Sumner T. Bernstein Correspondence

Sumner Thurman Bernstein (1924 - 2002) grew up in Portland, Maine, the son of lawyer parents. He served in the South Pacific in the U.S. Army during World War II (achieving the rank of Captain) and attended Harvard University for his undergraduate education and for law school. He returned to Portland after marrying Rosalyne Spindel in 1949, to join his father and uncle’s law practice, which he helped to grow into Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer and Nelson in 1964. He was very engaged with the community, participating in the following organizations, among others, often serving as president or chair of these groups for a portion of his tenure: Portland City Council (1955-1961); Portland School Committee (1955-58); Portland Housing Authority; Downtown Portland Corporation; Maine State Bar Association; Maine Bar Foundation; Jewish Federation of Southern Maine; Temple Beth El; Maine Jewish Council; Jewish Community Center; National Council of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee; Pine Tree Council of the Boy Scouts of America; Portland YMCA; Maine Medical Center; Portland Public Library; and World Affairs Council of Maine. He also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Maine School of Law from 1993-98 and was a member of their Board of Visitors, and he was an instructor at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of the University of Southern Maine. The Papers document his civic work and personal life. They include correspondence, newspaper clippings, and text of his speeches and talks. Of particular value are 25 folders of family correspondence dating from 1940 to 1945, which include letters covering Bernstein’s military training and World War II service. Other records and reminiscences of his army service and Harvard education are present, as well. The Papers also include materials related to his final illness and death, including letters of sympathy and condolence, information about contributions made in his honor, obituaries, eulogies, and other tributes, and videos/cassettes of memorial services and other celebrations of his life. The Papers also include two albums – one documenting the 85-year history of Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer, and Nelson and the other a collection of notes and photos compiled for The Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine’s Evening to Honor Sumner and Rosalyne Bernstein (May 15, 2000).

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08/18/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding Churchill's electoral defeat; Russia; the atomic bomb; Japanese surrender; education; the "Buck Report".
08/16/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding news from home; United Nations.
08/15/1945 B

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding British elections; American politics.
08/14/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding European politics; British elections; Hunt-Crumbock Supreme Court case; responses to news from home; communism.
08/12/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding Japanese surrender; responses to news from home.
08/10/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding Japanese surrender; end of the war; responses to news from home.
08/09/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding bombing of Nagasaki; World Zionist Conference in London; communism; British elections; Japan; religious revivalism; American political polarization; responses to news from home.
08/01/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding The Fountainhead; postwar European politics.
08/08/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding atomic bomb; Russia; "For Whom the Bell Tolls"; British elections; American isolationism.
08/08/1945 B

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding bombing of Hiroshima; international politics; American policy toward Spain.
08/13/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding Japanese surrender; Margaret Chase Smith opinion column; American politics.
08/15/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding end of war; Truman Administration; and general thoughts about a postwar world.

(Handwritten)
08/19/1945 B

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding the end of the war; a return to civilian life; Middle East politics; Jewish identity; current affairs in America; the atomic bomb.
08/07/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding Lerner series on Japan; American position on Russia.
08/06/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding Antisemitism; rise of communism; democracy; news from home; postwar politics.
08/05/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding communication with school Veterans Counselor; correspondence.

[fragment]
08/04/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding position of Jewish people in American society; "The Clock" movie; Fulbright article on peace; politics in the Balkans.
08/03/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding mental state of returning veterans; Commander article on the presidency; Lerner article on Japan; Stark article on postwar American politics; Indian politics.
08/02/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding correspondence; role of religion in postwar world; Judaism in Maine; Partition of India.
07/31/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding workplace news.
07/30/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding correspondence received from others; apologies for state of typewriter ribbon and legal sized paper; workplace annoyances; update on reading (Joyce's Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man)
07/29/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding correspondence from friends and (other) family; zionism.
07/28/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding letters from friends and (other) family. Displeasure over "Bring on the Girls" film.
07/27/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter to family from Sumner T. Bernstein regarding British politics.
07/26/1945

Sumner T. Bernstein

Letter from Sumner T. Bernstein to family regarding family correspondence, an evening out with "Major Mghee", and further complaints about volleyball.