William Ezra Lingelbach Papers UPT 50 L755

Summary Information

Prepared by

Timothy H. Horning

Preparation date

October 2012

Date [inclusive]

1901-1949

Extent

4.0 Cubic feet

PROVENANCE

The William Ezra Lingelbach Papers were donated to the University Archives at an unknown date.

ARRANGEMENT

The William Ezra Lingelbach Papers are arranged into six series: Correspondence, University of Pennsylvania, Organizations, Academic Material, Published Material, and Miscellaneous. The materials within each series are arranged alphabetically or chronologically where appropriate. Some of the material was already in folders labeled by the creator and in such cases the original titles were retained.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

William Ezra Lingelbach was born on March 17, 1871 in Shakespeare, Ontario, Canada to John L. Lingelbach and Mary Young Lingelbach. The Lingelbach family was of German ancestry, and both John Lingelbach and his father were pastors in the German Protestant Church. John Lingelbach died when William was a child. William spent the remainder of his childhood on an uncle’s farm in rural Ontario.

After graduating from Brantford Collegiate Institute in Brantford, Ontario, Lingelbach attended the University of Toronto, where he distinguished himself as captain of the varsity soccer team and as champion fencer. Lingelbach earned an A.B. from the University in 1894.

For one year after graduating, Lingelbach remained at the University of Toronto as a teaching fellow. In 1895 Lingelbach travelled to Germany where he received some graduate-level education in modern European history at the University of Leipzig. In 1897 he returned to the United States and received more graduate-level instruction at the University of Chicago. After this stint in Chicago, Lingelbach spent one year teaching at the Michigan Military Academy before joining the University of Pennsylvania as an Instructor of History in 1900. Lingelbach also earned a Ph. D. in modern European history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1901.

Dr. Lingelbach’s tenure at the University of Pennsylvania would ultimately span nearly four decades. In addition to being an Instructor of History (1900-1903), Dr. Lingelbach also served as Assistant Professor of History (1903-1908), and Professor of Modern European History (1908-1944). He also briefly served as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1939-1941). Dr. Lingelbach was a well-known and highly regarded figure at the University. He was well-liked by the student body and one course he taught, History 4: European History since 1815, was especially popular. He delivered the Commencement Address two times, June 1927 and June 1940. Dr. Lingelbach was named Professor Emeritus of European History when he retired from the University of Pennsylvania in 1944. Former students of Dr. Lingelbach joined together to create the Lingelbach Fund, which provided for the purchase of European history books for the University Library. The fund was announced in June 1946 at a special dinner held in Dr. Lingelbach’s honor.

Dr. Lingelbach also had a long relationship with the American Philosophical Society (APS), the nation’s oldest scholarly organization. Elected as a member in 1916, Dr. Lingelbach served as a Member of the Council (1924-1928), Secretary (1934-1940), Vice-President (1940-1943), Librarian (1942-1959), and was the representative of the APS to the American Council of Learned Societies (1926-1946). As Librarian, Dr. Lingelbach was instrumental in expanding the library’s holdings and led it to take on a more substantial role in the affairs of the Society. He was also a driving force in the construction of a new building for the library, which was completed in 1959.

William Ezra Lingelbach died on November 24, 1961. He was survived by three children whom he had with his wife Anna Lane Lingelbach (1873-1954, Ph.D. 1916), William Ezra Jr. (C-1925), Anna (Mrs. R. Willis McNeel), and Robert (C-1925, L-1934).

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The William Ezra Lingelbach Papers mostly date from his time as a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, although materials from Lingelbach’s involvement with other institutions and organizations are also represented. The correspondence not only general correspondence with friends and colleagues, there is also correspondence that discusses specific projects, namely book deals. The bulk of the correspondence dates from the years 1940 1941, and as a scholar of European history Lingelbach devoted much discussion to the situation abroad. Most of the correspondence had been organized and labeled by Lingelbach, and his original order and titles were retained. All other correspondence not previously arranged by Lingelbach is grouped together by year and labeled as miscellaneous correspondence. The University of Pennsylvania related material was separated into two subseries. All of Lingelbach’s teaching materials were in folders labeled History Department and this material has been grouped together and the original folder names used as the title of the sub-series. These folders contains exams and assignments given out in Lingelbach’s history courses, roll and grade sheets, and other documents generated by the university’s history department. All other University of Pennsylvania related materials not pertaining to Lingelbach’s teaching are mostly administrative in nature and are grouped into the sub-series called Other. Similarly, the series called Organizations has been split into two sub-series, one for all the material pertaining to the American Council of Learned Societies, of which Lingelbach served as the American Philosophical Society’s representative and one sub-series for all other organizations that he had involvement with. The Academic Material series is comprised of manuscripts of Lingelbach’s Ph.D. dissertation and research he conducted on European history. Much of the research is undated, so it is unknown whether this was research he carried out in support of his dissertation or if this was research carried out during his professional years. The Published Material series contains all published items that were within the papers. All materials that did not fit into the prior series were put into the Miscellaneous series.

Additional professional papers of William E. Lingelbach can be found the Department of History Records (UPB 1.9H).

Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

American Council of Learned Societies.

American Philosophical Society.

United States. National Resources Planning Board. Committee on Conservation of Cultural Resources.

University of Pennsylvania.

Occupation(s)

College teachers–Pennsylvania–Philadelphia.

Subject(s)

History–Study and teaching (Higher)–Pennsylvania–Philadelphia.

Inventory