Javitz, Romana

Romana Javitz was born in Russia in 1903. She immigrated with her parents, Elias and Malvine, to the United States in 1906. The family settled in New York City, where her mother worked as a hat milliner, and her father as an importer of fine and rare woods.

While studying painting at the Art Student's League, Javitz began working part-time at the New York Public Library. She worked first in the Children's Room (1919) and later in the Picture Collection (1924). During 1925-1926, Javitz traveled throughout Europe to study the organization and content of documentary pictorial collections. Upon her return to the United States, Javitz resumed work at the NYPL Picture Collection. In 1929 the first chief of this department, Ellen Perkins, retired, and Javitz was appointed her successor.

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