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Title
Leonard Gorelick Papers

Collection Number
UA 2138

OCLC Number
In-process

Creator 
Leonard Gorelick,1922-2011

Provenance 
Donated by Jamie S. Gorelick (daughter) in July 2009.

Extent,Scope, and Content Note 
The collection is comprised 5 linear inches of published articles authored and co-authored by Dr. Leonard Gorelick, an orthodontist who practiced in Great Neck, New York and was a professor of dentistry at Stony Brook University. Dr. Gorelick worked in collaboration with Dr. A. John Gwinnett, Associate Professor of Oral Biology and Pathology at Stony Brook University. 

Arrangement and Processing Note
The files are organized in chronological order by date of publication. The collection was processed in 2011 by Kristen J. Nyitray.
Updated in June 2019.

Language
English 

Restrictions on Access
The collection is open to researchers without restriction.

Rights and Permissions 
Stony Brook University Libraries' consent to access as the physical owner of the collection does not address copyright issues that may affect publication rights. It is the sole responsibility of the user of Special Collections and University Archives materials to investigate the copyright status of any given work and to seek and obtain permission where needed prior to publication.  

Citation 
[Item], [Box], Leonard Gorelick Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Stony Brook University Libraries.

Historical Note
Prepared by Jamie S. Gorelick, daughter of Dr. Leonard Gorelick.

Leonard Gorelick, D.D.S., combined a career in dentistry with a passion for science and art to make significant contributions in the study of technologies used to make ancient seals and other objects. Dr. Gorelick was born on February 20, 1922. He emigrated to the United States from Ukraine with his family as a very young child, settling in Brooklyn, New York, with his parents and his sister Beatrice.  Dr. Gorelick attended Tilden High School and was admitted to Brooklyn College in 1939.  He received his B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1942.  Dr. Gorelick served in the Navy at the end of World War II and again during the Korean War.  He attended New York University College of Dentistry, from which he received his D.D.S. in 1945.  He received a Postgraduate Certificate in Orthodontics in 1950, also from New York University.

Dr. Gorelick married Shirley Fishman on April 4, 1944, and they had two children,  Jamie Gorelick, born in 1950, and Steven Gorelick, born in 1954.  Shirley Gorelick was an artist – a painter, sculptor and teacher – and together they traveled widely pursuing their mutual interest in art and culture.  In the late 1960s, Dr. Gorelick bought his first ancient cylinder seal which began a life-long interest in these tiny carved stones.  Seals are beautiful artifacts that were used to confirm or ratify business exchanges from the Neolithic Age forward.  When stamped on clay, they tell a story or denote a person or thing.  Dr. Gorelick eventually built one of the world's best collections of seals, celebrated in a book called "The Mark of Ancient Man: Ancient Near Eastern Stamp Seals and Cylinder Seals:  The Gorelick Collection", accompanying a show of that name at The Brooklyn Museum, in Brooklyn, New York in 1975.  These seals are now part of the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum (and can be viewed through the "Images" section of its website).  "The Mark of Ancient Man" is in the Special Collections and University Archives at Stony Brook.

During his long career, Dr. Gorelick combined his interest in the scientific aspects of orthodonture with his love for and interest in ancient cylinder seals, in which he became quite expert.  The two interests came together as he explored ways of determining the authenticity, period and utilization of ancient seals using some of the emerging techniques of dental medicine, particularly electronmicroscopy.  Dr. Gorelick was often consulted by scholars in the field of archeology and was named to the Visiting Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Ancient Near East Department because of his work in this area.  He co-authored "Ancient Seals and the Bible" (Undena 1983), with noted scholar Elizabeth Williams-Forte tracing the history and use of ancient seals, as reflected in the Bible.

From early in his career, Dr. Gorelick combined his orthodontics practice with scientific pursuits relating to that field and others.  He edited the Journal of the Queens County Dental Society from 1962 to 1974 and was President of the Society from 1960 to 1961. He was the long-time editor of the Forum of the Long Island Jewish Hillside Medical Center, with which he was affiliated.  And in 1975, he became Associate Professor in the Department of Children's Dentistry (Orthodontics) at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine. It was at Stony Brook that he developed a deep collaboration with Professor John Gwinnett that lasted over twenty years and produced over forty-five scholarly papers and countless additional lectures.  

