Skip to main content

Bertha Drew Hartzell papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2000-022

Scope and Contents

Bertha Hartzell kept journals and diaries throughout her life. Many of her journals are simple and brief recordings of the general nature of her days. However, some of her most extensive writing comes from her travel diaries, written during her time in Europe. These offer a fascinating and beautifully rendered picture of the life of well-to-do, educated Americans touring through the Old World. Clear and concise, her writing paints vivid scenes of perilous donkey rides to recently discovered ruins in Greece, of visits of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and of boat trips through the Mediterranean.

The diary she kept in Germany in 1900 includes frequent references to the time she spent with young Artur Rubinstein, who would become the famous concert pianist. Rubinstein borrowed this diary from Bertha's son, Karl, as source material for his memoirs. He used red pencil to mark the portions that he would use for his writing, and these marks are still present, as is a portion of envelope in which Rubinstein shipped the book back to Karl after he had completed his research.

Her other diaries provide a look at the life of an unusually educated woman living in early 20th-century New England. These diaries include notes on social visits and events (in her younger years, visits from what appear to be suitors were very common subjects) as well as notes on her work as a student and later as a librarian. She also, unsurprisingly, recorded information about the state and activities of her family. Morton's work was a frequent topic while he was alive, but the goings-on of her son Karl and her father were often discussed thereafter.

Three other diaries are included in the collection that were not written by Bertha. Two are diaries from the Civil War era that apparently belonged to Bertha's father, Charles A. Drew. Another appears to have belonged to Bertha's husband Morton, and includes notes on religious philosophy as well as records of visits to (presumably) members of his congregation.

In addition, there are documents dealing directly with Bertha's life and with those of her family and friends, including a selection of Drew/Hartzell family letters spanning from the early 1900s to the 1970s, photographs, and clippings.

Dates

  • Creation: 1863-1990

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

University records - Copyright held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the creator - In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted

Some material is in the public domain - No Copyright - United States

Biographical / Historical

Bertha Drew Hartzell was born in Newton Massachusetts to prominent lawyer and Harvard graduate Charles Acton Drew and Harriet Jaquith Drew on July 10, 1876. She attended Radcliffe College, where she was class president and graduated cum laude in 1898. As a young woman she traveled through Europe, and in 1900, while living in Berlin and studying music and German Language, she met the young Artur Rubinstein, who was studying piano there. Artur became quite smitten with her, and she is said to have given him a kiss as his thirteenth birthday present. They became good friends and kept in contact throughout her life. Later, her son Karl kept in somewhat regular contact with Rubenstein as well.

Also while in Europe, she met Rev. Dr. Morton Hartzell. They kept in touch by letter in the first years of the 20th century while she pursued a graduate degree in German studies at Radcliffe and taught for a year at Brookline High School. Though she seems to have had many other suitors, and perhaps even one serious beau around this time, in 1904 she and Morton became engaged and married, which appears to have been very much supported by Bertha's friends and family. In 1905 or 1906, they had their first child who died at nine months of age. In 1906, their son Karl Hartzell was born in Chicago.

Said to be a dynamic personality, the Reverend Hartzell was very ill with bovine tuberculosis—contracted through drinking unpasteurized milk—through much of their marriage, and often preached from a wheelchair. At the recommendation of Morton's doctors, the family moved to Pasadena, California for Morton's health. Bertha is remembered as a dedicated helpmate to him during his declining years. In 1916, Morton Hartzell died in Pasadena, California, and it seems Bertha and Karl quickly returned to Massachusetts. Bertha obtained a degree in library science from Simmons College in 1918, and is said to have received the highest marks ever by a student up to that time. She then went to work as a librarian at the School of Social Work in Boston, and then at Dana Hall School in Wellesley. She later became supervisor of training at the Boston Public Library, where she worked until her retirement in 1946. Karl attended Newton High School and then Wesleyan University, graduating in 1927. In 1935 he married Ann Lomas and they had three boys, two of whom attended Wesleyan. He later remarried in Florida. In Bertha's spare time, she participated in church, music, and library organizations. She died in 1950 in Massachusetts.

Extent

1.5 Linear Feet (3 hollinger boxes)

Language of Materials

English

German

Abstract

The Bertha Drew Hartzell papers consist primarily of diaries, which she kept most of her life. Included are her travel journals, which record her journeys through Europe, and brief accounts of her daily activities from 1897 to 1950. The collection also includes clippings about the life of Artur Rubinstein, letters between Rubinstein and members of Bertha's family, photos, and other memoranda. One diary was kept by husband, Morton, and two others were apparently kept by Bertha's father, Charles Drew, during the U.S. Civil War.

Arrangement

The Bertha Drew Hartzell papers are in three Hollinger boxes. Box 1 contains her diaries, which are in chronological order. A few of her diaries/notebooks are not included in Box 1, generally because they are oversized or otherwise unsuited to the arrangement or content of Box 1. Vertical markers in Box 1 mark these missing items' chronological places and note the box in which they may be found.

Box 2 consists of five folders, the first three of which contain an oversized diary and the last two folders contain a series of loose page-a-day notes.

Box 3 consists of family notebooks and papers: Charles Acton Drew's diaries from the Civil War era, Bertha Hartzell's general notebooks from the early 1900s, Morton Hartzell's notebook, Hartzell family papers and letters, and family photos and memorabilia.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The Bertha Drew Hartzell papers were donated to the University in 2000 by her son, Karl D. Hartzell.

Related Materials

Karl D. Hartzell papers, Special Collections & Archives, Wesleyan University

Title
Bertha Drew Hartzell papers, 1863-1990
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by Leslie Starr, June 2000, and Abbey Rae Francis, December 2013 Encoded by Abbey Rae Francis, February 2014, and Leith Johnson, October 2015 Migrated to ArchivesSpace by Jenny Miglus, June 2020
Date
June 12, 2020
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the University Archives Repository

Contact:
Olin Library
252 Church Street
Middletown CT 06459 USA
860-685-3864