Finding aid for the Gretl Dichter photographs and personal papers, 1907-1996.
Sarah R. Jones
Descriptive Summary
Title: Gretl Dichter photographs and personal papers
Date (inclusive): 1907-1996 (bulk 1916-1940)
Number: 2004.M.2
Creator/Collector:
Dichter, Gretl
Physical Description:
1.5 Linear Feet
(4 boxes)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: This collection of photographs and a
few personal items document the life of Gretl Dichter, her family, and her travels prior to
emigrating to the United States from Vienna, Austria in 1946.
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Language: Collection material is in German with some English
Biographical/Historical Note
Margarete (Gretl) Dichter was born in Vienna, Austria on April 17, 1907, and was raised
there with her six siblings. The Dichter family frequently traveled to European vacation
sites and resorts. Dichter worked in her father's department store, where she developed her
business acumen and fashion sense. She became very interested in photography, and documented
her extensive travels across Europe with her detailed and artistic photographs. When Austria
was annexed by Hitler and the Third Reich in 1938, they also confiscated the Dichter
properties and holdings, forcing Dichter and her siblings to flee to Chicago where they
lived with family from her father's side.
Dichter and her husband, Walter Silton, opened a wholesale toy company in Los Angeles which
became very successful. She was also to spend the rest of her life doing what she loved:
interior design, art, architecture, and classical music. She was passionate about the
outdoors, and frequently hiked and skied, often taking photographs of her adventures.
Dichter commissioned Richard Dorman to build a house in Beverly Hills based off on the
furniture she was able to bring from her apartment in Vienna, which had been designed by
Walter Sobotka, a well-known member of the Wiener Werkstatte in Vienna. Dichter spent her
last years living in a penthouse that overlooked UCLA and the Bel Air area. She cherished
her memories, her photographs, and her artwork. She died March 23, 1966.
Administrative Information
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Gretl Dichter miscellaneous papers, 1906-1996, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no. 2004.M.2.
Aquisition Information
Gift of Edith Wachtel Arlen and Walter Arlen, 2002.
Processing History
Initial evaluation by Frances Terpak on May 13, 2003. Movement and rehousing by Vladimira
Stefura on January 8, 2004. The collection was reprocessed and the finding aid was written
by Sarah R. Jones in 2016 under the supervsion of Kit Messick.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection consists of 158 photographs, two original portfolios, one postcard, one
driver's license, and one passport. It also includes a three-page, typewritten biography
signed by Edith Arlen Wachtel, Walter Arlen, and Howard Myers. The photographs include views
of Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and several landscape scenes taken by
Dichter on her vacations and travels. There are many images of the Dichter family, and three
photographs of the commemorative plaque that was erected in her honor in Brentwood,
California.
Arrangement
Organized in three series:
Within each series, files are arranged alphabetically. Within each
physical folder, the items are in chronological order. Series
I. Photographs of Locations, 1929-1933;
Series II. Photographs of Dichter
Family, 1907-1996;
Series III. Personal Items and
Papers, undated.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Topics
Portrait photography
Subjects - Places
Italy -- Description and travel
Germany -- Description and travel
Switzerland -- Description and travel
Europe -- Description and travel
Austria -- Description and travel
France -- Description and travel
Genres and Forms of Material
Black-and-white photographs
Black-and-white photographs -- 20th century
Passports
Photographs, Original
Photographs -- 20th century
Postcards -- 20th century
Black-and-white photographs -- Austria -- 20th century
Contributors
Dichter, Gretl
Series I.
Photographs of Locations,
1929-1933
Physical Description:
0.5 Linear
Feet
(1 box, containing 95
photographs)
Scope and Content Note
This series of photographs are from various locations across Europe, taken on many of
the trips and vacations that Dichter took with her family prior to her emigration to the
United States from Austria in 1946.
Arrangement
The photographs in this series are separated into files, arranged alphabetically, based
on the subject of the photographs. Items in the files themselves are arranged
chronologically.
box 1, folder 1
Series I.A.
Austria,
1932
Physical Description: (1 box, 4 photographs)
Scope and Content Note
These photographs were taken in various locations in Austria, including (but not
limited to): Heiligenblut am Großglockner.
box 1, folder 2
Series I.B.
