Loeb Websites

Welcome to the various websites created and supported by

Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr.

AMBASSADOR JOHN L. LOEB JR.

Reflections, Memories, and Confessions

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By his own admission, John L. Loeb Jr. was “born with two silver spoons in my mouth.” Descended from the founders of two major Wall Street firms—Lehman Brothers and Loeb, Rhoades—this former US Ambassador to Denmark weaves his fascinating, sometimes poignant personal story with an insider’s perspective on diplomacy, the environment, and the social life of New York’s elite from the nineteenth century to the present.

PUBLICATIONS

Below are nine books that John has sponsored. Each is obtainable through online booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Better World Books, ABE Books, and other retailers.

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In his memoir, John reflected, “When I write a check to support a book’s publication, I remind myself that seeing a book into print means more to me than [owning] any yacht ever could. This is particularly true if the book is related to any of my three passionate pursuits: American Jewish history, genealogy, and Danish art.” Love of books runs in the family: John’s brother Arthur is the former owner of the Madison Avenue Bookshop in Manhattan, which closed in 2002 to the disappointment of its devoted customers.

Loeb Danish Art Collection

A complete database of annotated images and information about, Ambassador Loeb’s world-renowned collection of Danish Art

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During his tenure as United States ambassador to Denmark from 1981 to 1983, John L. Loeb, Jr. became a passionate collector of Danish art, acquiring what is thought to be the largest private collection of Danish art in the world. Comprised primarily of 18th, 19th and early 20th-century paintings along with a few contemporary works, the Loeb collection contains a representation of art from the “Danish Golden Age” (1820-1850), to “The Modern Breakthrough” dating from the 1880’s.

Loeb Jewish Portraits

An annotated database of images of more than 400 portraits, silhouettes, and daguerreotypes of American Jews created before the end of the Civil War

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The Loeb Portrait Database of American Jewish Portraits includes more than 500 known images of American Jews (paintings, silhouettes, and photographs) created prior to 1865. Each image entry contains (where information is available), the subject’s name, birth and death dates, artist name and dates, date of the image, its medium and dimensions, and the holding repository. Of additional value are the biographies that accompany each portrait, and a rich array of related reading for additional research.

Loeb Visitors Center at the Touro Synagogue National Historic Site in Newport, RI

The website of Loeb Visitors Center, educational gateway to the Touro Synagogue National Historic Site in Newport, Rhode Island. The site includes a virtual tour of the Center, constructed by GWIRF in 2009.

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Constructed in 2009, the Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. Visitors Center is both the gateway to tours of Touro Synagogue, America's oldest synagogue building (dedicated in 1763) and the home to several exhibitions and displays that illustrate the development of religious freedom as an American ideal from Roger Williams’ founding of Rhode Island as a haven for religious minorities, to George Washington’s 1790 Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport pledging religious freedom for all, to Newport’s Jewish resident Emma Lazarus, whose sonnet, The New Colossus, adorns the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom

The website of the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom, a civic education organization founded by Ambassador Loeb inspired by George Washington’s 1790 Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, RI guaranteeing freedom of belief to every American.

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After building the Loeb Visitors Center, Ambassador Loeb realized that his efforts to promote religious freedom and separation of church and state were hardly finished. With this experience in hand, in 2009 he founded the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom as a public, non-profit organization whose mission would be two-fold: to operate and maintain the Loeb Visitors Center and, secondly, to inform students, teachers, and other citizens about the vital message contained in Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation.

FOUR VIRTUAL SYNAGOGUE TOURS

Links to narrated virtual tours of four historic Sephardic Jewish synagogues:
- Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI
- Bevis Marks in London, England.
- Shearith Israel in New York City

Portuguese Synagogue
Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 1675

Virtual Tour

Touro Synagogue
Newport, Rhode Island, United States - 1763

Virtual Tour

Bevis Marks Synagogue
London, England - 1701

Virtual Tour

Shearith Israel Synagogue
New York, NY, United States - 1897

Virtual Tour