Helen Knubel

Helen Knubel
A photograph of a middle-aged white woman with short dark hair. She is wearing pearls.
Helen Knubel, from a 1958 publication
BornJuly 10, 1901
New York City, US
DiedJuly 23, 1992
Bronxville, New York, US
OccupationArchivist
ParentFrederick Hermann Knubel

Helen M. Knubel (July 10, 1901 – July 23, 1992) was an American archivist for the National Lutheran Council from 1954 to 1971.

Early life

Helen M. Knubel was born in New York City, the daughter of Frederick Hermann Knubel and Christine A. Ritscher Knubel.[1] Her father was president of the United Lutheran Church in America from 1918 to 1944. Her brother, Frederick R. Knubel, was head of the United Lutheran Synod of New York and New England.[2]

Knubel survived polio as a teenager,[3] and used a wheelchair. She attended The New School for Social Research, the Biblical Seminary of New York, and trained as a librarian at Columbia University.[1]

Career

Knubel worked as an archivist for the National Lutheran Council from 1954 to 1971,[4][5] and "was considered the foremost archivist of the history of the Lutheran Church in North America," noted her obituary in The New York Times. She was founder and director of the Oral History of Cooperative Lutheranism in America project.[1] She was the author of An Introductory Guide to Lutheran Archives (1981), and The Oral History Collection of the Archives of Cooperative Lutheranism (1984 and 1987, with Alice M. Kendrick).[6][7] She was also editor of the annual Lutheran Church Directory for the United States and Canada.[8]

Knubel had a scholarly interest in early American book illustration. She wrote "Alexander Anderson and Early American Book Illustration" (Princeton University Library Chronicle, 1940),[9] and owned fourteen of Anderson's original printing blocks.

Personal life

Helen Knubel died in 1992 in a hospital in Bronxville, New York, aged 91 years.[1] Her grave is in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. The Helen M. Knubel Archives of Cooperative Lutheranism are housed at the ELCA Archives in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Daniels, Lee A. (1992-07-25). "Helen Knubel, 91; Organized Archives Of Lutheran Church". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
  2. ^ "Rev. Dr. Frederick R. Knubel Dies at 60; President of United Lutheran Synod Here". The New York Times. October 24, 1957. p. 33 – via ProQuest.
  3. ^ "Recovers from Dread Disease". Gettysburg Times. August 28, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved July 16, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  4. ^ Swain, Ellen D. (March 1999). "Documenting Lutherans' Response to World War II". Annotation: The Newsletter of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. 27: 15–16.
  5. ^ "Lutherans Show Gains". The Windsor Star. 1959-08-22. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-07-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Archives of Cooperative Lutheranism (Lutheran Council in the USA) (1984). The oral history collection of the Archives of Cooperative Lutheranism, Lutheran Council in the USA, New York. Kendrick, Alice M., Knubel, Helen M. New York, NY: The Council. ISBN 0-9609438-1-1. OCLC 11916463.
  7. ^ Gassmann, Günther; Oldenburg, Mark W. (2011-10-10). Historical Dictionary of Lutheranism. Scarecrow Press. pp. 466, 467. ISBN 978-0-8108-7482-4.
  8. ^ Mark Granquist, A Basic Bibliography of Lutherans in North America.
  9. ^ Pomeroy, Jane R. (1990). "Alexander Anderson's Life and Engravings Before 1800, with a Checklist of Publications Drawn from his Diary" (PDF). American Antiquarian Society: 137.
  10. ^ "ELCA Archives Move to New Location". Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. June 21, 1999. Retrieved 2020-07-17.