William Strauss Collection 1856-1971

This collection mainly contains research material about genealogy and banking, such as articles, newspaper clippings and correspondence concerning William Strauss’s research. It also contains the articles William Strauss wrote mostly about banking and other economical subjects.In the late 1950s, Strauss was commissioned by the LBI to write a history of the Mendelssohn banking house. Although the history was never written, the collection includes correspondence on the proposal work, working notes and clippings. William Strauss also did some genealogical research while his intention was to prove relations between his family branch and those of famous Jews.William (Wilhelm) Straus was born in Hanover in 1904. After obtaining his doctorate in economics in 1925, with a dissertation entitled” Die Konzentrationsbewegung im deutschen Bankgewerbe”, he worked in banking until his emigration to the U.S. in 1939. In the U.S., he worked as an investment analyst until his retirement. Strauss died in 1971 in California.digitize