Summary Information
Richard W. Guenther Papers
1832-1962
- Guenther, Richard W., 1845-1913
Oshkosh Mss BV; Oshkosh Micro 18; Micro 968
.4 c.f. (1 archives box, 1 reel of microfilm [35mm])
UW-Oshkosh Polk Library / Oshkosh Area Research Ctr. (Map)Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of a former Wisconsin congressman and his family, consisting of correspondence, speeches, certificates and official documents, clippings, a journal, and memorabilia. Guenther's papers consist of fragmentary political and diplomatic correspondence, handwritten and printed copies of speeches and remarks, certificates and official documents, biographical clippings, and memorabilia. Family material includes correspondence, clippings, and a journal of Alice Lillian Motz, Guenther's daughter, and her husband Eugen Motz, former Chilean vice-counsel to Mexico City. Of note are genealogical documents and a journal of uncertain authorship kept during the Mexican revolution, 1913-1915. There are isolated letters to Guenther from Susan B. Anthony, Benjamin Harrison, Jeremiah Rusk, Philetus Sawyer, and John Sherman and a letter from Guenther to his wife concerning a 1904 visit with Theodore Roosevelt.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-osh00bv ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Congressman and diplomat Richard William Guenther of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was born in Potsdam, Prussia, on November 30, 1845, the youngest of eleven children of Theodore and Augusta Guenther. After an education in the local schools he graduated from the Royal Pharmacy. A severe burn prior to his final examinations apparently prompted Guenther to migrate to the United States in 1866. After a brief sojourn in New York City in the plaster business he moved to Fond du Lac, then settled in Oshkosh one year later. There Guenther established a drug store and soon became active in local Republican politics.
Guenther emerged on the state political scene in 1877 when he was elected to the first of two terms as state treasurer. In 1880 he was elected to Congress from the Sixth Congressional District. After serving three terms, Guenther was elected from the Second Congressional District of which he was not a resident. In 1890 he was appointed consul-general at Mexico City. Mining investments made while he resided there, 1890-1893, reportedly resulted in considerable personal wealth. In 1893 Guenther returned to Wisconsin and was appointed to the state Board of Control for several years. From 1898 to 1910 he was consul-general at Frankfort-on-Main; in 1910 he was appointed to a similar post in Capetown, South Africa. In 1912 Guenther returned to Oshkosh because of ill health. He died April 5, 1913.
Guenther married Emelia Schloreb of Oshkosh in 1871. The couple had four children, only two of whom survived into adulthood. Mrs. Guenther died in 1932.
Richard Guenther, Jr., was active in mining in the United States and Mexico. He died in 1921. A daughter, Alice Lillian married Eugen Motz, a German native who served as Chilean vice-consul in Mexico City. In 1928 the couple retired to Oshkosh. Motz died there in 1936; his widow died in 1962.
Scope and Content Note
The Richard Guenther Papers unfortunately provide only fragmentary coverage of his political and diplomatic career. Information on the career of his son-in-law Eugen Motz, also a diplomat, is also sketchy. There are, nevertheless, a few items in the collection to interest the researcher.
In Guenther's portion of the collection are fragmentary political and diplomatic correspondence, handwritten speeches and published remakrs, official certificates and documents, biographical clippings, and memorabilia. The correspondence includes two letters from Carl Schurz and one from Susan B. Anthony requesting his support for women's suffrage in Wisconsin. Of autograph value are letters from Benjamin Harrison, Jeremiah Rusk, Philetus Sawyer, and John Sherman. Also of note is a letter written in German to Mrs. Guenther concerning a visit with Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 and an 1889 letter soliciting Guenther's support for a proposed Nicaraguan canal.
Family papers consist chiefly of letters, official documents, a journal, and clippings of Guenther's daughter, Alice Lillian Motz and her husband Eugen Motz, primarily concerning their life in Mexico. Of special interest here is a handwritten journal of uncertain authorship concerning life during the Mexican revolution, 1913-1915. There are several items of genealogical value such as an 1832 Austrian divorce dispensation to one George Motz. A few clippings relate to the Schloreb family of Oshkosh.
All clippings in the collection have been microfilmed. Photographs separated to the Iconographic Section relate to diplomatic activities in Mexico and Germany.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Alice Motz, Oshkosh, Wis., September, 1948; Virginia Senn Brown, Oshkosh, August 1970,; and Russell Nelson, Madison, Wis., June 1983. Accession Number: M70-237, M83-173
Processed by Carolyn J. Mattern, December, 1983.
Contents List
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Richard Guenther, Sr., 1878-1919
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Memorabilia, invitations, etc
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Motz family
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Papers, 1878-1962
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Mexican journal, 1913-1915
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Genealogical documents, 1832-1862
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Richard Guenther, Jr., Memorabilia
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Schloreb family, Memorabilia
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Oshkosh Micro 18/Micro 968
Reel
1
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Clippings
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