An article in the New York Times, on November 15, 1981, described their first decade of work:
"With an extraordinary scanning electron microscope and the ordinary silicone materials used to fashion dentures, two professors at the State University's Dental School here are shedding light on how ancient man transformed stones into works of art and instruments of commerce." As Dr. Gorelick explains in the article, in the course of working with the scanning electron microscope on teeth, he and Dr. Gwinnett:  "realized that since we could see so much about what different polishing instruments do to the surface and differentiate one form of polishing or instrument from another, we might adapt the procedure for other research."

Since Dr. Gorelick collected ancient cylinder seals, he and Dr. Gwinnett decided to study them.  They found that they could show markings that revealed the seal's "signature" and what kind of instrument had produced the original drilling and etching.  In 1977, the Metropolitan Museum of Art gave them a grant to study seal forgeries.  As Dr. Gorelick told a Stony Brook publication, "We're finding that an indelible imprint of the tool's action remains in the object, providing a basis for identification of the tool."  Their work shed light on the industries and lifestyles of ancient cultures. In 1977, they were the first dentists ever to be invited to address the American Institute of Archeology.  In 1980, Dr. Gorelick became the Conference Coordinator for the Archaeological Institute's North Shore Society. Over the 1980s and into the 1990s, this work expanded to include the study of drilled stone artifacts, drilled and finished glass, ancient Egyptian stone drilling, ancient lapidary, bead-making in Iran in the Bronze Age, as well as the role of artists with myopia in the creation of highly detailed work before there were eye-glasses, the history of drills and drilling, forgery determination techniques, and many other topics. 

Subjects
Sealing-wax.
Civilization, Ancient.
Egyptians.
Seals (Numismatics) -- Egypt.
Seals (Numismatics)
Egypt.

INVENTORY

Box 1

Bibliography
Biographical File
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Ancient seals and modern science. Expedition 20: 38-47, 1978.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Ancient lapidary: a study using scanning electron microscopy. Expedition 22: 17-32, 1979.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Close work without magnifying lenses? Expedition 23: 27-34, 1981.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. The origin and development of the ancient Near Eastern cylinder seal. Expedition, 23: 17-29, 1981.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Functional analysis of drilling using scanning electron microscopy. Annali 41: 327-335, 1981.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. An innovative method to investigate the technique of finishing an ancient glass artifact. J. Glass Studies 25: 249-256, 1983.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. An ancient repair on a cycladic statuette analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. J. Field. Archeol. 10: 37-38, 1983.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Ancient Egyptian stone drilling: an experimental perspective on a scholarly disagreement. Expedition 25: 40-47, 1983.
Gorelick, L. Ancient seals and the Bible. Undena Press. Malibu, Ca.: 1-6, 1983.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick. The change from stone drills to copper drills in bronze age Mesopotamia: an experimental perspective. Expedition 29: 15-24, 1987.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Further investigation of the method of manufacture of an ancient near eastern cast glass vessel. Iraq 68: 15-18, 1986.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Evidence for the use of a diamond drill for bead making in Sri Lanka c. 700-1000 A.D. SEMI: 473-477, 1986.
Gorelick, J. and Gwinnett, A.J. Life and death of the tooth worm theory or when I believe it, I will see it. N.Y. State Dent. J.53: 21-25, 1987.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. History of drills and drilling. N.Y. State Dent. J. 53: 35-39, 1987.
Rounded triangles: reconsidered archaematerials, 1990.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Experimental evidence for the use of a diamond drill in Sri Lanka, ca. A.D. 700-1000. Archaeomaterials 1: 149-152, 1987.
Heimpel, W., Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Philological and archaeological evidence for the use and importance of emery in the bronze age. J. Cuneiform Stud. 40: 195-210, 1988.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. A possible lapidary training piece from Arikamedu, India. Archaeromaterials 2: 187-193, 1988.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J.: "Collars" in holes of ancient near eastern cylinder seals. Archaeomaterials 36: 39-46, 1989.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Evidence for mass production polishing in ancient bead manufacture. Archaeoinaterials 3: 163-168, 1989.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. The ancient near eastern cylinder seal as social emblem and status symbol. J. Near East. Stud. 49: 45-56, 1990.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Innovative lapidary craft techniques in neolithic Jarmo. Archaeomaterials 4: 25-32, 1990.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Bead manufacture at Hajar ar-Rayhani, Yemen. Biblical Archaeologist 54: 187-196, 1991.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Technical mutations in drilling. Akkadica 74: 37-48, 1991.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Beads, scarabs and amulets: methods of manufacture in ancient. Egypt. J. An. Res. Cent. 30: 125-132, 1993.
Harper, P.O., Skjaervo, P.O., Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. A seal-amulet of the Sasarian era: imagery and typology, the inscription and technical comments. Bulletin Asia Institute, new series 6: 1992.
Gwinnett, A.J., Gorelick, L., Romano, J. The broken and repaired stone statuette of Pepy I: an ancient or modem repair? Bulletin Egyptian Seminar 2: 1991-1992.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Minoan versus Mesopotamia seals. Iraq LIV: 1992.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A. J. Evidence for technological improvements in ancient seal manufacture. PACT 23: 13, 1990-1993.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Forgery determination by functional analysis. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings 267: 1992.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Rates of drilling as an indicator of technological change in ancient lapidary. 1991 (unpublished). 
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A. J. An unusual group of iron seals from Luristan?: preliminary findings. N.D. 
Noveck, Madeline, and Leonard Gorelick. The Mark of Ancient Man: Ancient Near Eastern Stamp Seals and Cylinder Seals: the Gorelick Collection. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 1975. (separation note: cataloged for Archives)
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Diamonds from India to Rome and Beyond. American Journal of Archeology 92: 547-552, 1988.
Gorelick, L. Near eastern cyclinder seals studied with dental radiography. Dental Radiography and Photography 48 no. 1: 17-21, 1975.

