ALMA SCOTT:
An Inventory of Her Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Scott, Alma, 1892-, creator. | |
| Title: | Alma Scott papers. | |
| Dates: | 1876-1974. | |
| Language: | Materials in English and German. | |
| Abstract: | Letters, literary manuscripts, diary entries, clippings, photographs, and printed materials concerning Scott's family life and her successive careers as executive secretary of the women's division of the St. Paul Association of Public and Business Affairs (1919-1926), editor of Minnesota Parent Bulletin (1926-1928), undercover investigator of employee working conditions in New York City (1928), secretary of the business division of the Trenton (N.J.) YWCA (1929-1930), a secretary of the United Parents' Association of Greater New York (1930-1931), a New Ulm (Minn.) librarian (1936-1947), University of Minnesota librarian (1947-1960), and author. | |
| Quantity: | 6.5 cubic feet (13 boxes) | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description for shelf locations. |
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Alma Olivia Schmidt was born on December 1, 1892, in New Ulm, Minnesota, the daughter of Georgia Karl Moritz and Auguste Fischer Schmidt. Except for a short period in Young America (1899-1904), she spent her childhood in New Ulm, graduating in 1912 as the highest ranking girl in her high school class. She attended the University of Chicago (1912-1913) and graduated from the University of Minnesota (1913-1917) with a degree in home management.
For several months in 1917-1918 she was director of conservation work for the Wilder Charities (St. Paul), and then was appointed an emergency United States Department of Agriculture home demonstration agent in St. Paul. For seven years (1919-1926) she served as executive secretary for the women's division of the St. Paul Association of Public and Business Affairs and for two years (1926-1928) was editor of the Minnesota Parent Bulletin, the official news organ of the Minnesota Congress of Parents and Teachers.
She moved to New York City in 1928, where she was employed by the Committee of Fourteen of New York and the New York State Labor Department as an undercover agent in an investigation of employment hazards in the greater New York area. During the next two years she served as secretary for the Trenton (N.J.) Young Women's Christian Association business girls' division (1929-1930) and as secretary in charge of organization and special projects of the United Parents' Association of Greater New York (1930-1931). As the latter, she spent much of her time organizing local parent-teacher associations.
On January 1, 1931 she married Omer Winfield Scott. They had two daughters: Alma Patricia (b. 1932) and Jane Marie (b. 1934). The Scotts were divorced in 1936.
She returned to New Ulm sometime between 1932 and 1936, and in 1936 began eleven years of service as assistant librarian and librarian in the New Ulm Public Library. In March, 1944 she received a University of Minnesota regional writing fellowship to write a biography of her childhood friend, artist/author Wanda Gág. She took two leaves from the library (1944 and 1946) and collaborated with Wanda and, following Wanda's 1946 death, with Wanda's husband Earle Humphreys. Wanda Gág: The Story of an Artist was finally published in 1949.
In October, 1947 she resigned from the New Ulm library and accepted a position in the University of Minnesota library reference department, where she worked mainly in the university archives. She also attended the University's library school, graduating in 1951. She retired on January 1, 1960. Scott died on May 24, 1974.
Under the pseudonym Georgia Travers she also wrote and published two children's books: The Story of Kattor (1939) and The Wily Woodchucks (1945). Both were illustrated by Wanda's sister, Flavia Gág.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The papers include letters, literary manuscripts, diary entries, clippings, photographs, brochures, pamphlets, published materials, announcements, and Christmas greetings. They provide information on Scott's childhood in New Ulm, her family and her various employments, her literary career, and her friendship with New Ulm's Gág family, particularly with Wanda.
ARRANGEMENT
These documents are organized into the following sections:
| Biographical data | ||
| Correspondent name sheets | ||
| Wanda Gág biography | ||
| George Travers book manuscripts | ||
| Correspondence and related materials | ||
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Scott, Alma. Alma Scott Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 8963; 8989; 9458; 9849; 10,024; 10,312; 10,985; 11,528; 14,942; 17,704
Processing Information:
Processed by: Cheri Thies, December 1987; Leif Kopietz, August 2019.
