Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 439-1

Title

Works, Personal Documents and Correspondence of Gertrud Bortstieber

Date(s)

1930 - 1961

Description Level

Subfonds

Extent and medium (processed)

18 Archival boxes, 2.25 linear meters

Context

Name of creator(s)

Bortstieber, Gertrud

Content and Structure

Scope and Content (Abstract)

This subfonds contains the entirety of documents from Gertrud Bortstieber's estate, as it was kept in the Lukács Archive between 1971 and 2018, and transferred to Blinken OSA in 2019.

Scope and Content (Narrative)

The subfonds consists of documents authored by, or connected to, mathematician, economist and translator Gertrud Bortstieber, second wife of aesthetician and Marxist thinker György Lukács.

The documents are organized in four archival series. The structure and order of the first four series (textual documents) was established during the initial inventorying by archivist Ferenc Csóka of the Lukács Archive at the beginning of the 1970s.

The first series is a collection of works by Gertrud Bortstieber. Most of these works are drafts of translations of works by other authors made by Bortstieber, or reading and study notes authored by Bortstieber herself (8 archival boxes).

The second series contains a set of personal documents like identity cards, membership cards and entry passes, autobiographies (one-page CVs), calendars, various formal letters and agreements with editors and publishers, etc. (3 archival boxes).

The third series consists of letters written by Gertrud Bortstieber to relatives, friends, and acquaintances in English, French, German, Hungarian, and Russian. Many of these letters were written on behalf of György Lukács, and concern the publication of the latter's work by various Hungarian and European publishers (2 archival boxes).

The fourth series consists of letters received by Gertrud Bortstieber from relatives, friends, and acquaintances. Here, again, a number of letters was received on behalf of Bortstieber's husband, György Lukács (5 archival boxes).

Accruals

Not Expected

System of arrangement

The original 18 green archival boxes used by Ferenc Csóka to archive Gertrud Bortstieber's papers have been preserved to hold Bortstieber's papers exactly as they were kept in the Lukács Archive between 1971 and 2018. The original alphabetical order (following the Hungarian alphabet) of folders was not altered, and documents have not been re-foldered. The folders bear the original, penciled, Hungarian folder titles. However, for the purposes of this catalog, a small number of folder titles was adjusted to better reflect the content of the folders in question. Given titles are now placed within [square brackets]. Throughout this subfonds, Gertrud Bortstieber's maiden name was used to replace the form of name most often used by Bortstieber after marrying György Lukács (i.e. Lukács Györgyné). This did not, however, alter the original, alphabetic (Hungarian) order of folders within the various series, where Bortstieber's married name was part of the folder title.

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

Not Restricted

Languages

English, French, German, Italian, Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan, Russian

Description Control

Archivist's note

Processed by Mark László-Herbert, March 31, 2022.