Abraham Stearn (1847-1921) was president of The Stearn Company and a well-known philanthropist and financier. Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1847, Stearn joined Moses, Levy, and Company, a fancy goods and toy store, in 1868. The store changed its name to Levy and Stearn in l872 and to Stearn and Company ca. 1905. Stearn was a director of the Society for Savings, the American Savings Bank, and other institutions. He was a founding trustee of the Federation of Jewish Charities, and a trustee of the Jewish Orphan Home.
The Abraham Stearn Papers, 1876, and 1898-1914) consist of a letterbook, 1898-1913, financial journal, 1898-1914, lists of expenses, 1910-1914, an advertisement, and the marriage contract of Abraham Stearn and Bertha Rohrheimer, 1876.
The letterbook consists mainly of letters to business associates and family. Stearn's stocks and investments dominate the correspondence, particularly detailing his interests in the National Acme Manufacturing Company. Other subjects include charitable organizations, family affairs and Levy and Stearn. The financial journal lists Abraham Stearn's monthly personal expenses. This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of Cleveland, Ohio, and the Jewish community there in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The papers are arranged in six folders.
The researcher should also consult PG 343 Abraham Stearn Photographs.
Processed by Dorit Cohen in 1987
None.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4056 Abraham Stearn Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Alan S. Geimer, 1987
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.