Ruth Caroline Krueger Papers, 1926-1928, 1949-1967 | University of Illinois Archives

Adiminsrative/Biographical History: Born in Madison, South Dakota (1901-67), Ruth Caroline Krueger attended the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana from 1926-27. Her papers contain letters written to her family while she was in residence at the University of Illinois. Her father, Herman F. Kruegar, came to Kankakee, Ill from Germany as an infant and as an adult moved to Madison, South Dakota to farm. Later he married Caroline Kruse, of Kankakee, Il. Herman and Caroline had four children, including Ruth. Ruth did not have any children. Nor did any of her siblings. The collection was held by her brother Frederick Krueger until he passed it on to his great nephew Dr. R. James Krueger. Professor Krueger then donated her papers to the University Archives on April 22, 2005. Ruth Kruegar graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. in Library Science in 1927 and a Masters in Library Science in 1936. She held librarian and teaching positions at General Beadle; Western State College, Gunnison, Colo.; Oregon State University, Corvallis Ore.; Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Mich.; Penn State University, Pa.; and the University of Illinois Library School. For the last 15 years of her life she directed libraries for the Department of State and the United States Information Agency in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, and Beirut, Lebanon. Her first assignment in Seoul, Korea was cut short by the initial stages of the Korean War (June, 1950).While she was in Beirut (1959-1965) she supervised libraries throughout the Middle East. Her papers also contain photographs and slides of the many locations she traveled to in Asia and the Middle East (1950-66).