Schütze, Martin, 1866-1950

Professor of Germanic Languages and Literature, University of Chicago, 1901-1932.

Martin Schütze (1867-1950) was educated in Germany and at the University of Pennsylvania where he received his Ph.D. in 1899. He was Instructor in German at Northwestern University from 1900 to 1901. From 1901 until his retirement in 1932 he taught in the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature at the University of Chicago. After his retirement he taught briefly (1934-1935) at the University of Wisconsin.

In the summer of 1901 he married Eva Lawrence Watson (1867-1935), painter and photographer, who became, with Alfred Stieglitz and others, one of the founders of the Photo-Secessionists, a movement to establish photography as an art form. She specialized in portraits, and her photographs in the Archives include studies of George Herbert Mead and his family, John Dewey and his wife and children, James Hayden Tufts, Elinor Castle Nef, and John U. Nef, Jr.

Like their friends the Meads, Deweys, and Tufts, Martin and Eva Schütze were close to the Hull House movement. Martin Schütze worked for the Progressive party in 1912, and they both supported Jane Addams in her efforts for peace. Eva Watson-Schütze photographed Jane Addams, and Ellen Gates Starr bound Martin Schütze's books.

In 1902 the Schützes were co-founders of an art colony in Woodstock, New York. Ellen Gates Starr was also among the colony's first members. Thereafter Eva Watson-Schütze spent about half of each year in Woodstock. Martin Schütze was active in establishing the Renaissance Society which Eva Watson-Schütze headed from 1931 until her death in 1935.

Martin Schütze's interests ranged broadly. His papers reflect his thinking about philosophy, art, literature, education, as well as his specialty, German literature and culture. He wrote poetry and poetic drama in addition to criticism.