Max Kade Institute Friends Newsletter
VOLUME 13 NUMBER 4 • WINTER 2004
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MADISON, 901 UNIVERSITY BAY DR., MADISON, WI 53705 Conference explores tales WHAT'S INSIDE: of immigration Directors' Corner. By Nicole Saylor, CSUMC Archivist Page 2 Stories of contact with other cultures are at the heart of the im- Friend's Profile: migrant experience. These narratives can cultivate a sense of cul- Marita Ritsche. Page 3 tural identity, but they can also be a means of control or exclusion. They are a lens into the teller’s values and biases, and may reveal Elias Molee's the “truth” but not necessarily the facts. Stories can help sustain dream of an a dying language, and international provide a critical perspec- language. tive on U.S. immigration’s Page 4 impact not only on those who encountered the new- Milwaukee's German-Ameri- comers but on those who can taverns in the 1940s. Page 7 stayed behind. Storytellers, linguists, Luxembourg-American folklorists, historians, cultural center in Ozaukee and community members County. Page 9 convened Nov. 11–13, 2004 to explore these Calendar of events. threads and much more Page 11 during a three-day confer- ence, “Tales of Contact Kathrin Pöge-Alder speaks on how immigrant storytellers treat traditional Collection and Change: Traditional Feature: German folktales. See the Stories of Immigration,” at sights in the Pyle Center on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. America! The event—a blend of panels, scholarly presentations, and eve- Page 12 ning story concerts—was co-sponsored by the Max Kade Institute and the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures. More Book Review: The Mystery than sixty people signed in at the event, coming from Madison; the of the Ancient Coins Wisconsin communities of Mequon, Onalaska, Summit Lake, and Page 14 Sussex; and as far away as California and Germany. The event kicked off Thursday night with a conference reception German-American sympo- sium in Bielefeld, Germany. prior to a provocative keynote address by Jack Zipes. A professor Page 15 at the University of Minnesota, an internationally recognized Continued on Page 10 2 3 Directors' Corner MKI resources attracting researchers By Cora Lee Kluge and Mark L. Louden, MKI Co-Directors We are looking back on a fall semester of hard stock at year’s end, we feel that we should be very work and success. The exterior of the Keystone pleased. House was repaired and brightened with a new It is satisfying to note that the MKI’s library and coat of paint, and some of the carpet inside was archive holdings have been attracting visitors from replaced. Workstations throughout the house have other parts of the United States and from abroad. continued to hum with activity, signaling that Since the summer, visitors from Germany have ongoing projects are progressing. In November included: (1) Bernadette Friedrichs, a master’s the conference on “Tales of Contact and Change: degree candidate in History at the University of Traditional Stories of Immigration” (sponsored Mainz and a student of Professor Helmut Schmahl, by the MKI and the Center for the Study of Up- who came in June and in November to do research per Midwestern Cultures) took place and was well on the Forty-eighters; (2) Dr. Ulrike Brenning, received. Financial support for the conference a writer, documentary filmmaker, and television came from the Wisconsin Humanities Council journalist from Hannover, who teaches interdis- with funds from the National Endowment for the ciplinary media studies in both Hannover and Humanities, the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds Göttingen, and who came to the UW in the fall as from the State of Wisconsin, and the Friends of the a Brittingham Visiting Scholar; (3) Dr. Dieter H. Max Kade Institute with funds from the Federal Lange, a retired art history professor from Han- Republic of Germany/Consulate General Chicago. nover, who is doing research on Gustav Blöde; And, finally, a new MKI publication appeared and (4) Dr. Holger Kersten, a professor of American is available in bookstores: German Immigration Studies at the University of Magdeburg, who par- and Ethnicity in Comparative Perspective, edited ticipated in the November conference; and (5) Dr. by Walter D. Kamphoefner and Wolfgang Helbich Helmut Schmahl, a long-time friend and fellow (Madison: MKI, 2004). On the whole, as we take inhabitant of the MKI, who now teaches American history at the University of Mainz and who also took part in the conference. We are happy to wel- come