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Book Review: The History Of Folsom, New Jersey 1845-1976. Bicentennial Edition., Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Gertrude M. Eckhardt, a member of our society, has produced a handsome volume on a small New Jersey community which her grandfather helped found back in the late 1840s. The community was then called New Germany and consisted of a few doxed German immigrants. They founded their Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1853 and went about earning a living out of the abundant forest lands of their neighborhood. Later in the century a small group of Italian immigrants joined the original group, bringing with them new flavors and new skills. The borough never grew into a big settlement but stayed a …

Guest Workers As An "Automatic Stabilizer" Of Cyclical Unemployment In Switzerland, W. E. Kuhn

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

In the early 1970's, in excess of 5 percent of the total population of France, Germany, Britain, and Switzerland were immigrants, The extreme case was Switzerland, where one person in six had come from a foreign country. Between them, the four mentioned countries had nearly 10 million immigrants; this accounts for more than nine-tenths of the West European total of nearly 11 million. This estimate may be on the low side; Feurer indicates that in 1972 some 8 million guest workers lived in Europe who together with their families comprised about 13 million people, contributing some Sfr. 80 billion (about …

Jean Jacques Vioget The Forgotten Swiss Of Early California, Mary Jean Aerni, Ph.D.

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

What makes a hero? Do heroes exist in themselves, or only insofar as they are valuable in the folk mythology of their time? What criteria are used to label one man as an important historical personage, whose name and rank are to be noted and memorize, while a contemporary of greater personal achievement is consigned to oblivion?

Introduction Remarks, Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

1) The core of the current issue of the SAHS Newsletter consists of a long article on Abraham Blumer, Swiss Reformed clergyman in the Lehigh Valley during the period of the American Revolution. Professor William T. Parsons, the author, writes "Blumer and his contemporary Swiss and German church leaders" are "universally overlooked" even in specialized words on the independence era. The article thus opens a window into a little known aspect of Swiss emigration to this country. Blumer was a man of many qualities with a wide variety of interests. The reader wishes he would learn even more about him …

Book Review: Die Eigenart Der Zurcher Auswanderer Nach Amerika 1734-1744, Walter D. Kamphoefner

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

This book, a Swiss doctoral dissertation which owes much to the guidance of Prof. Leo Schelbert, is a model case-study of emigration in a restricted area and time-period. Taking the Canton Zurich during the decade of heaviest emigration in the 18th century, it attempts to reconstruct the social, economic, and religious milieu from which the emigrants came, and seeks to determine the characteristics which set them apart from those who remained behind.

"Der Glarner": Abraham Blumer Of Zion Reformed Church, Allentown, Professor William T. Parsons

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Up in the Lechadaal Pennsylvania Dutch Country, people tend to credit origins and you will often hear them say of virtues and of foibles, "he came by it honestly." They mean that children inherit characteristics, or that a new generation often mirrors the traits of its predecessor. So it was, surely, with Abraham Blumer, Ministre du Sancte Evangile, heir to family traditions of leadership in local church, business and civic affairs.

Quo Vadis?, Alice H. Finckh

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Is the time approaching when members of the SAHS might wish to modify its charter of its purpose? The question has arisen in conversations and at meetings, and the next two or three years might provide an opportunity to make a decision. Shall we continue to concentrate on Swiss-American history and related fields, or shall we try to broaden our purpose (and possibly change our name) to include other disciplines, and other activities beyond the publication of three Newsletters a year, occasional grants-in-aid, and regional and annual meetings?

Book Review: "Nathaniel Hawthorne Meets Swiss Immigrants: A Research Note"

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Walter L. Robbins , "Nathaniel Hawthorne Meets W Immigrants: A Research Note."

Randall Stewart reports in his work Nathaniel Hawthorne. A Biography (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1948), p . 42, that Hawthorne had undertaken during the "solitary years" 1825 to 1837 various journeys, in 1833 or 1834 possibly to Niagara and Detroit. He published his apparently firsthand descriptions in the New England Magazine Volume XI (December 1835), 398-409, which contains a report entitled "The Canal-Boat." In that sketch Hawthorne tells of his encounter with a Swiss immigrant group. It is quoted here after the following edition: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses …

The Thirteenth Annual Meeting Of The Swiss American Historical Society, Bruno Gujer, Leo Schelbert

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

The thirteenth annual meeting of the reactivated SAHA was held on Saturday, October 30, 1976, at the Embassy of Switzerland, 2900 Cathedral Avenue, N.W., in Washington, D.C.

Book Review: "Americans From Germany: A Study In Cultural Diversity", Leo Schelbert

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Robert H. Billigmeier, Americans from Germany : A Study in Cultural Diversity. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1974. 189 pp. $5.00.

