Herta and Egon Wells Family Collection

The Herta and Egon Wells Family Collection documents the emigration experience and lives of Herta Wells and her husband Egon in the 1930s and 1940s, as well as providing documentation on the emigration and fates of other family members from Vienna. Much of the collection consists of personal and official correspondence and official documents used in their emigration, along with educational and professional documents, memorabilia, legal correspondence and related documentation, a few family photographs, and newspaper clippings.

The majority of the collection focuses on the lives of Herta and Egon Wells including on their emigration from Vienna. Correspondence of Herta and Egon Wells (mostly sent to them) will be found in Series I. Series I has been divided chronologically by the countries in which the couple lived. The letters and postcards of this series mention Herta and Egon's work at the Anker insurance company, and also include correspondence related to a lawsuit against the company. Series I also includes two folders of correspondence between Egon and Herta Wells prior to their marriage, showing the earliest years of their relationship. Later correspondence in this series dates from the year they lived in Port of Spain, Trinidad and New York. This correspondence includes numerous letters from Herta's sisters Litty and Grete as well as from her father, with much news of others left behind in Vienna and discussion of family members' attempts to emigrate. Many letters from Herta's sister Grete and father clearly depict their dismay at the separation of the family through emigration. Postwar correspondence from New York provides a few details of Herta and Egon's lives in New York but is less comprehensive than the earlier letters, with much of it consisting of their personal correspondence. In addition to the correspondence of Series I, Series II provides the documentation of their emigration, including official documents, emigration paperwork, documentation that established their affidavit of support for an American visa, documents from Trinidad, and memorabilia about the ships on which they traveled from Europe to Trinidad. A smaller amount of documentation about their lives in New York is also present, including professional documents of Egon Wells.

Papers relating to the emigration of Herta's sister Melitta (Litty) and her husband, the antique and art restorer Ernest Kent, are also present in Series I and III. Many of the letters to Herta Wells in Vienna and Trinidad are from her sister Litty, with details of Litty and Ernest's emigration plans and their progression. One folder of correspondence in Series I relates to restitution for the loss of the household property of Ernest Kent's mother, Josefine Käuffler. Series III includes official documents used in their emigration, along with some citizenship and identification papers. The collection's few photographs in Series III include a photograph of Litty as well as a few pages from her childhood friendship album.

The attempted emigration and eventual deportation of Sandor and Grete Guttmann is primarily documented in their abovementioned personal letters sent to Herta Wells and among the papers of Series III. Series III also holds papers of Egon's sister Alice Bolgar, her husband Emmerich Bolgar, and their son Michael Bolgar.