Otto E. Pape family papers

MS 596
Image
Meta Pape, daughter of Otto Pape, stands in front of their Tucson home in the snow, March 12, 1922

Meta Pape, daughter of Otto Pape, stands in front of their Tucson home in the snow, March 12, 1922 (Box 1 Folder 22)

Collection area: Arizona and Southwest

Collection dates: circa 1860-1950 bulk (bulk 1880-1925)

About this collection

Cartes-de-visite, cabinet cards, tintypes and other photographs, baby books, and children's writings from the Otto E. Pape family chiefly between 1880 and 1925. There are casual family photographs of the family and homes in Virginia and Tucson including a few of snow scenes in Tucson and a Girl Scout group on Mount Lemmon. Also present from the Pape children are baby books, letters to Santa and other writings, and items from the death of their first child, also named Otto.

Cabinet card photographs are present for Hermina Boyer Pape's parents (Herman and Catherine Boyer) and sisters and related family and friends including Weicher family members in Mexico. Images of Mary Boyer include friends and a beach trip and 1890s swimwear.

In the remainder of the collection, while a few images are identified but the relationship is unknown, most are unidentified. Photographic studios in San Francisco, Chicago, St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Germany are well represented.

A group of photographs, about 1900 to 1910, are related to Minnie Remington who may have been a Vaudeville performer. Some are friends and relatives and a few are performers in costume. Another series concerns "Charlie" who appears to have been a ship's captain traveling the world around 1913to 1923.

Historical background

Otto E. Pape (1878-1937) was born in Germany to Carl and Emma Pape. They emigrated to New York in 1880. He married Hermina "Minnie" Boyer in 1904 in Washington, D.C.After 1910, they moved to Phoenix, Arizona and were in Tucson by 1920 where Otto was president of the Overland Motor Company. They had three children: Otto E. (1905-1910), Margarete "Meta" (1910-), and Herman E. (1917-).

Hermina Boyer was the daughter of Herman H. Boyer (1926-1902) and Catherine Weichers Boyer who emigrated from Germany in 1865. Herman was a tobacconist in Washington, D.C. and they had six children: Sophie, Margarete "Meta", Mary, John, Louise, and Hermina.

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