Overview
Contains photographs of Coyoacán (Mexico) and the Trotsky compound taken by Schnautz, as well as the newspaper Trotsky was reading at the time of his assassination in 1940.
Dates
- Creation: 1940
Language of Materials
Egnlish, Spanish
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.1 linear feet (1 box)Contains a group of photographs of Coyoacán (Mexico) and the Trotsky compound taken by Schnautz from his time as Trotsky's bodyguard. Also includes the newspaper Trotsky was reading at the time of his assassination, retrieved by Schnautz and showing bloodstains (Excélsior (Mexico City, Mexico), issue for 1940 August 20).
Biographical / Historical
Henry Schnautz (September 24, 1910-January 1, 2010) was an American artist and photographer. A member of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States starting in 1937, Schnautz moved to Mecico to work as a bodyguard for Leon Trotsky, a role he held at the time of Trotsky's assassination in Mexico in 1940. Schnautz stayed in Mexico as a bodyguard and aide to Trotsky's widow until 1943, when he entered the U.S. Army and was sent to Europe. Thereafter he lived in New York and, in the 1960s, moved back to the family farm in Evansville, Indiana.
Arrangement
Collection has been minimally processed. Materials have not been arranged.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2012M-1. Gift of Donna Miller, 2012 July.
Processing Information
Processed by Betts Coup, 2019.
- Title
- Schnautz, Henry, 1910-2010. Henry Schnautz collection on Leon Trotsky, 1940 (MS Russ 156): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2019 May 31
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou03199
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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