Title: Mathilde Franziska Anneke Research Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1737-1989

Creator:

• Wagner, Maria, 1920-

Call Number: Mss 969; PH Mss 969

Quantity: 1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes) and 7 photographs

Repository:

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.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Research papers compiled by Professor Maria Wagner in the course of writing her book Mathilde Franziska Anneke (Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt Am Main, 1980). The papers include copies of correspondence (1737-1884) between Anneke and her family, friends, and associates, including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Booth (wife of Sherman Booth), and Cecilie Kapp; and copies of Anneke's published writings, including her play Oithono, poems, and stories serialized in newspapers. The collection also includes correspondence between Maria Wagner and Hildegard Blackwell and Ingeborg Smith, descendents of Anneke as well as several copies and reviews of Wagner's works and her research notes. Materials peripherally related to Anneke's life are also present in the collection such as information about the city of Milwaukee, women and the women's suffrage movement, politics, and common diseases of the time. A small collection of photographs, some taken by Wagner and used in her book, document, among other things, the building in Milwaukee that possibly housed the Toechter-Institut and Anneke's gravesite. The bulk of the collection is in German, much of it being handwritten in German gothic script.

Language: German and English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00969

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Professor Maria Wagner was born in Kosice, Czechoslovakia in 1920. She received her doctoral degree in 1944 from the Leopold Franzens University in Innsbruck, Austria. In August 1944, she married Eric Wagner. They had three children. She immigrated to the United States with her family in 1960 and became naturalized in 1966. She held various teaching positions in New Jersey and in 1967 joined the German faculty at Rutgers University. She was the chairperson of the foreign language department from 1978 to 1981. In 1980, she became a professor of German. She has published numerous articles and essays, both nationally and internationally, on Mathilde Franziska Anneke, feminism, and many other topics. In 1980, Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt Am Main, published her book Mathilde Franziska Anneke.

Mathilde Franziska Giesler was born on her grandfather's estate in Westphalia in 1817, to Karl and Elizabeth (Huelswitt) Giesler. She married Alfred Tabouillot in 1836, at the age of 19. He treated her poorly and she managed to win a divorce decree from him a year later, retaining custody of their daughter, Fanny. In 1847, she married Fritz Anneke, a soldier and officer. Together they started the Neuen Kolnische Zeitung, later the Kolnische Frauen Zeitung, supporting women's rights in Germany. When Fritz was thrown into prison for subversive activities, Mathilde edited and maintained production of the newspaper by herself.

Fritz joined the side of the revolutionaries during the 1848 German uprising. Mathilde went into battle with him, serving as his mounted aide-de-camp. When the revolutionaries lost the 1848 German revolution, Mathilde and Fritz fled the country. They went first to Switzerland, then France, and finally to America where they eventually settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They had six children of whom only two (Percy and Hertha) survived.

In 1852, in Milwaukee, Mathilde began a newspaper (Die Deutsche Frauen Zeitung) supporting women's rights. She was the first woman to own, edit, and run a feminist newspaper in the United States. Mathilde and Fritz moved to New Jersey later that year, where Mathilde continued publication of the Frauen Zeitung. In 1858, the Annekes returned to Milwaukee.

Fritz got a job as a newspaper correspondent and was sent to Switzerland in 1859. In 1860, Mathilde and Mary Booth (wife of Sherman Booth) joined Fritz in Switzerland with their children. Shortly after their reunion, the Civil War broke out in America. Mathilde and her children stayed in Switzerland with Mary Booth, while Fritz returned to the United States and fought on the Union side. Mathilde supported her family by taking over Fritz's position as a newspaper correspondent. When the war was over, Mathilde and her children returned to the United States. In September 1865, Mathilde started the Toechter-Institut, a school for girls in Milwaukee. The school existed from 1865 until her death in 1884.

Mathilde's involvement with woman's suffrage led her to become good friends with Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other prominent figures of the women's movement of the time. She drew in the support of the German American community and gave many speeches on women's rights around the country and at conventions. She died in 1884 at the age of 67.

The papers in this collection may be divided into two series: photocopies of primary sources of Mathilde Anneke (primarily dating 1850s-1870s) and the research notes and writings of Maria Wagner (1970s-1980s). The bulk of the collection is in German with many items handwritten in German Gothic script. Maria Wagner's notes are in both German and English.

The MATHILDE ANNEKE series consists of biographical information, correspondence, and various published materials by Anneke. The biographical materials include sketches of her life, photocopies of photos of Fritz and Mathilde as well as photos of their gravestones, Mathilde's childhood home, and other sites presumably taken by Maria Wagner. Also included are photocopies of their naturalization papers and many newspaper articles announcing Mathilde's death and offering retrospectives of her life.

The correspondence is arranged by correspondent and grouped by date and for the most part consists of photocopies of handwritten letters with a typed copy attached. About half of the letters are between Fritz and Mathilde, the others relate to Cecilie Kapp and Edmund Maerklein. The general correspondence includes copies of letters from Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Booth, and other notables among the Annekes' acquaintances of the time.

