Konvitz, Milton, Additional Papers, 2001
Collection Number: /4220m
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Milton Konvitz Additional Papers, 2001
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
/4220m
Abstract:
Materials from a celebration of the publication of three new books by Professor Emeritus
Milton R. Konvitz at the Cornell Club of New York, March 20, 2001.
Creator:
Konvitz, Milton
Quanitities:
1 folders
Language:
Collection material in English
March 12, 1908 - September 5, 2003
Milton Konvitz, a Cornell University faculty member and authority on constitutional
and labor law, and civil and human rights, died Sept. 5 at the age of 95. Konvitz
was a founding faculty member in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations from
1946 until his retirement in 1973. He was also a professor in Cornell's Law School.
Konvitz is perhaps best known for his American Ideals course, which he taught to
more than 8,000 students over the course of his career, never giving the same lecture
twice. "I saw the U.S. Constitution as it has been interpreted as a magnificent depository
of our ideals, both individual and social," he said. His course exposed students to
the great intellectual thinkers and philosophers throughout history whose writings
had shaped those ideals. They included Sophocles, whose play Antigone is Cornell's
New Student Reading Project this year. One student he influenced was U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Cornell Class of 1954, who considers him a mentor.
At Cornell Konvitz also was a founder of the university's Department of Near Eastern
Studies and Program of Jewish Studies. "I felt it was essential for a college interested
in the humanities not to leave out Hebrew language and literature," he said. "And
the knowledge of Jewish history, which began 4,000 years ago and has contributed to
civilization no less than Greek, Roman or English history, is important to today's
students -Jewish and non-Jewish." He often hosted students at his Ithaca home and
helped start the first Kosher dining option at Cornell, Young Israel House.
In addition, for nearly 30 years he directed the Liberian Codification Project, which
drew up the official body of statutory laws that is still in force in the Republic
of Liberia today, despite the current political upheaval there. Konvitz also edited
the opinions of Liberia's Supreme Court and received the Grand Band of the Order of
the Star of Africa, the highest award given to foreigners, as well as an honorary
degree from the University of Liberia, one of seven honorary degrees he received in
his lifetime.
Active as a scholar and writer until his death, he wrote books and articles on American
constitutional law that won him wide recognition and were cited in U.S. Supreme Court
opinions. Among his nine books is Fundamental Liberties of a Free People: Religion,
Speech, Press, Assembly, which was republished earlier this year with an expanded
introduction by him that is strongly critical of the Rehnquist Supreme Court. Other
books include A Century of Civil Rights (1983) and Judaism and Human Rights (2nd ed.
2001). He also edited a dozen volumes, including two on American philosopher Ralph
Waldo Emerson, whose thinking shaped his views. One Emersonian idea he absorbed was
that readers give life to books, which Konvitz recast as follows: "It is in their
hearing that students bring life to the words, the thoughts, the teacher."
Konvitz was born in Safed, Palestine (now Israel ), in 1908, the son of a rabbi.
He immigrated to the United States in 1915 and became a naturalized citizen in 1926.
He received a bachelor's degree in 1929 and a law degree in 1930, both from New York
University, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Cornell in 1933. Before joining Cornell's
faculty, he was one of three assistant general counsels to Thurgood Marshall at the
NAACP Legal Defense Fund for three years.
He is survived by his wife, Mary, of Oakhurst, N.J.; a brother, Phillip, of Elberon,
N.J.; a son and daughter-in-law, Josef and Isa, of Paris, France; and two grandsons,
Eli and Ezra. Josef Konvitz, who grew up in Ithaca, is now an official at the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Materials from a celebration of the publication of three new books by Professor Emeritus
Milton R. Konvitz at the Cornell Club of New York, March 20, 2001. Included are a
program of the event, typescript of remarks by Irving Louis Horowitz (Editor, Transaction
Publishers: Rutgers University), and typescript of remarks by Milton Konvitz.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference
archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
Procedures for Document Use.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Milton Konvitz Additional Papers #/4220m. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections: /3007: Maurice Neufeld Papers /3033: Milton R. Konvitz Liberian Project Files /4039: Milton R. Konvitz Papers /4039 AV: Milton R. Konvitz American Ideals Lectures Audio-Visual Materials /4039 B: Milton R. Konvitz Additional Papers /4039 L: Milton R. Konvitz Liberian Codification Project /4085: Milton R. Konvitz Additional Papers /4104 OHT: ILR School 40th Anniversary Interviews /4135 OHT: ILR School Founding Faculty Oral History Project /4191 AV: ILR School Audio-Visual Department Video Cassette Collection /4220m: Milton Konvitz Additional Papers /4230: Maurice Neufeld Additional Files /4241: Milton Konvitz Personal Correspondence /4242 AV: Milton Konvitz Memorial Service Audio-Visual Materials /4264 PUBS: ILR School Communications Department Publications /4274: ILR School Event Publicity /4289 P: ILR School Alumni Affairs and Development Photographs /4315 G: ILR School Milton Konvitz Memorial Lecture Posters
Names:
Konvitz, Milton R.(Milton Ridvas), 1908-2003.
New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
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Description
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Date
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Box 1 |
Celebration of the publication of three new books by Professor Emeritus Milton Konvitz
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2001 | |
Scope and Contents
Includes program of events, with synopses of books; "Konvitz in Context" by Irving
Louis Horowitz; "My American Ideals Course Recollected in Tranquility," by Milton
Konvitz
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