By Anne Levin
Town Topics, September 30, 2026
Click here to read the article on the Town Topics website.
Leading a nature hike for the Historical Society of Princeton (HSP) two years ago, HSP Museum Educator Cindy Srnka recognized a participant from a previous walk. They got to talking. Soon after, Srnka got an email from the man, saying he happened to have some things related to Albert Einstein that the HSP might be interested in seeing.
The man was Princeton resident James (Jamie) Schnitzer, whose great Aunt Helen was Helen Dukas, the famed physicist’s secretary and biographer. The “things” he mentioned turned out to be letters, photographs, documents, ephemera, and some rare films. They form the basis of “Threads Across Time: A Family Story Connecting Helen Dukas, Margot and Albert Einstein with a Local Princeton Family,” a presentation taking place on Thursday, October 8, at 6:30 p.m. at the HSP’s Updike Farmstead headquarters, 354 Quaker Road. (CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS)
The program has been over a year in the making. Schnitzer’s private collection, never shared publicly before, gives a rare glimpse into the lives not only of Einstein but of Dukas, Einstein’s wife Elsa, and his stepdaughter Margot. Schnitzer’s family’s relationship goes back to Germany, where their histories first converged, and continues through escape from Nazi persecution and refuge in the United States. His mother, father, maternal grandparents, and other relatives all made it out.
“We have things like a 1938 photo album from Jamie’s mother titled ‘My First Summer.’ There are two films — one of Jamie’s father painting with Einstein on the back porch of his house on Mercer Street, and the other of his mother and the rest of the family in the back yard,” said Snrka. “His father is holding Einstein’s dog. It shows a different side of Einstein that most people have never seen before.”
Schnitzer, who is 70, was a year old when Einstein died. But there is a photo of him as a baby on the steps of Einstein’s Mercer Street home, where Helen Dukas and Margot Einstein lived until they died in the 1980s. He and his family, who lived in Riverdale, N.Y., visited them often.
Schnitzer, who is 70, was a year old when Einstein died. But there is a photo of him as a baby on the steps of Einstein’s Mercer Street home, where Helen Dukas and Margot Einstein lived until they died in the 1980s. He and his family, who lived in Riverdale, N.Y., visited them often.
“The well runs deep with this stuff,” he said. “My family would take trips to Princeton a few times a year, to Aunt Helen’s house. Margot was there, and we’d hang out. Helen took us to the Institute [for Advanced Study] to show us his Nobel Prize. When you’re a teenager, though, you’re not thinking so much about it.”
Schnitzer’s mother died a decade ago. After he moved to Spring Street over a year ago, he started realizing what was in her collection of memorabilia.
“I didn’t really know what a treasure trove she had put away over many, many decades,” he said. “I saw that there is a lot of stuff — a lot. After I went on the walking tours with Cindy, I threw out there a little cavalierly that, you know, I had slept in Einstein’s house. A week later I said to her, maybe we could do something together.”
They began collaborating last January. “What we’re showing is a very small part of what Jamie actually has,” said Srnka. “It was very hard to decide what he wanted to include. It’s his family’s story. He was a little hesitant. I thought it would be a great story to bring to life. We went back and forth, and we’re still going back and forth.”
Schnitzer has been impressed with Srnka’s organization of the program. “She’s like a sleuth,” he said. “She’s an investigator. She took it to a different level. All these things came up because of how she approached this. In a way it was really fascinating. All this stuff that came out of the woodwork never would have happened. I was just considering donating some stuff to the Historical Society, but it has gelled into this. I’m happy that it’s coming to light.”
Tickets are $10. Visit princetonhistory.org for more information.