these and other visitors who come to use our resources, and we thank them both for their inter- The Newsletter of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute est and for spreading word about the MKI and our for GermanAmerican Studies is published quarterly at work here when they return to their home bases. the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The Newsletter Please visit our Web site (http://csumc.wisc. is edited and produced by Kevin Kurdylo with the assistance of the Newsletter Committee of the Board edu/mki) to stay on top of announcements and of Directors and is printed by Great Graphics, Inc. The activities at the MKI. Click on “News & Events” Newsletter appears quarterly in March, June, September, to find information about our American Languages and December. Submissions are invited and should be digitization project, new publications, forthcoming sent directly to: events, and new library acquisitions, as well as to Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies visit our Newsletter Archive. Also please note that 901 University Bay Drive the MKI library can now again be searched online. Madison, WI 53705 Finally, we look forward to seeing you during Phone: (608) 262-7546 Fax: (608) 265-4640 the spring semester, and in the meanwhile, we Any submissions via e-mail may be directed to wish all of you the best for the holiday season and [email protected]. energy and happiness to meet the challenges of the Visit the Max Kade Institute on the year ahead. World Wide Web at: http://csumc.wisc.edu/mki Cora Lee and Mark 2 3 Friend's Profile Family letters inspired Ritsche to write novel By Antje Petty, MKI Assistant Director It all began with a shoebox Marita Ritsche scribe the essence of the person my father was and received one day from her sister: a box filled with the times he lived in.” Marita is already work- letters written to their father, Theodor Ritsche, ing on a sequel about the next stage in Theodor who had passed away. Theodor had left his home- Ritsche’s life: the making of a successful furniture town of Daisendorf near Meersburg manufacturer, businessman, and on Lake Constance, Germany, in family man. 1923 for a new life in the American Even though Marita grew up Midwest. For Marita, reading the with her German-speaking father letters began a process of deeper and a mother of German heritage, interest in the life of her father, re- she did not learn German at home. search into the experiences of Ger- In high school she studied Span- man Americans after WWI, and a ish and became a Spanish teacher, wish to share her father’s story with working in Wisconsin schools for a wider audience, which ultimately twenty-three years. Marita credits led her to the Max Kade Institute. her late husband, UW–Milwaukee Her work resulted in Cross Cur- geography professor Robert Reich rents—In the Wake of the Great War for awakening her first interest in (Prinstar, 2005), a creative non- German language, culture, and fictional account woven around her literature. She learned the language eighteen-year-old father’s jour- when the family stayed in Germany Marita Ritsche ney. The story begins in “The Old for sabbaticals in the sixties and early Country” with Theodor Ritsche’s train ride across seventies and eventually decided to get a master's Germany in August 1923. “Across the Big Pond” degree in Germanics. continues with a reflection on that unlikely com- Now in her retirement Marita is busier than ever. munity of emigrants on an ocean liner who have In addition to writing books and researching Ger- little more than destination and hope in common. man-American history, she is involved in global In “The New Country,” we experience the final awareness projects, international peace and justice, leg of Theodor’s journey in September as he takes ecology and the environment, and remains an another train ride, this time across the Midwest to active participant in the Wisconsin Association Eden Valley, Minnesota, where he has to face the of Foreign Language Teachers. Her commitment realities of beginning the new life of a stranger in to teaching and lifelong learning extends to her a foreign land. involvement in the Unitarian Church North in Me- Says Marita: “I did not want to write a chrono- quon, WI, where at present she is Adult Religious logical account of my father’s life, because this Education Co-Chair. The church was built in 1987 would have made for a boring read. Using the in the style of the nineteenth-century octagonal tools of creative non-fiction allowed me to de- Clausing barns in Ozaukee County.
