Collection Dates: Undated
2 file folders
This document describes a collection of materials held
by the
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-5921
Fax: 319-335-5900
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Posted to Internet: November 1998
Acquisition
Note:
Mrs. Margaret L. Zimansky donated this collection to the University of Iowa
Libraries in 1998.
Access
and Restrictions:
Digital
Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but
does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this
collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections
Department.
Copyright: Please read
The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished
Materials"
Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports
access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections.
Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition
or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all
times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing
non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.
Curt A. Zimansky was born on August 13, 1913, in San Francisco, California, the son of Curt F. and Olga Glauch Zimansky. He earned a B.A. (1933) and M.A. (1934) from Stanford University. In 1936, Princeton University conferred another master's degree on him, and a Ph.D. the following year.
Zimansky came to teach at the University of Iowa in 1937, specializing in the study of restoration drama. He was the past president of the Iowa Archeological Society and was chairman of the editorial board of the University of Iowa Press. He belonged to both the Modern Language Association and the Johnson Society of America; he was also a member of the University Faculty Senate as well as many other committees. Zimansky began as the associate editor of the Philological Quarterly in 1953, and in 1964 became its editor, devoting vast amounts of time on its publication. As an editor of a rival journal put it, "Editors of scholarly journals can be divided into two groups: Curt Zimansky and all the others."
Zimansky served in the army intelligence in World War II and the Korean War. During World War II he was a member of the top secret "Ultra" staff at Bletchley, England, that intercepted and deciphered the highest-level German command communications, analyzed and annotated them, and forwarded them for planning and action to senior English and American officers. He retired from the military in 1957 with the rank of major.
Curt A. Zimansky
died of cancer on August 10, 1973, at age 59. He was survived by his wife
Margaret Lacy Zimansky and their four sons.
Scope
and Contents
The Curt A. Zimansky collection of prints consists of thirty-two prints and drawings collected by Professor Zimansky in and before 1951. He bought them in New York and San Francisco, where many of the pictures had doubtless been removed from old books. Most of the subjects are portraits of British celebrities of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There are also colored prints showing occupations of common people, including bat-fowling, otter hunting, and pike fishing.
Inventory
Water color prints showing occupations of common people. (3 items)
Black
and white portraits, primarily of 18th - 19th century British celebrities.
(29 items)