Goetz A. Briefs Papers 1

Collection

Identifier: GTM-820610

Request

Scope and Contents

The Goetz A. Briefs Papers include Briefs' correspondence; magazine and newsclippings with Briefs' notations, and Georgetown University related materials. Also in the collection are other written materials on economics with corrections and notations; Mont Pelerin Society items; and copies of papers from colleagues.

Dates

Creation: 1930 - 1974

Conditions Governing Access

Most manuscripts collections at the Georgetown University Booth Family Center for Special Collections are open to researchers; however, restrictions may apply to some collections. Collections stored off site require a minimum of three days for retrieval. For use of all manuscripts collections, researchers are advised to contact the Booth Family Center for Special Collections in advance of any visit.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers are solely responsible for determining the copyright status of the materials being used, establishing who the copyright owner is, locating the copyright owner, and obtaining permission for intended use.

Biographical Note

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Goetz A. Briefs (1889-1974) was born in Eschweiler, Germany, and was educated in Munich, Bonn, and Freiburg, Germany, receiving a PhD from Freiburg in 1911. He did research in London in 1912 and was a lecturer at Freiburg (1913); substitute professor of economics at Giessen, Germany (1916-1918); assistant professor at Freiburg (1919); professor of economics at Wuerzburg (1921-1923); professor at Freiburg (1923-26); and professor at Berlin University (1926-34). He was also the economics expert for the Ministry of Interior (1915-16); director of the Institute of Industrial Relations (1926-34); and a member of the Unemployment Insurance Commission of the German Minsitry of Labor (1929).

In Germany he and his first wife Anna Stephanie Weltman (1881-1946, m. 1919) had four children: Godfrey (1920-2007), Henry (1922-1999), Angela (1923-2012), and Elizabeth (1925-2013). The family came to the US in 1934 and Briefs became a visiting professor at Catholic University before joining the Georgetown University faculty as a professor of economics in 1937, a position that he held until his retirement in 1957. He had one daughter, Gina (1953-2011), with second wife Elinor Castendyk Struve (1915-1998, m. 1951).