The Friends of the Max Kade Institute Board of Directors Rose Marie Barber, Milwaukee Bob Luening (Treasurer), Madison Robert Bolz (Vice President), Madison Antje Petty (ex officio), Madison Charles James, Madison Karyl Rommelfanger, Manitowoc Jim Klauser, Pewaukee Jeanne Schueller, Milwaukee Cora Lee Kluge (ex officio), Madison William Thiel, Eau Claire Ed Langer (President), Hales Corners Ted E. Wedemeyer, Milwaukee Mark Louden (ex officio), Milwaukee Don Zamzow, Wausau 4 5 Speaking of Language Elias Molee and the dream of an international language By Mark L. Louden, MKI Co-Director
Today, there are approximately 6,000 languages rest of the “global village.” spoken around the world, yet shockingly, it is esti- Some supporters of bilingualism have gone mated that by the turn of the next century, at least one step further, by attempting to actually cre- half—yes, half— of these will be extinct, meaning ate new languages that can serve as auxiliary that they will no longer be used by speakers who forms of international communication. The acquired them natively as children. The crisis of most famous and successful of these “planned language endangerment has garnered a lot of atten- languages” is Esperanto, created in 1887 by a tion from us linguists, who are doing what we can to Polish Jewish eye doctor, Ludwig L. Zamen- offset this tragic loss of cultural hof (1859–1917). It was diversity by supporting efforts to Zamenhof’s dream to promote maintenance of threat- develop a culturally neutral ened languages, and at the very language that would be least document them for future easily learned by children generations. Most endangered and adults, in much the languages are spoken by small same way that, say, math- minority populations, often indig- ematics is universal. The enous peoples, who are shifting to grammar of Esperanto is majority languages such as Eng- refreshingly simple—only lish, Spanish, and Portuguese in sixteen basic, exception- the Americas; Russian in the vast less rules. Its vocabulary expanse of central and northern is drawn mainly from the Asia; and Chinese in the People’s Romance, Germanic, and Republic. Slavic languages, not for While some observers are reasons of European chau- inclined to view the growing vinism but for the practical dominance of fewer, numerically fact that most people who superior supraregional languages would need to commu- as a positive sign of breaking nicate internationally are down barriers to communication likely to already be famil- Elias Molee (1839–1928) among diverse peoples—the “good iar with a language from one side” of globalization—linguists and others would of these branches of the Indo-European family. prefer it if we could have our cake and eat it too by While Esperanto never achieved the universal being bi- or multilingual. In the German-speaking stature Zamenhof hoped it would, it is spoken world, Swiss Germans and Luxembourgers show by perhaps as many as two million people today, how it is possible and desirable to preserve linguistic including some who have acquired it natively as varieties of limited communicative range (e.g., Swiss children. German, Luxembourgish) while also teaching chil- Among the literally dozens of different dren to speak international languages like Standard planned languages proposed over the last cen- German, French, and English. The cultural heritages tury and a half is the brain child of a fascinating of smaller communities are thereby preserved but not Norwegian American from Wisconsin, Elias at the expense of isolating their members from the Molee. Born in Muskego (near Milwaukee) 4 5 in 1845 to immigrants from Norway (the family other children repeated those words over and over name was originally Mølie), Molee devoted much again, as is natural to young boys and girls ‘kom of his life to the creation of a language that was an her te me.’ amalgamation of English, German, Dutch, and the “in this way we learned to understand one an- Scandinavian languages, which he called variously other more and more from day to day. 1 day we “Germanik English,” “Saxon English,” “nu tuton- caught hold of 1 or 2 english words from henry ish,” “alt(e)utonish,” or simply “tutonish.” (The and mary adams. at another time, 1 or 2 words latter three monikers represent his decision around from otto and emma shumaker in low german, the turn of the century to avoid all capital letters in sometimes they learned 1, 2 or 3 words from the writing for reasons of orthographic simplicity.) In tveit[o] or the molee children in norwegian. as the a quirky pamphlet