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ESTELLE MANDELBAUM, LENNY PITT [LEONARD PITT] : 1940s ORIGINAL ARCHIVE OF MANUSCRIPT LETTERS HANDWRITTEN BY A CHARMING BRONX JEWISH GIRL TO AND FROM HER BEAU AND FUTURE NOTED HISTORIAN AND AUTHOR LENNY PITT GOING TO SCHOOL IN LOS ANGELES

12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall. On offer is an absolutely fascinating collection of letters written in the immediate post-war years in New Your City. The collection contains 142 pages. The letters are of varying sizes. Most are handwritten and the writing is legible. Several are typed. The letters are in good condition. The letters are mostly written by a young Jewish girl named Estelle Mandelbaum who lives in the Bronx. The letters were written between 1947 and 1950. Context indicates that she is a young woman and the letters span high school completion and studies at Brooklyn College. Most of the letters are written by Estelle to her boyfriend, a young man names Lenny Pitt who has moved to Los Angeles to attend California College. Several letters are also correspondence between Lenny and another friend, Jerry Mintz. [Research suggests Lenny Pitt may very well be Leonard Pitt, noted historian and author and as such these letters make for a rare and fascinating look into the formative late teenage years of this noted academic.] The letters are funny, sometimes insightful, profane and very much stream-of consciousness narrative. "Dearest Estelle - Hello. I wish I could explain how elevated I feel before my feelings run out. . I wish you were here. Or me in New York. I miss you. I don't know what love is. I'm too afraid to think logically about it or to let myself fall in love. I miss you though. I would want to be married to you at this moment." [undated letter from Lenny to Estelle]: "Most important is that I have needed you more strongly, sanely and deeply since I have gone to school than ever before. Emotionally. Right now I have just finished reading some love poetry that I connected with you and they have made me sick with need for you physically for the first time." [undated letter from Estelle to Lenny]. Much of the writing has that earnest quality that comes from first exposures to ideas and attitudes in a College setting. ". I'm glad you finally recognized that you must become independent from your family. It's more important than anything you've said so far. We were discussing middle class parental attitudes towards children in English a few months ago. And it made me see a lot of the fragments I had discovered in a sensible pattern. It made the desire for separation from them logical to me and I realized it was right and necessary for me if I didn't want to cripple myself completely. It's a little comical that I actually felt guilty for not loving my parents after their suffering, sacrifice and work . But actually it's the child who sacrifices to the parents and is tricked and shamed into it usually ." [undated letter from Estelle to Lenny]. One of the letters paints a disturbing picture of the racial discrimination that Black Americans faced and another passage immediately calls to mind the antics of Corporal Klinger in M.A.S.H. In that exchange between Jerry Mintz and his friend Lenny, Jerry writes: ". This (Miami) is a stinking, corrupt stupid hole. In order to work at Miami Beach, the negroes have to get a special police permit - with their picture on it - a blood test - nobody says 'negro. They're not allowed to live here. In the liquor stores and bars in the negro section they keep stocks of cheap calico dresses and pairs of old shoes. The colored kids come in and they get a couple of pieces of the shit. This is so parents won't spend any money for clothes for them and will spend their money for drinks. Very disgusting low place. I took a leave of absence in the middle of the term in school - but I'll go back - if the fucking army doesn't grab me first. I'm finding ways to get out - rabbinical student - bed pisser -sleep walker ." [undated letter between Jerry and Lenny]. The letters pull back the curtains on the secret life of a young Jewish girl who is full of hope and promise despite the demons she must tackle daily that are attributed to her mother who would curse her out in "Jewish".. Illustr.: /. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

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