Roderick Seidenberg and Mabel Dwight Papers

Roderick Seidenberg (b.1889 - d.1973) was born on October 20, 1889 in Heidelberg, Germany. He studied architecture for four years between 1906 and 1910. As a U.S. citizen during WWI, his status as a conscientious objector led to interment at Camp Upton in Long Island and Fts. Riley and Leavenworth in Kansas from 1918-1920.

Prior to his interment, he was introduced by his friend Carl Zigrosser to Mabel Williamson Higgens. After her separation from estranged husband Eugene Higgens, Mabel moved into Seidenberg’s apartment. After his release from interment, the couple lived together in Greenwich Village. Though she never married Seidenberg, she was divorced from Higgens and took the name Mabel Dwight at this time. Dwight spent a year in Paris studying with lithographic printers from 1926-1927 and returned to became one of America’s leading lithographic artists.

Seidenberg’s contribution to the literary world began with articles to various magazines, including the original Freeman and the New Freeman that followed it. He also contributed to the Mercury under H.L. Mencken, The Nation and The New Republic. His architectural career included work in a number of New York offices. He was responsible for the exterior of the Hotel New Yorker and the Garment Center Tower in New York.