he wrote in 1919 titled molee’s norwegian and german children were the most nu- wandering, an merous, the new autobiography union language with many sur- leaned largely prising adven- towards the teu- tures and do- tonic side with ings, Molee tells very few latin fascinating sto- words. ries of growing “we added up in mid-nine- to our stock of teenth-century words from day Wisconsin. Here to day, week is part of how to week and he was inspired month to month, to later develop until we chil- a “Teutonic dren had a new international and complete language” (The language of spelling and our own make, punctuation fol- sufficient for low the original, all our needs. it with the excep- was a wonderful tion of letters I Molee also developed an inventory of speech. it must have added where 100 hand signals in conjunction with alteutonic. be confessed, but Molee employed we could, after shorthand forms for high-frequency words like a surprisingly short time speak it as easily and flu- and and the.) He begins by talking about picking ently, as our own mother tongues. plums with neighbor children. “father called our home-made union tongue, in “. . . when mrs. adams saw us, molee’s children, jest, ‘tutitu.’ we adopted that name for our new she let henry [a]n[d] mary go with us. they took a language. . . . after we had learned the tutitu union little home made basket with them. we waved our language, we children liked it so well that we tin pails with 1 hand and made motion with the spoke it at home even among ourselves. we also other, saying ‘kom pluck plum.’ henry and mary used it as interpreters between our parents. when followed us. half way between our homes was a mrs. adams or mrs. shumaker came to our house, large thicket of the best and sweetest plums, i have they always took along with them henry or mary ever seen or tasted. torgrim tveito soon cried out Continued on Page 6 to the rest, ‘kom her te me’ (come here to me). the 6 7 Elias Molee continued from Page 5 or otto or emma, and sometimes both, they were of the great American Scandinavianist, Rasmus all very anxious to visit their neighbor’s children, B. Anderson. Molee followed Anderson to Albion where they could speak the easy ‘tutitu,’ . . . mrs. Academy in southeastern Dane County, WI, where adams told henry in english what she wanted and he received a bachelor’s degree, and finally, brief- henry told it to me, in tutitu and i explained it to ly, to the University of Wisconsin (where Ander- mother in norwegian. . . . in this way tutitu be- son founded the nation’s first Scandinavian studies came an international speech, a go-between among department). Molee eventually moved westward different peoples and tongues. at last our parents again, marrying and divorcing in Minnesota, and began to understand tutitu also, but they could not finally ending up in Washington State, where, as a speak it, for want of practice.” sometime land speculator, he succeeded in attract- Molee’s anecdotes here clearly illustrate the nat- ing Norwegians from the Midwest and Europe to ural linguistic facility of children, not to mention settle in the Palouse region, near LaCrosse, WA. their refreshing ignorance of (adult) ethnic lines Molee himself did not stay in this community long, of division. As an adult, though, Molee’s plans for moving instead to Tacoma. Modest revenue from a pan-Germanic language had a distinct tone of speculation there enabled him to travel, in 1909, to chauvinism about them. In one of his several short Norway, where he made contacts with sympathetic books on the topic, Tutonish: An International academics, founded “the first alteutonic union lan- Teutonic Tongue, Molee describes his crusade as guage society,” and even gained an audience with “an educational and business proposition for the King Haakon VII, with whom he claimed to chat, welfare and safety of the whole Teutonic race.” seated on a “costly cushion chair,” in alteutonic! His mention later of the “danger of Russia” clearly Molee returned to Washington, where he con- speaks to an age-old fear on the part of some tinued his quixotic efforts on behalf of a “union Western and Northern Europeans of “Slavonic” tongue” until September 28, 1928, when he died (read: Russian) expansionism, a fear that to some in a Tacoma residential hotel, the victim of a self- extent underlies tensions between East and West in inflicted gunshot wound. post-Cold War Europe today. So what did Molee’s “Teutonic union tongue” I am grateful to Dr. Marvin G. Slind, professor look like? As in Esperanto, the grammar was of history at Luther College, for kindly providing intended to be as simple as possible, avoiding me with a copy of his article, “elias molee and the morphological complexities (e.g., verb con- ‘alteutonic’: A Norwegian-American’s ‘Universal jugations, noun cases) of existing languages like Language’,” to appear in Norwegian-American Standard German. As a sample, here is the Lord’s Studies, edited by the Norwegian-American His- Prayer in tutonish. Following German spelling torical Association. The photograph of Molee, practice,
