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.
Louise Floethe was born March 13, 1913 in New York, New York, and married Richard Floethe in 1937. Many of the books she wrote were based on experiences of her childhood and early married life. She and Richard traveled extensively, and those travels also became the subject matter for books that she wrote and he illustrated. Their son was involved in educational children's films, and she became a part of those projects, as well. She did the stories and assisted in filming and cutting. Richard was born September 2, 1901 in Essen, Germany. He studied at art academies in Dortmund, Munich, and at the Bauhaus in Weimar. Mr. Floethe was a painter, print maker, and book illustrator.
The Louise and Richard Floethe Papers consist of manuscripts, original illustrations, and minor correspondence concerning the book The Story of Lumber (New York: Scribner's, 1962). The collection also includes Christmas cards designed by Richard Floethe, and manuscripts for the book Bittersweet Summer (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1964) and the film Must We Have Noise?