Gäbler family papers
Scope and Contents
This collection is composed primarily of letters addressed to Hedwig Gäbler and her family. Dating from the late 1920s to the late 1940s, Hedwig corresponded with her friends, relatives, and fiancé Arthur in Germany. A majority of this collection are letters to Hedwig or Arthur from family in Hamburg. There are also many letters from the late 1920s written by Hedwig to Arthur after she moved to the United States.
Many of the letters reveal familial relations between German Latter-day Saint immigrants in Utah and their relatives in Germany in the 1920s through the 1940s, which would be of interest to someone researching the aspects of German immigration to Utah. It also contains the day to day perspectives of residents of Germany before, during, and following World War II. The letters and newsclips in folders 12 and 13 in box 1 give insight on day to day life in Nazi Hamburg as well as hardships following the war. Of additional interest is a letter from Gunter Gäbler writing to Arthur, his brother, in 1941 from a P.O.W. camp in Canada.
The documents are organized according to document type and date. Boxes 1 and 2 contain letters to and from the Gäbler family ranging from 1920 to 1949. Folders labeled “grouped correspondence” contain letters found bound together when the collection was purchased and foldered together in the interest of original order. In addition to letters, Box 2 also contains a mission diary that belonged to Arthur Gäbler where he describes, among his daily activities, some observations of the people he met. Box 3 contains diaries of Hedwig and Arthur Gäbler as well as Arthur’s planner and address book. Nearly all the documents within this collection are written in German.
Dates
- 1920-1949
Language of Materials
Material in German and English
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.
Conditions Governing Use
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Gäbler family papers must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator and/or the Special Collections Department Head.
Biographical Note
Hedwig Bauer was born in about 1898 in Germany. In about 1925 she converted to the LDS religion and in about 1927 she moved from her home in Hamburg to Utah in order to work as a physician’s assistant. Arthur Gäbler, Bauer’s fiancé, following his LDS mission in Germany, joined her in the United States and they married in the mid-1930s. Sometime between the late 1930s and early 1940s the couple settled in Sandy, Utah.
Extent
3 boxes (1.25 linear feet)
Abstract
Hedwig Gäbler joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved from Germany to the United States in the 1920s. Many of the letters are from her fiance, friends, and relatives who remained in Germany in the period leading up to and during World War II.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged by document type and then chronologically.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials were bought by USU Special Collections and Archives from John H. Bullard in 2013.
Processing Information
Processed in June of 2015
- Title
- Guide to the Gäbler family papers 1920-1949
- Author
- Finding aid/Register created by Joanna Dobrowolska and Clint Pumphrey
- Date
- ©2016
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Based On Dacs (Describing Archives: A Content Standard, 2nd Edition)
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid encoded in English.
Revision Statements
- 2009: Template information was updated to refelct Archives West best practice guidelines.
Repository Details
Part of the Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives Repository
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
3000 Old Main Hill
Logan Utah 84322-3000 United States
435 797-8248
435 797-2880 (Fax)
scweb@usu.edu