Gerlough Family papers
Content Description
The Gerlough Family Papers span the years 1900 to 1968. Most of the papers are letters dating from 1911 to 1914. Also included are financial records from the same period, other papers, and photographs.
The letters—many still in their envelopes—were written between Margaret Lauder and Ludwig Gerlough while Gerlough was a student at Oxford University and Lauder taught school at Moscow High School and elsewhere. The letters are about family matters; some... also contain discussions of local and national politics, teaching at secondary schools in Idaho and Washington, Gerlough's work at Oxford, his extensive travels in Europe, letters of recommendation written for Lauder, and Gerlough's fraternity correspondence. Other correspondence includes letters written to Lauder and Gerlough from family members and friends.
The financial records consist of Gerlough's checkbook registers from an Oxford bank and bills from various Oxford businesses, dated between 1911 and 1914.
Other papers include unsigned postcards, cards, announcements, maps, and newspaper clippings. Two yearbooks were retained in the collection: Margaret Lauder's 1906 University of Idaho Gem of the Mountains and Eleanor Gerlough's 1935 Madrono yearbook from Palo Alto High School.
Included in the papers were two photograph albums, primarily of Gerlough's days at Oxford, but also many photographs of family and friends. There were also several loose photographs that were stored in acid-free envelopes, and three oversize photographs stored separately.
Special Collections also has an unpublished manuscript written by Ludwig Gerlough about his life at Oxford (MG 5096). Lauder's uncle Wylie Andrew Gifford Lauder (1857-1936) donated his financial records to the University of Idaho Library (MG 210), and her cousin Alma Taylor-Lauder Keeling wrote a family history called The Un-Covered Wagon, A Glimpse of Pioneer Days in Moscow (Day NW F754 M6 K44) also housed in Special Collections.
Dates
- Creation: 1900-1968
Creator
- Gerlough (Family)
- Gerlough, Ludwig S. (Person)
- Gerlough, Margaret E. Lauder (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Biographical / Historical
Margaret E. Lauder Gerlough, the only child of William C. and Emma Briggs Lauder, began her life in Colfax, Washington, on June 10, 1883 (her obituary lists her birth in 1884). The family relocated to Moscow in 1889, where William Lauder established his building supply business. Margaret Lauder attended Moscow public schools and the University of Idaho, where she earned her B.A. degree in music in 1906, and a second bachelor's degree in English the... following year. She taught English and coached debate at Goldendale and Palouse, Washington, and Lewiston, Idaho public schools, and at Moscow High School from 1909 to 1912. There she met her colleague and future husband, Ludwig Sherman Gerlough. Lauder and Gerlough married on October 16, 1914 in San Diego, and resided in California until 1971. Margaret Gerlough participated in the Methodist Church, the Women's Society of Christian Service, the American Association of University Women, and the California Historical Society. She enjoyed teaching, traveling, writing, and sewing. She died on June 23, 1971, shortly after the couple returned to Moscow.
Ludwig Sherman Gerlough was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on January 16, 1887, the eldest of six children born to a miner and housewife. The Gerlough family relocated to Boise, where Ludwig Gerlough graduated from high school in 1905. Gerlough completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Idaho in 1909, and then taught math and history, and coached football at Moscow High School from 1909 to 1911. After proposing marriage to fellow teacher Margaret Lauder in 1911, Gerlough matriculated at Oxford University, England, as one of the first Rhodes Scholars from the state of Idaho. After Gerlough earned his second bachelor's degree at Oxford in 1914, he returned to the U.S. and married Margaret Lauder. The nuptials took place in San Diego, where the groom had secured a teaching position at San Diego High School. The couple had two children, Daniel Lauder Gerlough (1916-1977), a professor of Transportation Engineering, and Eleanor Gerlough Elmendorf (1920-), a science librarian.
Ludwig Gerlough received his master's degree from Oxford in 1918. He taught at San Diego High School and Lowell High School, a college preparatory school in San Francisco, until his retirement. He participated in the Y.M.C.A., the Beta Theta Phi fraternity, and the American Historical Association. Gerlough enjoyed traveling, theater, and sports. Upon his wife's death, he moved to Minneapolis to live with his son Daniel, who preceded him in death. Ludwig Gerlough died on March 15, 1978.
Extent
3 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Correspondence, financial records, other papers, and photographs of a Moscow, Idaho school teacher and an Idaho Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, and other family members.
Arrangement
Since there was no apparent order to the Gerlough Family Papers when received, an order was imposed. The papers were divided by type: correspondence, financial records, photographs, and other papers. The correspondence and financial records were arranged chronologically, with other papers and photographs filed separately.
Several Gem of the Mountains yearbooks were transferred from the collection to Special Collections' yearbook holdings in the stacks. Empty and unattached envelopes were discarded.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The Gerlough Family papers were donated to the University of Idaho Library by Eleanor Elmendorf in October 2000.
- Title
- Guide to Gerlough Family papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Erika Kuhlman; updated by Sara Szobody.
- Date
- 2001, 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Repository Details
Part of the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives Repository