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Attending The Annual Meeting Of The Sahs In Washington, D.C.: An Exaggeration, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

As president of the Swiss American Historical Society last year, 2022, it was my pleasure to attend the Society’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. I always go anyway. The thought of trying to be charming, clever, and insightful at the meetings was just too much for me to bear alone, so I groveled at the feet of my son, Kurt, and his wife, Razil, to go with me. Rather than watch an old man cry, they agreed to go too if I paid. What a deal! We got on the plane in Salt Lake. I can still remember when you …

Dietmar Kuegler 1951-2022: In Memoriam, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

A dear friend and strong supporter of the Swiss American Historical Society, Dietmar Kuegler, died on December 3, 2022, in the village of Övenum on the island of Föhr, Germany, where he had lived for several years. For many years, he translated and published my articles from the Swiss American Historical Society Review dealing with the Swiss in the American West in his Magazin für Amerikanistik in Germany. He also translated and published eleven of my books including The Germans and Swiss at the Battle of the Little Bighorn 1876, which was also published in the SAHS Review …

Leo Schelbert Prize

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Leo Schelbert Prize is awarded to the best submitted undergraduate or graduate research paper. The topic can be on anything that relates to the mission of the Swiss American Historical Society, which focuses on increasing an understanding of Swiss and/or Swiss-American history.

Membership Report, Ernie Thurston

Swiss American Historical Society Review

To: Members of the Swiss American Historical Society From: Ernie Thurston, Membership Secretary Subject: Annual Membership Report

IN BRIEF: We have 194 current members, a 2% decrease from the 198 reported last year at this time. Several members made extra contributions this year totalling $865.00. And one member paid the $500.00 to be come a Life Member: Joseph H. Smith.

Annual Report Of The Swiss Chapter, Switzerland, Barbara Müller

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society annual meeting was held at Basel, Switzerland, on September 7, 2022. It began at 11:30 AM with a motion by Barbara Müller, President of The Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society and Vice President of the Swiss Chapter of the Swiss American Historical Society, to approve the minutes from last year’s annual meeting. It was seconded and approved. The minutes from the meeting held on September 8, 2021, in Zurich, Switzerland include:

• Draft Minutes for the annual meeting on September 3, 2020, were approved.

• A gift and thank you …

Full Issue, Albert Winkler, Robert Sherwood

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Full Issue of Volume 58 issue 2 of the Swiss American Historical Society Journal

Reports Of The Swiss American Historical Society, Robert Sherwood

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Reports Of The Swiss American Historical Society

Swiss American Historical Society Review

It is a pleasure to greet everyone and to wish you good fortune

in all that you do. I deeply appreciate your interest in and continued

support for the Swiss American Historical Society.

The continued problems with COVID-19 virus has forced

changes in how the Swiss American Historical Society (SAHS)

operates. Even though many attempts have been made to return to

normal operations in 2021, there remain challenges; but I am very

pleased to report that many functions of the SAHS have been stellar in

2021. Please note the following.

Annual Reports Of The Swiss American Historical Society October 2020: President's Report For 2020, Albert Winkler

Swiss American Historical Society Review

It is a pleasure to greet everyone and to wish you good fortune in all that you do. I deeply appreciate your interest in and continued support for the Swiss American Historical Society.

Annual Reports Of The Swiss American Historical Society October 2020: Sahs Review Report, Dwight Page

Swiss American Historical Society Review

This year, 2021, promises to be another productive and interesting year in the history of the Swiss American Historical Society Review. In the current February 2021 issue, we provide a brief history of the Helvetia Beneficial Society of Columbus, Ohio, prepared by Dr. Donald G. Tritt, a native of Columbus and a longtime leader in our Society. Starting in the 1980’s, Dr. Tritt agreed to serve as the volunteer historian for five clubs making up the Swiss community in Columbus, so he has first hand knowledge of this information. We also provide a most interesting report on the current …

Annual Reports Of The Swiss American Historical Society October 2020: Membership Report, Ernie Thurston

Swiss American Historical Society Review

To: Members of the Swiss American Historical Society

From: Ernie Thurston, Membership Secretary

Subject: Annual Membership Report

IN BRIEF: We have 209 current members, a 2% decrease from the 214 reported last year at this time.

