Overview
Autobiographical essays submitted for a Harvard-sponsored contest by those who lived in Germany in 1933.
Dates
- Creation: 1940
Copyright:
Copyright in all material resides with the writers, and no contributions may be printed in extenso without permission of the writers. In cases where it is impossible to locate the writer, verbatim use of the material will be at the sole responsibility of the user.
Extent
12.5 linear feet (25 boxes)Contains circa 263 autobiographies (mainly in German) submitted in the 1940 competition. Some of the typescripts are accompanied by correspondence and judges' analysis of the entries (in English). Many of the narratives are written by well educated German Jewish men and women of upper class backgrounds living in exile in England, the U.S., and Palestine. Portions of the file-envelopes used by the judges for various annotations are preserved with the contribution. Also includes the printed brochure announcement of the prize competition.
The following symbols are used to describe the material: E= the actual competing entry is present; F= a microfilm copy is present; C= relevant correspondence is present; A= the committee's analysis of the entry is present. The films have been spooled continuously in the order of this list, and are housed in the last box of the collection.
Biographical / Historical
Prize competition held in 1940, on theme "My Life in Germany before and after Jan. 30, 1933." Contest was sponsored by Harvard University; judges included faculty members Gordon Allport, Sidney B. Fay, and Edward Y. Hartshorne. Narratives were used for a study on effects of National Socialism on German society and on German people.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by author except last 11 items.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
57M-203. Transferred by Professor Sidney B. Fay; received: 1958.
Bibliography
- Harry Liebersohn and Dorothee Schneider. My life in Germany before and after January 30, 1933: a guide to a manuscript collection at Houghton Library, Harvard University. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2001.
- Title
- My life in Germany contest papers, 1940: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01275
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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