Collection ID: LMC 1719
Printable View Printable View

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Masaryk, Alice Garrigue, 1879-1966
Abstract:
The Masaryk mss. II, 1939-1966, consists of the letters and papers of sociologist Alice Garrigue Masaryk, 1879-1966.
Extent:
1 Box (1 standard)
Language:
Materials are in English .
Preferred citation:

[Item], Masaryk mss. II, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

Alice Garrigue Masaryk, 1879-1966, was a Czech sociologist. She was born on May 3, 1879, the daughter of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, 1850-1937, president of the Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1935) and his wife Charlotte Garrigue. Her brother Jan Masaryk served as the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1940 to 1948. After graduating from high school in 1898, Alice enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine at Charles University in Prague, one of very few women to do so. She later switched to the Faculty of Arts, furthered her studies in London, Berlin, and Leipzig, and received her Doctorate in 1903. She then traveled to the United States to study at the University of Chicago Social Settlement (UCSS), where she met Julia Lathrop, Mary McDowell and Jane Addams. After returning to Czechoslovakia in 1907, Masaryk worked as a teacher in Prague and České Budějovice until 1910. During World War I, she was arrested and accused of treason by the Austro-Hungarian Empire for failing to produce political papers belonging to her father, who had been advocating for Czechoslovak independence. She spent eight months in prison in Vienna before she was released. When the Czechoslovakian Republic was founded on October 28, 1918, Alice was named a member of parliament, and she acted as the first lady of the state after her mother's death in 1923. In 1919, Alice founded the Czechoslovak Red Cross and served as its president until the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938. She was exiled to the United States for the duration of World War II, returned to Czechoslovakia briefly after the war, but was forced into exile a second time when the Soviet Union seized control of the country in 1948. Masaryk spent the remainder of her life in the United States, advocating for a democratic Czechoslovakia. She died on November 29, 1966.

Scope and Content:

Correspondence includes letters to and from Masaryk ranging from 1939 to 1966. Biographical materials includes documents pertaining to Masaryk and/or her family, including artifacts like photos and a chronology of her life. Writings includes various pieces of writings, drafts, and notes from Masaryk's career. Miscellaneous includes materials like newspaper clippings and other documents that cannot be sorted in other categories.

Acquisition information:
Gift: 2008
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into the following series: I. Correspondence, II. Biographical Materials, III. Writings, and IV. Miscellaneous.

Physical location:
Lilly - Stacks

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection is open for research.

Many collections are housed offsite; retrieval requires advance notice. Please make an appointment a minimum of one week in advance of your visit.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[Item], Masaryk mss. II, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
1200 East Seventh Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
CONTACT:
(812) 855-2452
liblilly@indiana.edu