Raina Fehl
Encyclopedia
Raina Fehl was an Austria
n-born American
classicist, writer and editor. Immigrated into the United states, 1939. United States citizen since 1944. U.S. Army Service 1945-1946, Psychiatric Social Worker, U.S. War Department, Research Analyst, Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, 1946-1947. Married Philipp Fehl
December 11, 1945. Mother of two daughters, Katharine, "Kathy Fehl", and Caroline Coulston. She died May 3, 2009, in Appleton, Wisconsin She is buried near family at The Eternal Home Cemetery,Block 1540, Row A, Space 6, Colma California.
Her delightful smile, her beauty, her knowledge were extraordinary and memorable. She was admirable in so many ways, not the least of which was "the way she sacrificed so much of her own time and talent to further [her husband's] work, both while he was alive, and after his death: she was an absolute model of devotion. But of course her greatest quality was her own personality, her probity and honesty, and her capacity for loyal friendship." Jennifer Montagu, Chair, Gombrich Archive, Warburg Institute
. Her joy in learning is epitomized in the story told by her colleague, Paul Olson, who fondly remembers her driving him to work with a Greek dictionary on the steering wheel. Paul Olson, Professor Emeritus Department of English, University of Nebraska. She and her work are discussed in the comic-philosophical novel Harmony Junction by Goddard Graves (2009, privately published).
December 11, 1945. Mother of two daughters, Katharine and Caroline.
Maria Raina Fehl was known as Raina . She was the daughter of the poet/author/civil rights attorney, Erich Fritz Schweinburg
, 1890-1959 buried Rochester, Vermont
, and the humanitarian, Rosa Gussman Schweinburg. From her birth, she fought many physical battles, starting with contracting and surviving small-pox in the center where she was born. She was restrained with tiny baby sized fetters and came away with only two tiny scars. Although throughout her life, she suffered from difficult health problems, she never defined herself by her illnesses or any other of her life's hardships. Instead, she lived her life with grace and energy and maintained that vitality to the very end of her life.
Education:
Wenzgasse Gymnasium, Vienna, Austria, Matura 1938.
New Jersey College for Women, Rutgers, 1939–1942, B.A. (history and English).
Stanford University
, 1947-1948 (German researching and writing on Karl Kraus
).
University of Chicago
1948–1952 (German Philosophy).
University of Nebraska, 1954–1962.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, 1962-1967 (Classics).
University of Illinois, Urbana
, M.A.
, 1976 (Classics
).
Teaching:
University of Chicago
, Illinois, Instructor, German, 1947-1952.
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
, Instructor English, Latin, 1954-1962.
North Carolina School of the Arts
, Winston-Salem, Instructor, German, 1965-1969.
Visiting Appointments at Tel Aviv University
, Winter, 1982; The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Spring, 1992.
Offices:
International Survey of Jewish Monuments, Vice-President, 1977-2000. http://samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-memory-yahrzeit-of-isjm-founder.html
Editor, The Cicognara Newsletter, published by the Leopoldo Cicognara Project at the University of Illinois Library, Vatican Library
, Vatican City
, 1992-2009.
Director, The Leopoldo Cicognara Project at the University of Illinois Library, Vatican Library, Vatican City, dedicated to the study and promulgation of literary sources in the history of art, 2000-2009.
Membership in Learned Societies:
College of Art Association of America, International Survey of Jewish Monuments.
University of Chicago
, Illinois, Instructor, German, 1947-1952.
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, Instructor English, Latin, 1954-1962.
North Carolina School of the Arts
, Winston-Salem, Instructor, German, 1965-1969.
Visiting Appointments at Tel Aviv University, Winter, 1982; The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Spring, 1992.
Offices:
International Survey of Jewish Monuments, Vice-President, 1977-2000.
Editor, The Cicognara Newsletter, published by the Leopoldo Cicognara Project at the University of Illinois Library, Vatican Library, Vatican City, 1992-2009.
Director, The Leopoldo Cicognara Project at the University of Illinois Library, Vatican Library, Vatican City, dedicated to the study and promulgation of literary sources in the history of art, 2000-2009.
Membership in Learned Societies:
College of Art Association of America, International Survey of Jewish Monuments.
