Nathan Straus (1848-1931) was a German-born New York City businessman and philanthropist. After making his fortune as a partner in the New York department stores Abraham and Straus and R.H. Macy and Co., Straus, with his wife Lina Gutherz Straus,...
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Nathan Straus (1848-1931) was a German-born New York City businessman and philanthropist. After making his fortune as a partner in the New York department stores Abraham and Straus and R.H. Macy and Co., Straus, with his wife Lina Gutherz Straus, turned to philanthropy. He advocated milk pasteurization to check the spread of tuberculosis, opening the Nathan Straus Pasteurized Milk Laboratory in New York in 1892; founded the Tuberculosis Preventorium for Children in New Jersey in 1909; supported Jewish colonization efforts in Palestine; and provided relief for the poor during economic and natural disasters. Straus served as Park Commissioner in New York City from 1889 to 1893, as president of the New York City Board of Health in 1898, and in 1894 refused the Democratic nomination for mayor. Collection consists of correspondence, writings, scrapbooks, photographs, and printed matter concerning Straus and his family. Topics include milk pasteurization, tuberculosis prevention, Zionism, public health, infant mortality, and relief for earthquake victims in Italy in 1909. Writings consist of manuscript, typescript and printed speeches and articles by Straus on milk pasteurization and tuberculosis. Scrapbooks contain letters, documents, photographs, and printed materials documenting Straus's political and business careers, his philanthropic activities, his interest in trotting horses, and family and personal matters including the deaths of his brother and sister-in-law, Isidor and Ida Straus, on the Titanic in 1912.
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