The published materials consist of copies of most of Mathilde Anneke's articles published in newspapers, her play Oithono, and several poems, all of which express Mathilde's thoughts and opinions about women's rights, slavery, and the world in general.

The MARIA WAGNER series consists of background research, correspondence, and articles by Wagner and about her and her research. The background research consists of photocopied articles and chapters about Mathilde and her husband's lives and accomplishments and the world in which they lived. Topics covered include smallpox and smallpox vaccinations (one of the Anneke children died from smallpox), Abraham Lincoln, Democrats and Republicans, 48er's, German Americans, immigrants and assimilation, as well as information on Milwaukee and woman's suffrage.

The correspondence documents Wagner's research process and the process of getting her book published and also includes correspondence with Hildegard Blackwell and Ingeborg Smith, both descendants of Mathilde.

The writings consist of several articles written by Maria, outlines and drafts of sections of her book, and some research notes. Articles include “Mathilde Franziska Anneke: An Early Westphalian Feminist,” “Mathilde Franziska Anneke - die grosse Toechter der roten Erde,” “Militant Feminism in the German Woman's Press of 1852 and 1977 in Germany and America,” “Die Anneke-Salon - eine Keimzelle der Revolution von 1848,” and many more. Also included are reviews of Maria Wagner's publications, a copy of her curriculum vitae, and information on a presentation she gave at the University of Wisconsin's Max Kade Institute.

Fritz Anneke and Mathilde Franziska Anneke Papers (Wis Mss LW) at the Wisconsin Historical Society contain related records.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Professor Maria Wagner, Princeton, New Jersey, 1998. Accession Number: M2001-012

Processing Information

Processed by Christine Dent, 2001.

	Series: Mathilde Anneke
Mss 969	Biographical
Box   1 Folder   1	By C. Hermann Boppe, 1885
Box   1 Folder   2	Hildegard Wallner Blackwell sketch of Mathilde
Box   1 Folder   3	Photocopies of family photos and documents
PH Mss 969	Photographs
Item   1	Mathilde Franziska Anneke's birth house (Ober-Leveringhausen)
Item   2	Castle Blankenstein on the Ruhr - Mathilde's childhood home
Item   3	Castle Blankenstein on the Ruhr
Item   4	The fortress of Rastatt about 1850
Item   5	Possibly the Anneke-school on Jefferson Street, Milwaukee
Item   6	Mathilde Franziska Anneke's gravestone at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee
Item   7	Mathilde and Fritz Annekes' gravestones at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee
Mss 969 Box   1 Folder   4	Newspaper articles about Mathilde's death and life, 1884-1930
Box   1 Folder   5	Newspaper articles about the Milwaukee Toechter-Institut, 1860s-1870's
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   6-9	Mathilde and Fritz Anneke, 1859-1872
Box   1 Folder   10	With family members, 1856-1865
Box   2 Folder   1	Mathilde and Caecilia Kapp, 1864-1884
Box   2 Folder   2	With Edmund Maerklein, 1865-1878
Box   2 Folder   3-6	General correspondence, 1828-1864
	Publications
Box   2 Folder   7	Thomas Paine Lecture, 1859
Box   2 Folder   8	Oithono (play)
Box   2 Folder   9	Memorien einer Frau aus dem Badish-Pfalzischen Feldzug (A Woman's Memories of the Campaign in Baden and the Palinate), 1853
Box   2 Folder   10	“Als die Grossvater die Grossmutter nahm,” 1864; “Uhland in Texas,” , 1866; and other articles
Box   2 Folder   11	“Die Gebrochen Ketten” (article), 1864
Box   2 Folder   12	“Erinnerungen vom Michigan-See,” 1864, and other articles
Box   2 Folder   13	“Maitrank” and “Vor Marseille” (poems); “Louise Aston” (article)
Box   2 Folder   14	“Wayside Blossoms” (poems written and translated by Mary Booth), 1864, 1865
Box   3 Folder   1	Producte der Rothen Erde, 1846
Box   3 Folder   2	As a journalist and other newspaper articles, 1858-1882, 1924
	Series: Maria Wagner	⇧
	Background Research
Box   3 Folder   3	Background research with notes (previously published information on Mathilde and Fritz Anneke)
Box   3 Folder   4	General background research (information on diseases, politics, German-Americans, immigrants, Wisconsin, and more)
Box   3 Folder   5	Copy of book by Ignatz Huelswitt with research notes (Tagebuch einer Reise nach den Vereinigten Staaten und der Nordwestkuste von Amerika), 1828
Box   4 Folder   1	Milwaukee history
Box   4 Folder   2-3	Women and woman's suffrage movement, 1868-1930
	Correspondence
Box   4 Folder   4	Hildegard Blackwell and Ingeborg Smith, 1977-1989
Box   4 Folder   5	General correspondence, 1976-1984
	Writings
Box   4 Folder   6-7	Notes and drafts
Box   4 Folder   8	Essays, articles, and notes by Maria Wagner
Box   4 Folder   9	Review of Maria Wagner's publications and Curriculum Vitae