The Sara Richman Harris Collection includes diaries, correspondence and other documents; films and photos from as far back as the 1870s.
Diaries
In more than 1000 diary pages, Sara chronicles her adventures in New York City from 1941, when she graduated from college, until after she married, had her first child, and, in 1950, moved to Albany, NY. LINK TO “August 7th or so, 1941”–page 1 of the diaries, transcribed.
The diaries include descriptions of life at her family’s summer camps and inn in New Hampshire; correspondence with and about college friends and family involved in World War II; fascism, anti-semitism and racism; love; students, professors and critiques at the Art Students League. One entry concerns an episode in which the police kicked Sara and her Art Students League class out of Central Park, for trespassing. Sara wrote in her diary, “I believe this was a violation of our civil rights,” and reported that the Art Students League paid for a taxi she and classmate took to complain the chief of police. The Sara Richman Harris Collection includes various paintings described in the diaries.
The State University of New York at Albany and Jewish Historical Societies have requested the original diaries, which are currently stored in Cambridge, Mass.
Correspondence
In letters, Sara’s father, Aaron Richman and artist Max Weber share personal updates and their concerns about the political situation under McCarthyism, in the 1950s. [Requested by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC and dealers]
Films and photos
- Original and video copies document decades at Camps Eagle Point and Stinson—Jewish boys and girls camps owned run by Sara’s parents from 1928 to 1954– in Stinson Lake, New Hampshire. [Requested by Jewish Historical Societies and the New Hampshire Historical Society]
- A short film of artist William Zorach showing Sara and two of her children—Laura and Jon—how to draw with sticks on a lake shore. [Requested by the New Hampshire Historical Society]
Family Documents
Family documents include:
- Richman and Shapiro family correspondence, photos, deeds, and sale records going back to the late 1800s.
- Photos of Sara’s uncle, Paul Richman, Director of the National Jewish Anti-Defamation League, with his daughter Paulette and friend Albert Einstein.
- Correspondence and photos with Sara’s first cousin, Milton J. Shapp, who served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1971-1978, and ran in the 1974 U.S. Presidential Primary.
- Photos of several generations of Harris/Gersovitz/Wade families–which came together with the Richman/Shapiros when Sara and Raymond were married. (They were introduced at a family Bar Mitzvah in New York by Raymond’s Uncle Benjamin Wade, a Texas optometrist who was married to Sara’s Aunt Bertha (Shapiro) Wade. [Requested by Jewish Historical Societies]
Professional archive:
Records and documents of Raymond and Sara Harris’ professional experiences in Albany, New York, include Raymond’s writings and recordings on gerontology; records from Sara’s tenure as Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Aging; and programs from Sara’s art exhibits. These are catalogued and stored in the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives in the SUNY-Albany library.