Register of the Ansis Pommers papers

Finding aid prepared by David Jacobs

Hoover Institution Library and Archives

434 Galvez Mall

Stanford University

Stanford, CA 94305-6003

hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu

URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives

Title: Ansis Pommers papers

Date (inclusive): 1929-2012

Collection Number: 2007C6

Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives

Language of Material: In Latvian and English

Physical Description: 23 manuscript boxes (7.6 Linear Feet)

Abstract: The Ansis Pommers Papers contain materials pertaining to the history of the Latvian emigration after World War II, from the experience of Latvians in Displaced Persons camps in Germany immediately after the war to their subsequent lives as immigrants in the United States, Canada and other countries. In particular, the collection has numerous publications that reflect the efforts of Latvian Americans to sustain their culture through various community based institutions and publications.

Creator: Pommers, Ansis

Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives

Access

The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.

Use

For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Acquisition Information

Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2007, with subsequent increments

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Ansis Pommers papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.

Biographical Note

1935	Born, Rīga, Latvia
1945-1949	Lives with family in the Displaced Persons camp in Fischbach, Germany
1950	Emigrates with family to the United States
1955	Awarded A.A. degree, Sierra Community College
1966	Awarded B.S. degree, Sacramento State College
1966-1992	Works as an engineer for Link Flight Simulation Systems
1970	Awarded M.S. degree, Santa Clara University
1992	Starts own technical writing business
2007	Publishes Fis̆bachas virs̆os 1945-1950

Scope and Content of Collection

The Ansis Pommers Papers contain materials pertaining to the history of the Latvian emigration after World War II, from the experience of Latvians in Displaced Persons camps in Germany immediately after the war to their subsequent lives as immigrants in the United States, Canada, and other countries. In particular, the collection has numerous publications that reflect the efforts of Latvian Americans to sustain their culture through various community based institutions and publications.

The two edited works by Pommers in the papers describe the lives of Latvians in the Displaced Persons camp in Fischbach, Germany, where Pommers and his family were among the camp residents. The first of these works, Fis̆bachas virs̆os 1945-1950, provides a comprehensive account of life in Fischbach, including the numerous cultural activities that took place in the camp. The work describes the educational institutions in the camp, and, in particular, the Kārlis Skalbe elementary school and high school. The second edited work, Lāpa 15, describes the final period of the Skalbe schools and includes many short biographies of the schools' graduates, with details on their later careers in the countries they emigrated to.

The Printed matter series in the collection contains many serial issues, most of them emanating from Latvian American organizations. These include numerous issues of the newsletter of the Northern California Latvian Association. There are also many issues of Jaunā Gaita, the most prominent Latvian cultural journal in North America, as well as all the issues of Lāpa, published by former Fischbach students. Other serial issues relate to academic life in the Latvian emigration ( Akadēmiska Dzīve), Latvian military history ( Kadets and Latvju Karavīrs), and a Latvian church in San Francisco ( Zelta Vārtu Vēstis). There are also two journals published by young Latvian Americans in Sacramento, California ( Dzirksts and Sakramento Latvies̆u Jaunatne). In addition, this series contains copies of programs for various Latvian song festivals and theatre productions.

The Organizations file series includes minutes of meetings and other records of the Baltic Alliance of Northern California, a group whose members advocated for the independence of the three Baltic States during the period immediately prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The collection also contains a recording of an extensive interview with Pommers in which he describes his own formative experiences, his participation in Latvian-American community life, and recounts some of the political controversies that divided Latvian Americans during the Cold War.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into 6 series: Edited works; Writings by others; Organizations file; Printed matter; Sound recording; Photograph

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Latvians -- United States

World War, 1939-1945 -- Refugees

World War, 1939-1945 -- Latvia

Refugees

Edited works 2004-2010

Scope and Contents note

Contains drafts and printed copies of monographs, photographs and reviews, arranged chronologically by title

Fis̆bachas virs̆os 1945-1950 2004-2007

Draft 2004

box 1, folder 1

Paper copy 2004

box 1, folder 2

CD-Rom containing digital file 2004

box 1, folder 3

Photographs 2007

box 1, folder 4

Printed copy 2007

Lāpa 15, 2010

box 1, folder 5

Printed copy 2010

box 1, folder 6

Reviews 2010

Writings by others 1956-2012

Scope and Contents note

Contains article, monographs, and research paper, arranged alphabetically by name of author

Abula, Biruta

box 1, folder 7

Auseklies̆i no pažobelēm pausaules tālēs 1945-1950 2004

box 1, folder 8

Latvies̆u literārie pulciṇi Amerikas Savienotajās Valstīs 1950-2011 2012

box 2, folder 1

Anderson, Edgar, "The United States and the Soviet Union in the 1980s," address, San Jose State University, San Jose, California 1981 April 2

box 2, folder 2

Ernstons, Arnolds, No Cīravas līds Sanfrancisko 1996

box 2, folder 3

Kreismanis, Nicholas, "Latvian Immigrants in the Sacramento Area," 1956

box 2, folder 4

Slaidins̆, Raimonds, Latvies̆i Sanfrancisko un tās apkārtnē 2011

Organizations file 1952-1998

Scope and Contents note

Contains announcements, bumper stickers, financial records, minutes of meetings, and reports, arranged alphabetically by name of organization

