Kurt P. Oppermann Papers, 1887, 2007

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Summary

Creator:: Oppermann, Kurt P.
Abstract:: The collection includes the following series: Kurt P. Oppermann and family papers; Oppermann Fur Company records; collected materials on historic preservation, miscellaneous, Saginaw, Michigan history, and collected papers of others including Bude Volusin, Mabel C. (Scott) de Fere, Marion C. Weir, and Frank Selzer.
Extent:: 26 cubic ft. (in 34 boxes, 4 Oversized folders, 19 Oversized v.)
Language:: English
German
Authors:: Collection processed and finding aid created by Marian Matyn

Background

Scope and Content:

The collection is divided into the following series: Papers of Kurt P. Oppermann and his family, the Oppermann Fur Company Records. Materials Kurt largely collected include: Historic Preservation Materials, Miscellaneous Materials, Saginaw Michigan, Materials, and the Papers of Other Saginawians, including: Bude Volusin; Mabel C. (Scott) De Fere; Marion C. Weir; and Frank Selzer.

The collection provides detailed, personal information about Kurt and his family who were pivotal in the fur and newspaper business, as well as in the musical and social life of Saginaw in the late 19th and early 20th century. His interest in history prompted him to collect photographs, blueprints, and other information on Saginaw history, families, and buildings. This is a valuable collection to study family letters and relationships, Germans in Saginaw, Saginaw history, Saginaw buildings, and the fur business in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Papers of Kurt P. Oppermann are divided into the following subseries: Biographical Materials (.5 cubic ft. in 1 box), including obituaries, funeral cards, published histories on the family, and Kurt’s Account Book, 1939-1941; his Diaries, 1920, 1926, 1936, 1946, and 1970; high school class notes, 1911-1912, and a Seemann and Peters stock certificate, 1946.

Photographic Materials (2 cubic ft. in 4 boxes), includes a wide variety of photographic materials with images of the extended Oppermann, Nerretes, and Peters families and their friends from the 19th century through 1973. Twentieth century reproductions of 18th and 19th century images of Oppermann ancestors are also included. The subseries include an ambrotype, cartes-de-visite, daguerreotypes, glass-plate negatives, various types of film negatives, positive prints, tin types, and both photographic and negative albums. Many of these photographic materials are partially identified. Images show family members in formal poses, in the family yard at 130 N. 6th Street, Saginaw, on fishing trips, at Kurt’s Arrowhead Farm, various trips Kurt took throughout Michigan and Germany from the 1930s through the 1960s, the interior and exterior of the Oppermann family mansion, and Dr. and Mrs. Karl Kangler richly dressed in Arabic costumes for a costume party. The 19th century Cartes-de-visite Album contains images of Oppermann, Nerretes, and Peters family members. Some of the photographs were taken by the Goodridge Bros. and by Armstrong and Rudd’s Gallery. A photograph album, late nineteenth century, is also included with the volumes at the end of the collection.

Personal Correspondence to Oppermann Family Members (approximately 3.25 cubic ft. in 7 boxes) is the next series. The Oppermanns wrote extensively over decades to each other. They loved each other very much and wrote fairly long, detailed letters covering a wide variety of family news such as illnesses, deaths, weddings, homework, bumps and bruises, as well as religious, social, musical, and fur business news.

All correspondence within each subseries in this collection is in chronological order.

Kurt’s letters to his family are divided into: Letters to One or Both Parent and/or Siblings, 1914-1934, and undated (approximately 1 cubic ft. in 1 box); Letters to Friends and Family, 1914-1916, 1918, 1926, 1929 (1 folder); and letters to Letto (Lydia), 1929-1930 (2 additional folders).

Letters to Kurt from his parents are next and include: Letters from both of his parents, 1917; Letters from his Fathers, 1912-1930 (Scattered) and undated (2 folders); and from his Mother, 1914-1935 (approximately 1 cubic ft. in 1 box). Letters between Kurt’s Mother, Nettie (Peters) Oppermann, and her family and friends before her marriage, 1887-1890, and between Nettie and her new husband, Gustav Oppermann, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles H. Peters, Sr., and her siblings, 1891-1894 (4 folders) are next. These letters are particularly affectionate and tender, proving that her family embraced Gustav into their family and that they loved each other very much.

