is one of the Library’s Special Collections
Hungarian-born Bela Kornitzer (1910-1964) achieved prominence as a journalist and author of several highly acclaimed political biographies. Kornitzer arrived in the United States in 1947, learned English largely from going to the movies, and almost immediately began to write a series of magazine articles, based on interviews with leading public figures, that would launch his career as an American political biographer.
Kornitzer sought out and interviewed the most prominent men of the time in politics, science, religion, and the arts. Among these were Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, Douglas MacArthur, Billy Graham, Richard Cardinal Cushing, Sam Rayburn, Robert Frost, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Cecil B. DeMille, Felix Frankfurter, J. Edgar Hoover, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Ralph Bunche, Norman Cousins, and Walter Annenberg. Kornitzer’s numerous articles and books based on these interviews explore the dynamics of families, focusing specifically on the father-son relationship, and its role in molding the characters of some of the most distinguished men of the time.
In 1991, Bela Kornitzer’s sister, Mrs. Alicia Karpati, donated the archive of his work to the Drew University Library. The collection includes copies of Kornitzer’s articles and books, as well as correspondence, clippings, typescripts, photographs, and recordings of interviews. Mrs. Karpati has also created an endowment for the Bela Kornitzer Award, to honor her brother and to recognize his achievements as a journalist and author in Hungary and the United States.
Bela Kornitzer Book Awards
The Bela Kornitzer Award was established in 1992 by Alicia Karpati and her late husband, George Karpati, in honor of Bela Kornitzer, Mrs. Karpati’s brother. The Award recognizes the achievements in Hungary and in the United States of Hungarian-born journalist and author Bela Kornitzer (1910-1964). Recent non-fiction books published by Drew Faculty and Alumni are considered for the prize every two years. In 2003, the endowment was increased to provide for separate Faculty and Alumni awards. The award winners are traditionally announced at a Friends of the Library Gala or celebration. View the list of past recipients.
View the Finding Aid for the Bela Kornitzer Collection.
Search the Drew Library Catalog for books in the Bela Kornitzer Collection
See also the online exhibit: Bela Kornitzer’s Great American Heritage: A Journalist and Five Presidents