[Much of this material was previously researched by Donald Hoyt (Find-a-Grave)]
Luisa Kerschbaumer was born 22 January 1893, in Vienna, Austria. In 1918, she graduated from the University of Vienna, and practiced medicine in Italy (Merano and Florence) from 1920 to 1924. At age 31, Dr. Kerschbaumer came to America in 1924 aboard the SS Martha Washington from the port of Trieste, Italy, arriving in New York City on 1 Sep 1924. Her final destination was recorded as Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where her uncle Virgil Reinel lived. She was described as being five foot six inches in height, with brown hair and eyes. She arrived with $200 to her name, leaving behind her mother, Karolina Kerschbaumer, who resided in Ala, Italy.
Dr. Kerschbaumer received her medical license from the Wisconsin Medical Association in 1925.
In 1926, Kerschbaumer resided in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 203 21st Street. Also in 1926, Dr. Luisa Kerschbaumer published Denken und Träumen, a book of poetry. On the title page, “Chippewa Fall, Wis.” appears beneath her name.
In 1940, she was employed at the St. Peter State Hospital in St. Peter, Nicollet County, Minnesota.
In 1942, an article written by her for the Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease indicates she was working at the Clarinda (Iowa) State Hospital.
In 1943, two articles she wrote for the same journal have Kerschbaumer working at Massillon State Hospital in Massillon, Ohio.
Around 1945, Luisa Kerschbaumer resigned from a position as staff physician at Civilian Public Service Camp No. 69, a Mental Hospital unit of Cleveland State Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio. “She leveled charges at Superintendent Hans P. Lee over her difficulty in securing medications and sterilized medical supplies, severe staff shortages, as well as threats made to her if she made public comments. Before leaving, she gave testimony to Hal Griswold, chair of the state hospital committee.” [Source: CPS Unit Number 069-01, Conscientious Objectors to War Who Chose Civilian Public Service in World War II]
In 1948, her address was 1642 S. Vandeventer Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri.
In 1950, she resided in Peoria, Illinois, and was employed as staff physician at the Michell Sanitarium, Bartonville, Illinois.
Donald Hoyt writes on the Find-A-Grave page for Dr. Luisa Kerschbaumer that he was “unable to establish when she arrived at the Willard Asylum [Seneca County, New York], but was told that she was there in the 1960’s by a gentleman whose parents owned a grocery store in the village. She would stop in to buy her groceries and a copy of the New York Times. He has a painting of hers that she gave to the family.”
In 1977, Luisa Kerschbaumer is listed in the fifth edition of International Who’s Who in Poetry (edited by Ernest Kay, Cambridge, England: International Biographical Centre).
In 1982, Kerschbaumer published Episodes with Tillman Press.
From Ken Lopez Bookseller, Item 34910, 2 June 2025:
Episodes. “Dr. K.” [Kerschbaumer, Luisa, M.D.]
A memoir by a Vienna-born physician who immigrated to America in 1924. Three chapters: ‘Austria,’ ‘Italy,’ and ‘America,’ plus a half dozen poems and two paintings (one of which won first place from the American Physicians Art Association, 1979). Blunt descriptions of life as a female immigrant in a male field in America at the time. Clothbound; near fine, likely issued without a dust jacket. Laid in is a photocopy of a 1981 letter from Kerschbaumer to the Tillman Press, authorizing the printing of the manuscript and asking that it be published anonymously. Color photographs of the two paintings are also laid in.”
Luisa Kerschbaumer died 1 Apr 1991, aged 98, and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Ovid, Seneca County, New York.
Professional Writings (Incomplete)
Kerschbaumer, B. “Endocrine Maldevelopment in Schizophrenia.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 98, no. 5, Nov. 1943, pp. 521-525.
Massillon State Hospital, Massillon, Ohio.
Kerschbaumer, L. “Developmental Defects in Schizophrenics and Schizoids.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 97, no. 4, Apr. 1943, pp. 421-422.
Kerschbaumer, L. “Megasigmoid in Catatonic Stupor.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 96, no. 5, Nov. 1942, pp. 562-564.
Kerschbaumer, L. “A Patient’s Reaction To a ‘Lunacy’ Charge.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 101, no. 4, April 1945, pp. 378-381.
Kerschbaumer, L. “Poetry in Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 91, no. 2, Feb. 1940, pp. 141-156.
Kerschbaumer, L. “A Schizophrenic’s Knowledge of Himself.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 101, no. 1, Jan. 1945, pp. 65-66.
Kerschbaumer, L. “Spontaneous Reactions to Metrazol Therapy.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 98, no. 4, Oct. 1943, pp. 390-395.
Kerschbaumer, L. “Two Unusual Cases of Narcissistic Arrest.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 96, no. 2, Feb. 1942, pp. 191-193.
Clarinda State Hospital, Clarinda, Iowa.
Kerschbaumer, L. “Dr. Julius Wagner-Jauregg.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 86, no. 2, Aug. 1937, p. 246-248.
Translation of an article about Julius Wagner-Jauregg receiving an honorary doctorate degree in jurisprudence and Kerschbaumer’s own recollections of the man.
Kerschbaumer, L. “Review of Gütt, Linden and Massfeller, Blutschutz- und Ehegesundheitsgesetz. München: Lehmann, 1936.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 87, no. 4, April 1938, pp. 535-536.
[Gutt and Linden were leaders of the eugenic movement and had been co-authors of the leading handbooks on eugenic and racial legislation in Nazi Germany.]
Kerschbaumer, L. “Review of Adolf Heidenhain, Die Psychiatrie im Dienste der Wehrmacht, Leipzig: Georg Thieme, 1938.” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, vol. 91, no. 2, Feb. 1940, pp. 251-252.