Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Outreach Activities For The Sahs, Rob Sherwood

Swiss American Historical Society Review

On July 5, 2022, I visited Jan Sparkman at the Laurel County Historical Society, London, Kentucky. Ms. Sparkman is no longer the President of the of the Society, but she was the contact point that I had made. They have been in their building, a former County Health Department since 2007. They do not pay any rent nor utilities. It is a good space with lots of local history items, cemetery records, family history, etc. They have a small museum with images and artifacts about local history and have saved many primary records (marriage, land deeds, etc., from a neighboring …

Report Of The Editor-In-Chief Of The Sahs Review, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

A Good Year for Articles

I wish to state that the quality and variety of publications in the SAHS Review for 2022 remain strong. The February 2022 issue included four good articles including the “Battle of Dornach in 1499,” the “History of the Swiss Consulate in New York,” “Swiss Heritage Preserved at New Glarus Museum,” and “Glarus and Scranton: Benefits and Costs of Industrialization.” The article on the Swiss Consulate was first published in 1926, so it is now in the public domain. The Swiss Consulate in New York asked us to publish it, so I had to type it …

The Origins Of Democracy In Switzerland, Thomas Quinn Marabello

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Switzerland is one of the world’s oldest continuous democracies. Since the Middle Ages, Swiss cantons engaged in democracy at the local level, which led to the Federal Charter of 1291. This important document laid the foundations for the Swiss Confederacy, an alliance of cantons that eventually became a unified democratic nation in the heart of Europe. For over seven centuries, Swiss democracy has impacted people and institutions in Switzerland and elsewhere. America’s founders were well versed in Swiss political institutions and borrowed from them when creating the Constitution of the United States. As democracies come under attack and see their …

Sahs Website Report, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Website of the Swiss American Historical Society is one of the Society’s show windows to the world. The site consists of seven main pages.

About Us, the landing site and first web page, gives our mission statement and goals along with other general information and long-term announcements, such as the dates and locations of annual meetings for the next three years. There is also a listing of the officers of the Society with contact emails and a stand-alone “Contact” button for easy and rapid access to the Society from curious visitors.

A Tale Of Triumph Amidst Tragedy: C-Section In Furini's The Birth Of Benjamin And The Death Of Rachel, Alexandra Carlile

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

No abstract provided.

Tycho Brahe: Science And Life In The Danish Renaissance, John Robert Christianson

The Bridge

Today, we are constantly using data; some even say that we live in an Age of Data. Most of us hardly realize that a Danish astronomer set the whole process in motion more than four hundred years ago. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) changed the world with his innovative approach to astronomy and observational data. My interest in him started with a college term paper and eventually led to writing and editing books and articles about his life and work in Renaissance Denmark. This research led me to develop new interpretations of his revolutionary approach to understanding the heavens and the natural …

Johannes Bundgaard Schou's Travel Diary, 1912, Bert Schou

The Bridge

No abstract provided.

German Women In The Wild West: Contradiction In Post-Wwii Gender Roles, Romy Franks

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

While postwar German women were portrayed as gritty and strong from their lived experiences, West German newspapers articles reiterated the contradictory roles proffered to women in German society. Rather than speaking up against the genre’s masculine dominance, popular western novels, films, and the press continued to reinforce widely held opinions and norms by encouraging women to be content with the ideal female character offered them.

Remembering The Schleswig War Of 1864: A Turning Point In German And Danish National Identity, Julie K. Allen

The Bridge

Every country tells itself stories about its origins and the moments that define its history. Many of these stories are connected to wars, for example the tale of how George Washington and his troops crossed the frozen Delaware river to surprise the British and turn the tide of the Revolutionary War, or the way the American public rallied after the attack on Pearl Harbor to retool the American economy and support American troops in the fight against fascism. Not surprisingly, the stories we tell about our own country are most often ones about wars from which we emerge victorious, rather …

On Danish-American Cultural Identity, Signe Sloth

The Bridge

In 1967 an article was published which kick-started a discussion that is still going on among sociologists today. The subject of the article is American civil religion and the writer is the American sociologist Robert Bellah who claims that every nation and every people has a religious self-understanding. He advocates an American civil religion that is separated from other denominations and established religious institutions, but just like them demands recognition and understanding. Bellah defines this Civil Religion as " ... A genuine apprehension of universal and transcendental religious reality as seen in or . . . as revealed through the …

Julia Beringer Huber, Konrad Basler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

At the time of the Dorlikon pioneers only Indian paths led west,

and yet, the traffic connections to the Midwest hold a core position in

the history of North America. My wife and I went to one of the most

important centers in this context, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, coming

from Newark, New Jersey. As a member of a delegation of experts

I had been to Newark twenty years before, when, for the first time

worldwide , a novel way of building runways was being tested there.