Letters to and from Kurt and his siblings are next and in general are quite affectionate and full of news of jobs, family members, and the health and accomplishments of their children and grandchildren. The only negatives in the letters occur in the late 1930s over concerns the siblings had that Art was ruining the family fur business and what Kurt should do to save it. Clearly Kurt was believed by his siblings to be the only one with a chance of saving the business, the family reputation, and Art. A description of the letters of the Oppermann siblings is as follows:

Letters of Arthur “Art” P. Oppermann and his wife, Hulda with Kurt, 1910-1927 (Scattered), and undated, and a letter Art sent to the editor of the Saturday Evening Post rebutting insults about Germans and American neutrality, 1915. The letters between Art and Kurt end in 1927. Before 1927 many of the letters talk about family news and the fur business. After 1927, their relationship deteriorated. This was in part due to the other siblings’ widely held view that Art had ruined the family fur business and Art’s bitterness towards Kurt as a result of Kurt’s actions to try to save the business. (5 folders).

Letters with Eugene “Gene” P. Oppermann and his wife, Stella, 1916-1942 (Scattered, 1 folder). Gene and Kurt were quite close and lived together in the old Oppermann family home from 1936 until Gene married. In his letters, Gene encouraged Kurt by November 16, 1936 to push Art onto “the right track” to avoid the disgrace and destitution of the family and for Kurt to impose a system on the business to get it going. He supported Kurt in staying in the family home because he was the only single sibling and had been shunted for years between Saginaw and New York on family business. The letters document a positive, close brotherly relationship between Kurt and Gene.

Letters with Helen “Letto” (Oppermann) Edgerly, 1916-1964, and 1974, and undated (5 folders). She maintained a pleasant relationship with Kurt all her life although they were often physically separated by thousands of miles after 1925.

Letters with Paul “Barney” P. Oppermann, 1916-1975 (Scattered), and undated. (4 folders) These letters like the ones between Kurt and Pat are affectionate, but not unusual.

Letter with Peters “Pat” Oppermann, 1916-1974 or 1975 (Scattered, 1 folder). Like the letters between Barney, these letters are affectionate, but not unusual.

Letters with Robert “Bob” P. Oppermann, and his wife, Stella, 1916-1974. (Scattered, 5 folders). Included here are weekly reports to Bob from Kurt from January through March 1937 that mention the strikes and shutdown automobile plants and the effect of that and the generally poor economy on the Oppermann business. In March 1937 Bob mentioned Kurt’s 18 acres and Kurt mentioned how he needed the good air there.

The subseries concludes with Personal Correspondence [with] Extended Oppermann Family Members. This includes Kurt’s aunts, uncles, cousins, and a niece, 1916-1961. Most of this correspondence consists mainly of family news, with some holiday or birthday greetings. Some of the correspondence with his cousin, Helmut Oppermann, in Germany is in German and some is about family genealogy.

Political Correspondence consists of one folder each of correspondence with Charles “Charlie” Koehler, a Saginaw City Councilman and friend of Kurt’s, 1947-1960; a letter from Kurt to Adolph (surname unknown) protesting his being treated as a city employee, 1942, in regards to being in or helping to organized an orchestra; and correspondence with Stephen J. Roth, the Attorney General of Michigan, 1949-1950.

General Correspondence between Kurt and his friends covers a wide variety of general family and personal news. Like all the correspondence in this collection, it is filed chronologically. It is divided in two sections. First, correspondence with Kurt’s friends with whom he had regular but sporadic correspondence, perhaps one or two letters a year for a decade or so (approximately 1.75 cubic ft. in 4 boxes). The correspondence is fairly regular, 1909-1942, and particularly good during World War I. It is more scattered, 1943-1974, and undated. Some of his good friends that he had extensive correspondence with during the 1920 and 1930s include: Dick Townsend, Jo Polak, Van George, Ben Bartlett, Hazel McMullen, Helen and Jane Runyon, Kate Wolf, Marguerite Geoffrey, Lucile Whitman, George Long, J.W. “Wes” Harrison, Howard “Howdy” Ewen, and Mabel (Scott) de Fere.

