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.