Catalog ID number: 990017132010104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
Genealogical data on the George Karl Moritz Schmidt family, including his obituary (1905) and photographs of Schmidt (undated), his wives Louisa (circa 1876) and Auguste (1882, 1887, 1926), and his children Dora (undated), Marie (circa 1898), George H. (1910, 1958, 1969), and Alma (1920s, 1968). Also includes Scott's resume (1917-1960) and a photocopy of Anton Gág's photograph of the Schmidt family's New Ulm home (undated). The original of the latter is in the Society's audio-visual collections.
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P1619 | 1 | Biographical data, 1876-1969. | |||||||||||
CORRESPONDENT NAME SHEETS
Kept by Scott. Arranged alphabetically by surname, each sheet pertains to an individual or family group with which she corresponded, and tells the context in which she knew them. They document the majority of the collection's correspondence and, in some cases, also contain biographical data and photographs. Among those listed are her aunt Minnie Fischer Brown's family; her cousins Adele Koke Eberhart and Alma Soergel Gould; New Ulm high school teachers Louis I. Bredvold, Marion R. Gould, and Rewey Belle Inglis; University of Minnesota classmates Dorothea Spiersterbach McCoy, Albertha Gustafson Miller, Irene Tewes, and Ruby Orth Waterman; colleagues Carl L. Anderson, Nevin Betz Kilpatrick, Mildred Wood Poole, Alice Terrill, Blanche Moen, and Verner J. Vitins; and friends Guel Dostal, Rolland T. Heywood, Frances Martinek, Clare Shipman, Rose Luedtke Johnson, and Theresa Willink Heebink. There are also notes on the Bachman and Nuernberg families of Young America and the Koke, Fritsche, Gág, Koch, Mayer, Petry, Thote, Voss, and Wagner families of New Ulm.
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P1619 | 1 | Correspondent name sheets, A-Z. 4 folders. | |||||||||||
WANDA GÁG BIOGRAPHY
Scott's handwritten outline of the book; an early draft of a portion of the biography, with Wanda's handwritten annotations; the manuscript as submitted to the University of Minnesota Press prior to final editing; and publicity materials (1949, 1961), including the Press's 1948-1949 catalog and advertising flyers. Also background materials (1909-1947), including genealogical data on the Gág family; Wanda's handwritten reminiscences; revisions to and comments about the biography by Wanda's husband Earle Humphreys; and originals and photocopies of numerous artworks by Wanda (1909-1916) and originals of her sisters Flavia (1933, 1948) and Stella (undated).
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P1619 | 1 | Handwritten outline. | |||||||||||
| Preliminary draft. | |||||||||||||
| Draft, pages 1-286. 3 folders. | |||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P1619 | 2 | Background materials, undated and 1909-1948. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
| Press clippings, 1948-1949, 1961. | |||||||||||||
GEORGIA TRAVERS BOOK MANUSCRIPTS
Typed manuscripts of The Story of Kattor (1940, 2 versions) and The Wily Woodchucks (1945).
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P1619 | 2 | Manuscripts, 1940, 1945. | |||||||||||
CORRESPONDENCE AND RELATED MATERIALS
The bulk of the correspondence and related materials are arranged chronologically. However, there is a smaller second subseries arranged by correspondent.
