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Papers of Carl F. Strauch
Professor of English, Lehigh University


Held by Special Collections, Linderman Library
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015

Call No.: SC MS 052
50 Boxes, 20 linear feet

Carl Ferdinand Strauch was born in 1908 in Lehighton, Pa. He graduated from Muhlenberg College in 1930; received a M.A. from Lehigh in 1934 and a Ph.D. from Yale in 1946. He received a Lindbach teaching award from Lehigh in 1962. He taught English at Lehigh from 1934 to 1974, retiring as Professor Emeritus. He died in 1989.

This material was donated to Lehigh by his estate, and was collected from his home, where it was found from bedrooms to basement and in cardboard boxes, metal file boxes, and file drawers. It has been preserved in the same general order as it was found, using the same titles on the individual folders. Folders marked with an (*) in-clude a manuscript written by Dr. Strauch (identified as CFS).

The material has been divided into three series. Series I, boxes 1-15, contains material for his English classes, including numerous files on Arnold, Carlyle, Hawthorne, Poe, James, Melville, Whitman, as well as other 19th century authors, and topics related to the Romantic Period. Also included is some material on 20th century writers. Material includes syllabi, schedules, reading lists, outlines of his lectures, examination questions, and copies of students' term papers, as well as clippings, and notes that Strauch kept.

Series II, boxes 16-25, and boxes 37-39, contains files that Strauch made for his personal use. Many include clippings from newspapers and magazines that he found interesting. Others include notes on a variety of topics. (As far as the cataloger can tell, files were made, then put away, and other files begun on the same person or topic later.)

Series III, boxes 26-36, boxes 40-45, and boxes 51-55, contain material pertaining to Ralph Waldo Emerson and his writing. Emerson was Strauch's specialty, and he spent a lot of time researching Emerson's manuscripts. There are several copies of chapters prepared for a book on Ralph Waldo Emerson that was never published. His "definitive work" on Emerson that he researched for years was never written.

There is only one box of personal material (Box 46), which includes Strauch's publishing vita, some correspondence, and a file on the Helen Woodson family (his daughter). There is some correspondence regarding publication of his essays and speaking engagements intermixed with the subject matter.

There are 4 boxes of filing cards (Boxes 47-50) which contain bibliographies of authors and topics of interest to Strauch. They include Romanticiam, Carlyle, Arnold, Twain, Camus, Forester, Buddhism, James, Lawrence, Waygh, Frost, Robinson, Poe, Emerson, Whitman, and Melville. (They have been preserved as found).

One letter, from Orson Welles to Strauch, dated Feb.10, 1943 has been housed separately.

A few photographs were included, and are housed in the Lehigh Collection photograph file. They are Numbers BS2352, BS2353, F5766, F5767,and F5768, all portraits of Dr.Strauch. (See also SC LVF S912 for an interview with him and his obituary.)


Series I: English Classes 15 Boxes


Box 1: Carlyle

Box 2: Carlyle-Arnold

Box 3: Carlyle

Box 4: Carlyle

Box 5: Hawthorne

Box 6: Hawthorne

Box 7: Hawthorne/Poe

Box 8: Henry James

Box 9: Melville

Box 10: Melville

Box 11: Whitman

Box 12: Whitman

Box 13: Transcendentalism, Romanticism, Thoreau

Box 14: 20th Century American Literature

Box 15: Thoreau/Twain

More of the Carl Strauch Collection
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