Kurt’s brother, Barney, with whom Kurt was very close, also knew and was friends with most of Kurt’s friends of this period. Harriet, Dorothy and Lucile, possibly nurses or patients are sometimes referred to as “the three maidens”. Many of these friends also spent time recovering from illness at Castle Point, and many of them knew each other.

The second section is General Correspondence of friends with whom Kurt extensively corresponded over long periods, on specific topics of research, and with whom he exchanged multiple letters monthly (1 cubic ft. in 2 boxes.) Kurt was friends with all the women, but they were mostly just penpals. His correspondents include: Catherine Ditzler, 1916-1934 (the correspondence ends after she married in June 16, 1934); Dr. W. W. Florer, 1950-1954, and undated, with whom Kurt discussed historic settlement near and in Saginaw; William D. Fueher, 1953, re: German Language in public schools and German communities in Michigan; Jenny Heyne, 1914-1925; Dr. Carl Ibershoff, 1919-1951 (Scattered) and undated (some materials in German); Mollie Jensen, a friend of Kurt’s ex-girlfriend, Christine, who wrote to Kurt through a third friend to avoid scenes with her jealous husband, Norman, whom she finally divorced in 1929, 1927-1934, and undated (2 folders); Myron E. Leppy, 1926-1930; Rita Moloney, 1930-1932, 1939; and Sinfonia Fraternity at the University of Michigan, 1915-1931 (Scattered). Also there is correspondence with Dorothy Miller, 1921-1922, 1925, and undated. Dorothy’s letters indicate that she was Kurt’s girlfriend, but this may have been a long-distance emotional relationship only.

The second largest series in the collection is that of the Oppermann Fur Company Business Records. The records are divided by format into loose papers and smaller volumes that fit into the boxes, and then oversized volumes.

The papers, 1915-1937 and undated (4.5 cubic ft. in 9 boxes) are filed alphabetically by the type of material, and then chronologically. A wide variety of financial records is represented here, including accounts, a ledger, inventories, job receipt books (documenting customers and work they wanted done or items created), mailing lists, lists of prospective customers, publications, sales records, tax receipts, and work notes, among others. It is clear that Kurt examined these records in his effort to try to save the business and that he inherited them when the business closed.

A great strength of this series is the Business Correspondence, 1918-1925. It is divided first in to Business Correspondence with Companies, and then with Customers. Kurt kept the records in roughly alphabetical and chronological order for 1920, 1921, and 1919-1925. The companies include suppliers of furs, leather, beadwork, embroidery silk, buttons, tanning and curing supplies, as well as stationery, food, tools, and office supplies. Companies with whom they conducted extensive or specialized business, such as women’s clothing, and Charles F. Wagner, a fur merchant with Wagner, Jodie and Co., 1919-1924, and with G. Gaudig and Blum Corp., 1923-1925, are filed separately. Many of the fur related businesses had beautiful stationery with various animals and furs, as well as images of their establishments. Filed with some of the correspondence are catalog books, fliers, business cards, and swatches of material.

Sixteen Oversized Volumes of business records, 1888-1934 (approximately 5 cubic ft.), document both the Saginaw and Flint Oppermann fur stores. The volumes are physically located at the end of the collection. The volumes include an Account Receivable Book, Day Books, a HUGE, very heavy Scrapbook of advertising and fur business information on the Oppermanns, A. J. Jaeckel and Company, and other fur companies mainly in New York City, Job Receipt Books, and Ledgers, two of which are indexed, and two others which include inventories of the Flint Store. Many of the advertisements in the Scrapbook are from various Saginaw newspapers.

A third series in the collection is Historic Preservation Materials (.5 cubic ft. in 1 box). This consists of materials Kurt accumulated or generated to create public interest and organizations, including the Heritage Foundation Association, the Saginaw Historical Building Foundation, and the Saginaw Historical Heritage Committee, all of which Kurt helped found, to save old Saginaw buildings, 1949-1962. Among the buildings of interest to him and his friends were the Webber House, which is extensively documented here, the Saginaw Civic Center, the Old Saginaw Auditorium, and the Arthur P. Hill High School. Unfortunately for Kurt, many people in Saginaw had little money or interest at the time to save the buildings which were destroyed. Also documented here are the efforts of white people in historic areas of Saginaw to prevent their property from being purchased by African Americans in the early 1960s. This effort is documented in the Johnson-Lapeer-Janes Neighborhood folders. At first Kurt created an advertising draft that was blatantly racist to get supporters. The draft was amended after advice from a friend of Kurt’s who was on the city commission.

