Milton R. Konvitz Collections
Collection Number: /4341
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
Milton R. Konvitz Collections,
1936-2017
Collection Number:
/4341
Creator:
Konvitz, Milton R.;
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives
Quantity:
297 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Records (documents), correspondence, papers
(documents) .
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Professor Konvitz's files regarding the drawing up of the
official body of statutory laws for the Republic of Liberia.
Language:
Collection material in English, French, German, Yiddish
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.
Boxes 1-3, 8-12, and 15-31 of this collection were transferred to the Cornell Law
Library in 2005. Please consult with the Law Library Reference Librarian for these
additional materials.
Names:
Konvitz, Milton R.(Milton Ridvas), 1908-2003
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives
New York State School of Industrial and Labor
Relations.
Form and Genre Terms:
Records (documents).
Correspondence
Papers (documents)
Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a
reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet
and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
Milton R. Konvitz Collections #/4341. Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 | ||
4 linear feet. Professor Konvitz's files regarding the drawing up of the
official body of statutory laws for the Republic of Liberia.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 2 | ||
204.8 linear feet
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 3 | 1973- 1974 | |
10.6 linear feet
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 4 | 1936-1986 | |
6.3 linear feet
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 5 | 1962-1980 | |
6 linear feet. Boxes 1-3, 8-12, and 15-31 of this collection were transferred
to the Cornell Law Library in 2005. Please consult with the Law Library
Reference Librarian for these additional materials.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 6 | 1962 | |
1 file folder
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 7 | ||
58 linear feet
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 8 | 2001 | |
1 file folder.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 9 | 1941-2003 | |
2.5 linear feet.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 10 | 2003 | |
4 CDs and 1 video cassette
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 11 | 2008-2010 | |
0.7 linear feet
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 12 | 2017 | |
1 bound volume
|