Donation to Library from High School Alumnus Includes 19th-Century Deed for Land in Texas Purchased by Jewish Pioneer
A gift of rare Americana, recently donated to the by Dr. Ronald Rubin 鈥57YH and his wife, Miriam, includes a deed signed by the Governor of Texas, George T. Wood, granting a vast tract of land near Austin to Jacob de Cordova, a Jew born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1808 who became a Texan pioneer. De Cordova settled in the Republic of Texas in 1837 and by 1848 ran one of the largest land agencies in Texas, which had become a state in 1845.
鈥淛ews had a lot to do with developing America not only commercially but also in terms of marketing,鈥 said Rubin, a professor of political science at CUNY and a noted collector of antiquarian Americana. 鈥淒e Cordova had a lot to do with getting people to settle in Texas.鈥
The donation also includes four books dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, and 19 large bound volumes of newspapers from New York and New England, chiefly from the early 19th century. The collection is especially rich in newspapers documenting the War of 1812. A particularly rare document is the black-bordered issue of the New-York Spectator from July 18, 1804, with a detailed description of the funeral of Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the US Treasury.
Rubin is an alumnus of and three of his daughters鈥擬ishaela, Shulamit and Rena鈥攁re graduates of . 鈥淚 have a lot of pride in YU and identify strongly with its mission of Jewish tradition and Halacha [Jewish law], together with involvement in the modern world,鈥 said Rubin, who is the author of several books, including a biography of Fred Lebow, the founder of the NYC Marathon. 鈥淚 wanted to make sure YU鈥檚 library received these historic documents.鈥
