Metadata: Lionel Wiener archives
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- Université Libre de Bruxelles, Precious Reserve
- Holding institution (official language):
- Université Libre de Bruxelles, Réserve Précieuse
- Postal address:
- Campus du Solbosch A (porte X), Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50 / Franklin Rooseveltlaan 50, 1000 Bruxelles
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)2 650 24 23
- Reference number:
- ArUnLibPR-Brussels-SO/AX.1241 Wiener
- Title:
- Lionel Wiener archives
- Title (official language):
- Archives Lionel Wiener
- Creator/accumulator:
- Wiener, Lionel
- Date(s):
- 1912/1934
- Language:
- French
- English
- Extent:
- 1 linear metre
- Scope and content:
- This fonds mainly contains archival material related to Lionel Wiener as a historian of theatre. The documents contain often unique information on theatres in Paris and London. We note a series of typed manuscripts concerning the history of theatre in Paris (7 volumes), a history of Paris theatres (3 volumes), an index of Parisian theatres, theatre programs, albums containing notes on theatre, handwritten manuscripts concerning theatres in London as well as histories of these theatres, documentation related to theatre and photos. We also find articles written by Lionel Wiener on theatre, plays written by Wiener (alias L. Renieu), photos, theatre programs and documentation concerning theatre in other countries.
- Archival history:
- The fonds was donated by the family of Lionel Wiener in the 1960s.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Lionel Edouard Wiener (1878-1940) came from a Jewish family of sculptors and engravers. He was the nephew of Samson Wiener, the liberal senator and councillor of king Leopold II; his father Edouard Wiener was a banker and company manager. Lionel Wiener was an engineer and professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles as well as a musician and writer. He graduated as an artillery lieutenant from the École royale militaire in 1904 before studying the operation of railways at the Université de Liège. He first married Sylvia Debleeh; C. Vranckx was his second wife. During the First World War Wiener found refuge in The Hague, where he directed the Société belge des Chemins de fer en Chine and also served as the president of the Conseil économique du Belgique. He lectured at the ULB from 1925, notably on the topic of railways in the colonies. Wiener was also a musician and composer (under the pseudonym Lionel Renieu). He assembled enormous collections of postcards (over 100,000, conserved in the Cabinet des Estampes of the Belgian Royal Library) and railway tickets (conserved in the Musée des Chemins de fer in Brussels). He was the author of many publications in fields as varied as operettas, theatre, railways and postcards. (A. Despy-Meyer, "Lionel Wiener", in Biographie Nationale, XXXVIII, col. 821-837 ; A. LACROIX, "Lionel Wiener", in Biographie coloniale belge, t. IV, 1955, col. 947-948; J.-P. Schreiber, "Lionel-Édouard Wiener", "Wiener, Jacob", in J.-P. Schreiber, Dictionnaire biographique des Juifs de Belgique. Figures du judaïsme belge, XIXe-XXe siècles, Bruxelles, De Boeck, 2002, pp. 358-361.)
- Access points: persons/families:
- Wiener, Lionel
- Finding aids:
- The fonds is ordered, but not described in an inventory.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
