Besso, Henry V.

Henry Victor Besso, scholar in the field of Sephardic Studies, writer, teacher, lecturer, and bibliographer, was born in Thessalonikē, Greece in 1905.

In 1920, after the death of both of his parents, Henry and his brother came to the United States and settled in New York. He earned a BA from the City College of New York in 1931, and an MA from the Graduate School of Columbia University in 1934.

From January 1933 to May 1941, Besso worked in various capacities for the Board of Education of New York City .

In May 1941, he began working for the Works Projects Administration (WPA) in Washington, D.C. As part of his professional duties, Besso prepared, in a collaboration with Solomon Lipp, Conversational Spanish for the Army Air Forces of the United States which was published in 1941 by Hastings House, New York. Later Besso began his long-term association with Voice of America as a research analyst and speechwriter. During WWII, he worked for a number of federal agencies in Washington, D.C.

While working as a Librarian and General Editor with the Library of Congress (Hispanic Division) in the late 1940s, Besso was in charge of the preparation of 16 Bibliographical Guides to the Official Publications of the Latin American Republics, which were published in 1947 and 1948. During his tenure at the Library of Congress, Henry Besso began working on a bibliography of Judeo-Spanish, also known as Ladino, books at the Library of Congress . The work, entitled Ladino Books in the Library of Congress, a Bibliography, was published in 1963. It consists of 289 Ladino titles found at the Library of Congress, and is still one of the most authoritative listings of Ladino literature (Box 11 and Box 50) . Among Besso's other works in this field are: Dramatic Literature of the Sephardim of Amsterdam, Holland, in the 17th and 18th Centuries ; Bibliografia de Maimonides, a list of more than 2000 titles about the work, studies and translations of works by and about Moses Maimonides; Bibliography of Sephardic Proverbs ; Don Ramon Menendez Pidal and the Romancero Sefardi, etc.

Henry Besso was associated with the field of teaching and academia for many years. He taught and gave lectures at a number of universities in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. In 1964 Besso lectured and presented his Bibliografia de Maimonides in Cordoba, Spain on the occasion of a celebration in honor of Moses Maimonides. Henry Besso attended a number of international congresses in many countries around the globe, notably in 1960, when he was the first Sephardi Delegate to attend the Tercer Congress of Spanish language Academies .

Besso wrote extensively on Spanish and Judeo-Spanish history, culture, literature and linguistics and made a name for himself in academic circles in this field. One of the most notable of his works in this area is Sephardic Jews in Spain From the Time of Their Settlement Until Their Expulsion . Later in his years, appreciation of his academic work earned him recognition by Instituto Arias Montano in Madrid, Spain; Hispanic Institute of Columbia University in New York, United States as well as a number of other scholarly honors.

In addition, Besso wrote extensively on topics related to Spanish and French literature and linguistics. Of special interest are Two Hundred and Seventy Five Spanish Proverbs and Proverbial Expressions Compiled, Arranged and Translated into English Together with an Introduction, and French Proverbs and Proverbial Expressions, Arranged, Selected and Translated into English with an Introduction and Notes .

Furthermore, Henry Besso contributed to a large number of scholarly journals and magazines in Columbia, Spain, France, the United States and other countries.

In addition to the fields of academic and Sephardic studies, Besso was active in the communal life of Sephardic Jews. He was involved with the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America and helped establish the Brotherhood Scholarship Fund. He also served as Executive Director of the American Branch of the World Sephardi Federation . In 1967, he helped to found the American Society of Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva University in New York.

In 1976, Henry Besso was honored by the Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture, which published Tract XI, dedicated to Henry Besso. The work, entitled Study of the Meaning of Ladino, Judezmo and the Spanish-Jewish Dialect includes a comprehensive bibliography of Besso's writings as well as reprints of many of his articles.

In the late 1970s, Besso retired and moved to Florida but still kept close contact with scholars, students, and communal leaders of Sephardic communities as well as with those interested in Sephardic culture. Henry Besso died at the age of 87 in 1993 in Florida, United States.

From the guide to the Henry Victor Besso Collection, 1905-1992, bulk 1940-1976, (American Sephardi Federation)