The Miscellaneous series (.5 cubic ft. in 1 box) includes mostly Kurt’s correspondence with various people, including his apartment manager, letters to the editor of the Saginaw News, 1936-1957 (Scattered) on a variety of topics, and a collection of lovely, undated greeting cards, as well as one folder of Kurt’s miscellaneous poetry, 1911-1973, and undated.

The Saginaw, Michigan, Materials (1 cubic ft. in 2 boxes) consists of advertising fliers on auctions, 1960-1965; and meeting minutes and attachments of various Saginaw committees and boards, including the Christian Business Men’s Committee; the Saginaw Board of Appeals on Zoning, 1955-1960 and 1968; Saginaw City Council, 1953-1959 (Scattered); and information on Saginaw Schools and the Saginaw Sewer Construction Progress Reports, December 1955-February 1959.

A few legal-size items, mainly legal items, are found in Box 30 due to their size. Items of particular interest include correspondence regarding Kurt’s tuberculosis claim, 1924-1969 (Scattered); legal papers of Kurt and other family members, 1936-1968; and Oppermann Fur Co. Advertisements, Sketches, and Fur Business related Materials, 1920-1939, and undated.

The last series in the collection is Papers of Other Saginawians. Mabel C. (Scott) De Fere’s papers came to Kurt after she died. Other papers, including those of the family of Bude Volusin Kurt either collected or people gave the papers to him knowing of his interest in Saginaw history. Included here are some letters of the family of Bude Volusin, a Saginaw architect and builder, 1853-1871 (some in German). The papers of Kurt’s longtime friend and Saginaw teacher Mabel C. (Scott) De Fere (April 10, 1899-March 15, 1968) include her Correspondence, Biographical Materials, Certificates, a Diploma, and Teaching Materials as well as numerous Photographs and other materials documenting her family and friends in Bergland, Michigan. Mabel married Tom De Fere by 1926. They divorced by June 4, 1936. One letter notes that Kurt and Mabel became engaged on January 5, 1939, but they apparently never married. Mabel loaned Kurt over $700 by 1942, at which time Kurt considered her co-owner of Kurt’s Arrowhead farm. The papers of Marion C. Weir consist mostly of his published and unpublished poetry and correspondence with Kurt, 1917-1959. His published poetry was published by the Oppermann Fur Company. Lastly, in the Oversized Volumes there is an account book of Frank Selzer, a Saginaw artist and probably a lithographer, 1930-1941, documenting companies, people and newspapers for which/whom he did artwork.

Due to size, a few items have been placed in Oversized Folders immediately before the Oversized Volumes. These include Folder #1, Webber House Blueprints (copies, 2), 1960; Oppermann Fur Co., Advertising, Sketches, etc., 1926, 1933-1934, and undated; and Certificates and a Diploma of Mabel C. (Scott) de Fere, 1914, 1916-1917, and 1936.

Oversized Folder 4 includes partial issues of the Saginaw Daily News, 1916; Saginaw Evening News, 1895; Saginaw News, 1949-1950, 1967; Saginaw News Courier, 1919; and the Saginaw Sunday News, 1934. Saginaw Evening News, Mt. Cecilia Edition, St. Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1895, Second Section, pages 9 and 10 and 15 and 16. This partial newspaper measures 22x17 inches and has a major rip on the right side, is very acidic, with edge damage. A section that measures 11x3 inches is loose from the seam through all the towards the peripheral edge. The last page is entirely a Morley advertisement. The content covers general 1895 Saginaw news. Saginaw Daily News, January 12, 1916, pages 1-2 and 11-12. Saginaw News Courier, March 31, 1919, pages 1-2. Saginaw Sunday News, June 17, 1934, Section 3, pages 1-20. This newspaper measures 23x18 inches, is acidic and has edge damage, rips, and tears. Pages 1-2 are ripped almost in half. Page 6 has a June 1897 bridal photograph of Mrs. Ralph C. Morley, Sr. Topics near to Oppermann’s interests are German immigrants and groups in Saginaw on page 11 and musical groups and events on page 13. The entire last page is a cartoonish set of drawings celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Saginaw News. Saginaw News, August 28, 1949, pages 23-24; October 23, 1949, pages 21-30; February 5, 1950, pages 21-22; February 8, 1950 pages 7-8; and Saginaw News, May 18, 1967, pages 1-14 and page 1 features the Oppermann mansion with photographs.