Baltic Alliance of Northern California 1990-1998

box 2, folder 5

Bumper stickers 1990

box 2, folder 6

Financial records 1990-1998

box 2, folder 7

Minutes of meetings 1990-1993

box 2, folder 8

Los Gatosas Latviesu Kopa, minutes of meetings 1952-1953

box 2, folder 9

Ziemelkalifornijas Latvies̆u Evanġēliski Luteriskā Draudze, report, 1959 1952-1953

Zinaīdis Lazda Pieminas Fonds 1970-1978

box 2, folder 10

Announcements 1975-1978

box 2, folder 11

Report 1970

Printed matter 1929-2012

Scope and Contents note

Contains monograph, pamphlets, programs, and serial issues, arranged by physical form and alphabetically by title thereunder

box 3, folder 1

Monograph, Valmieras kājnieku pulka vēsture 1929

box 3, folder 2

Pamphlets 1975-2003

Programs for Latvian song festivals and theatre productions 1946-2008

box 3, folder 3

1946-1948

box 3, folder 4

1965

box 3, folder 5

1972

box 3, folder 6

1979

box 3, folder 7

2003

box 3, folder 8

2006

box 3, folder 9-10

2008

Serial issues 1955-2012

Akadēmiska Dzīve 1959-1963

box 3, folder 11

1959

box 3, folder 12

1962

box 4, folder 1

1963

box 4, folder 2

Baltic Bulletin, 2008 September

box 4, folder 3

Brīvība 1972-1988

box 4, folder 4

Bulletin of Baltic Studies 1970 December

box 4, folder 5

Drauga Vēsts 1945 October/November

box 4, folder 6

Dzirksts 1960

Jaunā Gaita 1955-2012

box 4, folder 7

Nos. 1-2 1955

box 4, folder 8

Nos. 3-6 1956

box 4, folder 9

Nos. 7-8 and 11-12 1957

box 4, folder 10

Nos. 13-18 1958

box 4, folder 11

Nos. 19-24 1959

box 4, folder 12

Nos. 25-27 1960

box 4, folder 13

Nos. 28-33 1961

box 4, folder 14

Nos. 34-39 1962

box 4, folder 15

Nos. 40-44 1963

box 5, folder 1

Nos. 45/46-50 1964

box 5, folder 2

Nos. 51-56 1965

box 5, folder 3

Nos. 57-60 1966

box 5, folder 4

Nos. 61-66 1967

box 5, folder 5

Nos. 67-71 1968

box 5, folder 6

Nos. 72-76 1969

box 5, folder 7

Nos. 77-81 1970

box 5, folder 8

Nos. 82 and 84-86 1971

box 6, folder 1

Nos. 87-91 1972

box 6, folder 2

Nos. 92-96 1973

box 6, folder 3

Nos. 97-101 1974

box 6, folder 4

Nos. 102-106 1975

box 6, folder 5

Nos. 107-111 1976

box 6, folder 6

Nos. 112-116 1977

box 6, folder 7

Nos. 117-121 1978

box 7, folder 1

Nos. 122-126 1979

box 7, folder 2

Nos. 127-131 1980

box 7, folder 3

Nos. 132-136 1981

box 7, folder 4

Nos. 137-141 1982

box 7, folder 5

Nos. 142-146 1983

box 7, folder 6

Nos. 147-150 1984

box 7, folder 7

Nos. 151-155 1985

box 8, folder 1

Nos. 156-160 1986

box 8, folder 2

Nos. 161-165 1987

box 8, folder 3

Nos. 166-170 1988

box 8, folder 4

Nos. 171-175 1989

box 8, folder 5

Nos. 176-180 1990

box 8, folder 6

Nos. 181-185 1991

box 8, folder 7

Nos. 186-190 1992

box 9, folder 1

Nos. 212-215 1998

box 9, folder 2

Nos. 216 and 218-219 1999

box 9, folder 3

Nos. 220-223 2000

box 9, folder 4

Nos. 224-227 2001

box 9, folder 5

Nos. 228-231 2002

box 9, folder 6

Nos. 232-235 2003

box 9, folder 7

Nos. 236-239 2004

box 9, folder 8

Nos. 240-243 2005

box 10, folder 1

Nos. 224-245 2006

box 10, folder 2

5 CD-ROMS containing digital files of selected articles from Jaunā Gaita, 1955-2006, and an annotated list of the articles 2012