, The Literature of Classical Art
I. The Paining of the Ancients, London, 1638.
II. Catalogus Architectorum, Mechanicorum sed praecipue A critical edition and translation by Keith Aldrich, Philipp Fehl and Raina Fehl, University of California Press, Berkeley, California 192.
Catalogo ragionao dei libri d’arte e d’antichita posseduti dal Conte Cocognara (Vatican Press, 2001). A critical edition of the 1821 imprint published in Pisa. Co-editor with Philipp P. Fehl and Maria Raina Fehl.
III. Editor, The Art of Mourning, Philipp P. Fehl.
Collections
The Cicognara Library: Literary Sources in the Histor of Art and Kindred Subjects (Leopoldo Cicognara Program at the University of Illinois Library in Association with the Vatican Library, Vatican City, 1989-2009.
Microfiche collection of ca 5,000 titles. Co-editor with Philipp P. Fehl.
Books
Jewish Heritage Report, Vol.II, Nos. 1-2 / Spring-Summer 1998, Stein und Name, Review.
The literature of classical art / Franciscus Junius
; edited by Keith Aldrich, Philipp Fehl, Raina Fehl
, Raina Fehl began writing the Mikki Stories. Originally written again for her children, these stories were supposedly the work of the scholar Michaela Mouse, affectionately known to her family as "Mikki", the Library Mouse. Raina Fehl portrayed herself as merely the translator of the English versions. In time, Mikki's relatives became the authors of the continuing stories. Much like the "translator", the mice work for the most part in the Salone Sistino in the Vatican Library. In this excerpt from "The Library Mouse. A Monologue
by Michaela Mouse, English version offered by M. Raina Fehl in honor of the birthday of Katharine Fehl", Mikki describes her wonderful place of work,
In many ways, the excerpt depicts how much Raina loved working at the Vatican.
, Raina Fehl worked in the Sala Cicognara in the Biblioteka Vaticana in the Vatican City.
- http://www.isjm.org/
Editor
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
classicist, writer and editor. Immigrated into the United states, 1939. United States citizen since 1944. U.S. Army Service 1945-1946, Psychiatric Social Worker, U.S. War Department, Research Analyst, Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, 1946-1947. Married Philipp Fehl
Philipp Fehl
Philipp Fehl was an Austrian artist and art historian. He emigrated to the United States in 1941, and became an artist, author and lecturer at several universities. He retired as Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1990...
December 11, 1945. Mother of two daughters, Katharine, "Kathy Fehl", and Caroline Coulston. She died May 3, 2009, in Appleton, Wisconsin She is buried near family at The Eternal Home Cemetery,Block 1540, Row A, Space 6, Colma California.
Her delightful smile, her beauty, her knowledge were extraordinary and memorable. She was admirable in so many ways, not the least of which was "the way she sacrificed so much of her own time and talent to further [her husband's] work, both while he was alive, and after his death: she was an absolute model of devotion. But of course her greatest quality was her own personality, her probity and honesty, and her capacity for loyal friendship." Jennifer Montagu, Chair, Gombrich Archive, Warburg Institute
Warburg Institute
The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of the influence of classical antiquity on all aspects of European civilisation.-History:The Institute was founded by...
. Her joy in learning is epitomized in the story told by her colleague, Paul Olson, who fondly remembers her driving him to work with a Greek dictionary on the steering wheel. Paul Olson, Professor Emeritus Department of English, University of Nebraska. She and her work are discussed in the comic-philosophical novel Harmony Junction by Goddard Graves (2009, privately published).
Biography
Born August 23, 1920, Vienna, Austria. Immigrated into the United states, 1939. United States citizen since 1944. U.S. Army Service 1945-1946, Psychiatric Social Worker, U.S. War Department, Research Analyst, Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, 1946-1947. Married Philipp FehlPhilipp Fehl
Philipp Fehl was an Austrian artist and art historian. He emigrated to the United States in 1941, and became an artist, author and lecturer at several universities. He retired as Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1990...
December 11, 1945. Mother of two daughters, Katharine and Caroline.
