Special Collections Research Center
Laura Polanyi Striker Papers on Captain John Smith
Stricker, Laura Polanyi, 1882-1959
MS 00067
/repositories/2/resources/9143
2.00 Linear Feet
undated
English, Hungarian, and Latin.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source: Jean Richards
Donation on behalf of the Laura Polanyi Striker Family, August 2016.
Conditions Governing Use
Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.
Conditions Governing Access
The course work material in this collection contains grade reports which are restricted until May 2014. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.
Scope and Contents
Research notes, drafts, and writings of Laura Polanyi Striker on Captain John Smith. Materials include correspondence, publications, newspaper clippings, reviews, books jackets and photographs related to her extensive research.
Late in her career, Striker wrote about Captain John Smith's Hungarian travels, including the 1957 introduction and translation of The Life of John Smith, English Soldier, a seventeenth-century text by Henry Wharton; 1953's Captain John Smith's Hungary and Transylvania; and 1958's The Hungarian Historian: Lewis L. Kropf.
This collection contains materials pertaining to Striker's scholarship from the mid-1940s through her death in 1959. It is arranged in the following series: Artifact, Correspondence, Photographs and Book Jackets, Research Notes, and Reviews.
Preferred Citation
Laura Polanyi Striker Papers on Captain John Smith, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
Biographical / Historical
Laura Polanyi Striker was an Austro-Hungarian historian, researcher and educator. She received a PhD in economic history from Budapest University, developed progressive pedagogical models for young learners, and was active in feminist and freemason societies. Striker came from a Jewish family of scholars, including economist and anthropologist Karl Polanyi and philosopher Michael Polanyi. Striker and her family immigrated to the United States during World War II.
In the mid-1940s, Striker joined American historian Bradford Smith's research project to write a new biography of Captain John Smith. Since Striker read Hungarian and Latin, she worked through non-English sources related to the many narratives about John Smith's experiences in Transylvania and Hungary. Striker's work addressed earlier scholarship by Hungarian-American historian Alfred Knopf, translated sources about John Smith, and in 1953 published her independent study, Captain John Smith's Hungary and Translyvania.
She married Sandor Striker in 1904 and had three children, including the designer Eva Striker Zeisel. Laura Polanyi Striker died in 1959.
For more on Striker's biography and career, see Lee Congdon's article, "The Hungarian Pocahontas: Laura Polayni Striker," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, July 1978.
Virginia--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
Virginia--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775--Historiography
Transylvania (Romania) -- History
Hungary -- History
Series 1: Artifact/repositories/2/archival_objects/4648391956Approximately 2.5 x 4 inchesEnglish11Scope and ContentsMetal ornamental plaque of Captain John Smith for the 1957 Jamestown Festival. The commemorative plaque is light brown/cream with Smith's likeness in relief. It is copywritten to 1956, Virginia Metalcrafters. A cream thread is tied to a hanging hook on the back of the plaque.
Jamestown Festival (1957)Smith, John, 1580-1631Series 2: Correspondence/repositories/2/archival_objects/4648411951-1964, and undatedEnglish1Scope and ContentsFeatures letters to and from Striker and publishers, editors, and other personal and professional correspondents. Some letters are written in Hungarian and remain untranslated.
Correspondence/repositories/2/archival_objects/4648421951-1956English12Correspondence/repositories/2/archival_objects/4648431957-1958English13Correspondence/repositories/2/archival_objects/4648441959-1964English14Correspondence in Hungarian/repositories/2/archival_objects/464845English15Correspondence, undated/repositories/2/archival_objects/464846English16Series 3: Photographs and Book Jackets/repositories/2/archival_objects/464847Book jackets are in mylar folders to keep them from creasing and tearing.English17Scope and ContentsSix photographs feature Polanyi, with a few images of her holding her published books on John Smith. There is also a signed portrait of Bradford Smith, the English professor and biographer of Captain John Smith of the Virginia colony, William Bradford of the Plymouth colony.
The two book jackets are from Bradford's 1953 book, Captain John Smith, published by J.B. Lippincott, and Polanyi's 1957 translation of Henry Wharton's text, The Life of John Smith.
