Transatlantic

Einstein’s work table will return to Berlin for exhibition

By: Christian Kirkpatrick
   Gail Stern will have a notable traveling companion on her upcoming trip to Berlin. Accompanying the director of the Historical Society of Princeton will be a farm table once owned by Albert Einstein.
   The Max Planck Institute in Berlin is borrowing the table for a celebration to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Einstein’s death and the 100th anniversary of his "Annus Mirabilis" ("Miracle Year"), during which his Theory of Relativity, Theory of Brownian Motion and Theory of the Photoelectric Effect were published.
   Einstein worked at the table both in Berlin and Princeton. He may have written his epochal papers while seated at it.
   In 1933, as Germany was becoming increasingly dangerous, Einstein left Berlin for the United States. Well-wishers in the German underground later smuggled out his furniture and sent it to him under a fictitious name. It was believed that Nazi custom officials would not have let the furniture leave the country if they had known it was Einstein’s.
   After the physicist’s death in 1955, his furniture went to his daughter, Margot. She, in turn, bequeathed it to the Institute for Advanced Study in the mid-’80s, where it remained until 2003, when the Institute gave 65 pieces of the collection to the Historical Society of Princeton.
   Ms. Stern says that the Historical Society is conserving the furniture, which needs expert cleaning and minor repairs, as it finds the funds. The New Jersey Historical Commission started the process with an $18,000 grant. The Max Planck Institute is continuing the work by paying to conserve the farm table.
   The Society is also beginning to research the history of Einstein’s furniture. While in Berlin, Ms. Stern hopes to learn of people whom she can ask for information. She knows that the square farm table was made in Switzerland during the 19th century. Constructed of walnut and elm, it has turned legs connected by stretchers.
   Einstein’s table is currently being conserved in Philadelphia, where Ms. Stern will travel Thursday to see it being crated for transport.
   Later that day, she and the table will both travel by truck to JFK International, where she will watch as it is put on the plane. Then she will fly with it to Berlin — although not in the hold, she hastens to add. Friday morning, Ms. Stern will check the table after it comes off the plane and is taken to the Max Planck Institute. Then she will have no further duties until May 12, when she will attend an opening reception for the exhibition.
   Needless to say, Ms. Stern plans to sightsee during her free time. She confesses that her German is limited to asking, "Where is the train station?" but she plans nonetheless to tour the Classical Museum, a castle outside of Berlin and the Holocaust Museum. The last, she mentions, was built by former Princeton resident W. Michael Blumenthal, secretary of the Treasury during the Carter administration.
   Ms. Stern is very excited about all this. She is happy to be going to Berlin to help celebrate Einstein’s "Miracle Year." Here at home, she was pleased to witness the recent unveiling of a bust of Einstein near the Battle of Princeton Monument. "It was so nice to see so many people celebrating that part of our history," she recalls.
   Inquiries about Einstein outnumber all others on the Historical Society’s Web site, Ms. Stern says. Many ask where his house is and whether it is open for tours. The answers are "112 Mercer St." and "no" (the house is a private residence). With the gift of Einstein’s furniture, the society can now offer people something to see — objects that Einstein lived with and used every day.
   Two of these pieces are currently on view at the Historical Society’s museum at Bainbridge House. The physicist’s music stand is in the permanent collection, and his tub chair is featured in the society’s current exhibition, "Princeton Recollects."
   Ms. Stern says that she chose to display the music stand because it offers insights into the range of Einstein’s values and interests, which included chamber music (playing the violin), bringing refugees from Nazi Germany to America, and the establishment of the State of Israel. She chose to display the tub chair because he was photographed in it often. Not only is it a familiar item to Einstein lovers, she figures he must have liked sitting in it.
   Two other pieces have been conserved but are not on display. They are a German neo-Baroque cabinet that is lavishly carved with faces and mythical beasts, and a chair that looks like a throne. The chair is a mystery. "Einstein was a fairly modest man," muses Ms. Stern, "I can’t figure out what he was doing with it."
   When the Society moves its administrative office to the Updike Farm on Quakerbridge Road, it will turn the entire upstairs level of Bainbridge House into museum space. Some of Einstein’s furniture will be on display there. Other pieces will be in a state-of-the-art facility at the farm.
   Einstein’s table will be at the Max Planck Institute for four months. Then someone will have to bring it back to Princeton, watching it each step of the way. Ms. Stern says she has not decided who will take the trip, but she has received some enthusiastic offers.
The Historical Society of Princeton is based in Bainbridge House, 158 Nassau St., Princeton Borough. On the Web: www.princetonhistory.org.