John K. Zeender

An inventory of John K. Zeender Collection at The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives

Biographical Note

John K. Zeender was born March 12, 1917 in New Haven, Connecticut, to Alfred J. Zeender and Margaret Gillespie. He was educated at The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC, where he earned an A.B. in 1939 and an M.A. in 1941. In the Second World War he served in U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence, 1942-1945, winning a Bronze Star Medal. He was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 and was a Yale Naval Program Teacher when the war ended in 1945. He earned his Ph.D. in History at Yale in 1952 with his dissertation ‘The German Center Party and the Rise of German National Power, 1890-1906.’

Professor Zeender’s area of study was 19th and 20th century Central Europe with a focus on Germany, especially The Center Party that represented largely Catholic interests from the beginning of the Second Reich in 1871 until the party’s demise with the advent of the Third Reich in 1933. He published his dissertation in 1976 as ‘The German Center Party, 1890-1906.’ He contributed articles to The Catholic Historical Review, the Journal of Modern History, the Journal of Central European Affairs, and the New Catholic Encyclopedia (NCE) as well as chapters on aspects of The Center Party’s history to several books. He was also a prolific writer of book reviews, mostly in The Catholic Historical Review but also in several of the aforementioned journals.

Professor Zeender taught at the University of Massachusetts from 1948 to 1959 and also occasionally lectured at Albertus Magnus and Smith colleges. He was a Fulbright Scholar, 1954-1955, and returned to CUA in 1959 as Associate Professor of History. He was promoted Ordinary Professor in 1964 and served as Chair of the History Department from 1971 to 1974 and again in 1982. He also served as a committee chairman of the Academic Senate and chaired an ad hoc committee that issued a report that called for the establishment of a school of religious studies. He was active in the American Catholic Historical Association (ACHA), serving as Associate Editor of The Catholic Historical Review from 1964 to 1966 and again in the 1980s. He retired from CUA in 1984 as Professor Emeritus but continued to research and write as he was able, borrowing from and contributing to his collection of papers in the CUA Archives from time to time. John Zeender died at Washington Adventist Hospital in June 2002, survived by his wife, Ruth Smith, whom he had married in 1946, and five children.

John K. Zeender is remembered fondly at CUA for his courtly charm and intellectual grace. As a skilled teacher of undergraduates, the CUA History Department honors his memory each year by awarding the Zeender Prize for the best senior thesis.

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Scope and Contents

The John K. Zeender papers reflect his long career as a university history teacher and an historian of the German Center Party of 1870-1933. The accumulated material, primarily in German though with some in English, consists of correspondence, notes, transcriptions, printed material, and microfilm reels related to notable persons and events in the Center Party’s history.

The first series, Academic Papers, 1940-2002, box 1, contains both original copies and photocopies of the 1976 book version of his revised Yale dissertation on the Center Party, his master’s thesis and a research paper from The Catholic University of America (CUA), various articles and book chapters, his dozens of book reviews, and a Festschrift in his honor.

The second series, Research Correspondence and Reference Material, 1920(1954-2002)n.d., boxes 2-4, has a mix of correspondence with historians, archival repositories, and former members (or their families) of the Center Party. There are also handwritten notes and transcriptions, as well as commercial transcriptions, relating to collections of historical documents and newspapers on microfilm, much of it in German but some in English, French, or even Dutch. In addition, there are numerous copies of printed material that was retained in this series if it had notations or was otherwise directly related to the correspondence, notes, and transcriptions.

The third series, Publications, 1892-2000 and undated, boxes 4-12, has a mix of books, booklets, journal article tear sheets, newspaper clippings, etc. related more broadly to the history of the Center Party in Germany. Much of this is in German, with one item in Polish, and was probably part of a more general reference source for Dr. Zeender in his ongoing research. Everything except for some of the larger books have been placed in acid free folders and filed alphabetically, with the larger books placed in the last box at the end of the series. For the journal articles the page numbers have been included in the title field whereas the number of pages per item for books and booklets have been listed in the note field.

The fourth series, Microfilmed Documents and Newspapers, n.d., box 13, consists of forty-five (45) reels or rolls (some encased and some loose), of archival collections of German historical documents, both government and private, as well as newspapers, all closely related to the material in the second series, though in a different medium. Included are several reels of German Foreign Ministry Documents; Ernst Lieber papers from several places, most notably from Wroclaw, Poland; Julius Bachem papers; and newspapers such as the Kolnische Volkszeitung and the Westdeutsche Arbeiterzeitung.