Appendix: Bibliography
Note: an asterisk (*) denotes that this article was donated to Stony Brook University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives.

Gorelick, L. Near eastern cylinder seals studied with dental radiography. Dental Radiography and Photography 48 no. 1: 17-21, 1975.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Ancient seals and modern science. Expedition 20: 38-47, 1978. *
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Ancient lapidary: a study using scanning electron microscopy. Expedition 22: 17-32, 1979.* 
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Inlayed teeth of ancient Mayans: a tribologic study using the SEM. SEM, Inc. II: 575-580, 1979.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Functional analysis of drilling on ancient near eastern seals. SEM, Inc. I: 405-410, 1979.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. An ancient repair on a cycladic statuette analyzed using scanning electron-microscopy. American Journal of Archeology 85: 196, 1981. 
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Bead making in Iran in the early bronze age. Expedition 24: 10-23, 1981.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. A discussion of close work without magnifying lenses. Expedition 23: 15-16, 1981.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Close work without magnifying lenses? Expedition 23: 27-34, 1981.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. The origin and development of the ancient near eastern cylinder seal. Expedition 23: 17-29, 1981.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Functional analysis of drilling using scanning electron microscopy. Annali 41: 327-335, 1981.*
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Authenticity analysis of two stone statuettes in the Mildenberg  collection. M.A.S.C.A. 2: 88-90, 1982.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. An innovative method to investigate the technique of finishing an ancient glass artifact. J. Glass Studies 25: 249-256, 1983.* 
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. An ancient repair on a cycladic statuette analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. J. Field. Archeol. 10: 37-38, 1983.* 
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Ancient Egyptian stone drilling: an experimental perspective on a scholarly disagreement. Expedition 25: 40-47, 1983.* 
Gorelick, L. Ancient seals and the Bible. Undena Press. Malibu, CA: 1-6, 1983.*
Gwinnett,A.J. and Gorelick, L. Seal manufacture in the lands of the Bible. Undena Press, Malibu, CA: 44-49, 1983.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. The change from stone drills to copper drills in bronze age Mesopotamia: an experimental perspective. Expedition 29: 15-24, 1987.*
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Did the ancient Egyptians used fixed-cutting-points for drilling - a scholarly dispute resolved.American Journal of Archeology 87: 237, 1983.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. The sculpted coiffures of Flavian women, a functional-analysis using scanning electron-microscopy. American Journal of Archeology 90: 185, 1986.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Further authenticity analysis of statuettes similar to those in the Mildenberg collection. Archaeoinetry Proceedings, 24th Meeting: 63-72, 1986.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Further investigation of the method of manufacture of an ancient near eastern cast glass vessel. Iraq 68: 15-18, 1986.*
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Evidence for the use of a diamond drill for bead making in Sri Lanka c. 700-1000 A.D. SEMI: 473-477, 1986.*
Gorelick, J. and Gwinnett, A.J. The change from stone drills to copper drills in bronze age Mesopotamia. Expedition 29: 15-24, 1987.
Gorelick, J. and Gwinnett, A.J. Life and death of the tooth worm theory or when I believe it, I will see it. N.Y. State Dent. J.53: 21-25, 1987.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. History of drills and drilling. N.Y. State Dent. J. 53: 35-39, 1987.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. The sculpted coiffures of Flavian women: a functional analysis using scanning electron microscopy. Archaeometry 2:  39-46, 1987.
