Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Martin Wilhelm Schaeffer Papers, #3905, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Laura Schaeffer Schnorrenberg of Asheville, N.C., July 1970.

Transferred from Schnorrenberg Family Papers (#4002); Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, January 1977.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, June 2009

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• German Americans--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Germany--Politics and government--1933-1945.
• Lee, Thomas Bailey, 1873-1948.
• Schaeffer, Frances Spencer Carter, 1875-1938.
• Schaeffer, Martin Wilhelm, 1868-1945.
• Schaeffer, Theodore Wilhelm, 1907-
• Schnorrenberg, Laura Schaeffer, 1900-1975.
• Soldiers--Germany--Correspondence--History--World War, 1914-1918.
• Soldiers--United States--Correspondence.
• United States. Army--Military life.

• David Miller Carter Papers (#143).

Martin Wilhelm Schaeffer (1868-1945) of Dresden, Germany, married Frances Spencer Carter (1875-1938) of Raleigh, N.C., in 1899. Schaeffer served in the German army during World War I; visited the United States periodically, 1935-1939; lived in Asheville, N.C., with his wife; and was interned in the United States for a time during World War II. His children were Theodore Wilhelm Schaeffer (born 1907), who served with the United State Army in World War II, and Laura Schaeffer Schnorrenburg (1901-1975).

The collection includes family correspondence and other papers of Martin Wilhelm Schaeffer and members of his family. Letters, largely 1936-1945 and written in German, chiefly concerning children, health and other family matters, but also briefly mentioning political affairs in Germany, comprise almost half of this collection. There are three letters from Schaeffer to his daughter, Laura Schaeffer Schnorrenberg, written during his service in the German military, 1915. His correspondence with his son Theodore, a soldier in the United States Army in World War II, is also included. The balance of the collection consists chiefly of personal financial records and transactions with German banks; a scrapbook belonging to Frances Carter Schaeffer; postcards received by the Schaeffers; and letters to Francis Carter Schaeffer and other items, 1932-1935, of Thomas Bailey Lee (1873-1948), state judge of Idaho.