Title: Ruth Kriehn Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1897-1989

Creator:

• Kriehn, Ruth

Call Number: Local History Manuscript Collection 363

Quantity:

• 2.2 cubic ft. (7 boxes)
• 1 oversize folder

Repository:

Milwaukee Public Library, Frank P. Zeidler Room

Archival Location:

Milwaukee Public Library (Map)

Abstract:

Ruth Kriehn was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin author and historian. This collection contains her research for her 1988 book, The Fisherfolk of Jones Island.

Note:

To request materials from this collection, create/login to your Special Collections Account.

Language: English, German, Polish

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.mwpl-lhmc0363

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Ruth Louise Kriehn (1914–2007) was a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, teaching human kinetics, modern dance and exercise from 1952 to 1979. Notably, she lived and studied modern dance under famed dancer Mary Wigman in Berlin, Germany from 1951 to 1952. Kriehn passed away in 2007, at the age of 92.

Kriehn earned a Master’s degree in History from the University of Wisconsin – Madison prior to her study of modern dance, and continued to be interested in history throughout her career. Upon retirement from UW – Milwaukee, Kriehn began researching her family history, which had inhabited the small fishing village of Jones Island years before. After seven years of research, Kriehn published The Fisherfolk of Jones Island in 1988. Kriehn’s book details the history of the settlement of Jones Island (which was not an island but rather a peninsula) from the early 1800s until modern times.

This collection exclusively covers Ruth Kriehn’s research for her 1988 book, The Fisherfolk of Jones Island. The majority of materials originate during the roughly seven years Kriehn spent researching for the book. However, this collection contains many photographs or copies of older photographs or other visual materials dating from roughly 1890 to 1944.

Series 1 is about specific histories for important families which inhabited Jones Island. Each of these histories includes written information and photographs for each family covered. Series 2 focuses on Kriehn’s family history and contains notebooks on the European history of the Kriehn family, including one of Kriehn’s family members who worked as a maid in Berlin during the late 19th century. Series 3 contains photographs, sketches, ephemera and newspaper clippings of Jones Island, Milwaukee, fishing, people, recreation, and saloons. Series 4 contains several books relating to Kriehn’s topics of research on Jones Islanders as well as a published copy of The Fisherfolk of Jones Island. Also included are correspondence and a map of the northern tip of Jones Island circa 1897.

The collection is arranged into the following series:

1. Family Histories, Jones Island, circa 1988
2. Family Histories, Kriehn family, 1951-1988
3. Photographs, 1987-1988
4. Books, Articles and Correspondence, 1897-1989

These series are arranged alphabetically except for series 4, which is at the end because of larger material type. Series 1, 2 and part of 3 were originally organized into spiral bound notebooks. The notebooks were dismantled, pages sleeved for preservation and organized alphabetically by title of notebook within each series.

Kriehn, Ruth, Papers, 1897-1989, Collection 363. Local History Manuscript Collections, Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Archival Collections

• Historic Photo Collection. Milwaukee Historic Photo Collection 6.

• Jones Island Album. Milwaukee Historic Photo Collection 8.

• Jones Island Property Survey. Local History Manuscript Collection 403.

Publications and Other Items

The Fisherfolk of Jones Island

Map Showing Jones Island

The People Nobody Knew: The Kaszubs of Jones Island

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials. The collection is open to all in accordance with state law. The public may view Local History Manuscript Collections by appointment at the Central Library. To request an in-person appointment, create/login to your Special Collections Account. If you have any questions, please contact the Archives and Special Collections Department at mplarchives@milwaukee.gov.

Use Restrictions

The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).

Acquisition Information

This collection was donated to Milwaukee Public Library in 1993 by Ruth Kriehn. The materials were accessioned as Local History Manuscripts.

Processing Information

Inventoried by Kadie Seitz, Fieldworker, 2014. Processed by Casey Lapworth, 2019.

	Series: 1. Family Histories, Jones Island, circa 1988
	The Squatters of Jones Island by Ruth Kriehn, circa 1988
Box   1 Folder   1-2	Dreher-Kolp families, circa 1988
Box   1 Folder   3-4	Jacob Muza, Anton Muza, Joseph Budzisz, August Budzisz, and John Bolda families, circa 1988
Box   1 Folder   5	Kanski, Plambeck, and Struck families, circa 1988
Box   1 Folder   6	Lenz, Paczocha, and Jeka families, circa 1988
Box   2 Folder   1-2	Meyer and Tamms families, circa 1988
Box   2 Folder   3-5	Reminiscences of Ella Tessler Miller and George Treu, circa 1988
Box   2 Folder   6	Rosenstock, Braeger, Leben and Rosenow families, circa 1988
Box   2 Folder   7	Rotta, Warres, and Adrian families, circa 1988
Box   3 Folder   1	Selin and Koss families, circa 1988
Box   3 Folder   2-3	Tessler, Miller, Rennpferd, and Treu families, circa 1988
Box   3 Folder   4-5	Thompson, Eggers, Schweitzer, Strehlow, Pilgrim, and Heyer families, circa 1988
	Series: 2. Family Histories, Kriehn family, 1951-1988	⇧
Box   3 Folder   6-7	Carl Kriehn and Ewig families, circa 1988
Box   4 Folder   1-2	European Background of the Kriehn family and a Short History of the Kashubes, circa 1988
Box   4 Folder   3-5	Franz Kriehn family, circa 1988
Box   4 Folder   6-7	Louisa Habeck in Berlin and Berlin, 1951
Box   5 Folder   1	Louisa Habeck in Berlin and Berlin, 1951
	Series: 3. Photographs, 1987-1988	⇧
Box   5 Folder   2	Hel Peninsula, Photographs and memorabilia at the Ethnographic Kashubian Park in Wdzydze come from Alexander Sudak and Aleksander Celarek, circa 1988
Box   6 Folder   1-3	Jones Island pictures : Jones Island today, early Jones Island, the squatters, fisherfolk, circa 1988
	Miscellany of pictures : Early Milwaukee, Jones island streets, people, houses, saloons, recreation, news clippings, paintings and etchings,
Box   5 Folder   3-4	Circa 1988
Box   7 Folder   1-12	Undated
Box   5 Folder   5	Negatives (Black and white copy negative image of Jones Island), 1987
Box   5 Folder   6	Septuagenarian goes chub fishing, undated
	Series: 4. Books, Articles and Correspondence, 1897-1989	⇧
	Books
Box   6	Dienstbare Geister: Leben und Arbeitswelt städtischer Dienstboten [Ministering spirits: life and work of urban servants] by Heidi Muller, 1981
Box   6	The Fisherfolk of Jones Island by Ruth Kriehn, 1988
Box   6	History of Gdansk by Edmund Cieslak and Czeslaw Biernat, 1988
Box   6	Stettin in alten Ansichtskarten [Stettin in Old Postcards] edited by Werner Boddeker, 1979
Box   6 Folder   4	Correspondence, 1981-1989
Oversize Folder   1	Map, homes and fish houses on the northern tip of Jones Island, circa 1897