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| Format | Book Whole |
|---|---|
| Author, Monographic | Harper, Bertha Tauber |
| Title, Monographic | In the Afterglow |
| Date of Publication | [193?] |
| Extent of Work | 195 |
| Abstract | File also includes "Mrs. Bertha Tauber Harper," by Roland Harper, 32 pp.; "Family History of Bertha Tauber Harper," by Wilhelmina Harper (daughter), 3 pp.; "Mrs. Bertha Tauber Harper," from an interview by Beatrice Hess (high school student), 7 pp.; and photocopies of images of Bertha Tauber Harper (born in Munich, German, March 7, 1853), William Harper (born in Whitby, Ontario, Canada, Nov. 14, 1843), and of a family portrait: William Harper and family on front steps of home on Northern Blvd [now 5th Ave], College Point, Queens, N.Y., 1905 or 1906.[Description by David Harper, Bertha Tauber Harper's paternal grandson]: Bertha Tauber was born in Munich in 1853. In 1875, she married a Canadian-American student, William Harper, whom she had been tutoring in the French language. That same year they returned to the U.S. where William served as a country minister in Michigan until he obtained a position in teaching, his chosen profession, in Maine. He continued as a well-revered educator and superintendent of schools in Massachusetts, Georgia, and Queens, NY, until his death in 1907. Bertha, meanwhile, raised five children and engaged in a number of social activities. In 1932, she published a book "When I Was a Girl in Bavaria" (Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard), in a popular children's series, describing her early years in Germany. Later, she typed the 195-page manuscript entitled "In the Afterglow," a sequel memoir. The first 70 pages detail her adventures as a young teacher in Sedan, France, where she was an eye-witness to the German invasion which defeated Napoleon III there. The remainder of the manuscript describes her spirited response to married life in America, including an adaptation from mingling with royalty in Germany to the rural folk in frontier Michigan and the segregated South; becoming involved in all the communities in which she lived; visiting the infamous Andersonville Stockade in Georgia and Booker T. Washington in Alabama; and working as a social service investigator in the tenements of New York City. She also described her impressions on a return visit to Munich after almost fifty years, and her retirement to California until her death in 1945. The style is a bit embellished in spots but gives a clear picture of her compassion for all sorts of folks and her enthusiasm for life. |
| Notes | Author of "When I Was a Girl in Bavaria"; donated by David B. Harper, 2007. |
| Call Number | FH Harper |
| MKI Terms | Family history/ Harper, Bertha Tauber, 1853-1945/ German Americans -- New York/ Women authors/ German Americans -- Georgia/ German Americans -- Michigan |