Chronological
| The bulk of the chronologically arranged material relates to Scott's experiences while writing the Gág biography, in her various employments, and to her relationship with family, friends, and colleagues. Long-running correspondences with members of the Gág family, particularly Wanda, and with Scott's sisters Marie Hedrich and Dora Schmidt, brother George H. Schmidt, aunts Emma Fischer Busse and Minnie Fischer Brown, and cousin Alma Soergel Gould are described in the following paragraphs. Information about other correspondents can be found in the description of the correspondent name sheets. | |||||||||||||
| The largest correspondence in the collection occurs between Scott and the Gágs (1912-1916, 1935-1973). The early letters (1912-1916) were pulled together during Wanda's research for her autobiography Growing Pains (1938-1940), and contain typed transcriptions, both with and without originals. They focus on teenage life in New Ulm, mutual friends, and Wanda's feelings about life and art. Within this group are two separately organized sets of letters. The first (July 1912-November 1913) are typed transcriptions of letters written by Wanda, and include details of her "drawing fits." These are not in strict chronological order. The second set (July 1912-October 1916) are Wanda's handwritten transcriptions, with comments and paraphrases entered in brackets, of letters written by Stella, Nelda, and Wanda. They include comments on Stella's participation on the New Ulm debate team and her early rural teaching experiences. A few duplicate originals are also found in the papers. | |||||||||||||
| Scott's correspondence with Wanda continues from 1935 through her 1946 death. The bulk is concerned with Scott's biography (1944-1946). Wanda suggests people to interview, comments on the early drafts, and helps coordinate research trips to her New Jersey home. There are also letters from Scott, particularly a set to "Inky" (the Schmidt family's nickname for Wanda) that contain transcriptions of interviews with New Ulm residents (May 1944). Other letters from Wanda comment on her work, particularly her numerous publications (1936-1941) and her "contact allergies" to various art mediums causing her to wear gloves while working (1941); the use of Scott's diaries for Growing Pains (1937); the first known use of the sulfonamide drug, Prontosil, to cure Nelda of a previously fatal streptococcus infection of the blood (1936); Wanda's attitudes toward New Ulm and New Ulm residents' toward her (1939); her visit to New Ulm's Gágiana exhibit (1940); and her cancer surgery and treatment (1945-1946). | |||||||||||||
| There are also letters from Wanda's husband Earle Humphreys concerning Wanda's death and estate and his editing of the biography (1945-1950); from Flavia, mainly focusing on their collaboration on Kattor and Woodchucks (1937-1967); from Stella and her husband William ("Billy") Harms (1961-1872); and from Ida (1961-1973), Nelda (1962-1966), and Delhi's husband Bob Janssen (1949-1972). | |||||||||||||
| The extended correspondence with Scott's relatives mainly concerns family events, particularly births, deaths, marriages, illnesses, and mutual friends. Early letters from the Schmidt children (1899-1934) are written mainly to Auguste and many are in German. Marie's letters (1899-1965) include comments on her teaching experiences in Milwaukee (1899-1912), her move to Los Angeles and marriage (1916), life at their West Point (Calif.) gold mine camp (1922-1928), and her sales work for a women's undergarment company (1937). Her later letters are often signed Meda or Mida. Included in Dora's letters (1897-1945) is a description of the 1933 Los Angeles earthquake and, in George's (1914-1969), comments on his work as a chemist. | |||||||||||||
| Her aunt's letters (1935-1959) contain family genealogical data, while those of her cousin Alma Gould (1912-1961) include descriptions of her work as a switchboard operator/stenographer in Chicago (1912), the first wartime blackout test in that city (1942), and vacations at her Reedsburg, Wisconsin cottage (1949-1961). There are also letters from other relatives concerning the aunt's care, finances and funerals (1957-1959), as well as Alma Gould's 1956 stroke and subsequent living arrangements and legal problems (1956-1958). | |||||||||||||
| Other items of interest in this section are described in the following paragraphs. | |||||||||||||
| 1883-1889 | |||||||||||||
| A letter from George M. Schmidt to Auguste (1891), photocopies of his citizenship papers (1885) and their marriage certificate (1891), and their wedding announcement (1891). | |||||||||||||
| 1900-1919 | |||||||||||||