Biographical / Historical:

Biography:

Kurt Peters Oppermann was born on November 24, 1898 in Saginaw, Michigan, the son of Antoinette “Netty” Peters (1870-by August 16, 1936) and Gustav F. Oppermann (February 6, 1863-June 13, 1932). Kurt was the third of seven children born to Netty and Gus after they married in 1891, including: Arthur “Art” Peters (born 1893); Helen “Letto” (born 1895); Kurt Peters (born 1898); Eugene “Jene” or “Gene” Peters (born 1900); Paul “Barney” Peters (born 1903); Robert “Bob” Peters (born 1906); and Peters “Pat” (born 1908). They lived in the family mansion at 130 North 6th Street in Saginaw.

Gustav was the eldest son of Frederick Oppermann, a German furrier who migrated to New York, Boston, and, finally, Saginaw by 1865, where he founded the Oppermann Fur Company. Frederick was born and trained as a furrier in Germany. He married Helene Nerreter and died in 1908.

Gustav studied music at the National Conservatory of Music and studied painting with Dr. Karl Kanzler. In 1891 he returned to Saginaw where he married Antoinette “Netty” Peters. They then moved to New York City where they lived for four years while Gustav worked for A. Jaeckel and Co., a fur company. In 1895, they returned to Saginaw and Gustav joined the family firm. Gustav’s sons, Art and Kurt, both worked in the business regularly. When Art and Kurt were in the service during World War I, Eugene worked at the company.

Netty was the eldest daughter of Anna (Seemann) Peters (1847-1917) and Charles H. Peters, of the Seemann and Peters newspaper business in Saginaw. Her siblings were: Edwin C. Peters, Mrs. Meta Peters Hedrich; Charles H. Peters; Mrs. H. B. Anderson; Joseph S. Peters; and Mrs. Alfred (Anneral) Itte. Correspondence between Netty and her parents and siblings demonstrates that they were a loving, close-knit family.

Kurt had a close relationship with his parents and siblings. He wrote his parents, particularly his mother every few days. His mother wrote to him at least monthly. Both Nettie and Helen “Letto” began letters to Kurt as Dear “Kurtibus” and Nettie also wrote to “My dear Kurtie boy,” or used the German “Kurtchen”. There is also one letter she wrote to Eugene which begins “Jenibus”…

Both Gus and Art played the violin and Kurt played the cello. The entire family enjoyed attending musical events. The Oppermanns were active in the Germania Society as well as musical organizations and orchestras in Saginaw.

Kurt’s correspondence with his parents began when he attended summer camp in 1914 at Torch Lake. He had fun there and sent typical letters home which were full of homesickness and a list of daily events. In 1916 he moved to Chicago and lived with his Aunt Anneral Itte, apparently his mother’s sister, who was having a very unhappy life with Kurt’s uncle, Al Itte. Kurt unknowingly moved in when things were getting terrible. Al had apparently sold Anneral’s engagement ring to pay off his debt without telling her. Kurt enjoyed attending musical events and taking cello lessons from Mr. Bruno Steindels, a recognized cellist, while in Chicago. After recovering from piles in June 1916, Kurt became a dedicated Christian Scientist. Later in his letters he invited his friends and family to consider his religious perspectives. At first, his beliefs were upsetting to his mother, but she shortly thereafter converted and became a Christian Scientist herself.

