Title: Oscar and Dorothy Rynders Zerk Papers and Photographs
Inclusive Dates: circa 1900-1995

Creators:

• Zerk, Oscar, 1878-1968
• Zerk, Dorothy Margaret Rynders, 1911-1995

Call Number: Parkside Mss 92; PH Parkside Mss 92

Quantity: 2.2 c.f. (6 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder) and 500 photographs, 185 negatives, and 41 transparencies (in 3 archives boxes and 1 flat box)

Repository:

Housed at the Archives & Area Research Center, Library/Learning Center, University of Wisconsin-Parkside; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Parkside Library / Parkside Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Papers and photographs of inventor Oscar Zerk and of his fourth wife, Dorothy Rynders. Also included are files about Zerk's Kenosha estate, Dunmovin. Photographs mainly document Oscar Zerk's participation in World War I, his family, Dunmovin, Dorothy's heyday as a beauty queen, Oscar's first company and home in Cleveland, Ohio, social events at Dunmovin, his natural history collections, and Oscar and Dorothy's 1954 wedding.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-pks0092

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The collection includes biographical information; personal memorabilia; extensive correspondence with Mr. Zerk's family in Europe and America; correspondence, minutes of meetings, speeches, and other documentation relating to his interest in the Kenosha Symphony; information about his first three wives; extensive courtship correspondence between Oscar and Dorothy; personal papers of Dorothy Rynders Zerk, a former beauty queen and secretary to federal judge F. Ryan Duffy, including clippings, personal correspondence, wedding memorabilia, a folder concerning her 1928 Wauwatosa High School class, information about various trips she made between 1938 and 1953, and hate mail which she received when her engagement to Oscar was announced warning her of his alleged sexual proclivities. There are also files about Zerk's Kenosha estate, Dunmovin, that document its purchase from Henry Cooper in 1939; its restoration and development, including landscape plans developed by Jens Jensen; social galas held at the estate; and later plans to sell or develop the property. Photographs mainly document Oscar Zerk's participation in World War I, his family, Dunmovin, Dorothy's heyday as a beauty queen, Oscar's first company and home in Cleveland, Ohio, social events at Dunmovin, his natural history collections, and Oscar and Dorothy's 1954 wedding.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mary LaCharite, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1996. Accession Number: M98-112

Processing Information

Processed by Donna Sereda, 1998.