Rounded triangles: reconsidered archaematerials, 1990.*
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Experimental evidence for the use of a diamond drill in Sri Lanka, ca. A.D. 700-1000. Archaeomaterials 1: 149-152, 1987.* 
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Diamonds for drilling and engraving in the ancient world. American Journal of Archaeology92: 261-262, 1988.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. On the value of silicone impressions to the field archaeologist.. American Journal of Archaeology 92: 262, 1988.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Diamonds from India to Rome and beyond. A.J.A. 92: 547-552, 1988.
Heimpel, W., Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Philological and archaeological evidence for the use and importance of emery in the Bronze age. J. Cuneiform Stud. 40: 195-210, 1988.*
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. A possible lapidary training piece from Arikamedu, India. Archaeromaterials 2: 187-193, 1988.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. "Collars" in holes of ancient near eastern cylinder seals. Archaeomaterials 36: 39-46, 1989.*
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Evidence for mass production polishing in ancient bead manufacture. Archaeoinaterials 3: 163-168, 1989. *
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. The ancient near eastern cylinder seal as social emblem and status symbol. J. Near East. Stud. 49: 45-56, 1990.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Innovative lapidary craft techniques in Neolithic Jarmo. Archaeomaterials 4: 25-32, 1990.*
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Bead manufacture at Hajar ar-Rayhani, Yemen. Biblical Archaeologist 54: 187-196, 1991.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Technical mutations in drilling. Akkadica 74: 37-48, 1991.* 
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Rates of drilling as an indicator of technological change in ancient lapidary. Unpublished, 1991.
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Beads, scarabs and amulets: methods of manufacture in ancient. Egypt. J. An. Res. Cent.30: 125-132, 1993.*
Harper, P.O., Skjaervo, P.O., Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. A seal-amulet of the Sasarian era: imagery and typology, the inscription and technical comments. Bulletin Asia Institute, new series 6, 1992.* 
Gorelick, L. Bead and scarab manufacturing methods from the Badarian to the Ptolemaic periods. American Journal of Archeology 96: 355, 1992.
Gwinnett, A.J., Gorelick, L., Romano, J. The broken and repaired stone statuette of Pepy I: an ancient or modem repair? Bulletin Egyptian Seminar 2: 1991-1992.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Minoan versus Mesopotamia seals. Iraq LIV: 1992.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A. J. Evidence for technological improvements in ancient seal manusfacture. PACT 23: 13, 1990-1993.*
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Forgery determination by functional analysis. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings 267: 1992.*
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. Rates of drilling as an indicator of technological change in ancient lapidary. 1991 (unpublished).*
Gwinnett, A.J. and Gorelick, L. A comparison of repairs and joinery in ancient Egypt. J. Am. Res. Egypt 30: 125-132, 1993.
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A. J. An unusual group of iron seals from Luristan?: preliminary findings. N.D.*
Noveck, Madeline, and Leonard Gorelick. The Mark of Ancient Man: Ancient Near Eastern Stamp Seals and Cylinder Seals: the Gorelick Collection. Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 1975. (separation note: cataloged for Archives)
Gorelick, L. and Gwinnett, A.J. Diamonds from India to Rome and Beyond. American Journal of Archeology 92: 547-552, 1988.*
Gorelick, L. Near eastern cyclinder seals studied with dental radiography. Dental Radiography and Photography 48 no. 1: 17-21, 1975.*