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Arrangement

The John K. Zeender Papers consists of four series:

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

None

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Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

Received from John Zeender in multiple donations from 1996 until shortly before his death in 2002.

Processing Information

Processing completed in 2010 by William John Shepherd. EAD markup completed in 2010 by William John Shepherd.

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Related Material

American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives:

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Executive Department/Office of the General Secretary Records

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Index Terms

Persons:

Organizations:

Places:

Subjects:

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Bibliography

Blackbourn, David G. 'Class and Politics in Wilhelmine Germany: The Center Party and the Social Democrats in Württemberg,'Central European History, Vol. 9, No. 3 (Sep., 1976), pp. 220-249.

Blackbourn, David G. 'Progress and Piety: Liberalism, Catholicism and the State in Imperial Germany,'History Workshop, No. 26 (Winter, 1988), pp. 57-78.

Blackbourn, David G. 'The Political Alignment of the Centre Party in Wilhelmine Germany: A Study of the Party's Emergence in Nineteenth-Century Wurttemberg,'The Historical Journal, Vol. 18, No. 4 (December 1975), pp. 821-850.

Callinger, Ronald S. and West, Thomas R. John K. Zender: A Festscrift. Maplecrest, New York: Perspective Press, 2007.

Epstein, Klaus. 'Erzberger and the German Colonial Scandals, 1905-1910,' English Historical Review, Vol. 74, (1959), pp. 637-663.

Epstein, Klaus. 'Erzberger's Position in the Zentrumsstreit before World War I,' Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 44, (1958), pp. 553-561.

Evans, Ellen Lovell. The German Center Party, 1870-1933: A Study in Political Catholicism. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1981.

Jones, Larry Eugene. 'Franz Von Papen, the German Center Party, and the Failure of Catholic Conservatism in the Weimar Republic,' Central European History, Vol. 38, No. 2 (2005), pp. 191-217.

Ward, James E. 'Leo XIII and Bismarck: The Kaiser's Vatican Visit of 1888, The Review of Politics, Vol. 24, No. 3 (July 1962), pp. 392-414.

Zahn, Gordon. German Catholics and Hitler's Wars: A Study in Social Control. Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre Dame University Press, 1962, 1989.

Zangeri, Carl H. E. 'Courting the Catholic Vote: The Center Party in Baden, 1903-13,' Central European History, Vol. 10, No. 3 (September 1977), pp. 220-240.

Zeender, John K. 'German Catholics and the Concept of an Interconfessional Party 1900-1922,'Journal of Central European Affairs, Vol. 23, No. 4 (January 1964), pp. 424-439.

Zeender, John K. 'Germany: The Catholic Church and the Nazi Regime, 1933-1945,' Catholics, the State, and the European Radical Right, 1919-1945. Richard J. Wolff and Jorg K. Hoensch (eds). Boulder, CO: Social Sciences Monographs, 1987, pp. 92-118.

Zeender, John K. 'Introduction,' Controversial Concordats: The Vatican's Relations with Napoleon, Mussolini, and Hitler. Frank J. Coppa (ed). Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1999, pp. 1-33.

Zeender, John K. 'Ludwig Windthorst, 1812-1891,'History, (1992), pp. 237-254.

Zeender, John K. 'Review: Recent Literature on the German Center Party,' The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 70, No. 3, (1984), pp. 428-441.

Zeender, John K. 'The Genesis of the German Concordat of 1933,' Studies in Catholic History in Honor of John Tracy Ellis. Nelson Minnich, Robert Eno, Robert Trisco (editors). Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1985, pp. 617-665.

Zeender, John K. 'The German Center Party during World War I: An Internal Study,' The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 42, No. 4, (1957), pp. 441-468.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary

Biographical Note

Scope and Contents

Arrangement

Restrictions

Administrative Information

Related Material

Index Terms

Bibliography

Detailed Description of the Collection

Series 1: Academic Papers, 1940-2002

Series 2: Research Correspondence and Reference Material, 1920(1954-2002)n.d.

Series 3: Publications, 1892-2000, n.d.

Series 4: Documents and Newspapers on Microfilm, n.d.