Collection context
Summary
- Abstract:
- Collection of four letters written between Sacramento banker, conservationist and philanthropist Charles M. Goethe and local artist Theodore Baggelmann. Included is a small pamphlet crafted by Goethe that relates to South American and Mexican ecology and culture. Dates covered: 1949 to 1954.
- Extent:
- .1 Linear Feet 1 archival folder
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Charles M. Goethe Letters, MC 133, Sacramento Room, Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, California
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Content includes four typed letters and one pamphlet. One 1954 letter, addressed from Goethe to "Just a Few Valued Friends" celebrates the establishment of Calaveras Big Trees State Park, a status that Goethe and his wife, Mary, fought hard to secure. The letter also provides mentions of work done to promote Everglades National Park and Henri Pittier National Park in Venezuela. Baggelmann responds the same year to this letter with gratitude for the State Park's establishment and regret that he has never had a chance to visit the Mother Lode with Goethe. Goethe then responds apologetically that his health keeps him from most travel. This letter is the only one signed by Goethe in pen. A final letter from Goethe, written in 1949, invites Baggelmann to read Goethe's newest book on over one hundred place names in California's Gold Rush country.
Finally, a pamphlet published by Goethe addresses Henri Pittier National Park, the El Cielo Cloud Forest Station in Mexico, and the Painted Bunting, a bird of Mexico.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Charles Matthias Goethe was born in Sacramento on March 28, 1875, to Louisa and Henry J. Goethe. Following in his father's footsteps, Goethe entered the banking industry. Over time, he amassed terrific wealth through land development and the stock market. With such resources in hand, he could focus much of his time on the study of ecology and the betterment and protection of wild spaces throughout the world, mostly through philanthropy. Natural resources management and ornithology were abiding passions and he was instrumental in the establishment of Everglades National Park. Goethe was also a committed eugenicist and white supremacist, writing about and supporting the genetic engineering of the American population through forced sterilization and immigration with the goal of creating a mainly Nordic nation. He lived in Sacramento his entire life, dying on July 10, 1966.
Theodore "Ted" Baggelmann was born in Bonn, Germany on March 13, 1905. After studying art at the University of Cologne, he emigrated to the United States in 1929. Soon after, he started attending art classes at Sacramento Junior College. As an artist and historian, Baggelmann was primarily focused on the post-European contact history of Sacramento and was instrumental in founding the Sacramento County Historical Society and the Sacramento Historic Landmarks Commission. He died on December 15, 1990.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Terms of access:
-
All requests to publish or quote from private collections held by the Sacramento Public Library must be submitted in writing to sacroom@saclibrary.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Sacramento Public Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron. No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Charles M. Goethe Letters, MC 133, Sacramento Room, Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, California
- Location of this collection:
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828 I StreetSacramento, CA 95814, US
- Contact:
- (916) 264-2976