Hermann Raster Papers, 1849-1940

Gift of Anna Raster Hercz, [1946]; Lenore Raster Aagaard, 1945-1977; Elizabeth Raster Marlowe, 1967; and Arthur Hercz ,1979.

The Hermann Raster Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

The Hermann Raster Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Hermann Raster Papers, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Shannon Yule, 2007.

This inventory was created with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this inventory do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

German immigrant “Forty-Eighter,” editor of New York Abendzeitung and Illinois Staats-Zeitung.

Hermann Raster was born in 1827 in Zerbst, Germany. He graduated from University of Leipzig in 1846 and the University of Berlin in 1848. In 1849 he took a job as the stenographer of the Anhalt Legislature. Raster took part in the revolutions of 1848, writing passionately against church and monarchy. He was forced to flee to America with fellow revolutionaries to escape prison.

Raster arrived in New York in July, 1851 and first found employment as a farmhand near Tioga, PA. He left for Buffalo in the spring of 1852, accepting the position of editor for the Buffalo Demokrat. His journalistic reputation grew quickly and in February of 1853, Raster was made editor of the New York Abendzeitung, the most influential German-language paper of the time.

In 1867, Raster accepted the position as editor for the Illinois Staats-Zeitung in Chicago, where he remained until his death. Raster died in July 1891 in Silesia, Germany where he had traveled for his poor health. His third wife Margarethe and their three children, Anna, Edwin and Walther survived him.

Raster was influential in leading the German-American switch to the Republican Party in 1856, swaying German public opinion via his pro-union, anti-slavery articles in the German press, and promoting the personal liberty (anti-temperance) cause.

The bulk of this collection consists of correspondence—professional, personal, and family. Many of the letters in the collection are in German, written by prominent German-American and German editors, professors, diplomats, singers and authors. There are also letters in English from important Chicagoans covering topics such as the fledgling Chicago Public library, immigration laws, the Chicago Board of Education, anti-temperance and the Republican Platform. Many of Raster’s letters to his family have been translated, including those that reveal his experiences and feelings as an immigrant in New York City and during the aftermath of the Chicago fire in 1871.

The Works series includes clippings of Raster’s columns and editorials, as well as hundreds of pro-union, anti-slavery news letters sent to a Berlin paper during the Civil War. This collection also includes various personal items such as several photographs, illustrations, an obituaries scrapbook, and various memorabilia.

Papers are organized in the following series:

Title Box Series 1: Correspondence Boxes 1-2 Series 2: Works Boxes 3-5 Series 3: Personal Box 6 Series 4: Family Boxes 7-10

• Names
  • Brachvogel, Udo, 1835-1913
  • Damrosch, Leopold, 1832-1885
  • Medill, Joseph, 1823-1899
  • Parker, Francis W., (Francis Wayland), 1837-1902
  • Pulitzer, Joseph, 1847-1911
  • Rapp, Wilhelm, 1827-1907
  • Raster, Hermann, 1827-1891
• Subject
  • Chicago
  • Civil War
  • Forty-Eighters (American immigrants)
  • German Americans -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Newspapers
  • Germans -- United States
  • Journalism
  • Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
  • Temperance -- History -- 19th century
• Geographic Coverage
  • Chicago (Ill.) -- Newspapers
  • United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865