LIBRARY & MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
"Uncle Manuel & Me is a visual feast of people, places, celebrities, and adventures brought to life through the sketch artist's vivid pencil and voice, and his visual and artistic flair. His niece's careful curation opens this important work to curious minds, a treat for armchair travelers and serious students of history and the press alike."
-Cedric Rose, Librarian, The Mercantile Library of Cincinnati
Cedric Rose and John Faherty
Mercantile Library of Cincinnati
What began as a family discovery grew into a decade-long research project
In 2016, I discovered 300 original drawings by my great-uncle, Manuel Rosenberg, at Columbia University’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library. My original plan was simple: compile the drawings into a coffee-table book for the Rosenberg family. But something unexpected happened. Each drawing led me to the newspaper article where it first appeared. The articles led to stories, and the stories led to people, places, and layers of history I knew nothing about. My curiosity took over. What I thought would be a week in the archives turned into a ten-year adventure with Uncle Manuel.
The result is Uncle Manuel & Me, a three-volume, nearly 2,000-page archival research collection bringing together thousands of drawings, newspaper articles, photographs, manuscripts, and historical documents. I discovered that Manuel had a front-row seat to history, not only documenting the personalities and events of his time but sometimes becoming part of the story himself. Along the way, I found a kindred spirit whose artistic curiosity and adventurous life helped me better understand myself. Now preserved in nine libraries and museums, the collection offers a unique perspective on the early twentieth century for readers interested in art history, illustration, journalism, Jewish American history, theater, silent films, and travel during the 1920s.
Inside The Collection
Introduction
The first book traces Manuel Rosenberg’s remarkable life, from family mysteries and his early years in Cincinnati to his rise as a newspaper artist. Highlights include his 1917 Hollywood adventures, the celebrated Art Room exhibition, and the Artists’ Inn, known as the “Greenwich Village of Cincinnati.” His career expanded beyond the newsroom into publishing, teaching, and public speaking. He authored four books on art and later published Markets of America and The Advertiser.
The People He Met
This 600-page collection brings together Manuel Rosenberg’s remarkable portraits of the celebrated personalities of his day—kings, presidents, silent film stars, vaudeville performers, musicians, writers, and sports legends. Many signed their portraits, confirming that Manuel had sketched them in person while adding to the drawings’ lasting value.
Through original artwork, interviews, newspaper articles, and personal observations, the collection captures a fascinating cross-section of early twentieth-century life. A thematic index guides readers through Hollywood, theater, music, literature, politics, sports, and Jewish American culture. My contemporary photographs of Hollywood Walk of Fame stars add another connection between Manuel's world and my own.
The Places He Went
I fell in love with Manuel's travel stories. From his 1920s adventures across Europe to his 1929 trip to Soviet Russia, his witty observations, lively writing, and wonderful drawings brought distant places to life for his newspaper readers. He had a gift for arranging sketches, stories, and captions into entertaining illustrated pages, and the Cincinnati Post promoted his travels as his popularity grew. His drawings and dispatches from Soviet Russia offer a rare firsthand glimpse into a world unfamiliar to most Americans at the time.
This book brings together his original drawings, newspaper dispatches, photographs, and souvenirs alongside my own travel photography and stories. Separated by generations, we shared a curiosity about the world—Manuel captured his adventures with pencil and paper, while I captured mine through the lens of a camera.
Columbia University —
Rare Book & Manuscript Library
New York, NY
Home to approximately 300 original Manuel Rosenberg drawings, Columbia is where Anita rediscovered her great-uncle's artistic legacy in 2016. The three-volume research collection brings her discoveries back to the archive where the journey began.
Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library
Cincinnati, OH
In 1926, Manuel Rosenberg curated an exhibition at Cincinnati’s original downtown Public Library, featuring his artwork alongside drawings created and signed for him by prominent figures of the day. A century later, Uncle Manuel & Me brings his artistic legacy back to the library where he once exhibited.
Cincinnati, OH
Founded in 1835, the Mercantile Library was already a fixture of Cincinnati’s literary and cultural life during Manuel’s newspaper years. Its long tradition as a gathering place for writers, artists, and intellectuals makes it a fitting home for his artwork and stories.
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Housed in Cincinnati’s historic Union Terminal, the Cincinnati Museum Center preserves the city’s rich history. Manuel’s drawings and firsthand newspaper accounts offer a vivid glimpse into the people, cultural life, and events that shaped Cincinnati during his years at the Cincinnati Post.
American Jewish Archives – Klau Library
Cincinnati, OH
The American Jewish Archives published Anita Rosenberg’s account of her family’s arrival in Cincinnati in its archival journal. Uncle Manuel & Me expands on that family history, preserving the life and work of a Jewish American artist who captured the people and events of his time.
Cincinnati Art Museum —
Mary R. Schiff Library & Archives
Cincinnati, OH
As a teenager in 1911 and 1912, Manuel Rosenberg studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, then affiliated with the Cincinnati Art Museum. The museum’s archives still preserve his original student records and artwork, making the museum an especially meaningful home for Uncle Manuel & Me.
Many of the people Manuel Rosenberg sketched and wrote about were University of Cincinnati graduates. The university’s Archives & Rare Books Library now preserves Uncle Manuel & Me, connecting these notable alumni to the people, places, and cultural history of Cincinnati during Manuel’s lifetime.
Syracuse, NY
Syracuse University preserves Manuel Rosenberg’s original illustrated letters to T. C. O’Donnell, editor of Cartoons Magazine. Written in 1919 and 1920, these rare personal letters reveal Manuel’s humor, thoughts, and feelings in his own words. Uncle Manuel & Me places them within the larger story of his life.
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum preserves two original Manuel Rosenberg travel drawings from 1922. Manuel was part of the cartoonist community of his day and a friend of Milton Caniff, whose collection helped establish the library. Uncle Manuel & Me brings his artwork and newspaper career into this remarkable collection.