Kurt Werth papers, 1919-1983 PDF

Overview of the Collection

Title

Dates

1919-1983 (inclusive)

Quantity

24.5 linear feet, (17 containers)2 record storage boxes; 1 manuscript box; 5 (16x20") boxes; 3 (12x15") boxes; 2 (11x17") boxes; 2 (21x25") boxes; 1 (7x10") box; 1 (9x11") box

Collection Number

Coll 100

Summary

Kurt Werth (1896-1983) was a German-born illustrator and author of American children's literature. The collection consists of original children's book illustrations and manuscripts, other artwork and manuscripts, personal papers, artifacts, personal and professional correspondence, and papers of his wife, Margaret Werth.

Repository

University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives.
UO Libraries--SCUA
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR
97403-1299
Telephone: 541-346-3068
spcarref@uoregon.edu

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to the public.

Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room.

Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.

Additional Reference Guides

See the Current Collection Guide for detailed description and requesting options.

Languages

English, German

Sponsor

Funding for publishing this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), a division of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The Kurt Werth papers represent a major portion of Werth's body of work produced as an illustrator and author of American children's literature. The collection is comprised of original children's book illustrations and manuscripts, other artwork and manuscripts, personal papers, artifacts, personal and professional correspondence, and papers of his wife, Margaret Werth.

The children's book illustrations and manuscripts series primarily includes original artwork created by Werth for children's and juvenile books between the 1950s-1970s. The artwork represents a variety of stages in the illustration process and includes preliminary sketches, dummies, cover art, press-ready color-separated artwork, and proofs. It also includes typed and handwritten manuscript drafts for children's books written by Werth, as well as manuscripts written by other children's literature authors that Werth collaborated with including Rosalys Hall, Sid Fleischman, Millicent Selsam, and Lilian Moore.

The other artwork and manuscripts series primarily represents Werth's early works and includes artwork and writings for non-children's literature created between the 1920s-1940s. Materials include original and printed political cartoons published in American and German periodicals including Common Sense, Free World, Harper's, New York Times, Querschnitt, and Simplicissimus. It also includes artwork and cover proofs for publications, original woodcut prints, greeting card designs, landscape drawings and portraits, story fragments, playscripts, and writings in German.

The personal papers and artifacts series includes biographical information, notes, clippings, memorabilia, artist's tools, relief printing blocks, and a family scrapbook from Europe dated 1926-1938.

The correspondence series contains personal and professional correspondence, including two large files of correspondence with children's literature archives at the University of Minnesota and University of Southern Mississippi. The Margaret Werth papers series includes personal notebooks, literary manuscripts, and poetry created by Margaret Werth.

Historical NoteReturn to Top

Kurt Werth was born September 21, 1896 in Leipzig, Germany. He entered the State Academy for the Graphic Arts in Leipzig in 1913 and studied there for two years before being drafted into the army. When not in action, he filled sketchbooks with scenes of the life around him and illustrated a copy of Rilke's The Cornet Rilke. All of these sketchbooks have been lost.

After the war he returned for two more years of study at the State Academy, leaving in 1921 for Munich where he began illustrating limited edition books which included Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, and books by Euripides, Pushkin, Kipling, and the German authors Wasserman and Kleist.

In 1924, Werth began drawing satirical cartoons for the Munich magazine, The Jugend, and the Swiss magazine, Nebelspalter. Four years later he and his wife Margaret, an actress, moved to Berlin where she became part of the City Theater. Here, Werth created satirical cartoons for the Berliner Tageblatt, and the magazines Querschnitt and Simplicissimus, among others.

With Hitler's increasing power, the magazines folded, and Margaret Werth, who was Jewish, was not allowed to work. In the 1939 the Werths emigrated to the United States where Werth found employment illustrating a Sunday column in the New York Times Magazine.

When the United States became involved in World War II, Werth began drawing cartoons for a number of the new magazines that had appeared on the political scene: Common Sense, Free World, The New Republic, Tomorrow, as well as Harper's.

The bulk of these publications disappeared with the war's conclusion, so Werth returned to book publishing, illustrating textbooks for Oxford University Press and other publishing houses. One of his first attempts at illustrating a picture book for children, Rosalys Hall's The Merry Miller, received favorable notice and opened the door to requests from other authors and publishers of children's literature.

Kurt Werth died in New York City on August 25, 1983.

