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Kenneth Kronenberg |
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Kenneth Kronenberg |
The diaries, letters, and documents currently gathering dust in your attic connect you to your own history in a way that a family tree alone cannot. These writings may also contain information or first-hand accounts of more general historical value. In any case, they will help you to understand the personal lives of your ancestors and the world in which they moved. Because of my background and interests I am uniquely able to help you to place yourself and your family in historical context.
I am particularly interested in translating letters and diaries from the 19th century and the period 1933-45. German immigrant letters and Holocaust-related material are my specialties. I will work with clients for their private use or for publication.
I am a professional translator experienced in old German handwriting (Kurrent, Sütterlin), and Gothic print (Fraktur). I am also a published author who has worked successfully with the private owners of several large collections of old German letters. Lives and Letters of an Immigrant Family: The Van Dreveldts' Experiences along the Missouri, 1844-1866 (University of Nebraska Press, 1998) was the result of one such collaboration. In 2000 I translated the important Theresienstadt diaries of Alisah Shek, which are published in Salvaged Pages: Young Writers' Diaries of the Holocaust by Alexandra Zapruder (Yale University Press, 2002).
Recently completed project: Approximately 450 family letters written by and to a German-Jewish woman who worked as a governess for relatives, a merchant family in Constantinople, between 1884-1888.
Current project: Approximately 40 letters written in the mid-1830s by German officers who fought at the Battle of Waterloo. These letters, which are housed at the Library of the British Museum, are detailed responses to a questionnaire sent by a British officer charged with building a model of the battlefield.
In evaluating your papers, personal or family considerations must be weighed against the cost of translation. Please contact me with any questions; I can help you to decide which papers are likely to be worth the cost of translation and which may not be.
Translation of old German script is time and labor intensive. Because of this it is more expensive than the translation of printed text. My base rate is US$20 per 100 English words for script, depending on legibility. To give you an idea of what this means, the following sample came to 175 English words, or US$35.
If you send me a sample, I can estimate what that particular sample will cost. The translation will be publication quality
My base rate for the translation of printed text, including Fraktur, is US$15 per 100 English words. A standard 8.5x11 sheet of modern typing paper, which holds about 600 words single-spaced (using 12 point Arial font), will cost approximately $90.
