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The History of Harry Rosenfeld Handbags
Rosenfeld handbags are highly desirable and very collectible, yet not much information is out there about the company's founder. So, once again, your intrepid curator at The Vintage Purse Museum decided to take a plunge into a vast amount of online documentation.
At first it was quite daunting, as there were seemingly countless Harry Rosenfelds to rule out. (Harry Rosenfeld of handbag fame is also often confused with apparel maker Henry Rosenfeld. We do not know if they were related. We do know that he was not related to 1970s-1990s handbag designer Mary Ann Rosenfeld, as we spoke with her over the phone several years ago and she confirmed this.)
We were quite sure we'd found the Harry Rosenfeld, as there was a gentleman with this name born in 1901, died in 1975, and whose US naturalization documents listed him as a “pocket book maker.” We then proceeded to compile more information about this Harry, only to happen upon a snippet of a paragraph that proved it wasn't him.
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| Rosenfeld coral-colored straw clutch, made in Italy, 1960s. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
Admittedly, this caused some frustration, but also relief, as we always strive for accuracy when writing handbag histories. Then we felt sadness. That's because the evidence we found was a 1942 leather industry publication, which announced that handbag maker Harry Rosenfeld had died at the young age of 42. Further research indicates his passing was due to a “heart ailment.” His short life may explain why there is so little to be found about the man behind a prestigious label that appeared in handbags from the 1930s until the 1980s.
What follows is much of what we learned about Harry Rosenfeld, using resources including a newspaper archive, genealogy website, and trade publications. Our attempts to reach out to those who may have known him or his first wife and only child were unsuccessful.
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| 1960s clear vinyl-covered Rosenfeld bag with museum gallery scene. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
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| Closeup of scene on bag above. |
Harry Rosenfeld was born in Canada in 1900 to Joseph Rosenfeld (1865-?) and Elizabeth "Lizzie" Aronson Rosenfeld (1871-?). While some documents refer to him as Harry Joseph Rosenfeld, we believe he may have added his father's name to his own to distinguish himself from other Harry Rosenfelds. The reason for our theory is that observant Jews traditionally do not name their children after living relatives, nor did they customarily give children middle names in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Harry had three older siblings, Emil, Edward, and Freda. In the 1910 US Census, the four children were living in Philadelphia with their father and maternal grandmother. At that time, patriarch Joseph Rosenfeld was listed as widowed, and his job was "caterer."
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| 1950s Rosenfeld evening bag with embroidered flower and painted enameled frame. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
Harry Rosenfeld's WWI draft registration card says that he was working as a buyer for J.T. Leonard (James T. Leonard & Co., dry goods proprietor, est. 1914) on 353 4th Ave., and that his brother Emil Rosenfeld was his nearest relative. Emil, a US Marine Corps sergeant during WWI, contracted influenza in 1918 at age 24 while on a ship in France, and later died of pneumonia. This coincides with the Spanish flu outbreak, during which France was a major epicenter.
In 1920, the three surviving adult children were living with their mother Elizabeth in The Bronx. She told the 1920 census-taker that she was widowed. This conflicts with their father being listed as a widower in 1910. (We're not sure what was going on here, but families are complicated!) According to the 1920 US Census, Harry was a buyer for a "purchasing agency."
In 1926, Harry Rosenfeld married Jeanne Valentine (1905-?). His occupation on their marriage license is "salesman." Harry and Jeanne had one child, Marcia (1927-1964). The couple eventually divorced, and Harry married his second wife, Mildred (1897-?). (We think they may have married in 1938, but the documentation was not conclusive.)
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Another Rosenfeld vinyl-covered bag, 1960s. This style was often referred to in advertising as "under glass." From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.
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We found a 1930 reference to Harry Rosenfeld in Luggage and Handbag Modes, a trade publication. It says, "Harry Rosenfeld, who has been identified with the novelty handbag business for the past 15 years, is now associated with Stone & Gropper, Inc...." His position with the company is not clearly stated, but it appears that he was their East Coast sales rep. Again, because of the number of Harry Rosenfelds, including at least one other in the "pocketbook" industry, we can only assume that this was our Harry Rosenfeld. (Stone-Gropper Corp. was a New York handbag manufacturer that later moved to Turners Falls, Massachusetts, and appears to have ceased operations by 1941.)