On our visit in 1992, on the other hand, I was more interested in the …

Burials In The Tomb Of The Swiss-American Society New Orleans, John Geiser Iii

Swiss American Historical Society Review

On July 3, 1871, an improved constitution was adopted and a burial ground in Greenwood Cemetery was purchased. The yellow fever epidemic of 1878 caused the entire plot of ground to be filled and compelled action on the building of a suitable vault, which was completed and consecrated with appropriate ceremonies on October 5, 1879.

The Swiss And The Nazis: How The Alpine Republic Survived In The Shadow Of The Third Reich, Stephen P. Halbrook

Swiss American Historical Society Review

While surrounded by the Axis powers in World War II, Switzerland remained democratic and, unlike most of Europe, never succumbed to the siren songs and threats of the Nazi goliath. This book tells the story with emphasis on two voices rarely heard. One voice is that of scores of Swiss who lived in those dark years, told through oral history. They mobilized to defend the country, labored on the farms, and helped refugees. The other voice is that of Nazi Intelligence, those who spied on the Swiss and planned subversion and invasion. Exhaustive documents from the German Military Archives reveals …

Whose Memory Is It After All?, Inger M. Olsen

The Bridge

The EU (European Union) constitution was issued May 2005 and its preamble states that the writers have "let themselves be inspired by Europe's cultural, religious and humanistic inheritance which is the foundation for the development of the universal values: the individual human being's inviolable and inalienable rights as well as freedom, equality and constitutional state"1 2 The preamble goes on to mention the painful experiences that Europe has undergone and the fact that Europe is once again united. The final note states that Europe "wishes to develop further the public life's democratic and open character and work for peace, justice …

The Danish Emigration Archives, Birgit Flemming Larsen

The Bridge

The Danish Emigration Archives was founded in 1932 as the DanAmerica Archives.

Max Henius, a native of Aalborg and an enterprising businessman in Chicago, was the immigrant behind the Archives. It might be seen as flexibility by Danish Americans and their descendants to place their own ethnic group's source materials at a distance to themselves. It did cause some discussions at that time.

The purpose of the Archives is to preserve the history of those Danes who left Denmark to settle in foreign countries. Through the years The Danish Emigration Archives has suffered under several changes due to World War …

The Archive And History: Reflection And Anticipation, Niel Johnson

The Bridge

Engraved on the front of the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, is this statement: This Library will belong to the people of the United States. My papers will be the property of the people and be accessible to them. And this is as it should be. The papers of the President are among the most valuable sources of material for history. They ought to be preserved and they ought to be used.

The Christmas Tree And The Two Churches, Johannes V. Knudsen

The Bridge

Part of the Danish American heritage is the fact that there were, unfortunately, some believe, two separate Danish American Lutheran Church groups. Because of theological differences (and perhaps personality conflicts, as well) between these two groups, they remained separate entities from their complex beginnings in the latter half of the nineteenth century until mergers took place with a number of other ethnic Lutheran church groups in the early 1960s, culminating in the formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1988. The histories of and differences between the two synods, the American Evangelical Lutheran Church and the United Evangelical …

Introduction: Emigration From Vejle Amt

The Bridge

Picture postcard regions of Denmark like Vejle Amt, "with idyllic little towns, without any new factories and workshops, usually produced a great number of emigrants," according to the Danish historian of emigration, Kristian Hvidt. Vejle Amt was a verdant land of deep fjords, rolling wooded hills, and ancient villages, giving way to wide stretches of heath and bog in the west. It remained an idyllic, old-fashioned area throughout the period of emigration. People streamed to America because the population of Vejle Amt was growing but few new jobs were being created. They also left out of discontent over life in …

The Bridge Builders Of Luther Memorial, Wilber J. Williamson

The Bridge

The congregation of Luther Memorial Church in Des Moines, Iowa, celebrated its centennial anniversary in 1999, during which time there was a good deal of reflection concerning the historical roots and activities of the church during the preceding one hundred years. Much of the early history of the congregation was closely associated with Grand View College. During the first decades, the school provided worship facilities as well as the pastor services for the emerging congregation. With financial support from the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church, a building was erected in 1917, which has served as the home for the congregation since …

Jens Christian Jensen And Family: The Story Of An American Pioneer From Denmark And His Family, Lois Eagleton

The Bridge

Family stories, by their very nature, never stop being a work in progress. My mother had kept her family tree for many years, as had her mother before her. When I decided to update what they had done and bring it into the electronic age, I really had no idea what I was getting into. My mother had attempted to keep everything organized over the years. It was organized, sort of, here and there, in drawers, in boxes, on shelves, in closets, stacked on tables, you name it. She had kept everything! Thank goodness she did, for I have found …

Marcus Lee Hansen's Approach To The History Of Scandinavian Immigration, J.R. Christianson

