Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Gurcke (Starr P.) papers
MS.008
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Starr P. Gurcke papers
Creator:
Gurcke, Starr Pait, 1911-
Identifier/Call Number: MS.008
Physical Description:
4 Linear Feet
8 document boxes
Date (inclusive): 1965-1990
Abstract: This collection includes translations
of California pre-statehood documents as well as some research materials and work
papers.
Language of Material:
English
Collection open for research.
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs.
Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair
use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to
determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more
information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
Starr P. Gurcke papers. MS 8. Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
University of California, Santa Cruz.
Gift of Heidi Donald 1996
"Starr Pait was born in San Jose, California in 1911. She graduated from San Jose State and
received a master's degree in Germanic languages from Stanford. While on a fellowship to
Germany she met and fell in love with Werner Gurcke. They married in 1936 in Santa Cruz,
California before leaving for San José, Costa Rica where Werner Gurcke had previously
immigrated. There they started a family and Gurcke developed a thriving import-export
business in Costa Rica, dealing in buttons, umbrellas and Hamilton watches. But because he
was still a German citizen, Werner Gurcke's business was one of 340 blacklisted by the Costa
Rican government, under pressure from the United States. He and his brother were arrested
without explanation in July 1942. Six months later, the whole family was put on the U.S.
Army transport ship Puebla. Werner Gurcke spent all three weeks in the hold of the ship,
while Starr Gurcke -- described in a Department of Justice document as "sort of (an)
American citizen" -- and her two young daughters slept in a cramped cabin with other
families. When the Puebla landed in San Pedro, Calif., immigration officials finally told
Werner Gurcke their reason for holding him: he had entered the United States illegally. He
was not allowed legal counsel, and he and his family were taken by train to Crystal City, a
former camp for farmworkers. Since Werner Gurcke was married to a U.S. citizen, he was
granted "internment at large" 18 months later at his first hearing.
The family moved to the Seabright area of Santa Cruz, where the Pait family had a beach
bungalow. On Feb. 25, 1946, Gurcke got a letter from immigration authorities saying that he
was no longer considered an enemy alien. It was the same day an immigration officer knocked
on his door to ask him to sign a document admitting he was in the United States illegally.
His boss and 18 neighbors petitioned the government, saying that deportation would result in
extreme hardship for his wife and children and deprive the country of "an intelligent,
cultured, responsible resident." After a three-year legal battle, he was exonerated of
having entered the country illegally. In 1952, he became a U.S. citizen, pledging to fight
all enemies, foreign and domestic. Werner Gurcke died of cancer in 1970 at age 61.
After Werner's death, Starr used her linguistic talents translating documents for local
historians and the County of Santa Cruz. She died in Santa Cruz in 1997 at age 86."
- Excerpted with permissions from the San Jose Mercury News article
Loss of
Rights
, posted on Thus, Jan. 30, 2003
Scope and Content of Collection
Starr Gurcke translated California pre-statehood documents concerning Mission Santa Cruz
and Villa de Branciforte for local historians and the County of Santa Cruz. The following
includes names of the collections where she found documents about Villa de Branciforte and
Santa Cruz.
- Translations of pre-statehood documents: Villa de Branciforte, 1797-1859
- Santa Cruz Mission Annual & Biennial Reports, 1791-1840
- County of Santa Cruz - collection of early documents, ca. 1844-1865
- Alcalde of the Villa de Branciforte, 1st & 2nd Constitutional Court - January-May, 1844, etc.
- Santa Barbara Mission Archives - H L. Lummis House
- Account Book of Mission Santa Cruz, 1792-1822
- Mission Santa Cruz Reports, 1806, 1809, 1833
- General Inventory of the Mission Santa Cruz, Aug.24, 1834
- Miscellaneous letters from Santa Barbara Mission Archives - 1794, 1809-1844; from the De la Guerra Collection, Santa Barbara Mission Archives - 1815-1834; Mission Santa Cruz Letters - 1813; From the estate of Rosario Curletti, Santa Barbara Mission Archives
- Bancroft Library - Present Condition of California - General Report to the Viceroy, May 11, 1796 by Fr. Isidro Alonzo Salazar; "Priest's letters and Mission Accounts" - Santa Cruz - 1807-1846; Letters from BL Vallejo XXIX p.153 (1826), 232 (1838), 276 (1838), 489 (1824)
- Archivo General de la Nacion Mexico - "Year of 1803 Californias - Jose Marcelino Bravo & other settlers of the Villa de Branciforte - concerning their moving to the site of Corralitos 6 Leagues distant from the Villa" - Bravo Expediente
- San Francisco Chancery Archives - Letters concerning Mission Santa Cruz #234-768 - 1799-1817; #774-1399-2 - 1816-1820; #878-1660 - 1818-1824; Priest's Letters - 1816-1827
- Huntington Library - Letters concerning Mission Santa Cruz - 1812-1852
- Wallace B. Stevens Collection, University of Texas - Copy of the Report of the Royal Exchange and Minister in charge of the 2nd Naval Department concerning a new settlement in California titled "Branciforte" - 11/17/1795 - 12/17/1795; "Expediente concerning the Erection of the Villa de Branciforte in New California" - 1976, 1977, 1798, 1799, 1800-1803; J. S. Majors Original Grant from Governor Alvarado - 1839-1841
- Monterey County Archives, Vallejo Collection - v.1 Criminal (ca. 1807-1833); #1-7/89, 401-586; 439-507 to 1807-1833; v.2 Criminal (1835-1837) #1-142; 143-256 to 1835-1837
- MAMC Mexican Archives - Monterey County - Miscellaneous letters; Bolcoff Letters
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Santa Cruz County (Calif.) -- History
Missions, Spanish -- California --
History -- 19th century
California -- History -- To
1846
Branciforte (Calif.) -- History
Gurcke, Starr Pait, 1911-