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From Iowa to Soviet Siberia: The Zimmerman Steel Journey I

How did a man from Iowa help launch the Soviet steel industry? What was it like for American engineers to work side by side with Russian workers in the 1930s? Who did Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev greet as an old friend when he visited Iowa in 1959? Read on to find out the answers.

In 1931, Henry Zimmerman of Lone Tree, Iowa traveled to Kuznetsk, Siberia, to oversee the building of steel mills in the Soviet Union. The University of Iowa Special Collections has been collaborating with Russian History doctoral student Irina Rezhapova (Kuzbass Institute of the Federal Penal Service) on a special digital project which tells the story of Zimmerman’s journey. Special Collections will be making available online Henry Zimmerman’s personal letters and scrapbooks of photographs, news clippings and ephemera about his time in Soviet Siberia – all part of our Records of the Zimmerman Steel Company (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsC900/MsC850/zimmermansteelworks.html).

This is ENTRY 1 of 3 of the Zimmerman Steel Journey.

Who was Henry L. Zimmerman, the Steel Maker of Iowa?

Photograph of the men of the Zimmerman family, 1910s. Henry Zimmerman is bottom right.

Born in Davenport in 1879, Henry L. Zimmerman took an early interest in the family foundry business run by his father, and by the mid-1910s he helped expand the Lone Tree and Bettendorf-based Zimmerman Steel Company into electrification, waterworks, and steel works, exporting steel products as far as Russia, Japan and Australia.

“A Personal Word from the Father of the Zimmerman Family.” Advertising brochure of the Zimmerman Steel Company, 1910s.

In 1929 The Santa Fe Railway hired Henry Zimmerman as foundry engineer, in which capacity he traveled from the Mississippi to the Eastern Seaboard, inspecting the company’s plants, taking care of problems and working to make the plants more efficient and productive. This experience may have been the reason why the Freyn Engineering Company soon selected Henry Zimmerman as their chief foundry engineer, one of fifty-seven specialists chosen to establish modern steel mills in Soviet Russia. For people like Henry Zimmerman, a trip to the Soviet Union probably also held the promise of international professional experience, as well as an exotic adventure.

What were the living and working conditions in Siberia like?

Pictures from Henry Zimmerman’s Siberian photo album

When Henry L. Zimmerman arrived at Kuznetsk, Siberia on January 7, 1931, the local temperature was so cold that the heating plants and water mains buried under ground froze and burst. Zimmerman spent the first few weeks in a hotel where “we’d go to bed wearing our caps and mittens, everything but our boots.” (“Personality Profile: Ageless Wizard is still Going Strong,” by Jim Arpy, Sunday Times-Democrat July 26, 1964)

Once the Americans were scheduled to go to Kuznetsk to build the Kuznetsk Steel Mill, with Zimmerman among them, the Soviets began to build wooden houses for them, which may have been rather spacious. The “foreigners” had a special service – stores with a better variety of goods and somebody playing the role of servants who cleaned their rooms. Some of the apartments not occupied by the foreign specialists were used to accommodate some of the front-rank Soviet workers. According to Russian workers’ memoirs, each apartment served as a home for three people: one in the living room, another in the kitchen, and the third one sleeping in the bathroom. They were satisfied, because other workers lived in worse conditions. (From Irina Rezhapova)

The harsh winter weather of Siberia posed special challenges to those building the steel mills. In a letter of March 15, 1931, Zimmerman asked his son Jimmy to

“Try to picture, what a job it has been to dig all these […] deep pits for the foundation, thru two to three meters of frost when the thermometer was from -40° C to -60° C and the River frozen six feet deep. Frequently it would freeze 6″ to 10″ in a single night, even at the bottom of the pits if they were not covered. We had to plank each pit over and cover it with earth, put in a stove and keep a fire in each pit while the concrete was poured and set.”

How did Kuznetskostroy become a Soviet steel boom town?

