Oral history interview with William Sprott Pollitzer, 1999.

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Oral history interview with William Sprott Pollitzer, 1999.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50046226

William Pollitzer recounts the history of mostly the Pollitzer side of his family and his memories of his aunts and other members of the family. His great grandfather Moritz Pollitzer emigrated to America from Czechoslovakia with his wife Anna Kuh; their children, Gustave, Henry, Richard, Sigmund, and Julia, were born in the USA. In 1862, just after the fall of the area to federal forces, the family moved to Beaufort, South Carolina, where Moritz became a cotton factor. His son Gustave moved to Charleston at age sixteen and he too became a cotton factor; he married Clara Guinzburg of Baltimore; their children were Richard (father to the interviewee), Carrie, Mabel, and Anita Pollitzer. Dr. Richard Pollitzer married Miss Sprott in 1919 and in 1924, they left Charleston for Greenville, SC, where he was a pioneer pediatrician in the state of SC, and the interviewee grew up as a Methodist. As a young man visiting the mountains of North Carolina, and the city of Charleston, SC, he became more and more acquainted with his Pollitzer and Guinzberg family members. His aunt Carrie was active in the Free Kindergarten movement in Charleston, SC, and led the way in making the College of Charleston coeducational. Mabel Pollitzer, a teacher at Memminger School, was a founder and board member of the Charleston Free (or Public) Library. Anita Pollitzer moved to New York, became active in women's rights, served as president of the National Women's Party, met Woodrow Wilson, was arrested for her political activities, married Elie Edson, and was instrumental in introducing Alfred Steiglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe, of whom she wrote a biography that was eventually published, despite O'Keeffe's objections. Pollitzer speaks of his aunts' differing personalities, his knowledge of the scattered Pollitzer and Guinzburg families; and his growing up Methodist in a family with a Jewish heritage.

Sound recording : 1 sound cassette : digital.Transcript : 20 p. ; 28 cm.

College of Charleston, Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 7617828

College of Charleston, Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library

Related Entities

There are 11 Entities related to this resource.

Pollitzer, Anita, 1894-1975

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60m317q (person)

Anita Lily Pollitzer (October 31, 1894 – July 3, 1975) was an American photographer and suffragist. Anita Lily Pollitzer was born October 31, 1894, in Charleston, South Carolina. Her parents were Clara Guinzburg Pollitzer, the daughter of an immigrant rabbi from Prague, and Gustave Pollitzer, who ran a cotton company at Charleston, South Carolina. She had two sisters, Carrie (born 1881) and Mabel (born 1885) and a brother, Richard. Anita was raised Jewish and, as a young woman, taught Sabb...

Edson, Elie Charlier, 1882-1971

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f29q87 (person)

Elie Charlier Edson (March 26, 1882 - November 21, 1971) was a theatrical press agent whose ca reer began with Sarah Bernhardt. He was born in Denver, CO, the son of John Tracey Edson and Winona De Clyver. Edson attended French schools and Harvard, where he was graduated in 1904 and later was a graduate student. He was president of the university's Cercle Francais when it entertained Mme. Bernhardt, and susequently was press representative on her coast‐to coast tours. Becoming a charter...

Pollitzer, Carrie T. (Carrie Teller), 1881-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66794tx (person)

Carrie Teller Pollitzer was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1881, the oldest daughter of Gustave and Clara Pollitzer. As an advocate for the national Progressive Movement, Carrie dedicated herself to enhancing childhood education and advancing women’s rights in South Carolina in the early twentieth century. In the late nineteeth and early twentieth centuries, Carrie received her primary and secondary education at Charleston’s Memminger Normal School. Founded by Christopher G. Memminger ...

Pollitzer, William S., 1923-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fz1kkj (person)

Rosengarten, Dale, 1948-...

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m04dd8 (person)

Pollitzer, Mabel, 1885-1979

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c8394n (person)

Charleston, S.C. teacher, civic leader, and women's rights activist. A graduate of Columbia University (N.Y.), she taught at Memminger High School and was active in many community and professional organizations, serving as the state chairperson of the National Woman's Party. Her sister Carrie T. Pollitzer became assistant principal and a member of the faculty of the South Carolina Kindergarten Training School and was later its director. She played a leading role in the asmission of women to the ...

Pollitzer, Richard, d. 1969.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69s616x (person)

Stender, Barbara Karesh,

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gm9pc0 (person)

Guinzburg family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cd08tf (family)

Pollitzer, Gustave M., 1853-1909.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62f8nj0 (person)

Charleston, S.C. cotton exporter. His family emigrated from Vienna, Austria to New York, where Gustave was born, and later moved to Beaufort, S.C. Gustave M. Pollitzer was actively involved in civic affairs in Charleston, S.C. and was a member of Congregation Beth Elohim's Board of Trustees. He married Clara Guinzburg, who was born in Baltimore, Md. She was the daughter of Aaron Guinzberg, a rabbi, and Caroline Kuh (1854-1942). Anita Pollitzer (1894-1975), Mabel Pollitzer (1885-1979), and Carrie...

Pollitzer family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pp8fw0 (family)