Allison-Shelley Collection
German Literature in English Translation
The Allison-Shelley Collection provides vast opportunities for the study of the literary and cultural relations of the United States and England with the German-speaking nations of Europe. The Collection, consisting of books, letters, manuscripts, and drawings, was bequeathed to The Pennsylvania State University Libraries in 1972 by Philip Allison Shelley. Dr. Shelley, professor of German and comparative literature at Penn State, had gathered these materials over a period of forty years. Significant material is added to the original bequest each year through a fund endowed by Professor Shelley.
Although Professor Shelley concentrated chiefly on translations from German into English, this did not prevent him from collecting a modest amount of Goetheiana, including nineteen letters, a drawing, and most significantly a page of Faust in Goethe's own hand. Special strengths of the Collection lie in a long series of early and important English translations of works by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Gottfried Burger, and Heinrich Heine, as well as translations of the Brothers Grimm, Johanna Spyri, Heinrich Hoffmann, Wilhelm Busch, and other writers of children's literature. Subsidiary collections include German travel literature, gift books and literary almanacs, and historical and pictorial evidence of the Christmas tree.
The Collection also records some of the interactions and activities of such nineteenth-century literary figures as Margaret Fuller, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, George Henry Boker, Richard Henry Stoddard and his circle (including Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard), Edmund Clarence Stedman, and Bayard Taylor, emphasizing their roles in introducing German literature to the United States. The collection of Bayard Taylor's writings is one of the largest. A poet, novelist, world traveler, and reporter, the Pennsylvania native is also famous for his translation of Goethe's Faust.
This assemblage of material demonstrates the impact of the lives, letters, and traditions of a broad range of German culture as it affects the English-speaking world. The Collection contains items documenting the history of German children's books, narratives of immigrants and visitors to the United States, and accounts by travelers to Germany. The modern movements are well represented by extensive publications and first editions by Rainer Maria Rilke, Thomas Mann, B. Traven, Gunter Grass, Peter Handke, Heinrich Boll, and many others.
Of special note in the Allison-Shelley Collection is the Saur Bible, the first German-language Bible printed in the United States. The Germans, after the English, were the second largest group to emigrate from Europe to America. The Collection records much of their activity in a significant way, and it offers strong research potential for those interested in Pennsylvania's strong Germanic heritage.
The Allison-Shelley Collection, consisting of over 10,000 volumes and some 2,500 manuscripts, offers a number of unique opportunities in the area of cross-cultural history. It is a fine laboratory for the study of comparative literature and has already generated a number of such studies,
particularly on the theory of translation, the reception of German ideas and literature in the United States, the importance of Goethe's Faust in American translation, and the post-World War II publication of German literature in America. The Collection is thereby creating a record that is capable of giving rise to new interpretations and to the development of new ideas and insights. Areas for research include the history of children's literature, book illustration, the Hanoverian succession in England, travel literature, the various literary genres such as the almanac and the gift book, and the gothic novel and play.
Access to the Allison-Shelley Collection is available on The CAT (the Libraries' on-line catalog), RLIN, and OCLC. The manuscript collection is not completely cataloged, and researchers would be advised to consult the Rare Books and Manuscripts staff for additional information.
Researchers may search the holdings of the Allison-Shelley Collection from the Penn State Libraries catalog by clicking on The CAT (online catalog) and choosing "Advanced Search." Under the heading "In Library," scroll down to the bottom and click on "Special Collections." Under the heading "Location," scroll down to "Rare Books & Mss, Allison-Shelley Coll," "Rare Books & Mss, Allison-Shelley Vault," and "Rare Books & Mss, Allison-Shelley Games."
William Penn. Eine Nachricht wegen der Landschaft Pennsilvania in America.
Amsterdam, Christoff Cunrad, 1681.
Pennsylvania's first promotional pamphlet was printed in 1681 by William Penn to encourage German settlement in his new colony. On 6 October 1683, thirteen Mennonite families sailed into Philadelphia harbor and later founded Germantown, the first German settlement in America.
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