Maria Raina Fehl was known as Raina . She was the daughter of the poet/author/civil rights attorney, Erich Fritz Schweinburg
Erich Fritz Schweinburg
Erich Fritz Schweinburg was a Jewish-Austrian writer and attorney. He is best known for Eine weite Reise, published in Austria, his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in Dachau concentration camp in Nazi....
, 1890-1959 buried Rochester, Vermont
Rochester, Vermont
Rochester is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,171 at the 2000 census. Rochester is home to the Quarry Hill Creative Center...
, and the humanitarian, Rosa Gussman Schweinburg. From her birth, she fought many physical battles, starting with contracting and surviving small-pox in the center where she was born. She was restrained with tiny baby sized fetters and came away with only two tiny scars. Although throughout her life, she suffered from difficult health problems, she never defined herself by her illnesses or any other of her life's hardships. Instead, she lived her life with grace and energy and maintained that vitality to the very end of her life.
Education:
Wenzgasse Gymnasium, Vienna, Austria, Matura 1938.
New Jersey College for Women, Rutgers, 1939–1942, B.A. (history and English).
Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, 1947-1948 (German researching and writing on Karl Kraus
Karl Kraus
Karl Kraus was an Austrian writer and journalist, known as a satirist, essayist, aphorist, playwright and poet. He is regarded as one of the foremost German-language satirists of the 20th century, especially for his witty criticism of the press, German culture, and German and Austrian...
).
University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
1948–1952 (German Philosophy).
University of Nebraska, 1954–1962.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
, 1962-1967 (Classics).
University of Illinois, Urbana
Urbana, Illinois
Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....
, M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
, 1976 (Classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
).
Teaching:
University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, Illinois, Instructor, German, 1947-1952.
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
Lincoln, Nebraska
The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....
, Instructor English, Latin, 1954-1962.
North Carolina School of the Arts
North Carolina School of the Arts
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts , formerly the North Carolina School of the Arts, is a public coeducational arts conservatory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina that grants high school, undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is one of the seventeen constituent campuses of the...
, Winston-Salem, Instructor, German, 1965-1969.
Visiting Appointments at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
, Winter, 1982; The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Spring, 1992.
Offices:
International Survey of Jewish Monuments, Vice-President, 1977-2000. http://samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-memory-yahrzeit-of-isjm-founder.html
Editor, The Cicognara Newsletter, published by the Leopoldo Cicognara Project at the University of Illinois Library, Vatican Library
Vatican Library
The Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...
, Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
, 1992-2009.
Director, The Leopoldo Cicognara Project at the University of Illinois Library, Vatican Library, Vatican City, dedicated to the study and promulgation of literary sources in the history of art, 2000-2009.
Membership in Learned Societies:
College of Art Association of America, International Survey of Jewish Monuments.
Career
Teaching:University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, Illinois, Instructor, German, 1947-1952.
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, Instructor English, Latin, 1954-1962.
North Carolina School of the Arts
North Carolina School of the Arts
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts , formerly the North Carolina School of the Arts, is a public coeducational arts conservatory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina that grants high school, undergraduate and graduate degrees. It is one of the seventeen constituent campuses of the...
, Winston-Salem, Instructor, German, 1965-1969.
Visiting Appointments at Tel Aviv University, Winter, 1982; The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Spring, 1992.
Offices:
International Survey of Jewish Monuments, Vice-President, 1977-2000.
Editor, The Cicognara Newsletter, published by the Leopoldo Cicognara Project at the University of Illinois Library, Vatican Library, Vatican City, 1992-2009.
Director, The Leopoldo Cicognara Project at the University of Illinois Library, Vatican Library, Vatican City, dedicated to the study and promulgation of literary sources in the history of art, 2000-2009.
Membership in Learned Societies:
College of Art Association of America, International Survey of Jewish Monuments.
Scholarly Work
Franciscus Junius (the younger)Franciscus Junius (the younger)
Franciscus Junius , also known as François du Jon, was a pioneer of Germanic philology. As a collector of ancient manuscripts, he published the first modern editions of a number of important texts.-Life:...
, The Literature of Classical Art
I. The Paining of the Ancients, London, 1638.
II. Catalogus Architectorum, Mechanicorum sed praecipue A critical edition and translation by Keith Aldrich, Philipp Fehl and Raina Fehl, University of California Press, Berkeley, California 192.