“Twelve months ago this was a cold, barren, frozen waste, covered with snow and only the howl of the wolf was heard as he chased the Siberian rabbit. Now in dugouts, tents, loghouses and modern homes thirty thousand people live and all have all the work they can do and about 500 more come each week.” (Henry Zimmerman, letter of March 15, 1931)

Russian magazine article from the early 1930s about the building of the Kuznetsk steel mill

“To describe the work here would take too long except that we are building a group of factories and a city like Gary, Ind[iana] and including everything that is needed in such an industry. In the foundry, which will make iron, steel, brass, and aluminum […] This brick yard will be the most modern and most complete in the whole world, and will make common brick, pressed brick, fire brick, silica brick and fire clay suitable for each [.]” (Henry Zimmerman, letter of January 16, 1931)

Please check our blog for the second and third entry of the Zimmerman Steel Journey.

By Gyorgy “George” Toth, PhD Candidate in American Studies, Olson Fellow, The University of Iowa Special Collections & University Archives,
With
Irina Rezhapova, PhD Candidate, Russian History, Kuzbass Institute of the Federal Penal Service

George Viereck: Diplomat or Propagandist?

This year’s National History Day theme is “Diplomacy and Debate: Successes, Failures, and Consequences.” One collection in our holdings that dramatizes this theme is the George Sylvester Viereck Papers (http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc100/MsC99/MsC99_viereckgeorge.htm). As a German American poet, cultural critic and journalist, Viereck played the role of a cultural diplomat and propagandist in the debate and conflict between the United States and Germany before and during World War One and Two – even when he had to pay a high price for it.

George Sylvester Viereck was born in Munich on December 31, 1884, and was brought to the United States at the age of eleven. Viereck’s first book of poetry, Ninevah and Other Poems, was published in 1907. He also wrote Strangest Friendship: Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House, and, with Paul Eldridge, My First Two Thousand Years: The Autobiography of the Wandering Jew, Salome, the Wandering Jewess, and Glimpses of the Great, among other books.

By the time World War I broke out, Viereck had been already fairly well known for his verse, which appeared in both liberal and conservative periodicals in the United States. Viereck first came under attack for pro-German leanings as editor of the magazine Fatherland in 1914. When the United States entered the war, he changed its name to The American Monthly and turned its teachings against war in general. He urged that the objections of German-born Americans against shedding their relatives’ blood be respected by having them serve in some other capacity than as soldiers in the trenches. The Author’s League, the Poetry Society, and other organizations expelled him, but after war sentiment dissipated he began to appear again on lecture platforms.

Before World War II Viereck worked as a correspondent for a Munich newspaper and a free-lance writer for American magazines. He once described himself as doing what he could to better relations between the United States and Germany.

On the walls of his Riverside Drive study in New York he had photographs of Hitler, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, and Kaiser Wilhelm. All three, he said in an interview, had been his friends. “But I am no longer on speaking terms with some of them,” he added. In 1929 he had written of Hitler, “This man, if he lives, will make history.”

George Viereck was arrested in New York in October 1941 on charges of withholding from the US State Department information about his pro-German propaganda activities. He was charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Viereck and his lawyer appealed his case all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

Pages from Brief for Petitioner in Viereck v. the United States, US Supreme Court, October 1942

After his first appeal to the Supreme Court failed, George Viereck began serving his term of one to five years on July 31 1943 in the Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. His lawyer kept working on another appeal.

Viereck's statement before sentencing, July 31, 1943

Eventually, the US Supreme Court reversed Viereck’s conviction on the grounds that he was not compelled to report his activities “except as an agent of a foreign government.” After serving three years and ten months in prison, George Viereck was released on May 17, 1947.

George Sylvester Viereck died at Mount Holyoke Hospital on March 18, 1962, at the age of 77.

Please check out the online finding aid of the George Sylvester Viereck Papers here:

http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsc100/MsC99/MsC99_viereckgeorge.htm

UI alumni heed the Homecoming call

Ah, homecoming: A nearly century-old UI football ritual with more traditions than you can punt, pass or kick. A few of them are described in the October “Old Gold,” a monthly feature by university archivist David McCartney for Spectator@Iowa, a publication of the Office of University Relations for alumni and friends of the University of Iowa:

http://spectator.uiowa.edu/2010/october/oldgold.html

Hoover Collection of Science Fiction Fanzines

Special Collections announces a new and valuable addition to its growing collections of zines and of science fiction fandom-related materials: the Debbie Hoover Fanzine Collection. Hoover is a longtime SF fan based in Salem, Oregon who has graciously donated her collection of fan fiction, which spans from the 1970s through the early 2000s.