Historians interested in immigration to the territory of the United States or in the ethnic dimension of American social history will welcome this synthesis of the story of immigrants from German-speaking lands. It describes "in both general and specific terms the complex social experience of one of America's most significant cultural and population components" (Preface).

Book Review: "A Guide To Foreign Genealogical Research", M. A. W.

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Maralyn A. Wellauer, A Guide to Foreign Genealogical Research. A Selected Bibliography of Printed Material with Addresses.

This is a reference guide for genealogists who want to extend a pedigree line beyond the Immigrant Ancestor without engaging the services of a professional genealogist.

Introductory Remarks, Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

This issue of the SAHA news letter is late due to the fact that it was more difficult than usual to get the materials together. We still plan to publish three letters in 1977 as we have become accustomed during the past five years.

Book Review: "The Postage Stamps Of Switzerland 1843-1862", H. K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Paul Mirabaud and Alex de Reuterskiold, The Postage Stamps o f Switzerland 1843-1862, Paris, 1899 . Reprint by Quarterman Publications, Inc., 5 South Union Street, Lawrence, Massachusetts 01843, 1975. $35.00.

Quarterman Publications provides the following description: "The Postage Stamps of Switzerland was originally published in 1899 in a limited edition of which only 150 copies were in English. Chapters on the various Cantonal issues, the transitional Hayone [sic: should be Rayons), and the seated Helvetias are among those Mirabaud, and his colleague Baron Alex de Reuterskiold, assembled from information obtained from the existing literature a well as the records and …

Book Review: "Ein Lesebuch, Choix De Textes, Raccolta Di Testi, Collecziun De Texts", Lukas Burckhardt

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Herausgegben vom Schweizerischen Bundesrat. Ein Lesebuch, Choix de textes, Raccolta di testi, Collecziun de texts. Schweizerische Bundeskanzlei, Bern, 1975, 684 Seiten, Fr. 25 .--.

The Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848 was totally amended in 1874. The Swiss government wanted to commemorate these two 28 basic dates in an appropriate way, by publishing a textbook which presents statements by politically and culturally active Swiss of all walks 0f life and beliefs in the past hundred years.

Book Review: "Einführung In Die Schweizerische Auswanderungsgeschichte Der Neuzeit", Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Leo Schelbert, Einführung in die Schweizerische Auswanderungsgeschichte der Neuzeit. Zurich: Verlag Leemann, 1976. 443 pp. S. Fr. 50. Printed as Beiheft 16 of the Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Geschichte.

Leo Schelbert's "Introduction to the history of the Swiss emigration in modern times" is a massive work of more than 400 pages of relatively small print. The work is divided into four parts, titled "Theoretical Foundation," "Historical Survey," Selected Documents," and "Historiographical Introduction." Each of the four parts is almost self contained and covers the subject of Swiss emigration from a different angle. As a consequence there are certain repetitions and overlappings. …

Pierre-Frederic Droz: The 'American': The Story Of An Itinerant Watchmaker, Leo Schelbert

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Most immigrants, especially those who came to stay in a certain country for only a short while, belonged to the "inarticulate," that is to those whose experiences, joys and trials went largely unrecorded. A few of them, however, did leave rich and vivid accounts of their journeys and adventures. To them belongs Pierre-Frederic Droz, known to his countrymen as the "American" who remained for a good part of his life a man on the move.

Letter From The President, Leo Schelbert

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

The Annual Meeting of the Swiss American Historical Society will be held this year at the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, D.C. Ambassador and Mrs. Dr. Raymond Probst have moreover most generously invited the participants to a luncheon at their residence. May I kindly urge you to attend this meeting which will enable you not only to shape the affairs of the Society, but also to meet with Ambassador and Mrs. Probst at their residence and to renew many personal contacts.

Piero Bianconi, Albero Genealogico (Cronaca Di Emigranti): Book Review, Lukas F. Burckhardt

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

"C'e piu distanza effettiva tra l'infanzia e la vechiaia di mia madre che tra lei bambina e gli uomini delle caverne" (There is more real distance between the childhood and the old age of my mother than between her as a little girl and man in the stone age), the author exclaims, as he observes from the new power dam, which has been constructed in his native Verzasca valley in the canton of Ticino, how a great part of the rural world of his ancestors is being submerged for ever. In such surroundings his mother had not been allowed by …

Postal "Helvetica" In The United States: Non-Historic Observations Of A Stamp Collector, Felix Ganz

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

A ~ew weeks after arrivi ng in this country, thirty years ago, fr iends drove me to a place called LAKE GENEVA, Wisconsin, and on t he way back we passed a town called LAKE ZURICH Illinois. Neither of these two towns seemed to have direct 1 ties to Switzerland; but a few months later, in NEW GLARUS Wisconsin, l earned much about that town's being founded by' Swiss immigrants--a story well known to all members of the Swiss American Historical Society.