The Bridge

Marcus Lee Hansen (1892-1938) has been called "the first serious student of the history of American immigration," and he was a very good one, but that was long ago.2 His major scholarship appeared after his death at the age of forty-five in 1938. Few authors have written about American immigration with Marcus Lee Hansen's literary grace and historical brilliance, but huge amounts of ethnic and immigration history have been written since his day. Old history often goes stale and out of print. What about Marcus Lee Hansen? Is there anything in his view of immigration that still speaks to us …

Book Review: The New Switzerland Problems And Policies, Nicole Butz

Swiss American Historical Society Review

This volume, edited by Rolf Kieser and Kurt R. Spillmann, consists of twentyeight essays written by a group of Swiss scholars and officials. Originally intended as a new edition of the 1978 volume Modern Switzerland (edited by J. Murray Luck, Lukas F. Burckhardt, and Hans Haug), The New Switzerland nonetheless differs significantly in content and perspective from its earlier counterpart. As noted by the editors in the preface, the book does not attempt to provide its readers with a comprehensive account of Switzerland; rather, it seeks to inform a broad international audience through "a discussion of the present and future …

Switzerland And Burgundy In The Late Middle Ages, H. Dwight Page

Swiss American Historical Society Review

In the late Middle Ages Switzerland's principal rival was the Duchy of Burgundy. Although the medieval Kingdom of Burgundy has long since vanished, in the fifteenth century Burgundy was one of the most powerful states of Europe.2Its territories included present day Belgium, Holland, the French provinces of Flanders, Alsace, Lorraine, Franche-Comte, Savoy and Burgundy, as well as the three Swiss cantons of Geneva, the Vaud and the Valais. For nearly two millennia, these territories of the old Kingdom of Burgundy have been among the most progressive in Europe. The "loi gombette" of the ancient Burgundians was the most humane of …

Mormons And Germany, 1914-1933: A History Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In Germany And Its Relationship With The German Governments From World War I To The Rise Of Hitler, Jeffery L. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

This paper focuses on the Church's struggle in establishing itself in Germany with cultural, social, political and religious problems. The cultural and social problems focus primarily on the interaction between Mormon-American missionaries and leaders who preached Mormonism in a society somewhat different from their own. The political problems concern historical events such as the first world war, the inflation of 1923 in Germany, and the rise of Hitler, while the religious problems focus on the Church's interaction with other faiths who generally opposed it and the struggle of missionaries to establish congregations.

Sylvia Pio, A Danish-American Livewire, Kristian Hvidt, J. R. Christianson, Editor And Translator

The Bridge

This is the story of an unusual Danish-American woman, Sylvia Pio, who was born 1876 in Copenhagen, grew up in Chicago, and died 1932 in Hellerup, a suburb of her native city.

Her childhood in Chicago had a complicated background. Sylvia was the daughter of a famous figure in Danish political history, Louis Pio, who founded the Danish Socialist Party in Copenhagen in 1871. After serving in the army during the Schleswig-Holstein war of 1864, he had entered the Copenhagen postal service, where he is said to have constructed the first red Danish mailbox of the type still in use.

Call For Papers

The Bridge

Marcus Lee Hansen Immigration Conference. The University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Institute for Economic History, announces a conference on immigration in August, 1992, recognizing the centennial of Hansen's birth.

Marcus Lee Hansen Returns To His Roots, John Robert Christianson

The Bridge

Marcus Lee Hansen (1892-1938) was the founder of modern immigration history. He established new frameworks in time and space for the study of the peopling of North America.

Enok Mortensen As Archivist, Thorvald Hansen

The Bridge

One cannot say with any degree of finality why Enok Mortensen became the historian and archivist of the Danish, later the American Evangelical Lutheran Church. This much, however, is obvious--he was interested in it. Only a genuine interest could have caused him to work diligently at it for a long period of time and to write the history of the church with which he had become intimately familiar. The records do not indicate that he received any monetary reward for his efforts, nor that he sought any. He hoped that others would share his interest and do whatever was in …

Reflections On Denmark As It Was, And Emigration To America, Arlow W. Andersen

The Bridge

In the late medieval and modern periods the histories of Denmark and Norway paralleled each other. During much of that interval the Union of Kalmar (1397-1523), which included also a dynastic tie with Sweden, practically insured common political, economic, and religious development. On the threshold of the modern age Sweden broke away from the Union (1523), but Norway was obliged to remain under Danish rule until 1814.

Niels Sorensen Lawdahl

The Bridge

The brief autobiography of Niels S0rensen Lawdahl is dated January, 1925, the day following his 61st birthday. It was written in the last days of his life, a little each day, as his health permitted after he became ill. He died March 4, 1925, in Des Moines, Iowa.