In the 1942 New York Times article announcing his death, Harry was reported to have started in the handbag business in 1916. He would've been a teenager at this time, but many teens worked rather than attend school during the turn of the last century. This timeframe also corroborates the information in the 1930 reference above.
According to the US Patent and Trademark Office, the brand name Rosenfeld was first used in 1919. We believe this to be inaccurate. While we don't doubt that Harry was in the handbag business at age 19, the earliest advertisement we could find referencing Rosenfeld bags was a 1935 classified ad (pictured below) seeking "hand sewers" at Harry Rosenfeld, 130 Madison Ave. in New York City. Based on this and other ads, it is more than likely that the Harry Rosenfeld handbag company was established in the mid-1930s.
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| The Brooklyn Eagle, Sept. 11, 1935, clipped via subscription to Newspapers.com |
In 1937, the trade publication Printers Ink announced that Harry Rosenfeld, Inc. had hired Glicksman Advertising Company, Inc. to handle its publicity, including magazine and newspaper advertising.
Rosenfeld handbags had a fan logo, which appeared on labels or in the lining of many of the company's bags. However, there were a number of label and imprint variations over the years, with some saying "Rosenfeld Original" or "Rosenfeld"—with and without the fan logo—and others saying "Harry Rosenfeld" in a variety of fonts. Below is a 1937 trade publication advertisement—likely placed by Glicksman Advertising—explaining the fan logo and how it symbolizes Rosenfeld's "fine handbags."
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| Fashion Futures 1936-1937 advertisement, screenshot from Google, archived by the New York Public Library. |
In 1939, Harry Rosenfeld filed a trademark for his "Modern Sculpture" handbags. Trademark and patent filings, as well as additional business names attached to Rosenfeld handbags and other products would continue throughout the company's six decades in business.
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| Rosenfeld 1939 Modern Sculpture trademark from the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, screenshot from Google. |
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| One of Rosenfeld's "Modern Sculpture" handbags, with sketch of the Rosenfeld fan logo label. March 28, 1939, The Houston Chronicle, clipped via subscription to Newspapers.com. |
According to the 1940 US Census, Harry Rosenfeld was president of a handbag manufacturing company, and his wife Mildred Rosenfeld was a women's wear buyer at a department store. They lived at 20 Park Ave. in New York City. Prior to this location (according to ships' manifests documenting the couple's travel), their address was 1349 Lexington Ave., also known as "The Paulding" building (built in 1921).
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| The San Francisco Examiner, December 11, 1939. Clipped via subscription to Newspapers.com. |
A 1940 newspaper article credited Harry Rosenfeld with developing a "sensational handling technique" that made alligator bags "as soft as broadcloth." Based on the advertisements we found (too many to show here!), the company was clearly on its way up, even as the US was recovering from the Great Depression.
In these early years, Rosenfeld produced bags in a variety of fabrics and styles, including some that might be considered the Streamline Moderne aesthetic, priced at a higher than average range, and marketed to a sophisticated consumer.
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| 1940s silk evening pouch labeled Rosenfeld Original. Note the ruching and structure. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
When Harry died in 1942, his brief New York Times obituary said he was survived by his wife Mildred, daughter Marcia (from his first marriage), brother Edward, and sister Freda. Not relevant to the handbag industry, but interesting nonetheless, is that Freda’s daughter Betty Weir (1921-2015) was a well-known radio writer, and Betty’s ex-husband Samuel Alderson (1914-2005) was the inventor of the crash test dummy.
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According to the 1950 US Census, Mildred Rosenfeld, 53, was living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and working as an accessories buyer. We could not find evidence of her remarrying, or her date of death. "Mildred Rosenfeld" was also a somewhat common name, so, other than the 1950 Census listing, we don't know what happened to her after her husband's passing on July 20, 1942.
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| August 22, 1944, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, clipped via subscription to Newspapers.com. |
What we do know of the Rosenfeld handbag company's fate is that its second-in-command, Milton Graber, stepped into the position of president. From what we could discern through newspaper advertisements, advertorials, and trade publications, Milton Graber was the powerhouse behind the longevity of the Rosenfeld brand. We reached out to relatives of Milton Graber, but were unsuccessful, so the following is from our usual resources.
Milton S. Graber was born in 1906 to Samuel Graber and Rose Seigel Graber of Brooklyn, New York. He married Betty Platt in 1929. According to the 1930 US Census, Milton was a stockbroker. He and Betty, who was a teacher, lived with her parents. Given the stock market crash of 1929, it seems very likely that he was compelled to find another line of work.
