Geza von Molnar (1932-2001) Papers

The von Molnár Papers fill eighteen boxes, spanning the years 1967 to 2002. The greater part of the papers relate to von Molnár's work in the German Department of Northwestern University including numerous student papers, course related materials and many handwritten research and lecture notes. The following seven subseries divide the papers: Biographical Materials, Correspondence, Teaching files, Committees, Research Notes, Student Work & Publications. Many of the items are in German.

The biographical materials, dated from 1979 to 2001, start with von Molnár's personal Background Narrative and Statement of Plans and include CVs and obituaries.

Correspondence includes both general and subject files. The general correspondence files, dating from 1967 to 2001, concern mainly interdepartmental business and student affairs, including Northwestern University German Department correspondence, correspondence with other universities' German departments, committee-related correspondence, correspondence with publishers, and personal correspondence.

The subject correspondence files are arranged first by subject alphabetically and then chronologically within each specific subject.

The Athenäum file contains correspondence between von Molnár and Publisher Athenäum regarding the Jahrbüch für Romantik for the year of 1997. This discourse is conducted entirely in German. Following this, the Aufbau newspaper folder contains a few letters spanning approximately one year from May 1991 to April 1992.

The Avalon Professorship in the Humanities file deals largely with correspondence seeking to appoint a candidate for a permanent position as the Chair. The Consortium on Institutional Cooperation file consists mainly of statistical information.

In the Chicago YIVO file, von Molnár is invited to (and accepts) lend his name as an honorary academic sponsor of the exhibit “A Century of Ambivalence: The Views of Russia and the Soviet Union 1881 to the present.” The said exhibit attracted over 30,000 people to the galleries at the new Harold Washington Library. The Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service) folder covers the years 1976-1989. Géza von Molnár is invited to participate (and accepts) in the DAAD Conference “German Studies in the US: A Critique of 'Germanistik'?” in Tempe, Arizona. Other correspondence in this folder is conducted in German.

The Goethe-Gesellschaft file (Goethe Organization, based in Weimar, Germany), 1971-1991, is conducted entirely in German. In the Festschrift/John Fetzer file, von Molnár is invited to contribute to a Festschrift for John Fetzer. He accepts and his manuscript is included in this file.

The following four files are limited to specific individuals with whom von Molnár conducts personal correspondence. In the Lake Forest College folder von Molnár is asked to serve as an external examiner for student Arthur Rohr who was involved in a project in self-directed study. Von Molnár accepts the request. The following three files contain personal correspondence between von Molnár and specific individuals.

Correspondence in the next file between von Molnár and the publishers Mouton & Co., based in the Netherlands, deals with the publishing of his book – Novalis' Fichte Studies.

The Modern Language Association papers span approximately a year and a half, February 1985 – July 1986, and chiefly relates to the 1986 MLA Annual Convention. The National Endowment for the Humanities folder holds letters to and from von Molnár and applications for fellowships. The Department of Comparative Literature file consists of many letters to and from von Molnár relating to Northwestern University's Department of Comparative Literature. However, the correspondence is not limited to Northwestern University. Included are several letters to and from Yale University, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, John Hopkins University, Loyola University, Memphis State University and Buffalo University.

The Novalis file contains correspondence to and from Professor von Molnár and the International Novalis Organization conducted mostly in German.

The German Department papers, spanning 20 years, consists of mainly interdepartmental correspondence. These are followed by the University of California file, in which Professor von Molnár and Professor Winder McConnell discuss von Molnár's contribution to John Fetzer's Festschrift. In the University of Kentucky file, an invitation to Professor von Molnár to participate in a German Studies Workshop at the University is confirmed. The final folder in this category contains personal correspondence to and from Fred Vesper.

Teaching files, relating to courses von Molnár taught while at Northwestern University, are arranged in course number order starting with A04-6 and continuing to D04-D51. The next folder contains two of Professor von Molnár's grade books from the years 1969 and 1970. The German Department class schedules are for the years 1999-2001. The file containing the course and teacher evaluations forms span the years 1977-1985. The Humanities Committee folders, dating from 1978 to 1994, reflect von Molnár's involvement in this program and contain correspondence with other faculty members, proposals for the Humanities Program, and course descriptions. The Northwestern University German Department programs date from 1979 to 1981 and include yearly class schedules, teaching assignments and German Department inter-office correspondence.

The following category is student work. All files corresponding to this category are in alphabetical order. Some individual papers are dated. There are seventeen folders in this category.

Von Molnár's role as a graduate student advisor is reflected in the majors and graduate student files. The BA/MA exams file contains drafts and proposals for BA and MA examinations in both German and English. Similarly, in the PhD qualifying file, there are many drafts and completed PhD examination questions for the Northwestern University German Department. In the German major file are the names of German major students from 1983 to 1984. The last file in the teaching files is the recommendations file in which von Molnár composed letters of recommendations for students applying to graduate school.

The succeeding three files compile the committee category. The Fulbright Scholarships Committee and applications file consists of completed applications, acceptances and recommendations for the Fulbright Scholarship and spans the years 1972 to 1992.

The Division III Committee covers the period of 1976/1977. Géza was elected to serve on the Committee in November of 1976. Information regarding the Committee ceases after 1977.

In the research notes category, there are six folders of von Molnár's undated handwritten notes in both German and English.

The last category is publications, included in which are signed courtesy articles sent to von Molnár between 1973 and 2000. Following this is a paper entitled “The Eternal Jew” in both German and English. Undated papers and speeches presented by Professor von Molnár are in the next two files. Two folders of reprints spanning the years 1970 to 2002 follow these. Many of these materials are undated.

The final file in this series is a galley proof of Novalis: Fichte Studies, published in 1970. In addition, this box contains a folder of copies of title pages and inscriptions of gift books to von Molnár, and notes removed from von Molnár's books plus copies of title pages from the corresponding books. Notes and title pages fill two more boxes. These are foldered individually by book, including a photocopy of each book's title page, and arranged alphabetically by the surname of the author.

Two record cartons contain books from von Molnár's collection filled with his annotations and numerous handwritten insertions.