By Kevin Kurdylo, MKI Librarian ing to New York by ship, while Kruez und Quer is completely jumbled, having an image of Salt We’re all aware how books can allow a reader to Lake City followed by the Banff Hotel in Alberta, travel to far-away places without having to leave Canada, and a view of home. I recently came across two travel guides rich Der Garten der Götter (The Garden of the Gods sandstone rock forma- in photographs—one published in Akron, Ohio, tions in Colorado) facing a street scene in Sitka, and the other in Hamburg—that provide a way Alaska. Other images show Sandy Hook, New for folks to explore the North American continent Jersey (“Das erste Stück Land, das den Reisenden within their pages. bei seiner Ankunft Both books are very in der Neuen similar, but there are Welt begrüsst” or a few differences. “the first piece of The Ohio book is land to greet the called Kreuz und traveler upon his Quer durch Amerika. arrival in the New John L. Stoddard’s World”); the Statue berühmtes Werk “The of Liberty; views Beauties of the West- of Niagara Falls; ern Hemisphere.” “Das Schlachtfeld (Die Schönheiten von Gettysburg, der neuen Welt.) Mit Pennsylvania”; deutschem Text. Eine Fort Wayne, In- Sammlung seltener diana; Colorado’s photographischer Canyon of Lost Ansichten aus allen Souls (“verlorenen Theilen Amerikas. Seelen”); Mexico The Hamburg pub- City; Watkin’s lication is Quer durch Amerika: Photographische Glen in upstate New York; an opium den in San Originalaufnahmen der berühmtsten Naturwun- Francisco; and Unabhängigkeits-Halle (Indepen- der und Sehenswürdigkeiten von Nordamerika. dence Hall) in Philadelphia. All of these photo- Rough translations for these titles would be Here graphs are most likely the work of John L. Stod- and There throughout America. . . A Collection of dard, a very well-traveled fellow indeed. Exceptional Photographic Views from All Parts of Some on-line snooping reveals that John Law- America and All across America: Original Photo- son Stoddard (1850–1931) was a nineteenth-cen- graphic Images of North America’s Most Famous tury American who traveled all over the globe and Natural Wonders and Sights Worth Seeing. created a public lecturing career out of presenting Most of the photographs in both books are ex- the experiences and photographs he acquired. His actly the same, although the text beneath the im- popular lectures were published in a ten-volume ages is unique in each book, and some photos set in 1898, and were apparently sold by door-to- appear in one book but not the other. The photos in door salesmen as an encyclopedic source of sto- Quer durch Amerika are organized from the east to ries and images of the places he had visited. While the west coasts, as a visitor would see them com- 12 13 it is unknown if Stoddard was of German-speak- halten. Die helle Farbe der Bauten und der ing descent, he is responsible for translating some Stil derselben gibt ihr auch ein deutsches works from German to English, especially poems Gepräge, und um so mehr fühlt man sich in and religious texts. In addition, he published An eine deutsche Stadt versetzt, als in Milwau- American to Americans: John L. Stoddard, Noted kee, wo mehr als die Hälfte der Einwohner Author-Traveler Tells the Truth about Germany Deutsche sind, fast ausschliesslich Deutsch and the War in Europe. This was also published gesprochen wird, und sogar die Firmen- in German as Offener Brief eines Amerikaners an schilder deutsche Aufschriften tragen. seine Landsleute. However strongly the German language I decided to “stick close to home” and see what and way of life is represented in America, these books had to say about places of interest there is no city that might so vividly remind in Wisconsin. Only Quer durch Amerika offers a a German of his homeland as Milwaukee. Wisconsin image, a scene Like the “Queen of of Milwaukee, with accom- the Lake,” Chicago, panying text. Milwaukee is also So stark auch das situated on Lake Deutschtum in Amerika Michigan, and as the vertreten ist, so dürfte State of Wisconsin’s