I was born in Cardiff, South Wales, UK.  My earliest recollection of my family’s home in Pencoed in the Welsh countryside was spending time at the window seat of my upstairs bedroom, reading books, a place where my mind could wander. That special place made an imprint on the rest of my life.

My father, Dr. Benjamin Samuel practiced medicine in the valleys of South Wales and mother, Lisa née Einstein Samuel assisted with patients while managing the family’s household.  In 1946 our family travelled to the United States, first visiting Albert Einstein in Princeton, New Jersey, then on to Colorado to my mother’s parents, Otto and Jenny Einstein.  That visit inspired their vision of a possible new life in America. California was the place they imagined. In early 1949 we moved to Los Angeles. Chapter twenty-one, “From Wales to America” in Out of Stuttgart: My Mother’s Journey describes life in Los Angeles and my culture shock when I entered school in California, so different from my first years of school in Wales.

There was never any pressure on me to study for a profession. My European educated parents stimulated my desire to question, explore, and follow my own interests. At home the richness of music, art, and literature moved me in the direction of the humanities. I received my Master in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, a Master of Art in Folklore and Mythology from UCLA, and a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. I am a former member of the Lifelong-Information-Literacy (LILI) group of academic librarians and a former member of the affiliated Diversity in Academic Libraries (DIAL) group.

“Out of Stuttgart: My Mother’s Journey” is based on the archive of photographs, correspondence, and related materials I inherited from my mother, Lisa Sofie (Einstein) Samuel.

Website design: Jennifer Essen

Kim Fox Photography

Photography Consultant: Edward Goldstein