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Creator
Schurgast, Margarete, b. 1871
Call number
MssCol 6307
Physical description
0.4 linear feet (1 box)
Language
In German and English
Preferred Citation

Margarete Schurgast Papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Margarete Schurgast was a Jewish feminist and pacifist, boardinghouse owner, and German émigré who fled Nazi rule in 1941. She was a friend and correspondent of Carrie Chapman Catt, Karin Michaëlis, and Rosika Schwimmer.

Biographical/historical information

Margarete Schurgast was born August 3, 1871 in Berlin. She was a Jewish feminist and pacifist, and ran two separate boardinghouses in Berlin: the Boardinghouse Ludwig, and the Hotel-pension Kurfürstenheim. Schurgast fled Nazi rule in 1941, moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she lived until her death of stomach cancer. She was co-founder of the Aid Society for Educated Women (Hilfsverein für gebildete Frauen), and an active member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and the League for Human Rights. Schurgast befriended and corresponded with Carrie Chapman Catt, the Danish writer Karin Michaëlis, and Rosika Schwimmer.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists of correspondence; writings, including a travel diary; legal and identification documents; printed matter and newspaper clippings; photographs of both Schurgast and her friend Ellen Key; and one file of materials related to Alexander Deutsch, an émigré friend.

In German and English.

Arrangement

The Margarete Schurgast Papers are organized as follows:

  • General correspondence, 1928, 1939-1945, n.d.
  • Travel diary, 1924, 1941
  • Writings and lecture notes, undated
  • Legal and identification documents, 1940-1944
  • Printed matter and newspaper clippings, 1937, 1941, 1947, n.d.
  • Alexander Deutsch materials, 1938-1941, n.d.
  • Photographs, ca. 1918, 1926, 1944, n.d.

Administrative information

Custodial history

The materials were originally donated to Rosika Schwimmer in 1947 and included as part of Series Q of the Schwimmer-Lloyd Collection. In 2006 the papers were reprocessed, and while administratively remaining part of the collection, they are physically arranged separately.

Source of acquisition

Donated by Rosika Schwimmer as part of the Schwimmer-Lloyd Collection.

Processing information

Processed by Laura Ruttum; machine readable finding aid created by FAKER.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328