Volume 18 No 4 • Winter 2009 A Tour of the Library Kevin M. Kurdylo Researching at the MKI Library. Standing: Natallia Janechek, Cora Lee Kluge, Caitlin Carlson, Kevin Kurdylo; seated: Shelby Eckenrod. he Max Kade Institute is nate European events and conditions proud of its library and affecting migration and help to posi- archive collections, which tion this significant immigrant group Tare increasingly attractive to scholars within American society in general INSIDE and researchers. Over the years, the and within the development of the • Herta Müller, 2009 Nobel MKI has become known worldwide United States. Our library is the heart Prize Laureate in Literature as a center for the study of the im- of our institution, and we open it to • Music in German Immigrant migrant experience. We are com- all visitors and draw upon it for all Theater, Book Review mitted to collecting, documenting, our outreach activities. • Ruppius’s Bill Hammer preserving, and making accessible Our collections include unique • Online Resources, Part II materials that reveal the experiences German-language items produced in • Chicago’s Volga Germans of German-speaking immigrants and America, ranging from cookbooks • Friends Profile: their descendants in North America. and religious works to poetry and James Kleinschmidt Such materials not only reflect their literature, from family histories to • The MKI Library Capital unique history, literature, and culture diaries and letters, from advertis- Campaign in the New World; they also illumi- Continued on page 4 DIRECTOR’S CORNER Greetings, Friends and Readers! e approach the end of the fall semester and of the year with feelings of Whope and energy. It will not be long before we move to the fourth floor of the University Club, and we look for- ward to being in the central campus area, near the Memorial Library, the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and a number of humanities departments and research institutes. The pieces are all coming together. View from the front steps of the University Club, future home of the MKI. The UW College of Letters and Sci- ence has demonstrated its commit- and their descendants in a global, able several thousand hours’ worth ment to us and its confidence in the multicultural, and interdisciplin- of digitized recordings of German MKI’s bright future by making avail- ary context; (2) preservation of dialects spoken in North America, able this large area at the top of the German-language American print some going back as far as the 1940s. University Club. We are aware of the culture and personal documents; and Our Published in America collection size of this gift—and the value of this (3) programs and projects to share contains over 3,000 individual items; pledge of support. In addition to the our resources through publication, our Pamphlets, Family Histories, and property itself, the College is willing community outreach, and educa- Subject collections are extensive; and to undertake some basic renovations. tional programming. We are proud we have developed an excellent on- Nevertheless, this is not enough. of what we have and are delighted line catalog and more. Scholars, stu- We want to get it right, designing and that researchers and scholars send dents, genealogists, local historians, preparing our facilities to an appro- questions—and come—from all and members of the general public priate standard before we move in. over the world. We know that we find the MKI Library and Archives to After all, our Library and Archives have a treasure in our unique North be a source for information not avail- have special needs. Some of our pre- American German Dialect Archive, able elsewhere. cious and delicate collections require which contains and makes avail- We have begun a serious fundrais- special shelving and climate con- trol; visiting scholars and students need modern and functioning office The Newsletter of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies is technology to help them gather and published quarterly at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Submissions are invited and manage the materials they find; and should be sent to: we all need well-appointed reading Kevin Kurdylo and study rooms, as well as more Friends of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies spacious and better work areas than 901 University Bay Drive, Madison, WI 53705 we have had for many years. Phone: (608) 262-7546 The MKI Library and Archives are Fax: (608) 265-4640 [email protected] central and basic to all parts of our mission: (1) research into the story mki.wisc.edu of German-speaking immigrants maxkade.blogspot.com 2 ing campaign to benefit the MKI Li- has come when your contribution brary and Archives and are appealing will do the most good. Our overall to private foundations and applying goal is high, but it can be reached: we for federal grants for major assis- hope to raise one million dollars over tance. However, we will