Archibald Leyasmeyer papers

"Archibald Leyasmeyer was a faculty member of the University of Minnesota since 1964 and retired in 2003 as a Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teacher of English. His primary academic interests were in dramatic literature, especially Shakespeare and modern drama, and eighteenth century British Literature. He was widely recognized for his teaching career, with a number of major awards from the University and external organizations. For most of his career, Archibald Leyasmeyer was extensively involved with numerous arts and cultural organizations. He was in leadership positions with some dozen institutions, among them were the Guthrie Theater, Playwrights' Center, Jerome Foundation, Center for Arts Criticism, Weisman Art Museum, Minnesota Humanities." (1) "It was all a long way from his beginnings in Latvia in 1935. The end of World War II found him living, largely unschooled, in a refugee camp in southern Germany. At 14, he arrived in the US, knowing no English. At 18, he enrolled at Harvard University, eventually graduating with honors in English literature. He earned his MA and PhD from Princeton, then was hired at the University of Minnesota. For all his war-time upheaval, as an adult he had a great passion for travel, visiting some 75 countries with his wife Edith (Dean Emeritus of the University’s School of Public Health), among them Bhutan, Bolivia, Mongolia, and Morocco. Together they savored, as he once wrote, “the richness of human life and cultures on this little blue-white planet, so beautiful, so fragile, floating in the darkness of space.” (2) Archibald Leyasmeyer passed on Saturday, October 22, 2016 due to complications from Parkinson's Disease.

1.) "Archibald I. Leyasmeyer Obituary", Accessed July 23, 2020. https://www.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/162801/. 2.) "In Memoriam: Archibald I. Leyasmeyer, Emeritus", Accessed July 23, 2020. https://cla.umn.edu/english/news-events/news/memoriam-archibald-i-leyasmeyer-emeritus.