The German-American Press
The German-American Press

Author: Henry Geitz

Publisher: German-Amer Cultural Society

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9780924119507

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Though it will never be possible to establish an exact number, scholars of the German-American press have estimated that about 5000 newspapers and periodicals have been published in German in more than 300 years of German immigration to the United States. This collection of essays on various aspects of the German-American press shows clearly the role of that press in the process of acculturation of German immigrants on the one hand, and on the other, retention of some of the old institutions, most notably the German language. Bracketed between articles on the press of the colonial period and that of the present is a rich collection of essays on various aspects of the topic. While no one volume can adequately deal with all, or even nearly all, the aspects of the phenomenon, this contribution to the field of German-American Studies does present a rather broad spectrum of topics and, thus, serves as both a source of valuable information and an introduction to further work.

Early German-American Newspapers
Early German-American Newspapers

Author: Don Heinrich Tolzmann

Publisher:

Published: 2013-03-01

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13: 9780788417825

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The purpose of this work is to make Daniel Miller's history of the German-American press, from its beginnings in the early eighteenth century to 1830, accessible to those interested in German-American history. As Miller provides a basic introductory survey of the press of this period, this work is essential for those seeking information on German-American history in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This work provides a chronological survey covering the German-American press in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, the South, and the West. In each city and county where there was a German-American news press, the newspaper publications are discussed, including such details as titles, names of founders, dates of publication, and information on editorial policy. Especially valuable are the numerous facsimiles of mastheads, as well as a selection of pages from the German-American press of the period. The rich illustrations in this work cannot be found in any other publication dealing with the German-American press. Also of special value, Miller provides geographical coverage to the topic, rather than dealing thematically with the German-American press, so that one can focus on a particular locale that might be of interest. A new full-name index has been compiled by Dr. Tolzmann and appended to the original work.

The German-American Experience
The German-American Experience

Author: Don Heinrich Tolzmann

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 476

ISBN-13:

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Representing one-fourth of the population, German-Americans constitute the largest ethnic element, according to the U.S. Census, with well over 60 million people claiming German heritage. In twenty-six states, they comprise at least 20 percent of the population, and in five states they number more than 50 percent-important statistics in understanding the role played by German-Americans in U.S. history. The German-American Experience provides a comprehensive record of the essential facts in the history of this group, from its first U.S. settlements in the seventeenth century to the present. Beginning with "The Age of Discovery," this volume explores the earliest contacts between America and Germany, immigration and settlement patterns of Germans, foundations of German-American community life, their major involvement in the American Revolution, and the role German-Americans played in our Civil War. Both world wars are chronicled, including the anti-German sentiment and the internment of German-Americans during both wars. The revival of German heritage and the renaissance of German-American ethnicity since the 1970s is surveyed, along with recent events, including the impact of German unification and the 1990 census. The author also analyzes German-American influences on agriculture, industry, religion, education, music, art, architecture, politics, military service, journalism, literature, and language. In addition, he comments on prominent German-Americans, German names, sister cities, historical statistics, and much more.

Other Witnesses
Other Witnesses

Author: Cora Lee Kluge

Publisher: Max Kade Institute

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13:

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The unique perspective of the "other witnesses" included here--that of immigrant outsiders, foreigners who wrote primarily for a minority-language group in the United States--provides the reader with a new understanding of this important period of America's growth and development. Included are works by Christian Essellen, Reinhold Solger, Mathilde Franziska Anneke, Theodor Kirchhoff, Udo Brachvogel, Robert Reitzel, Julius Gugler, Edna Fern, Lotte Leser, and others: plays, short stories, and poems, as well as selections from novels, essays, and memoirs. Some of the texts have never appeared in book form, and still others are published here for the first time. Introductory essays to each chapter provide background information and point the way for further research. The volume will be a welcome addition to the collections of institutional libraries, historians, and Germanists alike.

Citizens in a Strange Land
Citizens in a Strange Land

Author: Hermann Wellenreuther

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2013-08-05

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 0271063599

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In Citizens in a Strange Land, Hermann Wellenreuther examines the broadsides—printed single sheets—produced by the Pennsylvania German community. These broadsides covered topics ranging from local controversies and politics to devotional poems and hymns. Each one is a product of and reaction to a particular historical setting. To understand them fully, Wellenreuther systematically reconstructs Pennsylvania’s print culture, the material conditions of life, the problems German settlers faced, the demands their communities made on the individual settlers, the complications to be overcome, and the needs to be satisfied. He shows how these broadsides provided advice, projections, and comment on phases of life from cradle to grave.

Becoming Old Stock
Becoming Old Stock

Author: Russell A. Kazal

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-01-12

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 069122367X

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More Americans trace their ancestry to Germany than to any other country. Arguably, German Americans form America's largest ethnic group. Yet they have a remarkably low profile today, reflecting a dramatic, twentieth-century retreat from German-American identity. In this age of multiculturalism, why have German Americans gone into ethnic eclipse--and where have they ended up? Becoming Old Stock represents the first in-depth exploration of that question. The book describes how German Philadelphians reinvented themselves in the early twentieth century, especially after World War I brought a nationwide anti-German backlash. Using quantitative methods, oral history, and a cultural analysis of written sources, the book explores how, by the 1920s, many middle-class and Lutheran residents had redefined themselves in "old-stock" terms--as "American" in opposition to southeastern European "new immigrants." It also examines working-class and Catholic Germans, who came to share a common identity with other European immigrants, but not with newly arrived black Southerners. Becoming Old Stock sheds light on the way German Americans used race, American nationalism, and mass culture to fashion new identities in place of ethnic ones. It is also an important contribution to the growing literature on racial identity among European Americans. In tracing the fate of one of America's largest ethnic groups, Becoming Old Stock challenges historians to rethink the phenomenon of ethnic assimilation and to explore its complex relationship to American pluralism.

The German-American Radical Press
The German-American Radical Press

Author: Elliott Shore

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780252018305

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Wilhelm Weitling, one of the many German radicals who fled into exile after 1848, noted in the New York newspaper he founded that "everyone wants to put out a little paper". The 48ers and those who came after them strengthened their immigrant culture with a seemingly endless stream of newspapers, magazines, and calendars. In these Kampfblatter, or newspapers of the struggle, German immigrant journalists preached socialism, organized labor, and free thought. These "little papers" were the forerunners of a press that would remain influential for nearly a century. From the several perspectives of the new labor history, this volume emphasizes the importance of the German-American radical press to an understanding of American social history in the age of industrialism and illuminates the complexities of the interaction of immigrant radicalism and American culture. Chicago's German-language socialist weekly, Der Vorbote, claimed in 1880 that "the history of the workers' movement in the United States is at the same time the history of the workers' press". Hyperbolic perhaps, but to judge by the energy and resources German-American radicals devoted to their press, many immigrants agreed. The radical movement in the United States met with problems as well as support. Language and culture frequently divided the radicals, and class considerations splintered the German-American community. Cultural radicals like Robert Reitzel and Ludwig Lore ran afoul of rank-and-file taste or party discipline; attempts by the New Yorker Volkszeitung to coach women on proper socialist positions resulted in bitter arguments over the importance of woman suffrage and pacifism. At the same time, social movements thatcut across ethnic lines weakened the power of a foreign-language press within the community, as immigrants began to identify with a movement rather than a language. Contributors to this volume explore these and other issues, while correcting the bias in histories of radicalism which rely on English-language sources and thus ignore the competing visions of immigrant radicals.