France (French Riveria),
1933
Physical Description: (1 box, 16
photographs)
Scope and Content Note
These photographs were taken in various locations in the France, mainly in the French
Riveria. Locations include (but are not limited to): Antibes, Avignon, Cannes, Monaco,
Monte Carlo, Saint-Honorat, and Vichy.
box 1, folder 3
Series I.C.
Germany,
undated
Physical Description: (1 box, 2 photographs)
Scope and Content Note
These photographs were taken in Rothenburg, Germany.
box 1, folder 4
Series I.D.
Italy and Dalmatia,
1929-1933
Physical Description: (1 box, 28
photographs)
Scope and Content Note
These photographs were taken in various locations in Italy and the Dalmatian Coast.
Locations include (but are not limited to): Florence, Genoa, Venice, Milan, and
Pisa.
box 1, folder 5
Series I.E.
Italy and Dolomites,
1930-1932
Physical Description: (1 box, 20
photographs)
Scope and Content Note
These photographs were taken in various locations in Italy, mainly in the Dolomites.
Locations include (but are not limited to): Belvedere, Corinta d'Ampezzo, and Pordoi
Pass.
box 1, folder 6
Series I.F.
"Snow Scenes,"
1931-1933
Physical Description: (1 box, 8 photographs)
Scope and Content Note
These photographs were taken in various locations across Europe, but are all winter
landscapes. Some include location names, while others are undated and unlabeled.
Locations include (but are not limited to): Rottenstein, Germany and Arlberg,
Austria.
box 1, folder 7
Series I.G.
Switzerland,
1933
Physical Description: (1 box, 17
photographs)
Scope and Content Note
These photographs were taken in various locations in the Switzerland. Locations
include (but are not limited to): Bern, Geneva, Lucerne, and Montreux.
Series II.
Photographs of Dichter Family,
1907-1996
Physical Description:
0.5 Linear
Feet
(1 box, 62 photographs)
Scope and Content Note
Photographs of Dichter and close family members from varying times and locations.
Included in the photos are Dichter herself, her husband Walter Silton, as well as her
sisters Rosl and Edith Silton. Group photographs of the family include her father and
other close cousins and relatives.
Arrangement
Photographs are separated into files and arranged alphabetically, based on the subject
portrayed in the photograph. Items in the files themselves are arranged
chronologically.
box 2, folder 5-7
Family Photographs,
1907-1941
Physical Description: (1 box, 28
photographs)
Scope and Content Note
Contains photographs of Dichter and her immediate family, as well as extended family,
including but not limited to first and second cousins, grandparents, aunts, and
uncles.
box 2, folder 3-4
Dichter and Walter Silton,
1930-1933
Physical Description: (1 box, 12
photographs)
Scope and Content Note
Photographs of Dichter and Walter Silton in various locations. The pictures depict
them skiing, posing for photographs, as well as some candid shots. The photos appear
to be from their travels in Europe, although many are undated and unlabeled.
box 2, folder 8
Miscellaneous,
1996, undated
Physical Description: (1 box, 9 photographs)
Scope and Content Note
Undated photographs of Dichter's living room in her Bel Air home, as well as
photographs taken in 1996 of the commemorative plaque erected in her honor in
Brentwood, California.
box 2, folder 1-2
Portraits and Self-Portraits,
1907-1933
Physical Description: (1 box, 13
photographs)
Scope and Content Note
Photographs of just Dichter herself, ranging from a portrait of Dichter as an infant
in 1907 to later images from her vacations in the 1930s.
Series III
Personal Items and Papers,
1932, 1938, undated
Physical Description:
0.5 Linear
Feet
(2 boxes, 6 items)
Scope and Content Note
Contains miscellaneous papers from Dichter's life and legacy. Items present include a
German driver's license and passport, four photocopies of family pictures, a postcard
aquired on a trip to Wisconsin (undated), two original portfolios that originally housed
some of the photographic material, as well as a genealogical collage and a three-page
typewritten biography about Dichter written and signed by Edith Arlen Wachtel, Walter
Arlen, and Howard Myers.
Arrangement
Items are located in three separate files, and are undated.
box 2, folder 9
Personal papers,
1932, 1938, undated
box 4, folder 1-2
Portfolios,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Original housing for Dichter's photographs, separated due to fragility.
box 3
Genealogical collage,
undated
Scope and Content Note
Undated collage made from reproductions of photos and documents believed to have been
created by Edith Wachtel Arlen and Walter Arlen.
