Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Sigurd Burckhardt Manuscripts
- Dates:
- 1955-1969
- Creators:
- Burckhardt, Sigurd, 1916-1966
- Abstract:
- Manuscripts of Sigurd Burckhardt (1916-1966), literary scholar specializing in Shakespeare, Goethe, and Kleist, and founding member of the University of California, San Diego, Literature Department. Materials include published and unpublished essays and articles, reprint copies, chapbooks, drafts, relevant notes, Burckhardt's dissertation, Sprache als Gestalt in Goethes Blankversdramen, Shakespearean Meanings, and a transcript of Michael Kohlhaas.
- Extent:
- 1 Linear feet (3 archives boxes)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
Sigurd Burckhardt Manuscripts, MSS 117. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Sigurd Burckhardt collection contains manuscripts and typescripts of published and unpublished essays, articles, chapbooks, drafts, notes and book-length studies. Essays and notes related to Shakespearean plays in Series 1 can often be found in finished form in the manuscript, Shakespearean Meanings, located in Series 2.
Arranged in two series: 1) MISCELLANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS, and 2) BOOK-LENGTH STUDIES.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Sigurd Burckhardt was born on November 21, 1916, in Bielefeld, Germany. He received his secondary education at the Friedenauer Gymnasium, Berlin, from which he graduated in 1935. After absolving two years of compulsory military service, he emigrated to the United States. Burckhardt's family was relatively large and had long been working to earn enough money to send one of the children to America. When that sum had been accumulated, Sigurd seemed the most worthy recipient due to his scholarly inclinations and ambitious intellect. In the autumn of 1938, Burckhardt matriculated at the University of California at Berkeley, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in German in 1940 and, after some interruptions of his graduate studies by employment in a war industry and as a high school teacher, received his Master of Arts degree in English in 1945.
Burckhardt was employed from 1947 to 1953 as an instructor and assistant professor at Saint Mary's College in California. In the autumn of 1953, he entered Ohio State University to resume his study of German language and literature while simultaneously teaching as an assistant instructor from 1953 to 1954 and as an instructor from 1954 to 1956. At practical odds with the "New Critics" such as Brooks and Leavis, Burckhardt straddled the ground between traditional scholarship and "close reading" methodology.
In 1963, Burckhardt left his position at Ohio State and became a professor at the University of California, San Diego. A posthumous collection of his essays on Shakespeare has been co-edited and published (1967-1968) under the title Shakespearean Meanings by Pearce and Elliott. This was the first and only book to be published under Burckhardt's name. His preferred form of writing was the long essay, and he claimed to be intimidated by the scale of the book-length study. Sigurd Burckhardt died on December 15, 1966.
- Acquisition information:
- Acquired 1970.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-03-17 21:58:43 +0000 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW TWO TO THREE (2-3) WEEKS FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
- Terms of access:
-
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
- Preferred citation:
-
Sigurd Burckhardt Manuscripts, MSS 117. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
- Location of this collection:
-
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0175La Jolla, CA 92093-0175, US
- Contact:
- (858) 534-2533