Solomon L. Skoss papers, 1919-1957.

Format:

Other

Author/Creator:

Skoss, Solomon Leon, 1884-1953.

Language:

Arabic

English

German

Hebrew

Russian

Subjects (All):

Jewish religious schools.

Jews.

Jews--Study and teaching.

Jews--United States.

Judaism--Study and teaching.

Judaism.

Genre:

correspondence

drafts (documents)

indexes, card

manuscripts (documents)

photographic prints

typescripts

writings (documents)

Manuscripts, American -- 20th century

Penn Provenance:

Gift of the Skoss family, 1953/1954.

Physical Description:

5 boxes (5 linear feet)

Arrangement:

Organized into four series: I. Correspondence, II. Hebrew-Arabic dictionary of the Bible : known as Kitāb Jāmi' al-Alfāz. (Agrōn) of David ben Abraham Al-Fāsī the Karaite materials, III. Personal materials, and IV. Writings.

Place of Publication:

1919-1957.

Language Note:

The materials in this collection contain Arabic, English, German, Hebrew, and Russian.

Biography/History:

Dr. Solomon Leon Skoss was born on April 4th, 1884 in Chusovoy, Russia into a religious family. Between 1904 and 1906, Skoss was drafted into military service for the Russian Empire. He immigrated to the United States in 1907. In 1911, Skoss married his first wife, Sarah Myerson (1887-1920), with whom he had a daughter, Sarah Theodora Skoss (1920-1979). Skoss graduated with a BA in Romance languages from the University of Denver in 1913. Between 1918 and 1921, Skoss and his family lived in Los Angeles where he worked as an automobile painter, in a millinery shop, a beekeeper and the principal of the Yiddish Folk Shul of Los Angeles.Skoss was a graduate student and fellow at Dropsie College from 1922 to 1925, majoring in Arabic. While at Dropsie College, Skoss studied at the graduate school of the University of Pennsylvania in Semitics. "In 1924, as Fellow from the Dropsie College he went to Cairo, Egypt for advanced studies in Arabic, and also attended courses in Arabic literature, poetry, philosophy at the 'Egyptian State University' and at the 'School of Oriental Studies of the American University' in Cairo where he studied colloquial Arabic. In 1925, he was appointed Instructor in Arabic at the Dropsie College; in 1932, Associate Professor; in 1934, Professor." Skoss received his Ph.D. from Dropsie College in 1926. Skoss married Irene C. Kapnek (1885-1973) in 1926. Skoss was the recipient of two grants by the American Council of Learned Societies which enabled him to conduct research at the Bodleian Library at Oxford and the Leningrad State Public Library in 1932.Solomon Skoss published four books including: The Arabic commentary of ʻAlī ben Suleimān the Karaite on the book of Genesis (1928), The Hebrew-Arabic dictionary of the Bible : known as Kitāb Jāmi' al-Alfāz. (Agrōn) of David ben Abraham Al-Fāsī the Karaite (1936-1945), Saadia Gaon, the earliest Hebrew grammarian (1955), and Portrait of a Jewish scholar; essays and addresses (1957). He also authored many articles including: "Swarming" and "Beekeeping in California."

Summary:

The Solomon L. Skoss papers consists of correspondence, drafts, notes, photographic reproductions and reviews for his book Hebrew-Arabic dictionary of the Bible : known as Kitāb Jāmi' al-Alfāz. (Agrōn) of David ben Abraham Al-Fāsī the Karaite, as well as personal materials and writings, dating from 1919 to 1957. Most of the materials in this collection are in Arabic, English and Hebrew, while other languages include German and Russian.

OCLC:

249069493