His parents were encouraged to consider sending him to college by Eugene C. Warriner, who was then the principal of Saginaw High School. Warriner was of course President of Central Michigan University, 1918-1939, after serving as in 1895 as principal of East Saginaw High School, and in 1899 the superintendent of the Saginaw school system, a position he served in for 18 years. Kurt graduated from Saginaw High School in 1915. A letter from Gus to Kurt in 1916 notes that Gus felt Kurt could have a successful career in either the fur business or playing the cello and left the decision of his future to Kurt. In October 1916, Kurt went to the University of Michigan (U of M) on a special high school and lyceum scholarship worth $200. At the U of M, Kurt joined Sinfonia House fraternity and the Symphonia Orchestra, attended football games, and took cello lessons from Marion C. Weir. In March 1917 Kurt heard Pablo Casals sing, which he enjoyed immensely. His first term classes are not listed or discussed in detail. In January 1918 he was briefly at Camp Custer. The following month he began his second term at UM taking: Sociology, German, Fine Arts, Rhetoric, Philosophy, Art and Culture 19th c. His fees: dues/room $39; board $47; breakfast $15; gym $2; RR$6; Books $8; Supplies $1; Reserve $8. or $125 total. He spent at least part of the summer in Ann Arbor taking lessons and classes.

On September 3, 1918 Kurt’s “number was up” (his words indicating that he was drafted) and he became a private in Company 1, Battalion 1, 160th D[epot] Brigade, the [U of M] Mechanics Division. He remained at Camp Custer from September 3, 1918 until January 8, 1919, when he was formally discharged as a corporal. The brothers wrote of their shared and similar experiences. Art was torn between wanting to serve his country and helping his parents, particularly his father with the fur business.

Kurt never returned to the U of M to finish his degree. In March 1919 his brother, Gene, attended the U of M. Kurt advised Gene to study first and join Sinfonia House later. By March 1919, Kurt worked at his father’s store in the furrier business.

From April through August 1920, Kurt worked in New York City for Mr. A. Jaeckel’s, a furrier firm for whom Frederick Oppermann had worked. Kurt hoped to work half-time and attend school half-time, but he never returned to school. The Oppermann Fur Co. bought a lot of furs from Jaeckel’s over the decades.

By the beginning of August 1921, Kurt worked full-time at the Oppermann Fur Company, located in buildings at 208-210-212 Lapeer Ave., Saginaw. He became a fur agent for the company working from April 1922 in Chicago, September 1925 in New York City, October 1925 in Chicago and New York. In May-June 1926 Kurt was in Massachusetts, and later that month in Philadelphia and New York. His 1927 business card announces him as “K. Oppermann fur dealer.”

Something happened with Art who was managing the Saginaw store. In surviving business correspondence to customers and companies (suppliers of furs and other goods), 1920-1925, notably in 1924, Kurt repeatedly wrote that the Oppermann Fur Co. did not have sufficient funds to pay their bills that month but hoped to next month, that paper work regarding furs, and the actual furs had been misplaced, etc. Clearly something was wrong. His siblings basically demanded that Kurt take over the business at that time due to Art’s mismanagement of the company. During the late 1930s finances in general worsened with the Great Depression. In letters to Kurt, all of his siblings, except Art, wrote that they held Art responsible for ruining the business and therefore all of their futures through mismanagement. Gene pushed Kurt by November 16, 1936 to push Art onto “the right track” to avoid the disgrace and destitution of the family and for Kurt to impose a system on the business to get it going. Kurt created daily reports of the business trying to keep the company solvent and changed the operation in ways he felt would be positive. However, by 1939 the company ceased to exist.

Kurt contracted pulmonary tuberculosis after he was assigned to care for men suffering with influenza at Camp Custer in late 1918. A letter from October 7, 1922 states that he definitely had tuberculosis. He had medical examinations in 1923 and 1924 and was hospitalized periodically during 1928 through 1930 in Castle Point, a Veterans Administration hospital in Beacon, New York. Many of his friends with whom he corresponded in the 1920s and 1930s also stayed periodically in the Castle Point due to tuberculosis or related illnesses. Kurt tried to get government recognition of his illness, but the government repeatedly turned him down, even when Representative Bird of Saginaw petitioned on his behalf in 1929. Later, in the 1930s his illness was finally officially recognized. Kurt’s friend, Ben Bartlett, wrote a note on Kurt’s behalf in which he said he had known Kurt all his life, served with him at Camp Custer, and knew that during the influenza epidemic Kurt had been ordered to care for sick men in a number of tents.