Banziger, Hans, Zwischen Protest Und Traditionsbewusstsein: Arbeiten Zum Werk Und Zur Gesellschaftlichen Stellun Max Frischs: Book Review, John Holley

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Lest the reader be frightened away by the author's promise to recount in the service of information those minor details which seldom find a place in "broad attempts at interpretation," it should be mentioned at the outset that this book has more to recommend it than such a pedantic statement of intent might lead one to believe. Indeed, Hans Banziger, appropriately for a peripatetic review of Frisch's work, takes us through a knowledgeable discussion of the major tenets that have long informed the thinking and writing of this most interesting, engaging, and thought provoking contemporary, reminding us of Frisch's abiding …

A Farewell And A Welcome, Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

According to the Constitution of the Swiss American Historical Society the Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States is an honorary member of the society. For the last nine years (1966 to 1975) this post was held by Ambassador Felix Schnyder.

The Swiss In Hawaii, Niklaus R. Schweizer

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

SWITZERLAND AND HAWAII, at first glance, seem to have little to do with each other and any connection appears coincidental. A high government official in Honolulu recently was of that opinion and many would have readily corroborated his notions.

Editor's Remarks, Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

It is my sad duty to inform the members of the Swiss American Historical Society of the recent death of Emil J. Schaefer. Emil Schaefer was born on May 10, 1892, in Zurich and came to this country in his late teens. After some traveling he settled in Madison, Wisconsin, where he worked in several capacities, founded a family and became one of t he active members of a number of Swiss organizations.

The Twelfth Annual Meeting Of The Swiss American Historical Society, Bruno Gujer, Leo Schelbert, Guido Schuler

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

The twelfth annual meeting of the reactivated SAHS was held on Saturday, November 8, 1975, at the Swiss Town House, 35 West 67th Street in New York City.

News From The President, Leo Schelbert

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

It is my sad duty to announce to the members of the Swiss American Historical Society that Dr. Imre de Kosinski died unexpectedly on August 17, 1975. The Society has thus lost an active and trusted member who - as former Treasurer - has decisively contributed to its successful revitalization. Dr. de Kosinski was born in Budapest, Hungary, 'Where he earned his doctorate in political science. In 1944 he left his native country and -went to Switzerland to assist the Hungarian goverment in exile. He then married Edith Nussbaumer of Basel. In 1954 Dr. de Kosinski and his family moved …

History Of The Swiss American Historical Society, Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

5. The Last Ten Years*

The Washington meeting of October 5, 1963, was an encouraging sign of interest in the usefulness of the Swiss American Historical Society on the part of the official representative of Switzerland in this country. It did not solve any of the immediate problems, however. The society was without leadership and its activities had ceased a number of years ago. Thanks to the initiative displayed by the embassy, however, thigs were put in motion again. For one, Emil Schaefer, who had so unexpectedly been saddled with presidential responsibility again, actively looked for a person willing to …

News Of Genealogy, Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

A. In Search of Ancestors: Where to Begin

We all of us harbor a particular interest in ourselves that just naturally extends to curiosity about our forebears. This inquisitiveness, when combined with the proper research procedures, can culminate in a rewarding and stimulating study: Genealogical Research.

New York Regional Meeting, Dr. Rolf Kieser

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

The New York chapter of the SAHS held a panel discussion on "Contemporary Switzerland in the Eyes of Young Swiss-Americans" on May 3, 1975, at the Swiss Town House. Seven panelists, all relatively recent immigrants from Switzerland, addressed themselves to written questions given them by the organizer and moderator of the meeting Dr. Rolf Kieser, First Vice President of the SAHS.

Introductory Remarks, Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

It looked for while as if I would not have enough materials for a mid-year newsletter. However, after some worrying I received enough contributions to make up an issue, even though it is somewhat shorter than most recent ones. The individuals items are self-explanatory and need no introduction.

Introductory Remarks, Heinz K. Meier

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

With this number the Swiss American Historical Society begins the second decade of issuing a regular newsletter. Like most of its predecessors it contains a mixture of materials that should lie of interest to our members. Special attention shoultl be given to the report about the eleventh annual meeting, presented by Dr. Leo Schelbert, formerly Secretary, now President, of our society. Most of the space of this number is given to an article by Dr. Delbert Graetz on the Bernese Anabaptists which Dr. Graetz prcsentetl at the annual meeting. A couple of shorter contributions round out our offerings.