Itzig Family Collection

The Itzig Family Collection primarily focuses on the genealogy of the family, and contains family trees and a variety of official papers of family members from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Nearly all such papers are not original material, but photocopies. In addition to family trees and copies of official documents, the collection holds copies of correspondence and photographs. Karoline Cauer's unpublished manuscript of her work Oberhofbankier und Hofbaurat is also present.

Much of the material in this collection appears to have been assembled in aid of researching the family genealogy. To this end, the collection includes several family trees as well as Karoline Cauer's manuscript, Der Hofbaurat, on the life of Isaac Daniel Itzig (1750-1806), who became a royal banker and architect of Friedrich Wilhelm II. This manuscript, which forms the bulk of Series III, mentions his role in political affairs as well as the establishment of the family business, Itzig and Co., Berlin's Jüdische Freischule and the family estate.

Many photocopies of official documents are located in several areas of the collection, especially letters patent, certificates that granted political positions to members of the Itzig family such as Isaac Daniel Itzig and his father Daniel Itzig. Other official documents include those related to naturalization of family members. Such documents will be found chiefly in Subseries 2 of Series I; this subseries additionally contains copies of documents that pertain to Daniel Itzig's Familien-Institut and his testament (will). Some other copies of official documents are part of Series II. Only a few original documents are in the collection.

Subseries 4 of Series I contains some papers of members of the Mendelssohn family, who were related to the Itzig family. Prominent among these are the letters of Arnold Mendelssohn, which describe his travels in Syria and Palestine and briefly mention the revolutions of 1848, among other subjects. A handwritten travel log of Nathan Mendelssohn is also in this subseries along with copies of other Mendelssohn family papers.

In addition to Karoline Cauer's manuscript on Isaac Daniel Itzig, Series III contains a small amount of other papers on Cauer family members.