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| 1960s-1970s Rosenfeld black raffia bag with gold trim, made in Italy. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
The genealogy archive shows that Milton's sister Mathilde "Tillie" Graber (1894-1954) was married to Isidore Rosenfeld (1890-1985). We were unable to determine if Isidore was related to Harry Rosenfeld, but if he were, it would make sense that this might be how Harry met Milton. If we find definitive proof of how Milton came to work at Harry Rosenfeld Inc., we will update this post.
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| December 20, 1953, the Houston Chronicle, clipped via Newspapers.com. |
Another Rosenfeld executive was Frank X. Hiltenbrand (1892-1988). He lived in New Jersey, and, according to the 1920 US Census, was a leatherworker at a "pocketbook company." It is unclear when he began working at Harry Rosenfeld, Inc., but in the 1940s and 1950s, Frank X. Hiltenbrand filed numerous patents for handbags and handbag ornamentations, including some with the assignee Harry Rosenfeld. The 1940 US Census lists him as co-owner of a handbag manufacturing company, unnamed, but presumably Rosenfeld.
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| 1950s-1960s black patent Rosenfeld evening clutch with brushed gold-tone hinged frame, inset glass cameos, and rhinestones. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
Frank worked at Harry Rosenfeld, Inc. as late as 1963, which was the date of a business directory listing that said he was the company's vice president, while Milton S. Graber was president, and Milton's wife, Betty P. Graber, was secretary. Per additional documentation, it appears that Frank X. Hiltenbrand left the company by 1966. We reached out to Frank's relatives for information, but were unable to connect.
Milton Graber also filed numerous patents on behalf of the Rosenfeld company, notably, in 1958, for the coveted Rosenfeld pocket watch bag, as well as those with a heraldic motif (see our bag below), and metal handbag ornaments that say "penny wise and pound foolish." Interestingly, we have a leather bag with this British idiom, in metal, over its front pockets. The bag came from the Helen Liebert Savoy Hilton boutique and only has her label, and no manufacturer name. (We're very tempted to remove the label to see if the Rosenfeld imprint is under it!)
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| Milton Graber's 1958 patents, screenshot from Google Patents. |
Milton found himself in a bit of trouble in 1948 when the French government took issue with him traveling to France to obtain a specific kind of ornamentation to be used on Rosenfeld bags. It was alleged that he'd caused "an international incident" by purchasing French military medals for use on Rosenfeld's "French Colonial Citation" handbags (retail price $50). This acquisition of materials was, according to the French ambassador, in violation of the law, which was referred to as "the international convention for the protection of industrial property." The US State Department concluded there was no such violation, and Harry Rosenfeld Inc. was let off the hook, plus given some free publicity.
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| Ad for Rosenfeld Florentine "coat of arms" bags to match Herbert Levine shoes. The Kansas City Times, August 19, 1952, clipped via Newspapers.com. |
In 1953 it was announced in various newspapers that Harry Rosenfeld's handbag firm was "setting up a museum of its unusual handbags and has sent out call for particular models made between 1935 and 1945." The article said that if one's old handbag was accepted for the museum, then the sender would receive a "brand-new '53 handbag." We don't know if this museum ever came to be. If we find proof of its existence, we will update this post. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art has at least ten Rosenfeld bags in its collection, including some that were donated by Milton S. Graber in 1954.)
Like a number of other US handbag manufacturers, Harry Rosenfeld Inc. imported a good portion of its handbags from Europe. In 1953, Milton Graber created a division of Rosenfeld called Boutique Originals. One trade publication headlined the announcement of Boutique Originals as "Snails vs. Escargot," and offered Milton's explanation that US consumers were willing to pay more for merchandise imported from France, which was then sold in specialty boutiques within stores. We don't know how long Boutique Originals was used for Rosenfeld products as we found no further information about it.
What Milton Graber said about people gladly paying more for a French import was a bit bold, but absolutely correct. Bags made in France and Italy carried—and still carry—a certain cachet. This salesmanship by Milton Graber is an example of how he stayed in the forefront during his years at Rosenfeld, always promoting the brand, creating new items and optimizing trends. As you can see by the bags from our collection, the array of Rosenfeld styles is seemingly endless.