Parkside Mss 92	Series: Oscar Zerk
Box   1 Folder   1	Biography
Box   1 Folder   2	European trip, 1930
Box   1 Folder   3	Funeral, 1968
Box   1 Folder   4	Joke collection
Box   1 Folder   5	Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, circa 1942-1958 Scope and Content Note: Includes history, minutes, correspondence, speeches, reports, programs, and clippings.
Box   1 Folder   6	Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, undated Scope and Content Note: Drafts of correspondence, reports, and speeches.
Box   1 Folder   7	Music composed by Richard Czerwonky and dedicated to Oscar Zerk (“By the Fireside,” 1942, and“When I Think of You,” 1943)
Box   1 Folder   8	Patents and inventions, 1922-1943
	Wives
Box   1 Folder   9	Tosca Zerk, 1926-1932
Box   1 Folder   10	Proposals of marriage, 1943
Box   2 Folder   1	Adele Zirk, 1944-1945
Box   2 Folder   2	Patricia Shepard, 1949-1950
	Series: Dorothy Rynders Zerk	⇧
Box   2 Folder   3	Biography, wedding, and other personal memorabilia, circa 1928-1995
Box   2 Folder   4	Career, 1934-1950
Box   2 Folder   5	Association of Secretaries and Law Clerks of the United States Circuit and District Courts, 1946-1956
Box   2 Folder   6	Clippings, 1934-1953
Box   2 Folder   7	Hate mail, 1954
Box   2 Folder   8	Personal correspondence, 1935-1982, undated
Box   2 Folder   9	Tigwell, Dorothy, correspondence, 1946-1949
	Travel
Box   2 Folder   10	Panama, 1938
Box   2 Folder   11	Western U.S. and Canada, 1947
Box   2 Folder   12	Europe, 1953
Box   3 Folder   1	Mexico, 193?
Box   3 Folder   1	Florida, 1951
Box   3 Folder   2	Wauwatosa High School, 1928-1988
	Series: Correspondence	⇧
Box   3 Folder   3-8	Courtship (Oscar and Dorothy), 1954 March-August
Box   3 Folder   9	Dziurzinsky, Karl, 1958-1966
Box   4 Folder   1-2	General, 1921-1961
Box   4 Folder   3	Guensberger, Marion [sister], 1930-1940
Box   4 Folder   4	Letters of appreciation, 1940-1941
Box   4 Folder   5	Letters of appreciation for officers' party, 1942
Box   4 Folder   6	Pabst, Gustave, Jr. (Milwaukee Journal), 1942
Box   4 Folder   7	Pollack, Fanny [aunt], 1929-1931
Box   4 Folder   8	Rennebohm, Oscar and Mary, 1945-1954
Box   4 Folder   9	Schlesinger, Louis [uncle], 1932
Box   4 Folder   10	Singer, Elfryda, 1953-1956
Box   4 Folder   11	Zerk[owitz], Adolf [brother] and Rosl, 1965-1969
Box   4 Folder   12	Zerk, Bernard [father], 1938-1939, 1955
	Zerk, Max [brother], Irma, and Karl
Box   4 Folder   13	1930-1939
Box   5 Folder   1-2	, 1930-1939 (continued)
Box   5 Folder   3	1940-1949
Box   5 Folder   4	1950-1968
	Series: Dunmovin	⇧
Box   5 Folder   5	Purchase of Cooper estate, 1939
Box   5 Folder   6	Jensen, Jens, 1939
Oversize Folder	Landscape plans Physical Description: 7 sheets
Box   5 Folder   7	Renovation, 1939-1941
Box   5 Folder   8	Garden party, 1948
Box   6 Folder   1	Maintenance and repairs, 1939-1988
Box   6 Folder   2	Development of estate, taxes, 1959-1982
Box   6 Folder   3-5	Potential sale, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1985
Box   6 Folder   6	Dispute with bank over use of lot, 1989
PH Parkside Mss 92	Series: Photographs	⇧
Box   1 Folder   1	Oscar Zerk
Box   1 Folder   2-4	World War I
Box   1 Folder   5	Bernard Zerk's textile factory, Vienna
Box   1 Folder   6	Zerk family
Box   1 Folder   7	[Mia and Tosca Zerk?]
Box   1 Folder   8	Adele Zerk
Box   1 Folder   9	Dorothy Rynders Zerk
Box   2 Folder   1	Oscar and Dorothy's wedding, 1954
Box   2 Folder   2	Oscar and Dorothy Zerk together
Box   2 Folder   3	Cooper estate, circa 1939
	Dunmovin
Box   2 Folder   4	Aerial views
	Christmas
Box   2 Folder   5	Shrine
Box   2 Folder   6	Cards
Box   2 Folder   7	Interiors/exteriors
Box   2 Folder   8	Exteriors
Box   2 Folder   9	Grounds
Box   2 Folder   10	Interiors
Box   2 Folder   11	Natural History Museum
Box   2 Folder   12	Renovation, circa 1939-1941
	Garden parties
Box   2 Folder   13	1942
Box   2 Folder   14	1948
Box   2 Folder   15	Negatives
	Photograph album of Oscar Zerk, Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1907-1913
	Zerk's first company
Box   3 Folder   1	Pages 1-5: exterior, interior, office staff, supply area
Box   3 Folder   2	Pages 6-10: factory workers, factory floor
Box   3 Folder   3	Pages 11-15: factory workers, factory floor, equipment
Box   3 Folder   4	Pages 16-20: factory workers, factory floor
	Zerk's home
Box   3 Folder   5	Pages 21-27: Zerk's home interiors
Box   3 Folder   6	Drawing of Zerk
	Loose prints from album
Box   3 Folder   7	Factory office staff, factory workers, factory floor
	Oversize
Box   4 Folder   1	Oscar's business
Box   4 Folder   2	Oscar and Dorothy's wedding, 1954
Box   4 Folder   3	Dunmovin, Christmas, shrine
Box   4	Dorothy's scrapbook, circa 1934