Other Descriptive InformationReturn to Top

The Kurt Werth papers include a scrapbook of photographs previously assigned photograph collection PH020.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Property rights reside with Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish collection materials must be submitted to Special Collections and University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Kurt Werth papers, Coll 100, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Guide to the Kurt Werth papersReturn to Top

1.: Children's book illustrations and manuscripts, circa 1940s-1970sReturn to Top

Materials in this series are arranged alphabetically by publication title.

The children's book illustrations and manuscripts series primarily includes original artwork created by Werth for children's and juvenile books between the 1950s-1970s. The artwork represents a variety of stages in the illustration process and includes preliminary sketches, dummies, cover art, press-ready color-separated artwork, and proofs. The breadth of these publication materials vary for each title. It also includes typed and handwritten manuscript drafts for children's books written by Werth, as well as manuscripts written by other children's literature authors that Werth collaborated with including Rosalys Hall, Sid Fleischman, Millicent Selsam, and Lilian Moore.

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box/Folder
1/1, 5/1	Aldo's Tower	circa 1954
1/2, 9/1	Are You Poor? Are You Rich?	circa 1940s-1970s
1/3	The Baker's Dozen	circa 1950s-1970s
1/4	The Bear in the Bathtub	1969
1/5-6, 4/1-9, 14/1	Bear Trouble	circa 1960
1/7	Boniface the Bunny	circa 1945
1/8	The Breeding Place	circa 1940s-1970s
1/9	The Bremen Musicians	circa 1940s-1970s
1/10	The Bright and Shining Breadboard	circa 1969
1/11	The Cakebakers and the Shepherds	circa 1940s-1970s
1/12-13	Caliph Stork	circa 1950s-1970s
1/14	Children of the 'City of Benares'	1942
1/15	The Clockwinder	circa 1950s-1970s
1/16-17, 9/2-3, 14/2	The Cobbler's Dilemma	circa 1967-1969
1/18	The Cunning Peasant or The Greedy Sexton	circa 1940s-1970s
1/19	Dany on the Playground	circa 1950s-1970s
1/20	Elmira! Oh Elmira!	circa 1950s-1970s
7/1-7	Feast on Sullivan Street	circa 1963
1/21	The Fellow Who Ate the Little Liver	circa 1940s-1970s
1/22	Fly Your Kite	circa 1940s-1970s
1/23	The Four Musicians	circa 1950s-1970s
1/24-25	The Gentle Hermit	circa 1950s-1970s
1/26	"Giacomo and Julio"	circa 1940s-1970s
1/27-28	Gideon's Gold	circa 1975
1/29, 5/2-3, 14/3-7	Hear Ye of Boston	circa 1964
1/30	Hear Ye of Philadelphia	circa 1968
9/4	Herbert's Stilts	circa 1972
1/31, 7/8-10	The House that Changed	circa 1963
1/32-33	How a Piglet Crashed the Christmas Party	circa 1971
1/34, 7/11-13, 9/5-6	How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas	1962
1/35, 8/1-3	Idy, the Fox-chasing Cow	circa 1962
1/36-38	It's Fun to Rhyme	circa 1975-1977
1/39	Isabelle and the Library Cat	1966
1/40-41	It's Snowing!	circa 1950s-1970s
5/4	Jonathan D	circa 1950s-1970s
1/42-43	King Thrushbeard	1966-1968
1/44	Lazy Jack	1970
1/45, 8/4-8, 15/1	The Little Naturalist	circa 1959
5/5-6, 15-2	The Luck Book	circa 1964
1/46, 9/7-11	McBroom and the Big Wind	circa 1967
1/47, 10/1-6	McBroom the Rainmaker	circa 1973
1/48	McBroom Tells the Truth	circa 1966
1/49-50, 10/7-10	McBroom's Zoo	circa 1972
1/51, 11/1-6	Meet Miki Takino	circa 1963
2/1	The Merry Miller	circa 1952
11/7-10	Miranda's Dragon	circa 1968
2/2-3	Mr. Vinegar	circa 1950s-1970s
2/4-7, 12/1	Molly and the Giant	circa 1971-1973
2/8-9	The Monkey, the Lion, and the Snake	circa 1966-1967
2/10	Nele Goes to Bethlehem	circa 1940s-1970s
12/2	The Newcomers: Ten Tales of American Immigrants	1974
2/11	One Dark Night	circa 1969
2/12	Orlando, the Liar	circa 1940s-1970s
2/13	Pepys' Boy	circa 1955
12/3	The Red Badge of Courage	circa 1950s-1970s
2/14	Rosamond and Abibas	circa 1940s-1970s
2/15-16	The Sacred Cow	circa 1968
2/17	Sammy and the Slide	circa 1940s-1970s
2/18, 12/4-6	Samuel Clemens	circa 1970
2/19, 12/7-9	Scat the Witch's Cat	circa 1958
2/20-21, 12/10-11, 13/1	Stop It, Moppit!	circa 1959
2/22	The Story of San Francisco	circa 1955
2/23	Tales Merry and Wise	1958
2/24-25	The Tales of Baron Meunchhausen	circa 1974
2/26	That Lincoln Boy	circa 1968
2/27-30, 13/2-3, 15/3-6	The Three Beggar Kings	1966-1974
2/31	The Three Cornered House	circa 1950s-1970s
2/32	Three Robbers and Beppo	circa 1950s-1970s
2/33, 13/4-9	A Tiger Called Thomas	circa 1963
2/34	Tinker's Castle	circa 1964
8/9-14	Tony's Birds	circa 1961
2/35	The Turnip	circa 1940s-1970s
2/36	The Twelve Travellers	circa 1940s-1970s
15/7	Unidentified works	circa 1950s-1970s
2/37	The Valiant Tailor	1965
2/38-39	What Are You Afraid Of?	circa 1971-1972
8/15	Where Do You Go?	circa 1950s-1970s
2/40	Who's Afraid?	1976
2/41-42	The Wolf and the Shepherds	circa 1950s-1970s