Fan fiction has long been a popular method by which fans of a particular book, movie, or television series interact with the universes portrayed in those media in a creative way. Fans frequently will write stories or poems, or create artwork, that chronicle new adventures in the lives of their favorite characters or shine new light on those characters’ inner lives.

Most of the Hoover Collection’s materials concern the first incarnation of the Star Trek television series (1966-1969). Other significant portions of the collection are based around the cult science fiction TV shows The Sentinel (1996-1999) and Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007). Media with smaller number of zines written about them include the Star Wars movie series (1977-2005), and the TV shows Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993-1997) and Starsky and Hutch (1975-1979). Even smaller numbers of zines involve other movies and television shows.

The Hoover Collection is an important source of information on the social phenomenon of science fiction fandom, which has achieved an important place in American popular culture in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. The media chronicled in the Hoover materials (as well as in the Libraries’ other fandom-related archival collections) have been significant in the lives and hearts of many people; the Hoover collection preserves the creative impact that these media have on their fans. – Jeremy Brett, Project Archivist

Below: This zine was produced in 1980, between the release of the first and second Star Wars films. Star Wars fan fiction began production as early as the late 1970s, as soon as the Star Wars phenomenon exploded into popular culture. SW fiction is interesting as an example of the ways in which dedicated fans try on their own to explore what may only have been hinted at in the original product. Fans enthusiastically expanded on character backgrounds, plot back stories, and other aspects of the SW universe, many of which, of course, were “officially” negated after the release of the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005).

“It is a dangerous thing to make presents to poets”

Special Collections has recently acquired a new letter to add to the Brewer-Leigh Hunt Collection. This letter, written by Leigh Hunt to Vincent Novello in 1816, highlights Hunt’s close relationship with the noted composer and serves as a primary example of Hunt’s early correspondence. In it, Hunt talks of visiting Novello and of the gifts ladies send him, to which he declares “…it is a dangerous thing to make presents to poets.” Hunt’s extensive correspondence reveals an intimate knowledge of literary, artistic, political, and religious ideas circulating in the first half of nineteenth-century Britain. Visit the digital collection Leigh Hunt Letters to learn more about Hunt’s life and career, and to take a closer look at this letter as well as over 1600 other examples of Hunt’s extensive correspondence. The letter is reproduced below. – Anne Covell, Robert A. Olson Fellow 2008-2010, Special Collections & University Archives

Corkhill Civil War Diary

There are many Civil War diaries throughout Special Collections. Some are part of a collection of papers, while others are bound. There is a guide available that provides some details, and increasing numbers of Civil War diaries and documents are being digitized. Our goal is to have full digital access to all of our Civil War material in time for the Sesquicentennial in 2011.

Recently Special Collections received a donation that adds to this collection of Civil War resources. Through the efforts of Sharon Barker Hannon, on behalf of her family, a diary written by her great-great-grandfather, Rev. Thomas Corkhill, now resides in Special Collections. Corkhill wrote his diary in a commonplace book, and it is filled with religious poetry and commentary in addition to diary entries relating his experiences as Chaplain to the 25th Regiment of Iowa Infantry Volunteers, commissioned September 30, 1862. This diary will also be digitized as part of our ongoing efforts. – Greg Prickman, Assistant Head, Special Collections & University Archives

John Gawsworth Notebooks

Special Collections has purchased additional materials to add to the John Gawsworth Papers. Gawsworth was a poet and leader of the neo-Georgian movement in Britain. He was also the second king of Redonda. As a poet he peaked early and at the age of 26 was the youngest member of the Royal Society. He fell from favor and died homeless and impoverished. Our original collection was comprised of his later writings, after drink had diminished his capacity. These works are virtually all unpublished. This new addendum is from his earlier days and presumably show more vigor. Included are several notebook journals from his days in the RAF and, as the bookseller says they are “. . . especially valuable for the light they cast on the frontline wartime activities of a sensitive and deeply-poetic sensibility. “ He was stationed in Northern Africa, Italy, and India and everywhere he went he studied the literature of the region, and there are lists of books and authors. Especially complete is his survey of North African authors. Also included are holograph print versions of many of his poems. – Jacque Roethler, Special Collections Assistant

The 1922 Fiji-New Zealand Expedition: A Tale of Two Journal Entries

During the summer of 1922, a group of University of Iowa faculty and graduate students with interests in the natural sciences embarked upon a four-month expedition to the South Pacific. Under the leadership of Prof. Charles C. Nutting of the Department of Zoology, the group visited the island nations of Fiji and New Zealand, gathering observations and specimens pertinent to their respective disciplines.

