German Germanist, director of the Schiller National Museum, and author of the 1948 book Mein Lebenswerk (My Life’s Work), written at the age of almost 90, which describes the history of the museum and gives an overview of the acquisitions and foundations made under his directorship from 1904 to 1939 and the entire inventory of manuscripts and portraits.
Otto Güntter was the son of Karl Friedrich Güntter (1827-1873) and Mathilde Kidaisch (1833-1899). Influenced by Friedrich Theodor Vischer, he studied philosophy, German philology and modern philology in Tübingen and ended his education by spending several years studying in France and England.
Impressed by the exhibitions of the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery at the South Kensington Museum, he organized a large exhibition of manuscripts, portraits and prints of Swabian poets in 1890 on the occasion of the 4th German New Philologists’ Day in Stuttgart. This received widespread attention and inspired him to found the Schiller Museum in Marbach am Neckar.
In 1904, one year after the opening, Güntter was transferred to its management. In the service of this task, for the sake of his office as an upper secondary school professor and without giving up his teaching position at the Technical University of Stuttgart, he succeeded in building and expanding the museum into a Swabian poetry museum and at the same time an archive and a library for Swabian literature (since 1922 known as the Schiller National Museum).
Firmly rooted in local tradition and a personal friend of many Swabian poets, Güntter acquired numerous estates, significant manuscripts and correspondences, portraits and books for the Marbach collection, giving them a wide audience through exhibitions and publications.
Otto Güntter died on 30 March 1949 in Marbach am Neckar at age 90.
Link to Wikipedia biography (German)