On Feb. 7 Hannah Aurbach presented the Library with her gift of a framed letter to her from Albert Einstein.
Donald P. Panzera, chief of the Exchange and Gift Division, accepted Mrs. Aurbach's donation, for addition to the national manuscript collections. In 1994 Mrs. Aurbach gave the Library a collection of six historic maps in memory of her husband, Gerald D. Aurbach.
The note, possibly typed as well as having been signed by Einstein, is not the learned opinion on a question of physics or mathematics that one might expect. It is instead a personal and charming reply to Mrs. Aurbach, who, as a child named Hannah Leah Rose collecting autographs during World War II, had written to the great scientist to express her admiration for his "humility, kindness and loyalty" to the Jewish people.
Einstein's response, addressed to Miss Hannah Leah Rose, reads: "Dear Hannah Leah, I was very much pleased with your letter. There is kindness, humility and an upright spirit in it which so often goes together with loyalty to our people. Thanks and kind wishes, yours sincerely, A. Einstein."
