John E. Rothensteiner papers

Collection

Identifier: Wing-Modern-MS-Roth

Staff Only

Abstract

Parish priest in Fredericktown and St. Louis, Missouri; born in 1860, ordained in 1884, raised to the monsignorate in 1934. Notebooks, literary manuscripts, clippings, correspondence, greeting cards and other printed ephemera. Includes material concerning Rothensteiner's work as a Catholic parish priest in Missouri, historian and censor librorum, poet, essayist and journalist. Some published works and correspondence in German are provided with translations by Sister Callista Campion, author of a dissertation on Rothensteiner and curator of his papers in the 1940s. The correspondence sequence includes significant exchanges with the Catholic poets H.A. Rattermann, Franz Joseph Zlatnik and Anton Müller (Bruder Willram), and with Sigismund Cardinal Waitz, archbishop of Salzburg, and literary critic Friedrich Bruns. Many of the letters concern the writing, translating and teaching of German poetry.

Dates

Creation: 1880-1940

Creator

Rothensteiner, John E. (John Ernest), 1860-1936 (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials are in German and English.

Biographical / Historical

Parish priest in Fredericktown and St. Louis, Missouri; born in 1860, ordained in 1884, raised to the monsignorate in 1934. From the 1880s onward he was a major collector of books, including rare books, many of which went to Mundelein College and now reside at the Newberry Library. He acted as historian and censor librorum of the archdiocese of St. Louis, and wrote many essays, articles, and poems on German and German-American themes, in both English and German. His essays appeared chiefly in the Catholic press, especially "Amerika", the "Catholic Herald," "The Fortnightly Review," and "Pastoralblatt."