The last will and testament of Rebecca Gratz, leading personality of one of America’s great Jewish families and original of the heroine of Sir Walter Scott’s “Ivanhoe,” which was stolen from a collection housed in Philadelphia City Hall, has been recovered, it was learned today.
The theft was unknown until an advertisement appeared in a New York newspaper offering the will for sale. The offer was made by a well-known collector. Edwin Wolf, 2nd, historian of Philadelphia Jewry and himself member of a famous Philadelphia family, saw the advertisement and notified the American Philosophical Association and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Officials of the two groups asked city action. A police intelligence unit recovered the will.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
