Scope and Content Note
The papers of Margaret von Luttichau Marbury (1894-1971) span the years 1926-1984, with the bulk of the material dating from 1934 to 1971. The papers are in English and German and are organized into the following series: Correspondence , Diaries and Dream Journals , Subject File , Writings and Lectures , Art File , and an Oversize series consisting entirely of artworks from the Art File. Marbury was an analysand of Gustav Richard Heyer, C. G. Jung, and Toni Wolff in Germany and Switzerland in the 1930s, and Frances G. Wickes in the 1940s in New York. She also trained as a Jungian lay analyst. The papers concern her personal analysis, her work as a student of Jungian analysis in Europe, and her relationships with various members of Jung's inner circle, but does not contain material relating to her work as a lay analyst. In the collection, she is often referred to as "Marguerita," "Margarita," "Mai," "MMPM" and also, in particular by Jung, as "Gräfin" (Countess).
The Correspondence series contains folders of correspondence from C. G. Jung and various close associates of Jung, including analysts and scholars with mutual interests, such as Indologist Heinrich Zimmer. The correspondence file of Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn reveals a close friendship between the two women. Fröbe-Kapteyn's letters chronicle the early years of the Eranos conferences, which she founded in 1933. The annual August meetings were held at her estate in Ascona, Switzerland. The conferences brought together for discussions and lectures leading figures in Jungian analysis (including Jung), world religions, non-Western cultural studies, philosophy, as well as attendees, including Marbury starting in 1934. Marbury's letters from American Jungian analyst Frances G. Wickes provide information on Wickes's later years. Wickes had been Marbury's analyst in the late 1940s, but their relationship continued as a friendship until Wickes's death in 1967. Other notable correspondents include Gustav Richard Heyer, Marbury's first analyst in Munich, Germany, and Toni Wolff, a close associate of Jung and Marbury's analyst in Zurich, Switzerland.
The Diaries and Dream Journals series contains notebooks, binders, and other papers with Marbury's chronological documentation primarily of her dreams and what Jung called "active imaginations" or induced hallucinations. Some of the journals include artwork, but almost all of the related artwork is in the Art File series. The journals and diaries are described and arranged chronologically by the dates of the dreams, but many of the papers are translations and transcriptions done at an unknown later date. The dream journals and the art file taken together represent Marbury's journey through analysis in a manner that was in keeping with Jung's own psychological self-discovery as displayed in his "Red Book." Jung encouraged patients to put their visions down as beautifully as possible, preferably in a bound book. The patient, at a future time, could return to these books for psychological understanding and renewal. Marbury's own work did not combine text and image with the same intensity as Jung (the dream journals have a few illustrations and the artwork often has some text). Marbury dedicated great energy to her analytic work starting in 1934 while working with Gustav Heyer in Munich and continued it throughout her life. During the 1960s she worked on her collection of journals and artwork, organizing, translating, and readying for public display or possible publication (see her correspondence with Frances Wickes).
The Subject File is dominated by student material. Marbury attended classes and lectures at various venues in Switzerland from the mid-1930s to the early 1960s, including Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule and the C. G. Jung-Institut, both of Zurich and the Eranos conferences at Ascona. Files are designated by the name of the lecturer, the institution of learning, or by the topic. Marbury did some translation work, German to English, for Jolande Jacobi and others, and those files are in the Subject File by name of the author. Also in this series are photographs, primarily of Jung and of the Eranos conferences at Ascona.
The Writings and Lectures series contains Marbury's writings intended for an audience, as contrasted to her dream journals. Included are book draft material, essay drafts, lecture scripts, and memoir material. There is additionally a small amount of writings by others and unsigned and unidentified material that may be additional Marbury writings.
The original artwork in the Art File is almost entirely placed in the Oversize series, which is solely composed of artwork. Marbury worked primarily with water color, gouache, and pencil in large artist's notebooks. Marbury dated her work so it is possible to match the dates of the paintings with the dream journals. Paintings from 1934 and most from the first part of 1935 are loose, mostly matted, but on the same type of paper as is found in the notebooks. These paintings were probably removed from notebooks and matted for public display while she was working on her collection of analysis material in the 1960s. The remainder of the notebooks were kept as is. The photographic prints, slides, and transparencies are reproductions of the original artwork and were made in the early 1960s while Marbury was organizing and translating her journals and artwork.