Department of Germanic Languages and Literature records, 1949-[ongoing]

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Summary

Creator:
Duke University. Department of Germanic Languages and Literature
Abstract:
The Dept. of Germanic Languages and Literature was created to offer students the opportunity to study the German language and the literature of Germany at Duke University. Most of the collection ranges in date from 1960-1985. A majority of the material was accumulated and created by Herman Salinger (Department chair, 1955-1970 and faculty member, 1955-1975); and Leland Phelps (faculty member, 1961-1985 and department chair, 1970-1983). Material includes various correspondence concerning academic appointments, administrative matters, and curriculum. Major subjects include graduate students and graduate study, various committees, study abroad programs, and publications. Files pertaining to the Harold Jantz Collection are also present.
Extent:
5.5 Linear Feet
Language:
Material in English and German
Collection ID:
UA.25.21.0001
University Archives Record Group:
25 -- Trinity College of Arts and Sciences
25 -- Trinity College of Arts and Sciences > 21 -- Germanic Languages and Literature

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains material accumulated during the chairmanships of Herman Salinger, Leland Phelps and Ann Marie Rasmussen, and range in date from 1949-2013. A majority of the material is in English; however, there are items in German interspersed throughout. A bulk of the material dates from 1960-1985, then 2000-2008. The collection is divided into four series: Herman Salinger, Leland Phelps, Department Chair and Director of Graduate Study, and Ann Marie Rasmussen. The Herman Salinger series contains material accumulated and created by Salinger during his tenure at Duke University, as department chair (1955-1970) and as a faculty member. Major subjects include graduate students, job applicants and inquiries, course materials, departmental publications, correspondence, and a file containing materials prior to Salinger's chairmanship. Among the name files are Clement Vollmer, Allan M. Cartter and Peter Ilkow, a German instructor at Duke from 1956 until his suicide in 1958. The Leland Phelps series contains material accumulated and created by Leland Phelps while serving as department chair (1970-1983) and as a faculty member. Material includes general correspondence, departmental meetings, and commitments. Among the major subjects are publications: Creative Encounters: Festschrift for Herman Salinger and Aus Unserer Zuit; foreign study and study abroad programs; the Munster Program; and material concerning the establishment of a language lab at Duke University. The Phelps series is also divided into two sub-series: Harold Jantz Collection files and Committee files. The Jantz Collection files contain material relevant to the acquisition and promotion of the collection including conferences and publications. Various committees on which Phelps served constitute the committee files sub-series. As both Phelps and Salinger served in the department simultaneously from 1961-1970, there is some overlap of materials. The third series contains material pertaining to the departmental chair, including Salinger and Phelps, and the director of graduate study, 1966-1983. The fourth series contains materials related to Ann Marie Rasmussen's time as faculty member (1988-2016) and chair of the department (2006-2008), and includes information on the development of the German Studies PhD program, the joint PhD program with UNC-Chapel Hill, funding and grant information, and other materials.

Biographical / historical:

The Dept. of Germanic Languages and Literature was created to offer students the opportunity to study the German language and the literature of Germany. The Department endeavored to teach the reading, speaking, comprehension, and writing of German; to promote a grasp of the literature, literary movements, and the history of German literature including movements such as Romanticism, Symbolism, Realism and modern authors: Goethe, Kafka, and Grass; and a familiarity with the cultural history of the German people including art and music. The Department also offered a focused curriculum in linguistics, the teaching of German, and the study of comparative literatures. The Department instituted an M.A. program in 1956 and in the spring of 1963 a Ph.D. program in German was proposed. The first chair of the Department was Clement Vollmer (1936-1955), followed by Herman Salinger (1955-1970), Leland R. Phelps (1970-1974 and 1975-1978), and Frank L. Burchardt (acting chair, 1974-1975). Salinger and Phelps served simultaneously as Directors of Graduate Studies in the Department. In the early 2000s, faculty members at Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill began planning a joint program to combine resources and strengthen both schools' departments, and the first class of joint program PhD students entered in 2009.

Acquisition information:
The Records were received by the University Archives as a transfer between 1983-1994.
Processing information:

Processed by Joshua Larkin Rowley, October 2008

Encoded by Joshua Larkin Rowley, October

Accessions A83-66, A89-0003, A94-99 were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.

Accession UA2015-0048 added and finding aid updated, Tracy M. Jackson, February 2016.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

For a period of twenty-five years from the origin of the material, permission in writing from the office of origin and the University Archivist is required for use of administrative records. After twenty-five years, records that have been processed may be consulted with the permission of the University Archivist.

In off-site storage; 48 hours advanced notice required for use.

Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Department of Germanic Languages and Literature, Duke University Archives, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1n128