Heinrich and Rosa Bauer correspondence, 1879-1922; circa 1984-1998

The collection consists of letters that Heinrich Bauer and his wife, Rosa Bauer, German Americans who lived in Portland, Oregon, sent to Heinrich Bauer's family in Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of these letters were sent from Portland, though one 1879 letter from Heinrich Bauer was written from Darmstadt, Germany, and several others were written from St. Paul, Minnesota. The letters generally discuss the Bauers' activities and the economic situation in the United States; some later letters discuss World War I and its aftermath. The original letters are written in German, in a script that German speakers used prior to World War II.

In addition to the original letters, the collection includes photocopies of the original letters, and typescript copies of the letters in German and translated into English, produced by Karl Birnstiel around the 1980s and 1990s. The collection also includes an incomplete biographical sketch of Heinrich Bauer, titled "From Portland to Schney: the Letters of Heinrich and Rosa Bauer." The sketch was written by an unidentified descendant, likely Jean Brownell, who donated the collection to the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.