[UMA-SRE-20190020] PRIVATE AND PROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE OF FRITZ LOEWE

Description

IdentifierUMA-SRE-20190020Extent9 boxesLinear Meterage1.53Scope and ContentThe Fritz Loewe Collection consists of three series of records which together documents Fritz Loewe’s extensive meteorological and glaciological research. They contain a large volume of correspondence, papers, reports, diaries, notes, reference lists, data, graphs, maps, and other assorted records. These series offer testimony to the private life and significant scientific work of Fritz Loewe, particularly his research on Greenland (including his experiences on the Wegener Expedition in 1929-1930) and Antarctica (including his experiences on the Wyatt Earp Expedition in 1947 and the French Scientific Expedition in 1950-1951).
This series of Private and Professional Correspondence comprises an extensive set of letters spanning from the years of Fritz Loewe’s childhood up until his death in 1974. The scope and scale of these records is testament to the vast network of family, friends and colleagues that surrounded Loewe his entire life. These letters show Loewe and his international peers exchanging ideas (particularly -but not only- scientific ideas) across the boundaries of countries, cultures and language, offering us a fascinating insight into the vast global scientific network that Loewe was a part of.
The level of language fluency we see in these letters is unique and impressive. Loewe seamlessly translates his own and others’ work into other languages as needed. Loewe himself corresponds in German, English, French, Italian and Danish. It is through this language dexterity that the reach and richness of the global scientific network is constructed and maintained. These letters offer us a fascinating picture of the sharing of science and the constructive approach of Loewe and his peers as they engage with each other’s work to develop their own.
This series also contains records that are important evidence of the lived experience of German Jews in Nazi Germany. These records include chilling documents relating to Loewe’s trial for spreading anti-Nazi propaganda and his later dismissal from the German Aviation Ministry. Correspondence between Loewe and various University of Melbourne professors (including Vice Chancellor Raymond Priestley) from the 1930s offer insight into migration out of Germany at this time and the role that institutions such as The University of Melbourne played in assisting Jewish people escape Europe. In addition, correspondence between Fritz Loewe (after he had moved to Melbourne) and various German Jewish individuals and families back in Germany offer a moving picture of desperation and immigration in the 1940s.
Key correspondents in this series include (amongst many others): Fritz Loewe and his family; Johannes Georgi; Uwe Radok; Raymond Priestley; Phillip Garth Law; Lyndhurst Falkiner Giblin; Paul Weitze; Paul-Emile Victor; A. F. Liotard; Hans Schwerdtfeger; Werner Schwerdtfeger; Hermann Flohn; E. Vowinckel; Kurt Wegener; Douglas Mawson; David Rivett; Frederick White; and Charles Henry Brian (Bill) Priestley.ArrangementThe papers of Fritz Loewe were first acquired by the University of Melbourne Archives in 1988 with small additions in the 1990s. When received in 1988 in three tranches, the collection was hastily arranged into groups by bringing together Loewe’s records of expeditions, photographs and his publications. The archivists noted that a more thorough arrangement and description was needed. This proved elusive, however, because most of the records were written in German and needed a German speaking archivist to process them. Interest in the collection by researchers resulted in some unplanned rearrangement. in 2015, a box list was created by recording the details written in English on the front of each box at acquisition.
In 2018, the Archives was offered a grant to arrange and describe the Loewe Papers in detail. Two archivists were employed, one of whom was fluent in German. Their analysis of the Papers resulted in three broad series being gathered and described, all file titles recorded in English and German, and names of important events and correspondents being added to the descriptions to enable discovery.
Private and Professional Correspondence of Fritz Loewe (2019.0020)
Research and Unpublished Papers of Fritz Loewe (2019.0021)
Private and Professional Correspondence of Fritz Loewe (2019.0022)Collection CategoryUniversity, individualsAccess StatusOpen for public accessRequest Access to RecordsRequest records from this SeriesSearch within this Series

Item

Unit

Provenance

CreatorLoewe, Fritz P.

Dates

Date1862-1976

Description Control

Previous System ID2019.0020State of ListFully listed

University of Melbourne Archives

Archives

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[UMA-SRE-20190020] PRIVATE AND PROFESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE OF FRITZ LOEWE