| Scott's diary entries describing her stay at the A. O. Eberhart home on the night he was elected Minnesota governor (1910); offers of free tuition from Hamline University and Macalester College (1912); letters from a high school friend, Leone V. "Charyl" Mayer (1912-1915), and from University of Minnesota friends (1917-1918); photographs of the University's Home Management House students and faculty (1916-1917); Scott's appointment as United States Department of Agriculture emergency home demonstration agent (1918); and materials documenting her St. Paul Association of Public and Business Affairs (SPA/PBA) activities (circa 1919). | |||||||||||||
| 1920-1929 | |||||||||||||
| Continued documentation of her St. Paul Association of Public and Business Affairs (SPA/PBA) activities (1921-1926), including a staff photograph (circa 1922) and publicity items used in their child health campaigns (1921-1922, 1926). Also the 1928 Committee of Fourteen of New York annual report; materials from her Parent Teachers Publishing Company work (1926-1927), including a description of her activities (1927) and her outline suggestions for the May 1927 through April 1928 issues of Minnesota Parent Teacher; and materials from her activities as Trenton (N.J.) YWCA secretary (1929). | |||||||||||||
| 1930-1939 | |||||||||||||
| Letters from both University of Minnesota classmates and St. Paul colleagues, particularly Alice Terrill, who details her views on socialism (1932-1934), and Mildred "Woody" Poole, who remarks on Scott's divorce (1935); a summary of Scott's work experience (1930); announcement of her appointment as United Parents Association of Greater New York executive secretary (1930); letters from her publisher's agent, Rose Dobbs, concerning Kattor (1938-1939); Scott's application for the New Ulm Public Library position (1936); and Wanda's "rainbow letters" (illustrated letters written in multicolored pencil) to Scott's daughters (1938, 1939). | |||||||||||||
| 1940-1949 | |||||||||||||
| The majority of this decade's correspondence concerns Scott's biography of Wanda. Included are her fellowship application, numerous letters of inquiry to Wanda's friends, relatives, and colleagues, along with many of their responses (1945-1947), including those of fellow arists and longtime friends Lucile Lundquist Blanch and Adolf Dehn (1947); correspondence with the university faculty, particularly Theodore C. Blegen and Helen Clapesattle, concerning her progress, an extension of the fellowship and receipt of her drafts (1945-1949); letters from Marion R. Gould, who helped edit the drafts prior to submission (1945-1949); materials documenting the New Ulm community's fundraising efforts to support completion of the book (1946-1948); and following publication, clippings, reviews, and letters of congratulations (1949-1950). | |||||||||||||
| Other materials include items documenting Scott's appearance on a Minneapolis radio show (1941), speaking engagements at several Gág exhibits (1944, 1946), her New Ulm library resignation and university library position acceptance (1947), and her biographical sketch of Wanda for the May-June, 1947 Horn Book. There are also letters from Rose Dobbs concerning Woodchucks (1946-1947) and from friends and relatives, including Alice Terill's description of her tuberculosis treatments (1947) and Erna Holzinger's remarks on activities in New Ulm (1949). Clippings cover the publication of Kattor (1940) and Woodchucks (1946), and Wanda's death (1946). | |||||||||||||
| 1950-1959 | |||||||||||||
| Continues letters from Holzinger concerning New Ulm (1950-1951). Also includes letters from Roddie Heywood describing United States Army Signal Corps school and radio unit service in Korea, with numerous photographs of the Korean people and countryside (1951-1953); get well wishes to Scott following various illnesses and surgeries (1952, 1953, 1958, 1959); congratulations on her library school graduation (1951); and materials produced during her library school course work, particularly studies of the New Ulm community and its public library (1950). Also correspondence concerning her article about the New Ulm library published in Minnesota Libraries (1955-1956), and her appointment to the subcommittee of the University Library Literature Committee charged with producing a Minnesota writers' checklist, as well as a copy of the checklist (1958-1959). | |||||||||||||
| 1960-1973 | |||||||||||||