Another result of his having tuberculosis was the purchase of a 15-acre farm called Arrowhead in Tittabawassee Township by Kurt in August 1931. He later stated in a March 1937 letter to his brother Bob that he needed the farm’s good air, presumably for his lungs.

Either the veterans themselves or the hospital staff wrote to the public requesting pen pals for hospitalized veterans. Two letters Kurt received document this. One is dated May 20, 1929 and is from Isabella Burke of Buffalo, New York. She introduced herself to an unknown veteran, Kurt. The next letter is from Janie Carpenter of Victoria, Texas, dated May 29, 1929. She asked if he was the man who wrote to Pictorial Review and signed as “Top Sergeant.” Janie hoped her letters would “cheer the men up.”

Besides the numerous, mostly female, penpals who wrote him while hospitalized, Kurt also heard regularly from his male and female friends from Ann Arbor, Saginaw, and New York City, as well as his relatives. One of his pen pale, Mollie Jensen, wrote to Kurt via a friend due to her jealous, abusive husband, Norman. Mollie and Kurt wrote to each other from 1927 through 1929 when she finally divorced Norman. Molly was a friend of a woman named Christine who had apparently caused Kurt great heart ache about 1928. Kurt had eventually forgiven Christine, but clearly felt he had been wronged. Additional documentation on their relationship does not exist.

Kurt had many lady friends and penpals, but never married. Beginning in May 1920 Kurt had a relationship with a woman named Dorothy “Doree” [Anderson]. He wrote in a diary about it. Over June 21-22 he writes of “the wedding” and “her room”. He traveled to the AuSable River on July 2nd and on August 24th returned to New York City, which apparently ended the relationship. Kurt also had a penpal, Dorothy Miller, who was his girlfriend, although this was likely mostly a long-distance emotional affair, from 1921 through 1922. Kurt was also engaged to Mabel de Fere in January 1929. They never married. His opinions about the women and their relationships are known only from a few extant drafts of his correspondence to these women in the collection.

A number of Kurt’s female friends were Christian Scientists who had “C.S.” after their names on their stationery. They wrote largely about their faith and often included prayers and religious clippings with their correspondence. It is likely that some of these women were his religious mentors.

About 1931 Kurt’s friends mention the photographs he has taken and sent to them and how good they are. In 1929, Kurt ordered a camera. He was an amateur photographer. By April 22, 1931 Kurt won some type of artistic prize, possibly for photography.

In 1932, Gustav died. Friends wrote to Kurt, including Ben Bartlett, about how Gus had grounded so many people in music. It is clear the Gus loved music, was actively involved in music, and was an active proponent of music. In 1936 Kurt’s beloved mother, Nettie, died. She was remembered by Kurt’s friends as lovely and charming. Her estate was complicated because it involved the family mansion at 130 North Sixth Avenue, the Oppermann Fur Company business, the Joseph Seemann legacy, and Seemann and Peters publishing stock. Kurt bought his siblings’, Helen and Robert’s, shares of the mansion for $500 each. He and his brother, Eugene, then moved into the Oppermann mansion. Kurt lived there the rest of his life, renting one floor out as needed to tenants. Kurt also relinquished all business in the Oppermann Fur Company to his brother, Arthur P. Oppermann.

Kurt continued to play the cello throughout his life. He was invited to join the International House String Quartet in June 1928. In 1937 at least one letter in the General Correspondence reminds him of a scheduled orchestra committee meeting. He also bought music from and corresponded with John Prindle Scott, a New York City composer who had previously attended Oberlin and taught singing in Saginaw.

A late 1938 letter to E. C. Warriner from Kurt notes that Kurt considered becoming a teacher. This may have been in response to Kurt realizing that the fur business days were ending. An interesting letter dated February 22, 1938 to Kurt from LeRoy Hamilton talks about the Upper Peninsula’s top Civilian Conservation Corps basketball team, the 668th, at Camp Morman Creek, F-30 Rapid River, Michigan.

