Portrait of Jacob Henry Schiff

Harrington Mann (1864–1937)

Photograph of painted portrait of Jacob Henry Schiff

1918

Jacob Henry Schiff (1847–1920) was a German-born financier and businessman, one of the most prominent figures in American philanthropy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A person of extraordinary wealth, generosity, energy, and principle, and a character with imposing charisma, Schiff made a significant impact on Jewish libraries in America. He dedicated much of his time and funds to thorough acquisitions, purchasing entire private collections from distinguished scholars so that he could donate them to libraries. He also funded curatorial positions to oversee his donated collections, thus ensuring that generations to come could access important Judaica holdings. 

This portrait by the Scottish painter Harrington Mann (1864–1937) was painted in New York in 1918. Schiff sat for it in 1917 on the occasion of his 70th birthday. For many years a copy of the original oil painting hung in the office of his granddaughter Dorothy Schiff (1903–1989), who was the owner and publisher of the New York Post for 37 years. Interestingly, the original painting was mentioned in several Jewish newspapers as having been stolen from the Montefiore Home for the Aged in 1919. This black-and-white photograph of the painting comes from Dorothy Schiff’s papers, which are held by the Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division.