Annual Reports Of The Swiss American Historical Society October 2020: Annual Report Of The Swiss Chapter, Switzerland, Barbara Müller

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Dear Members:

The Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society are able to look back on a successful year here in Switzerland. At present, we have 45 members, which shows a small increase in total membership but does not reflect that actual growth is larger, since we have lost members due to age and health issues over the years.

America Guide, Bern, 1711

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Highly Respected & Merciful Lords and Superiors. When during my eight-year stay in England4 1 inquired about the essential quality of the North American Provinces, thoroughly and in detail, at opportunities occurring then and now at safe and trustworthy places, nothing would have been less permitted into my mind's consideration than handing over such report, albeit a truthful one , to the public print. At that time I rather merely thought to satisfy my constantly growing curiosity through such faithful compilation, though si multaneously *(4)* also offering it serviceably to one or the other good friend, whose desire might also …

Ochs In Georgian England

Swiss American Historical Society Review

After Ochs had offered his services in the exportation of Mennonites from Bern, his documentary biography becomes quiet for some time, some ten years. No document is known that shows Bern 's acceptance of his offer of assistance, none even verifying his ex istence. We know through Graffenried's accounts,1 that the landgrave's Carolina endeavor ended in di saster and in the death of surveyor Lawson in September 1711.2 The name Ochs could not be found in any of the decade's consulted sources in Bern with the exception of bapti smal records that name the children born to the Ochs couple.

Book Review: Mari Sandoz: A Study In Post-Colonial Discourse, Elizabeth Blair

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Laura R. Villiger' s study is an ambitious and largely successful attempt to reposition this Swiss-American writer in light of contemporary post-colonial literary theory. The ninth volume in a series of publications by the Swiss American Historical Society, Villiger's study analyzes Sandoz' discourse and situates it within its historical, historiographical, and literary contexts.

Reports, Leo Schelbert, Erdmann Schmocker, Carla Crosby

Swiss American Historical Society Review

REPORT

ON THE 30TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SWISS AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY HELD ON OCTOBER 9, 1993 AT THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART IN PHILADELPHIA, PA

Program For The Afternoon Meeting

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Prefatory Note, Jane Adèle Roberts Chapman

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The theme of this issue of the Review is the 19th Century SAHS emigration from Canton Valais of Switzerland to the United States. All the materials in the issue were written by Valaisans or by American descendants of Valaisan immigrants. My own article, "Nineteenth Century Swiss Valaisan Immigration to the United States," developed from · a desire to understand the experience of my great-great grandparents who left the canton in 1854. Their final destination, according to the ship's manifest, was Mishicot, Wisconsin.

Making It At The Smithsonian, Walter Angst

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Once I had a job at the Smithsonian Institution, I had to wait a whole year until my position opened, in January of 1968, and even then my position had first to be approved by Congress as at that time there was a hiring-freeze. I got hired as a "specialist for restoration" with Exhibits. We were a department of two people out of about 800. In order to justify my grade, I passed a mid-level exam, which was rather tough, as it was meant to be administered to generals, admirals, high level administrators, and Ph.Ds. Gordon, my supervisor, had difficulties …

Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Growing Up

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

I was born in Zlirich, right after the First World War, on October 16, 1919. I basically grew up as an only child, because my sister Irma is six years younger. My early childhood memories are happy ones. I remember all kinds of adventures with a band of other, mostly older children, involving such stunts as illegally riding down the rails into an immense clay pit in open rollingtrucks. It is a wonder we survived unscathed.