Prof. Nutting chronicled the expedition in a 1924 report, published as an installment of University of Iowa Studies in Natural History (v. X, no. 5; call no. QH1.I58). Based on its thorough index, the report covers a wide range of research interests, including anthropology, archaeology, botany, entomology, and zoology.

Recently, Special Collections & University Archives received additional documentation of this adventure from the perspective of Waldo Glock, then a graduate student in geology. (Mr. Glock would go on to a distinguished academic career at The Ohio State University.) His son, Waldo Glock, Jr., donated to the Archives his father’s scrapbook, journal, and a set of over 200 lantern slides recounting the journey.

We’ll leave the academic researching of this new collection to, well, the researchers. We couldn’t help but note, however, the journal entries for the voyagers’ last day at sea – September 2, 1922. First, Prof. Nutting’s official account:

“The sea became rather ‘lumpy’ as we neared the American coast. There was much drinking on board as the passengers were taking advantage of their last chance before reaching prohibition territory. There seemed to be little effort to restrain them and they kept up a veritable ‘rough house’ nearly all night with a good deal of profane and even indecent language.”

And now for graduate student Glock’s account:

“The Smoke room, scene of hilarity! Bottles of Scotch and glasses were everywhere. Norton was flushed of face and glassy eyed; Polly was follish drunk; Walsh was wild-eyed and red; Mong oozy eyed; Haines perfectly silly; Mrs. Brandeis itching for greater revels; Myrtle knew enuf to stop; Owen began to stagger… 2:30 a.m. they fell back exhausted, an incoherent mumble the last spark from the battered frames. Once having started there is no stopping, on and on, more, more – more, to the bitter end.”

And there you have it: Two accounts from two perspectives. While official records present evidence of an event, there is nothing like a diary to bring out the details. – David McCartney, University Archivist

Letters from Theodore Roosevelt

Special Collections is pleased to accept a donation from Margaret L. Zimansky. It is an addition of two pieces to the papers of William B. Allison, a collection she donated in 1968. Allison was a senator from Iowa during Theodore Roosevelt’s administration, and this new donation consists of a letter and a postcard from Roosevelt to Allsion. They discuss issues of the day, including railroad legislation. The letter is dated April 12, 1906, two years before Allison’s death. The postcard is also from April, without a year indicated. Both sides are reproduced below. – Greg Prickman, Assistant Head, Special Collections & University Archives

Elliott Ruben APA Materials

Special Collections has recently received a treasure trove of materials representing the full flower of the 20th century American amateur press movement. Elliott M. Ruben (1916-2009), a native of Long Island, New York, was active for his entire life in a number of amateur press associations (“apas”). An apa is a group of amateur printers who produce homemade publications – leaflets, flyers, broadsides, zines, and all sorts of other materials – and submit copies of them to a Central Mailer, who collates and distributes the publications to all apa members. An apa may concern itself with one subject of interest, or may generalize to take in many or all products of the amateur press. Apas, which first arose in the mid 19th-century as private presses became cheaper and more readily available, are an important precursor to the World Wide Web as a method of facilitating communication between widely distributed groups of people interested in the same topics.

Ruben’s collection of materials encompasses the activities of several national apas (which together would comprise many hundreds of amateur printers and their work), and stretches from the early 1930s to the beginning of the 2000s. The Elliott M. Ruben Amateur Press Association Collection is a major source of information on the apa movement, and a wonderful showcase of the range of talents exhibited by America’s amateur printers. – Jeremy Brett, Project Archivist

Ruben’s own January 1928 creation showing an early interest in printing and design.

From the AAPA May 1948 Bundle. “The Searchlight” is a leftist journal from the Jack London Amateur Press Club, that demonstrates the activism of many amateur printers.

The “People Watcher,” October 1986, from NAPA. Printed by Lauren Geringer, of Iowa City, whose papers are also held in Special Collections.