also need three years. Gifts can be made either the support of individuals who are through the Friends or through the interested in our work: our Friends, UW Foundation—but in either case, our Friends’ Friends, and all who they should be clearly labeled “For are willing to help. Our MKI Library the MKI Library Capital Campaign.” Project (a capital campaign) will be As always, all donations are tax used exclusively to support the MKI deductible. Library: We are grateful for your help and • to create a state-of-the-art li- support. It is in large part because of brary facility in our new quarters your generosity that we have come in the University Club; so far and accomplished so much. • to purchase new acquisitions to We look back with satisfaction on fill gaps in our collections; and the past year and our 25th anniversary • to endow a position to support celebrations, and we look forward library staff. to working on the new challenges Many of you are acquainted with our ahead. You will be hearing more present situation and will under- from us in the coming months about stand what big steps forward we are the role you can play. envisioning. Our current space is Our best to you for the rest of the far from being a modern library of fall season and for the coming holi- any kind; our collections have come days. We wish you health, happiness, exclusively from private gifts and and hard work in the coming New donations; and our librarian’s salary Year. Do keep in touch! comes largely from soft money, such —Cora Lee as projects and grants. We appeal to you for donations to our MKI Library Project; the time Board of Directors, Friends of the Max Kade Institute Peter Arvedson Treasurer, Elm Grove Hans Werner Bernet Monroe Sandra Casterline Oconomowoc Gary Gisselman Secretary, Wausau Elizabeth Greene Madison Charles James Vice President, Madison James Kleinschmidt Fitchburg Cora Lee Kluge ex officio, Madison Tom Lidtke West Bend Fran Luebke Brookfield Peter Monkmeyer Assistant to the Treasurer, Madison Antje Petty ex officio, Madison Karyl Rommelfanger President, Manitowoc 3 Continued from page 1 German-language materials, nor the histories of their businesses. ing brochures to report cards and Possibilities for original research business ledgers; we also have are almost endless: one can select secondary source materials essential any book to begin. Let us consider, to research in the field of German- for example, the first book shelved American immigrant studies. In in the PIA collection, which is addition, we house a singular col- Bibellesungen für den Familenkreis lection of recordings—the North (Bible Stories for the Family Circle), SoundScriber machine used by Prof. Lester Seifert American German Dialect Ar- published in 1916 by the Pacific Press to record Wisconsin German dialects. chive—documenting the German Publishing Association in Mountain language as spoken in America, View, California. Founded in 1874, that German-language materials which dates from the late 1940s—a Pacific Press is one of the two major were published in nearly every state, resource of extreme interest to Seventh-day Adventist publishing and we would like to document this linguists and historians. Some of houses in North America. Accord- further. Among the major publishing these materials have been exam- ing to the title page of Bibellesungen, concerns represented in our collec- ined extensively by researchers, they also had locations in Kansas tions we find such names as Concor- while others await consideration, City, Missouri; Portland, Oregon; dia and the Deutsche Evangelische evaluation, and interpretation. The Brookfield, Illinois; Calgary, Alberta, Synode von Nord-Amerika, both variety of approaches that can be Canada; and Cristobal, Canal Zone. based in St. Louis; Brumder and taken to investigate these materials A search of WorldCat, an online Northwestern in Milwaukee; and the is a continual surprise—academic union catalog with access to the col- Amerikanische Traktat-Gesellschaft, researchers from such diverse fields lections of more than 71,000 libraries Benziger Brothers, Kaufmann, and as history, linguistics, political sci- in 112 countries, reveals that Pacific Pustet in New York. Publication dates ence, German studies, immigration Press published more than 100 titles of items in the PIA collection range studies, and ethnic studies have con- in German; no doubt they felt it was from 1808 to 1918, but we hope one tacted us, not to mention the many important that their message reach day to acquire books published both genealogists and local historians. this segment of the American audi- earlier and later. Since our founding, Any tour of our collections should ence. The MKI owns only 17 of these the MKI has developed its collections begin with what is known as the titles—an indication of how much on a donation-only basis—thanks Published in America (PIA) col- more we would like to collect—and to the generosity of MKI Friends, lection.