Kadets 1969-1993

box 10, folder 3

Nos. 2 and 5-7 1969-1978

box 10, folder 4

Nos. 8-11 1979-1982

box 10, folder 5

Nos. 12-15 1983-1987

box 10, folder 6

Nos. 16-20 1989-1993

box 10, folder 7

Laika Griežos, no. 68 1946

Lāpa 1946-1986

box 10, folder 8

Nos. 1-3 and 5-12 1946-1947

box 10, folder 9

Bulletins 1966

box 10, folder 10

Nos. 4-7 (new series) 1967-1970

box 10, folder 11

Bulletins 1970

box 10, folder 12

Nos. 8-10 1971-1973

box 11, folder 1

Nos. 11-12 1980-1982

box 11, folder 2

Nos. 13-14 1983-1986

box 11, folder 3

Latvian Dimensions, volume 17, no. 1 2008

Latvju Karavīrs 1979-1986

box 11, folder 4

No. 1 1979

box 11, folder 5

No. 2 1980

box 11, folder 6

No. 3 1986

Sakramento Latvies˨u Jaunatne, 1956-1957

box 11, folder 7

1956

box 11, folder 8

1957

Tilts 1956-1973

box 11, folder 9

Nos. 17 and 19 1956-1957

box 11, folder 10

Nos. 100/101 and 138/139 1970-1973

Zelta Vārtu Vēstis 1954-1979

box 11, folder 11

1954 January and April/May

box 11, folder 12

1955 January/February and May

box 11, folder 13

1956 February and November-December

box 11, folder 14

1958 May-October

box 11, folder 15

1961 January/February and October

box 11, folder 16

1969 November

box 11, folder 17

1970 April

box 11, folder 18

1972 January

box 12, folder 1

1976 February-March and June

box 12, folder 2

1977 February

box 12, folder 3

1979 April

Zielmelkalifornijas Apskats 1959-2010

box 12, folder 4

Annotated list of issues 2010

box 12, folder 5

1959 September-December 2010

box 12, folder 6

1960 January-December 2010

box 12, folder 7

1961 January-December 2010

box 12, folder 8

1962 January/February-December 2010

box 12, folder 9

1963 January-November 2010

box 12, folder 10

1964 January-September and November-December 2010

box 12, folder 11

1965 January and April-December 2010

1966

box 13, folder 1

January-June

box 13, folder 2

July/August-December

1967

box 13, folder 3

January-June

box 13, folder 4

July/August-December

1968

box 13, folder 5

January-June

box 13, folder 6

July/August-December

1969

box 13, folder 7

January-June

box 13, folder 8

July/August-December

1970

box 13, folder 9

January-June

box 13, folder 10

July/August-December

1971

box 14, folder 1

January-June

box 14, folder 2

July/August-December

1972

box 14, folder 3

January-June

box 14, folder 4

July/August-December

1973

box 14, folder 5

January-June

box 14, folder 6

July/August-December

1974

box 14, folder 7

January-June

box 14, folder 8

July/August-December

1975

box 15, folder 1

January-June

box 15, folder 2

July/August-December

1976

box 15, folder 3

January-June

box 15, folder 4

July/August-December

1977

box 15, folder 5

January-June

box 15, folder 6

July/August-December

1978

box 15, folder 7

January-June

box 16, folder 1

July/August-December

1979

box 16, folder 2

January-June

box 16, folder 3

July/August-December

1980

box 16, folder 4

January-June

box 16, folder 5

July/August-December

1981

box 16, folder 6

January-June

box 16, folder 7

July/August-December

1982

box 17, folder 1

January-June

box 17, folder 2

July/August-December

1983

box 17, folder 3

January-June

box 17, folder 4

July/August-December

1984

box 17, folder 5

January-June

box 17, folder 6

July/August-December

1985

box 17, folder 7

January-June

box 17, folder 8

July/August-December

1986

box 18, folder 1

January-June

box 18, folder 2

July/August-December

1987

box 18, folder 3

January-June

box 18, folder 4

September-December

1988

box 18, folder 5

January-June

box 18, folder 6

July/August-December

1989

box 18, folder 7

January-June

box 18, folder 8

July/August-December

1990

box 19, folder 1

January-June

box 19, folder 2

July/August-December

1991

box 19, folder 3

January-June

box 19, folder 4

July/August-December

1992

box 19, folder 5

January-June

box 19, folder 6

July/August-December

box 19, folder 7

1993 March and July/August

box 19, folder 8

1997 April-May and June/July

Sound recording 2008

box 19, folder 9

Interview of Ansis Pommers by David Jacobs 2008 July 17

Conditions Governing Access note

Use copy reference number: 2007c6_a_0001485

Scope and Contents note

One compact disc containing an interview of Ansis Pommers by David Jacobs, Hoover Institution Library & Archives staff member. Part of the oral history project: The Latvian Emigration in California. In English. Duration 52:33. One compact disc.

Photograph 1993

Scope and Contents note

Consists of one print

box 19, folder 10

One print depicting Ansis Pommers, Maija Ozola, Alissa Ozola, Ojārs Celle, Aivars Savelis, Gunta Golts, and Andrejs Grīslis, on the occasion of voting for 5th Saeima elections, Latvian Hall, San Francisco, California 1993

box 20

Material not yet described

box 21

Material not yet described

box 22

Material not yet described

box 23

Material not yet described