In the 1940s most of Kurt’s surviving general correspondence is not with friends but with the city about taxes and re-paving sidewalks.

By the 1950s Kurt became interested in urban renewal. He was a co-founder in 1961 of the Saginaw Historical Preservation Museum Association. The association tried to convince the public and politicians to save the Webber House, but the costs were exorbitant and funds limited. As a result, the massive house was destroyed. Kurt was also active in the 1930s in saving the Castle Post Office, now the Castle Museum and home of the Hoyt Public Library. He was also interested in family history and became the official Oppermann family historian.

In 1971 Kurt sold his property at 130, 122, 121, and 125 North 6th Street and his 15-acre farm called Arrowhead on US 10 and Sarle Road in Tittabawassee to Pat. The collection does not document when he physically stopped living at the house.

Kurt never married. He was apparently in love with at least four women in his life, including Christina circa 1928, and Margaret in 1930. He also had a relationship with Dorothy Miller, 1921-1922 and 1925. It is clear he was frustrated with them at the end of their relationships. Exactly what type of relationships they had is unknown. He was also apparently engaged to Mabel de Fere by January 5, 1939, but they never married.

Kurt died on July 17, 1977 in the Saginaw Veterans Administration Hospital. He was 79. He was survived by his sister Helen (Mrs. John T. Edgerly), and his brothers Robert Peters Oppermann, and Peters “Pat” Oppermann. Also, according to his obituary he was a life member of the Germania Society and the Saginaw Historical Society.

Kurt’s Siblings: Arthur “Art” Peters Oppermann (born 1893) married Hulda and had two children: Joan and Peter. About 1920 he began a Ladies Day Time Wear Shop with clothing from New York City’s 5th Avenue as an additional part of the Oppermann Fur Co. in the new Hotel Durant Building. While he had good intentions, Art apparently was not the best business man. As a result, by 1924 the store began to fail. As noted above, Kurt was called in to save the business, which still closed by 1939.

Helen Oppermann (born 1895) married John T. Edgerly by 1925. Together they had two children: Janet and Jim. The Edgerlys lived in Saginaw, New Jersey, and later Wilmington, Delaware.

Eugene “Gene” Peters Oppermann (1900-1942) married Stella by August 7, 1926, with whom he had one daughter, Anne and perhaps more children. Gene worked in Washington, D.C. in 1936. In 1938 he worked for the Department of Interior U.S. Housing Authority. In 1939 Gene was a Housing Manager in the Detroit Housing Commission, a job he found difficult due to racial tensions. Gene died by August 1, 1942, probably of cancer. Gene’s daughter Anne married Bill (surname unknown) in 1952. Kurt walked her down the aisle. Together Anne and Bill had two children: David and Peter.

Paul “Barney” Peters Oppermann (born 1903) married Kay, with whom he had three daughters: Kyla, Margaret, and Adelaide.

Robert “Bob” Peters Oppermann (born 1906) eloped with Stella Jessop on November 26, 1927 in Chicago. Their elopement was quite a shock to their families. Bob worked in Flint at DuPont from 1925 through at least 1932. He and Stella had a son, George Augustus, by January 14, 1935. By 1973 Bob and Stella had three grandchildren: Roxanne, Bobby and Deborah, the children of Lois and Robert. Tony and Paula, probably other grandchildren, are also mentioned. By 1975 Kay was having problems making decisions and Barney needed to be put into a home.

Peters “Pat” Oppermann (born 1908) attended Denison College in Grandville in 1928. He took German, Algebra, Psychology, Music Appreciation, English, and Physical Education classes. He tried to get into the Glee Club, but they had enough basses already and so rejected him. There is a 1922 letter from Pat’s friend, Paul F. H. Morley. Clearly as children, Pat and Paul were chums. In 1927-1928, Pat operated the Oppermann Radio Supply Company out of his parents’ home. In 1930 Pat mentions Adelaide (his niece?) being at school. In 1971 Kurt sold his property at 130, 122, 121, and 125 North 6th Street and Arrowhead farm to Pat.

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