sich der Deutsche largest city and one doch in keiner Stadt so of the most important lebhaft an die Heimat manufacturing and erinnert fühlen, wie in commercial centers Milwaukee. Wie die in the northwest, “Königen der Seen,” in certain ways it die Stadt Chicago, liegt is Chicago’s rival. auch Milwaukee am The environs are Michigan-See, und als very beautiful. Sur- grösste Stadt des Sta- rounded by trees and ates Wisconsin und water, while the city einer der bedeutendsten itself differs [distin- Fabriks- und Handelplä- guishes itself] in its tze des Nordwestens ist outward appearance sie in gewisser Bezie- from all other North hung auch eine Neben- Milwaukee, Wisconsin American cities. Mil- buhlerin von Chicago. Die waukee is called the Umgebung ist sehr hübsch. Ringsum Wald “Cream City,” i.e., the milk city, a name und Wasser, während die Stadt selbst sich which it received due to its brightly painted durch ihr äusseres Bild von allen anderen houses built from yellowish-white brick. Städten Nordamerikas unterscheidet. Man This colorful appearance to some extent nennt Milwaukee die “Cream City,” d.h. contradicts the preferences of Americans, die Milchstadt, ein Name, den sie durch who mostly paint their houses in red, den hellen Anstrich der aus gelbweissem gray, green, and other dark colors. The Ziegelstein gebauten Häuser erhalten hat. bright color and style of the buildings also Dieser helle Anstrich widerspricht eini- give the city a German character, and one germassen dem Geschmacke der Ameri- feels all the more transported to a German kaner, die ihre Häuser zumeist in Rot, city since in Milwaukee more than half Grau, Grün und anderen dunklen Farben of the inhabitants are German, German Continued on Page 15 15 14 Book Review Finding a German-American family’s treasure in Milwaukee: A mystery novel for children Reviewed by Antje Petty The Mystery of the Ancient Coins experience the sights of southern Wisconsin when by Eleanor Florence Rosellini they stay with their grandfather in Williams Bay, Guild Press 2003 visit an old clock maker in Walworth and spend their spring break in Milwaukee as guests of Uncle Word has gotten around that eleven-year-old Rudy and Aunt Loraine. Here they not only stay in Elizabeth Pollack and her eight-year-old brother a luxurious hotel on Lake Michigan, visit the Pub- Jonathan are ace detectives. Their second case lic Library and the Public Museum, but also have takes them deep into the history of a Milwaukee Wienerschnitzel, dumplings and Apfelstrudel at a German-American family. Five ancient gold rain- German-American restaurant. bow cup coins, unearthed by a farmer in Germany The principle that guides Elizabeth and Jonathan had been passed down in the Obermeyer family through their mystery is also the main message of for generations. But after the this book: the preciousness death of Wilhelm Obermeyer of memories and the impor- almost forty years ago the tance of “memory keepers,” coins vanished without a trace. as Rosellini calls all of us As in The Puzzle in the Por- who pass on knowledge and trait, the first book in this mys- skills of the past. Thus, it is teries series for children ages not surprising that after the seven to twelve, Elizabeth and mystery has been solved and Jonathan will succeed where the coins have been found, “real” detectives have failed the family elects to donate because their eyes and ears their grandmother’s diary to are open to family history and the historical society. Says family stories. They find clues Aunt Loraine: “That old in such heirlooms as a crazy diary is like a time capsule. quilt and a diary written in the Johanna Obermeyer recorded old German script. Nobody all kinds of everyday things. has been able to read Grandma How much things cost, what Johanna’s journal, but Eliza- kind of remedies were used beth and Jonathan unlock its when people were sick. secrets by finding Mr. Kruger, There are even some old an old German immigrant who family recipes.” can still read the handwriting. The children listen Coming full circle, Rosellini encourages her carefully to the stories of “poor Uncle Rudy,” young readers to become memory keepers them- Wilhelm Obermeyer’s son who is in fact a mil- selves. The last chapter of the book has detailed lionaire, and old Miss Emily Kohler, who lives in suggestions on how to make your own time cap- a spooky Victorian house not far from Veterans sule: Start with a sturdy box or other container and Park. They learn about a family curse connected fill it with things that tell about who you are, the to the ancient