: The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives
Creator: Peiser, Walter G., 1899–1994
Title: Walter G. Peiser Manuscripts
Dates: 1972-1989
Quantity: 2.0 linear feet (2 record cartons)
Abstract: This collection consists of handwritten manuscripts for Walter Peiser's English translations of various books of the Bible. Translations are accompanied by a brief commentary in most cases.
Collection Number: MS-805
Language: Collection material in English.

Biographical Sketch

Walter Gilbert Peiser was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1921. He was ordained at Hebrew Union College in 1924, and received his doctorate from Louisiana State University. He served as rabbi to Congregation B’nai Israel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from 1927 until his retirement in 1966. A classical Reform Jew, Peiser stressed that Jews were simply a religious group, not a separate people who needed their own homeland. He joined the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism in the 1930s. Passionately committed to social justice, Peiser once refused to say an invocation to the Louisiana State legislature in 1929 to protest Governor Huey Long’s political corruption. In 1933, he verbally attacked the proponents of violent acts against black railroad workers, and worked with the Commission on Social Justice to gain a peaceful resolution to the situation. In 1930 he was named president of the Southwest Jewish Chautauqua Society. Peiser also translated and commented on various books of the Bible, notes of which are included in this collection. He served on the faculty of Louisiana State University.


Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of handwritten manuscripts for Walter Peiser's English translations of various books of the Bible including Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, Jeremiah, Ezra and Nehemiah. Translations are accompanied by a brief commentary in most cases.Also included is a manuscript, “The Bible: A Study,” which explains Peiser’s motivations for writing the new translations and some of his personal religious convictions.


Arrangement Note

This collection is arranged in a single (1) series: material arranged by book in the Biblical order.


Restrictions

Terms of Access and Use

This collection is open to all users. The original manuscript collection is available in the Barrows-Loebelson Reading Room of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.

Property and Literary Rights

Gretchen Pressburg , by the act of donating the Walter G. Peiser Manuscripts to the American Jewish Archives, assigned all property rights to the American Jewish Archives. Literary rights are retained by Walter Peiser or his heirs.

Questions concerning rights should be addressed to the Executive Director of the American Jewish Archives. For more information see the American Jewish Archives copyright information webpage.


Related Material

Peiser, Walter G. Nearprint. Nearprint Biographies.

Peiser, Walter Gilbert. 1924. The rabbinical law of torts: as compared with the American and English common law. Thesis (Rabbinic) -- Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. [Available at the Klau Library.]


Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Footnotes and bibliographic references should refer to the Walter G. Peiser Manuscripts and the American Jewish Archives. A suggestion for at least the first citation is as follows:

[Description], [Date], Box #, Folder #. MS-805. Walter G. Peiser Manuscripts. American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Provenance

The Walter G. Peiser Manuscripts were received from Gretchen Pressburg, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in May, 2011.

Processing Information

Processed by Michelle Wirth, September, 2011.

This collection was arranged and described according to minimal-processing standards. Funding, in part, for the arrangement and description of this collection was provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Accruals and Additions

No further accruals are expected to this collection.


Box Folder Listing

Series A. Manuscripts. 1972-1989.
Box
1 Manuscripts: The Bible: A Study, Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Ezra, Nehemiah, Job, and Psalms. [17 folders]
Box
2 Manuscripts: Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Amos. [11 folders]

Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the American Jewish Archives's online catalog.

Persons and Families

Peiser, Walter G., 1899-1994

Institutions

United States. National Historical Publications and Records Commission

Subjects

Bible

Places

Baton Rouge (La.)

Genres and Forms

Manuscripts

Occupations

Rabbis