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Prager Family Collection

 Collection
Identifier: MSS 0465

Scope and Content

The collection contains photographs, certificates, booklets, and other documents recording the major events in the lives of two generations of the Prager family while living in Poland, England, and the United States. Materials are arranged according to type. Some are very fragile and brittle and have been housed in transparent archival sleeves. The birth certificates and registry excerpts from the Tarnow city council as well as identity cards are written in Polish. The rest of the documents are written in English and French and there is also a Jewish marriage contract, a ketubah, written with Hebrew letters.

Dates

  • Creation: 1923 - 1961

Creator

Language of Materials

The collection holds materials in Polish, French, English, and Hebrew.

Access

The collection is open for research.

Biographical/Historical Note

Moses Prager was born in 1885 in Tarnow, Poland, then belonging to the Russian Empire. On February 16, 1914, he married Rosalia Roth Jakubovicz of Szczecin (born on November 18, 1889). They had four children Sala, Jacob (born on August 4, 1915), Israel, and Abraham. The family moved to Brussels in the mid-1920s where Moses Prager worked as a furrier. Following the Nazi occupation of Belgium during World War II, the family was forced to give up all their possessions.

Jacob Prager moved to England and was conscripted into the Polish Army. He and Anne Klineberg (born on March 21, 1919 in Glasgow) got married in Glasgow, Scotland in 1942. After the war, the couple moved to the United States, becoming naturalized citizens in 1960 and 1961, respectively.

Extent

.25 Linear Feet (1 Box)

Abstract

The photographs, official documents, and ephemera included in this collection document the lives of the Prager family members, especially Moses Prager and his son Jacob, from 1923 to 1961. From Poland, Moses Prager and his family relocated to Belgium. Jacob continued to the United Kingdom escaping the Nazis during World War II. Following the war, he and his wife immigrated to the United States.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged in chronological order.

Location

University of Florida Smathers Library Building

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated by John Prager and Michelle Sternshein, in memory of Jacob Prager, in 2018.

Title
A Guide to the Prager Family Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid created by Katalin Franciska Rac
Date
October 2018
Description rules
Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository

Contact:
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755