Catalogo ragionao dei libri d’arte e d’antichita posseduti dal Conte Cocognara (Vatican Press, 2001). A critical edition of the 1821 imprint published in Pisa. Co-editor with Philipp P. Fehl and Maria Raina Fehl.
III. Editor, The Art of Mourning, Philipp P. Fehl.
Collections
The Cicognara Library: Literary Sources in the Histor of Art and Kindred Subjects (Leopoldo Cicognara Program at the University of Illinois Library in Association with the Vatican Library, Vatican City, 1989-2009.
Microfiche collection of ca 5,000 titles. Co-editor with Philipp P. Fehl.
Books
Jewish Heritage Report, Vol.II, Nos. 1-2 / Spring-Summer 1998, Stein und Name, Review.
The literature of classical art / Franciscus Junius
Franciscus Junius (the younger)
Franciscus Junius , also known as François du Jon, was a pioneer of Germanic philology. As a collector of ancient manuscripts, he published the first modern editions of a number of important texts.-Life:...
; edited by Keith Aldrich, Philipp Fehl, Raina Fehl
Mikki
It seems Raina Fehl had a special affinity for mice. When her daughters were young, she often helped them fall asleep by telling them stories of a pretty little lady mouse who wore white gloves and managed to keep them perfectly clean even when taking railroad trips. Years later while working on the Cicognara Project at the Vatican LibraryVatican Library
The Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...
, Raina Fehl began writing the Mikki Stories. Originally written again for her children, these stories were supposedly the work of the scholar Michaela Mouse, affectionately known to her family as "Mikki", the Library Mouse. Raina Fehl portrayed herself as merely the translator of the English versions. In time, Mikki's relatives became the authors of the continuing stories. Much like the "translator", the mice work for the most part in the Salone Sistino in the Vatican Library. In this excerpt from "The Library Mouse. A Monologue
by Michaela Mouse, English version offered by M. Raina Fehl in honor of the birthday of Katharine Fehl", Mikki describes her wonderful place of work,
"I mentioned the Salone Sistino before. That is a beautiful room, indeed. And many, many people come to see it when they go through the Vatican Museum. It really belongs to the Library, as does that entire side or corridor of the museum, but for the visitors it's simply a part of the museum. Most just look at the special exhibits in glass cases in the room. But some do look up at the pilasters that show the inventors of the letters of the alphabet -- Christ is one of them, of the alpha and the omega. Some also look at the big frescos on the walls showing famous libraries in antiquity, really famous stories that went on in them. But there is something that hardly any of them notice. The painters were very conscientious observers of reality and therefore you will find at least one mouse in every one of those scenes. I love going up to look at the mouse peeking out between the books the librarians at Alexandria are putting in order. They are very well portrayed. In another there is a mouse that sits on the back of the chair of the hero and looks with him at his manuscripts. There may even be some mice I never discovered."
In many ways, the excerpt depicts how much Raina loved working at the Vatican.
Cicognara Project
Together with her husband, Philipp FehlPhilipp Fehl
Philipp Fehl was an Austrian artist and art historian. He emigrated to the United States in 1941, and became an artist, author and lecturer at several universities. He retired as Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1990...
, Raina Fehl worked in the Sala Cicognara in the Biblioteka Vaticana in the Vatican City.
Unpublished Modern Fiction
After her death, Raina's daughters discovered an ordinary bound school notebook with the words "Don't Lose Me" written on the cover in her handwriting. Inside they discovered short stories in Raina's handwriting. Never before had anyone known that she wrote fiction as well as all her erudite works. The fiction is being transcribed and will be published posthumously.Organizations
Founded International Survey of Jewish Monuments with husband Philipp FehlPhilipp Fehl
Philipp Fehl was an Austrian artist and art historian. He emigrated to the United States in 1941, and became an artist, author and lecturer at several universities. He retired as Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1990...
- http://www.isjm.org/
Editor
External links
- http://www.cicognara.com/
- http://www.rainafehl.com/
- http://www.philippfehl.com/
- http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/251816
- http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/2862949
- http://www.isjm.org/
- http://samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-memory-yahrzeit-of-isjm-founder.html