Series 4: Research Notes/repositories/2/archival_objects/464840English1Scope and ContentsHandwritten and typed research notes, including outlines, informal notes, and revisions from other readers including Striker's brother Karl Polanyi.
Notes have been arranged according to their original arrangement. Most materials are not sorted by title or research project.
1601-1602 Campaigns/repositories/2/archival_objects/46481718The Affaire Smith/repositories/2/archival_objects/46481829The Affaire Smith, Outline/repositories/2/archival_objects/464838English110Captain John Smith's Veracity/repositories/2/archival_objects/464848English111Copy of Henry Wharton Manuscript/repositories/2/archival_objects/464849English112Draft Pages (1 of 5)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464850English113Draft Pages (2 of 5)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464851English114Draft Pages (3 of 5)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464852English115Draft Pages (4 of 5)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464853English116Draft Pages (5 of 5)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464854English117Draft with edits by Hans Zeisel/repositories/2/archival_objects/464855English118Early Draft/repositories/2/archival_objects/464856English119Habsburgs/repositories/2/archival_objects/464857English120Hand-Drawn Map of Hungary/repositories/2/archival_objects/464858English121Historiography/repositories/2/archival_objects/464859English122Hungary and Transylvania /repositories/2/archival_objects/464860English123Illustrations, photocopies/repositories/2/archival_objects/464861English124Intro draft, Hungary and Transylvania/repositories/2/archival_objects/464862English125John Smith, Chapter 1/repositories/2/archival_objects/464863English126John Smith in Hungary/repositories/2/archival_objects/464864English127Kropf/repositories/2/archival_objects/464865English128Kropf and Captain John Smith/repositories/2/archival_objects/464866English129Kropf Draft/repositories/2/archival_objects/464867English130Kropf Draft with edits/repositories/2/archival_objects/464868English131Military Research/repositories/2/archival_objects/464869English132Notes on Hungary and Transylvania/repositories/2/archival_objects/464870English133Part II/repositories/2/archival_objects/464871English134Remnants/repositories/2/archival_objects/464872English135Research Notes (1 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464873English136Research Notes (3 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464875English138Research Notes (4 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464876English139Research Notes (5 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464877English140Research Notes (6 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464879English141Research Notes (7 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464880English142Research Notes (8 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464881English143Research Notes (9 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464882English144Research Notes (10 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464883English145Research Notes (11 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464884English146Research Notes (12 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464885English147Research Notes (13 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464886English148Research Notes (14 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464887English149Research Notes (15 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464888English150Research Notes (16 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464889English151Research Notes (17 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464890English152Research Notes (18 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464891English153Research Notes (19 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464892English154Research Notes (20 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464893English21Research Notes (21 of 21)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464894English22Research Notes, veracity/repositories/2/archival_objects/464895English23Research Notes, with comments/repositories/2/archival_objects/464896English24Research Notes, miscellaneous/repositories/2/archival_objects/464897English25Research Notes, index cards (1 of 4)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464898English26Research Notes, index cards (2 of 4)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464899English27Research Notes, index cards (3 of 4)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464900English28Research Notes, index cards (4 of 4)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464901English29Research Notes/Publications/repositories/2/archival_objects/464902English210Stuhlweissenburg (Hungary) Photostat/repositories/2/archival_objects/464903English211Wharton/repositories/2/archival_objects/464904English212Wharton Materials (1 of 3)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464905English213Wharton Materials (2 of 3)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464906English214Wharton Materials (3 of 3)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464907English215Wharton translation, unknown translator/repositories/2/archival_objects/464908English216Wingfield Materials/repositories/2/archival_objects/464909English217Series 5: Reviews/repositories/2/archival_objects/464915Clippings are enclosed in plastic sleeves, with some pages flaking at the edges. Handle with care.English2Scope and ContentsReviews for Striker's work alongside critical response to Bradford Smith's biograph of Captain John Smith. This series consists of newspaper clippings from The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Chicago Tribune, among other national publications.
Reviews (1 of 4)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464910English218Reviews (2 of 4)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464911English219Reviews (3 of 4)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464912English220Reviews (4 of 4)/repositories/2/archival_objects/464913English221Hungarian Historical Society review, translated into English/repositories/2/archival_objects/464914English222