Enduring Apprenticeships, Walter Angst

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Since I was two years older than my school chums and knew that I could not afford to go on to higher education, I quit secondary school after the second year. My dream was to become a graphic artist, devising posters. My father was afraid for me: if I would indulge in an artist's life, I surely would go to pot! He proposed instead that I learn the trade of a barber or, as a concession, a cabinet-maker. Consequently, I was apprenticed to a master cabinetmaker who promptly dismissed me after a few weeks as being too weak. After a …

Gaining A Measure Of Success, Walter Angst

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

In the spring of 1943, I was able to win a job with a large firm at the Zlirich branch of the "Therma" company. The main plant was in Schwanden, Canton Glarus, and produced electrical bakery ovens, household stoves, as well as refrigerators and air conditioning systems. I was hired as a heliographist, for the copying of technical drawings. Very soon I advanced phenomenally within the firm and for eight years I worked in various positions. I served in the office of chief engineer, kept the time-clock records, did the payroll, supervised the travels of the service personnel, and administered …

From Zurich's "Therma" To Washington's Smithsonian: Autobiographical Sketch Of A Mid-Twentieth Century Swiss Immigrant, Walter Angst

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Both my parents were city dwellers displaced from rural Switzerland. In fact, all my grandparents came from agricultural villages. Yet, they all were "armigerous," that is, entitled to use armorial bearings, which is not unusual back home. My father, also called Walter, grew up in Btilach, at that time a small town in the Canton of ZUrich. He was a stone mason like his father, who ran a grave-stone business. I hardly knew my grandfather, who fell to his death from the steeple of one of the two churches while working on a Gothic window. What I do remember and …

Moving To The United States, Walter Angst

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

In July of 1951, I emigrated with my family to the United States. Today, I shudder when I think of our daring decision to abandon all familiar life, to bundle up two babies and a few belongings, and to trust our luck in a strange country. After all, I had only a vague promise of a job as cabinet-maker, only rudimentary knowledge of English, no money to speak of, and no prospect of getting help from anyone. Why did I change continent, language, culture, profession, home, and leave friends and relatives? The question has often been asked of me. Usually, …

Getting Re-Established, Walter Angst

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

My very first job was with a cabinet-maker called Marx, who had a tiny shop on 6th and K streets in Washington, D.C. He had three other young fellows working for him, one of whom spoke French. He could explain things to me. But coming from precision-minded Switzerland, I was not used to the sloppy ways these guys were doing cabinet work. And when I witnessed how they felt perfectly at ease banging an actual nail between the fence on a circular saw and the body of its grooved (metal) table, I was horrified. After three days I quit.

A Letter Of Johann Grob Of St. Imier To His Parents, Written In Jersey City On June 10, 1866, Johann Grob

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Ms. Elisabeth Fowler of Oak Park, Illinois, found Johann Grob's letter among her family papers. "I have never heard how we got the copy over here," she wrote, "but we did have a cousin (in my father's generation or maybe a bit older) who used to go back and forth to Switzerland." Although it is not known who has translated the 3 document nor where the original might be, the letter sounds authentic and reports valuable details about Grob's ocean crossing and his first weeks in the United States.

Memoir Of The First International Gerster-Castor Reunion Basel, Switzerland, 1987, Richard J. Caster

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Two hundred and fifty years have elapsed since Hans Georg Gerster, a Swiss from the village of Gelterkinden in the Canton of Basel, emigrated to the New World. Pietist leanings and his quest for citizenship in this new land were strong inducements for him to embark on the Rhine from Basel in July, 1736. With him were his mother, Elsbeth Sparr of Herzogenbuchsee, and his three-months pregnant wife, Eva Gysin of Holstein. Arriving in Rotterdam, they boarded the Princess Augusta, and set sail for the New World via Cowes, England arriving safely after being shipwrecked off shore, at Penn's Landing, …

New Heraldic Creations And My Fourteen-Point Ethical Code, Walter Angst

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Most of my contemporaries have many misconceptions about all things heraldic. Most people - if they even know what we are talking about - consider heraldic designs disdainfully as pretentious, superfluous, even silly, or at best arcane frills having to do with royalty. They are wrong. Armorial bearings are an expression of such things as sovereignty, of individuality, of beauty, of sagas, history, past glories and civic achievements. Just fancy our villages and resort places back-home: how poor would they be if they could not display their panoply of colorful community flags fluttering in the alpine breeze. Even here in …

List Of Publications By Walter Angst, Walter Angst

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

1. "Heraldry in a Republic," The Augustan, Book Two (1973): 183-184.

2. "Heraldic Plan for Redesign of the State Flags," Smithsonian 4, No. 4 (1973): 18-25.

3. "Sovereignty, Identity, Morality," The Augustan, Book Five (1974): 638-639.