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| 1970s Rosenfeld shoulder bag with gold links and white plastic discs, made in Italy. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
Milton also established Rosenfeld Imports, a separate entity, in 1953. This was particularly prescient, as fifteen years later, many handbag companies were forced to import bags (primarily from Asia) because it was less costly than continuing to make them at US factories. However, instead of becoming importers, some handbag manufacturers ended up going out of business by 1970. This was largely due to the so-called "Kennedy Round" of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
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| 1970s white patent Rosenfeld trunk bag, made in Italy. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
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| April 20, 1975, The Kansas City Star. Clipped via subscription to Newspapers.com. |
In the 1960s and 1970s, Harry Rosenfeld expanded to include jewelry, belts, and handbag accessories, as well as novelty items such as trinket boxes and lighters. (There are other makers of jewelry with the name Rosenfeld that are not Harry Rosenfeld, which may lead to some confusion.)
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| Rosenfeld bags and belts. May 14, 1972, The Florida Times-Union, clipped via Newspapers.com. |
There was also a collaboration with jewelry maker Florenza. A number of vintage costume jewelry websites mention the "Rosenfeld by Florenza" brand, but we could find no historic documentation showing how this deal occurred. Some sites say that Rosenfeld was already buying ornamentation for its bags from Florenza, which seems very likely.
We found a Rosenfeld/Florenza necklace for sale online that exactly matches the tasseled ornament on our Rosenfeld bag pictured directly below. We're not showing the necklace as it is not ours, but it appears to have been cast from the same mold as the piece on our bag.
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Vibrant velvet Rosenfeld handbag, with two pouches and facile frame openings, 1960s-1970s. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.
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Jewelry designer and manufacturer Kenneth Jay Lane (1932-2017) collaborated with Rosenfeld on a line of handbags. We found a January 1970 Womens Wear Daily article (reprinted in The Chicago Tribune) profiling Kenneth Jay Lane, which said that, in addition to his eponymous jewelry business, he designed bags for Rosenfeld, scarves for Glentex, sunglasses for Tropical, pearls for Laguna, watches for Sheffield, cufflinks for Swank, and wigs for Dorian.
Diversification was key to survival for many businesses in the 1960s and 1970s. That said, there are handbag-related accessories and other items stamped "Rosenfeld" that we cannot confirm were made or imported by the Harry Rosenfeld company, as they could be products of a different entity using the same surname.
Below is one of our Rosenfeld accessories, a sewing kit/manicure set, made in West Germany. We have not yet verified that this was a product of Harry Rosenfeld Inc. or Rosenfeld Imports.
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| Rosenfeld manicure set/sewing kit/clothing brush. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum. |
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| Interior of kit pictured above. |
Milton Graber passed away in 1976, which is the same year The Paristyle Group, Inc. (est. approx. 1934) registered the Rosenfeld trade name. It is unclear if he was still working for Rosenfeld up until his death, or if he'd already sold his interest in it.
The Hattie Carnegie Group was also under the umbrella of Paristyle, and we found a 1979 government document (about import statistics) that said that Hattie Carnegie Industries, Inc. had a "Harry Rosenfeld Division." The merging of companies that were once privately held is not surprising in general, but, when it comes to handbag makers, we're often fascinated when we unearth their corporate family trees.
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Faux-tortoise plastic clutch by Rosenfeld, 1960s-1970s, made in Italy. From the collection of The Vintage Purse Museum.
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In 1976, after the Paristyle acquisition, a trademark application was submitted for Harry Rosenfeld Corporation in the categories of eyeglasses, jewelry, leather goods, picture frames, and belts. Another document indicates that the Harry Rosenfeld trademark was last applied for in 1977, registered in 1982, and declared canceled by 1988.
The most recent newspaper advertisement we could find for Harry Rosenfeld handbags was from 1980. This does not mean they weren't still being sold into the 1980s, but it appears that the brand was not being as heavily marketed at that point, meaning it was likely dissolved in the early '80s.
What remains remarkable is that the handbag company established by a young, ambitious Harry Rosenfeld in the 1930s, carried on for forty years after his death. This feat was accomplished by the equally tenacious Milton Graber, who not only kept the Rosenfeld brand name, but continued to assure its commitment to quality and creativity.
This article c2026 by Wendy Dager/The Vintage Purse Museum. Resources used were MyHeritage.com and Newspapers.com, to which we have paid subscriptions, as well as the Internet Archive, FamilySearch.org, and Google. Please do not use photos or information from this article or any others on our website without requesting permission, vintagepursemuseum@gmail.com.
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