Manfred Mayer-Zachart Collection
Scope and Content Note
The Manfred Mayer-Zachart Collection documents the notable personal and professional activities of this physician, including his military service in World War I and his education and professional work. It also contains material on his family members. Among the papers are correspondence, photographs, research articles and drafts of his own writing.
Manfred Mayer-Zachart's relations with his family members, especially his parents and wife, are located in several areas of this collection. Series I contains his personal papers and correspondence. Among the correspondence are many letters to him from his family members and wife, much of it dating from the early 1930s. There are also childhood greetings to and from Manfred and his family members such as his parents and various aunts and uncles. The correspondence with his wife frequently mentions their immigration plans and the requirements to immigrate. Much of the later family correspondence is from his mother. Subseries 3 of Series I contains letters sent to him while he was in World War I. Related to the wartime letters are one folder of photographs and postcards, located in Series III, that depict Manfred and his fellow military members during the war as well as various places on the Western front. Family members are also among the many photographs of Series III, but the majority of these are unidentified, with the exception of Kate Mayer-Zachart, who was frequently photographed.
Papers that relate to Manfred Mayer-Zachart's medical career are located in Series II. Such papers include some educational papers, found in Subseries 1, including two notebooks of notes related to his earlier schooling, but also containing an anatomy notebook, his diploma and medical license. Professional correspondence makes up part of Subseries 2, along with other papers related to his medical practice, such as documentation from the public health insurance of Chemnitz, for whom he worked. Subseries 3 holds his records on patients, much of which are restricted, while Subseries 4 consists of many professional articles. Among these articles are some by Mayer-Zachart, including articles on charlatanism and health insurance. A few photographs of Manfred Mayer-Zachart as a physician with patients and medical staff are included among the photos of Series III.
Dates
- 1860-1942
- Majority of material found within 1915-1939
Language of Materials
The collection is in German, English, and some Hebrew and Latin.
Access Restrictions
Open to researchers.
Access Information
Collection is digitized. Follow the links in the Container List to access the digitized materials.
The patients' records of Series II, Subseries 3 are restricted. One folder holds copies of a few sample records with identifying characteristics hidden.
Use Restrictions
There may be some restrictions on the use of the collection. For more information, contact:
Leo Baeck Institute, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011
email: lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org
Biographical or Note
Manfred Mayer-Zachart, born in Berlin in 1865, was the son of Josef Mayer and his wife Gertrud Zachart. By 1921 Manfred Mayer had added his mother's maiden name to his own. On May 3, 1915 he entered the German army, where he served in World War I as an assistant surgeon and was wounded three times. In 1923 he received his medical degree from the University of Berlin.
From 1924-1928 Manfred Mayer-Zachart worked as associate physician at the Universitäts-Polyklink der Charité in Berlin, where he specialized in cases involving internal medicine. From April 1932 until his emigration in 1934 he worked for the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse Chemnitz (Regional Health Insurance of Chemnitz). In October 1932 he married Kate (originally Käte) Hirsch. The following year the couple were separated while he spent some time in Paris recuperating from an illness.
In 1934 they immigrated to the United States via Paris, arriving on the ship American Merchant from London. For three years after his arrival in New York City Manfred Mayer-Zachart worked at Mount Sinai Hospital as well as one year at City Hospital. In 1938 he moved his practice to the town of Dunkirk in western New York.
Manfred Mayer-Zachart died of a heart attack in New York City on February 18, 1942.
Extent
2.25 Linear Feet
Abstract
This collection comprises the papers of the physician Manfred Mayer-Zachart, including material on his family, service in World War I and professional work. The papers include a large amount of family correspondence, including wartime letters, medical articles, and many photographs. In addition there is some professional correspondence and educational and family papers. Notes on patients are included in the collection but access to them is restricted.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in three series:
- Series I: Correspondence and Personal, 1860-1942
- Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1860-1939
- Subseries 2: Personal Papers, 1891-1942
- Subseries 3: World War I, 1914-1919
- Series II: Professional, 1910-1939
- Subseries 1: Education, 1910-1926
- Subseries 2: Medical Practice, 1919-1939
- Subseries 3: Patients' Records, 1928-1939
- Subseries 4: Articles, 1923-1937
- Series III: Photographs and Negatives, 1864-1935
Separated Material
Superfluous copies of articles on diet prescriptions from Series II, Subseries 4 were removed from the collection.
Processing Information
After compiling a detailed inventory of folders in the collection, it was processed in preparation of the EAD finding aid in 2011. Folders with similar topics were gathered together to form series and description was added.
- Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (Chemnitz)
- Alternative medicine
- Articles
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Contracts
- Correspondence
- Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Bekämpfung des Kurpfuschertums
- Families
- Germany -- History
- Health insurance -- Germany
- Manuscripts (documents)
- Mayer family
- Mayer, Gertrude
- Mayer, Josef
- Mayer-Zachart, Manfred, 1895-1942
- Medical records
- Medicine -- Germany -- History -- 20th century
- Medicine -- Practice
- Negatives (photographs)
- Notebooks
- Offprints
- Photographs
- Physicians
- Quacks and quackery
- Zachart family
- Title
- Guide to the Papers of Manfred Mayer-Zachart (1895-1942) 1868-1988 AR 25400
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Eva Englaender and Dianne Ritchey
- Date
- © 2011
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Description is in English.
- Edition statement
- This version was derived from ManfredMayer-Zachart.xml
Revision Statements
- July 18, 2013 : Links to digital objects added in Container List.
Repository Details
Part of the Leo Baeck Institute Repository