THE years that have elapsed since this project was begun have left their deposit in the form of countless debts of gratitude to numerous teachers, co-workers, and friends; and the accumulation is great enough for anything approaching verbal repayment to add a chapter to this book.

I was attracted to Isaac Mayer Wise by the contrast between Wise's personality and the pioneer field in which he worked and the traditionbound situations which the writer had assumed to be universal, and I recall with gratitude the encouragement given me by the late Samuel Sandmel, provost of Hebrew Union College, to take a fellowship in order to study the subject in detail. At Hebrew Union College I came under the guidance of Jacob Rader Marcus, who, in establishing the American Jewish Archives on the Cincinnati campus of the college, had provided the student of anything bearing on American Jewish history with unrivalled documentary material, but whose kindness to his disciples extends far beyond. anything that can be expressed in documents-a spirit which he has transmitted to his staff, particularly Stanley Chyet, Abraham Peck, and Fannie Zelcer. Through my connection with the American Jewish Archives, I have benefited from the generous interest of Wise's granddaughter, the late Mrs Arthur Hays Sulzberger. I record also the help of the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation and the ‘Three G's’ Family Foundation.

The inclusion of this volume in the Littman Library is due to the kindness of my friend, the late Louis Littman. His untimely passing is mourned not only by a wide circle of friends but by all who are concerned for the development of Jewish scholarship in England. On behalf of the Library, the late Vivian Lipman, CVO, gave considerable time and thought to the shaping of the manuscript; and it has had the benefit of a number of suggestions from Jonathan Sarna, formerly of Hebrew Union College, now at Brandeis University.

The appearance of this volume indicates the view that there was room for another biography of the Isaac Mayer Wise. At the same time I must pay tribute to my predecessors in the field, on whose work I have drawn extensively.