coins, and things get even creepier world around you and how you imagine the future. when a man in a blue parka seems to follow the Who knows, maybe your memories will one day be children wherever they go. the key to unlocking a mystery! During their adventure Elizabeth and Jonathan 14 15 Collection Feature continued from Page 13 is spoken almost exclusively, and even German-American Symposium the shop signs bear German inscriptions. in Bielefeld The caption also notes that “eine Spezialität Mil- Mark L. Louden, MKI Co-Director waukees ist die Bierproduktion. Die Stadt hat die Last month, October 21–23, CSUMC co-direc- grössten Bierbrauereien in Amerika, sämtlich in tors Joe Salmons and Jim Leary and I presented deutschen Händen” (A specialty of Milwaukee is papers at a symposium titled “The German Pres- beer production. The city has the largest breweries ence in the U.S.A.,” held at the Center for Interdis- in America, all owned by Germans). Of course, for ciplinary Research at the University of Bielefeld. many of us, this is already well-known! The main organizers were two professors from If you’d like to tour other wonders of America Bielefeld, Josef Raab (English department) and Jan with a German-language guide, call MKI to ar- Wirrer from German, whom some of our readers range to view this book: 262-7546, or e-mail the may remember from his visit to Wisconsin a few librarian at [email protected]. years ago. Jan is a specialist in Low German lin- Sources consulted guistics, and his doctoral student, Alexandra Jacob,
Quer durch Amerika: Photographische Origi- is completing her dissertation on Pomeranian in nalaufnahmen der berühmtsten Naturwunder und Marathon County. In conjunction with the sym- Hamburg: Sehenswürdigkeiten von Nordamerika. posium, Alexandra curated an exceptional exhibit Hansa-Verlag, n.d. [1905?] 192 pp., ill. of materials pertaining to German immigration to Stoddard, John L. Kreuz und Quer durch North America that included original documents Amerika. John L. Stoddard’s berühmtes Werk such as ship’s logs and German-language books “The Beauties of the Western Hemisphere.” (Die published in the United States. The presenters at Schönheiten der neuen Welt.). Akron, Ohio; New the symposium came from a range of disciplines, York; Chicago: Saalfield, 1901. Unpaginated, ill. including history, geography, political science, Travel-Related Books on Kolby Kirk’s Pilgrim- law, folklore, linguistics, education, and literature. age Site: http://www.kahunna.net/books.shtml While the “Americanization” of Germany has been a topic of research and popular discussion for some
Milwaukee taverns continued from Page 8 time, relatively less attention has been focused (in Germany) on the historical and modern impact The German community was a strong pres- of German immigrants on American society and ence in Milwaukee well into the mid 1950s. It culture. One interesting aspect of the German- began to diminish as the people prospered and American relationship addressed in a number of left their duplexes and narrow lots behind for talks dealt with the stereotypes that non-German bigger yards and single houses in the empty ar- Americans have (had) of Germans. Jim Leary, eas to the north and northwest. There is much for example, presented “‘The Irish and the Dutch more to this little excerpt from the saga of the (They Don’t Amount to Much)’: German and Germans in Milwaukee but I leave you now Irish Stereotypes in Midwestern Folk Humor.” Joe with many fond memories and a refrain from a Salmons, together with Dilara Tepeli, a colleague popular tune of the 1940s: from the University of Bonn, delivered a paper (in “I wish I was back in Milwaukee, German) on the “German Influence on English,” Mit the G’schnetles, the pretzels und Bier.” which included some of the exciting early results Elfrieda Haese—a traditional storyteller of a joint study underway on the impact of Ger- from Milwaukee, WI—was a participant in man on regional English in Wisconsin. (Joe and MKI's recent conference, “Tales of Contact and colleagues will present some of their findings here Change.” She is the author of Evening Walks in Madison this coming February.) For a com- and Apple Pie: A Historical Walk for Children, plete program of the symposium, log on to: http: published in 2000. //www.uni-bielefeld.de/lili/personen/raab/_ger- man_presence_04/. APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP TO THE FRIENDS OF THE MAX KADE INSTITUTE FOR GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES
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