| Letters from university colleague Verner J. Vitins describing events at the university, his activities in the Twin Cities Latvian community, and a trip to Latvia (1960-1964); from longtime friend Dorothea McCoy, particularly planning several visits to California (1964-1973); and letters concerning the sale of the "Pick-A-Path" health game developed by Scott and Wanda in 1942-1943 (1967-1968). Also materials concerning a rewrite of her 1947 Horn Book article for the Brown County Historical Society (1964-1965). | |||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P1619 | 2 | 1883-1924. 8 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 3 | 1925-1938. 8 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 4 | 1939-April 1944. 9 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 5 | May 1944-1946. 10 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 6 | 1947-October 1949. 10 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 7 | November 1949-1952. 9 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 8 | 1953-April 1957. 10 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 9 | May 1957-November 1960. 8 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 10 | December 1960-November 1963. 9 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 11 | December 1863-1965. 7 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 12 | 1966-November 1968. 8 folders. | |||||||||||
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| P1619 | 13 | December 1968-1973. 4 folders. | |||||||||||
Correspondent
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P1619 | 13 | Maxine Clapp, 1957-1972. | |||||||||||
| Letters (1957-1972) from University of Minnesota archivist Maxine Clapp, written primarily after Scott retired from the University archives in 1960. The letters concentrate on events at the archives including personnel and policy changes; staff morale; administrative decisions related to the growth of the collections, including the formation of various special units like the Social Welfare History and Immigration History Archives; and Clapp's frustration with the increasing work load, lack of staff, and the need to define the archives' function and scope. Other topics include Alma Scott's health and family, Clapp's travels, and her husband's health problems. | |||||||||||||
| Olivia Dehn Mitchell and Viola Dehn Tiola, 1968-1972. | |||||||||||||
| A small group of correspondence (1968-1972) between Scott and Olivia and Viola Dehn, sisters of Minnesota artist Adolf Dehn. Topics include Adolf's death (1968), politics, and family affairs. | |||||||||||||
| James Gray, 1951-1974. 3 folders. | |||||||||||||
| Correspondence (1951-1974) between Scott and James Gray, a novelist, historian, former English professor at the University of Minnesota, and former literary editor of the Chicago Daily News and the St. Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch. | |||||||||||||
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Artists as authors -- Minnesota.
- Authors, American.
- Children's literature, American -- Minnesota.
- Czechs -- Minnesota.
- Germans -- Minnesota.
- Gold mines and mining -- California.
- Home demonstration work -- Minnesota.
- Home economics extension workers -- Minnesota.
- Home economics students -- Minnesota.
- Illustrated children's books.
- Korean War, 1950-1953.
- Latvian Americans -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
- Librarians -- Minnesota.
- Libraries -- Minnesota.
- Rural schools -- Minnesota.
- Teachers -- Wisconsin -- Milwaukee.
- Tuberculosis.
- Women artists.
- Women authors, American.
- Persons:
- Bachman family.
- Eberhart family.
- Fritsche family.
- Gág family.
- Kock family.
- Koke family.
- Meyer family.
- Nuernberg family.
- Petry family.
- Schmidt family.
- Thote family.
- Voss family.
- Wagner family.
- Anderson, Carl Leonard, 1895-1950.
- Blanch, Lucile Lundquist.
- Blegen, Theodore Christian, 1891-1969.
- Bredvold, Louis I. (Louis Ignatius), 1888-1977.
- Brown, Minnie Fischer, -1959.
- Brusse, Emma Fischer, -1959.
- Gág, Anton, 1859-1908.
- Gág, Wanda, 1893-1946, illustrator
- Travers, Georgia, 1892-, author.
- Organizations:
- Committee of Fourteen (New York, N.Y. : 1928)
- Minnesota Congress of Parents and Teachers.
- New Ulm Public Library (Minn.)
- St. Paul Association of Public and Business Affairs.
- United Parents' Association of Greater New York.
- United States. Army. Signal Corps.
- United States. Army -- Military life.
- United States. Department of Agriculture -- Officials and employees -- Promotions.
- University of Minnesota. Libraries.
- University of Minnesota. Library School.
- University of Minnesota. University Archives.
- University of Minnesota. Home Management House -- 1916-1917.
- Wilder Charities (Saint Paul, Minn.)
- Young Women's Christian Association (Trenton, N.J.)
- Places:
- Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Earthquake, 1933.
- New Ulm (Minn.) -- Description and travel.
- Reedsburg (Wis.) -- Description and travel.
- West Point (Calif.)
- Young America (Minn.)
- Document Types:
- Drawings.
- Manuscripts for publication.
- Photographs.
- Occupations:
- Archivists.
- Artists -- Minnesota.
- Authors -- Minnesota.
- Librarians.
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