This small family collection primarily documents two generations of a family of twentieth century Swiss immigrants. Except for a few miscellaneous items, the papers date entirely from the post-World War II period, but a hint of the family's early experiences can be inferred from Bertha's difficulty with the English language in a few of her letters to her son, 1948-1950.
The largest portion of the collection is the papers of Bertha Ryser, and it consists of correspondence, personal expense books, 1958-1983, diaries, 1967-1983, tax records, 1971-1980, and a farm ledger, 1943-1944. This correspondence is primarily comprised of letters from her son Werner just prior to and during his service in the Korean War; from her sister Magdalena Ruef, 1968-1973; and from Marti Trachel-Fluck, who is thought to be a girlhood friend from Oberreid. The letters from Werner primarily concern the details of training, and road and bridge construction in California, Japan, and Korea. The letters from Bertha's friends and family in Switzerland are written in German. They primarily concern health, travel, and the details of daily life. Also part of Bertha's papers is a file of handwritten drafts of her outgoing German language correspondence. These drafts, as well as her diaries which are also in German, indicate some difficulty with standard written German.
The collection also includes a folder of correspondence received by Werner. These are primarily letters from the late 1940's when he was working first as an agricultural laborer in the West and then in an automobile factory in Pontiac, Michigan. The collection also includes a folder of correspondence received by George Knudtson, a friend of Werner Ryser, while they were both working in Pontiac, Michigan during 1947 and 1948. It is not known why these letters are part of the Ryser collection.