2.: Other artwork and manuscripts, 1919-1970sReturn to Top

Materials in this series are arranged alphabetically by type of work.

The other artwork and manuscripts series primarily represents Werth's early works and includes artwork and writings for non-children's literature created between the 1920s-1940s. Materials include original and printed political cartoons published in American and German periodicals including Common Sense, Free World, Harper's, New York Times, Querschnitt, and Simplicissimus. It also includes artwork and cover proofs for publications, original woodcut prints and relief printing blocks, greeting card designs, landscape drawings and portraits, story fragments, playscripts, and writings in German.

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box/Folder
2/43-47	Book illustrations, The Adventurous Simplicissimus	circa 1930s-1970s
2/48	Book illustrations, clippings	circa 1940s
2/49	Book illustrations, Cyrano de Bergerac	1930
2/50	Book illustrations, The Wedding of San Domingo	1930
6/1	Book jacket proofs	circa 1940s-1950s
6/2-4, 15/8	Early works	circa 1920s-1950s
2/51	Greeting card designs	circa 1919-1970s
2/52	Mural photographs	circa 1920s-1940s
15/9	Periodical illustrations, clippings	circa 1940s
3/1-2	Playscripts in German	circa 1920s-1960s
3/3	Reference texts	circa 1950s-1970s
Box
16	Relief printing blocks	circa 1920s-1970s
Box/Folder
6/5-6, 15/10	Sketches	circa 1950s-1982
3/4	Story fragments, handwritten	circa 1940s-1960s
6/7	Woodcut prints	circa 1920s-1970s
3/5	Writings in German	circa 1941-1960s

3.: Personal papers and artifacts, 1926-1983Return to Top

Materials in this series are arranged alphabetically.

The personal papers and artifacts series includes biographical information, notes, clippings, memorabilia, artist's tools, and a family scrapbook from Europe dated 1926-1938.

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box
16	Artist's tools	circa 1940s-1970s
Box/Folder
3/6	Biographical material	circa 1969-1983
3/7	Collected artwork	1953-1970
3/8-9	Collected clippings and ephemera	circa 1930s-1983
3/10	Notes	circa 1940s-1970s
Box
17	Scrapbook	1926-1938

4.: Correspondence, circa 1941-1981Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 3/11-15

Materials in this series are arranged alphabetically by correspondent or type.

The correspondence series contains personal and professional correspondence. The bulk of these materials include two files of correspondence with children's literature archives at the University of Minnesota and University of Southern Mississippi.

5.: Margaret Werth papers, circa 1930s-1968Return to Top

Container(s): Box-folder 3/16-18

Materials in this series are arranged alphabetically.

The Margaret Werth papers series includes personal notebooks and typed literary manuscripts created by Margaret Werth.

Guide to the Kurt Werth papersReturn to Top

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms :
Children's literature--Authorship
Children's literature--Illustrations

Form or Genre Terms :
Book illustrations

Search bar