European History Commons^™

Swiss Chapter Financial Report, Kurt Morf

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Annual Financial Report Of The Swiss American Historical Society, Ernie Thurston

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Submitted to the Annual Membership Meeting, Oct. 4, 2025, in New York City

Website & Social Media Report For 2025, Richard Hacken

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Society’s website (https://swiss-american-historical-society.org) has undergone a series of positive changes this year. This is one case where an “upgrade” has not become a “downgrade” in disguise! The Menu (which is where you can access links to other pages on the website) is now more minimalistic, sleek, and user friendly. You will also find a newly inserted search button that helps you find keywords from the entire site.

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Alma Gildenhorn:, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Alma Lee Gildenhorn (née Alma Lee Gross), born on January 14, 1932, in Baltimore, Maryland, is a distinguished American philanthropist, civic leader, and cultural advocate whose life exemplifies service, generosity, and dedication to the public good. Over the course of more than seven decades, she has played an influential role in advancing education, strengthening U.S.–Swiss relations, promoting the arts, and supporting countless community institutions.

End Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Swiss Settlers On The Nebraska Prairie In The 1880s, Karl Horat

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Hundreds of thousands of emigrants from all over Europe, as well as many Americans, were attracted to the West in the nineteenth century. It was the time of the “Homestead Act,” a law for land settlement signed by President Abraham Lincoln. It had taken force on New Year’s Eve, 1863.

Among the early settlers in the Great Plains of Nebraska in the 1880s were landless Swiss farmers. The presence of two families from the Bernese Oberaargau, Lisette and Ueli Uhlmann-Schütz, along with Annelies and Hans-Ueli Kleeb-Heiniger, was documented on 19th century photographic plates. The black and white pictures illustrate both …

Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Officers (Executive Board)

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Thomas Quinn Marabello became President of the Swiss American Historical Society in November 2024. As president, he is focused on increasing membership, organizing engaging and interesting annual meetings, and supporting young historians.

Beth Zurbuchen has been Vice President of the Swiss American Historical Society since November 2024. She served as President of the Swiss Center of North America in New Glarus, Wisconsin from 2009 until retiring in April 2024.

Barbara Müller joined the SAHS in 2013, became Vice President of the SAHS Swiss Chapter in 2016 and is President of our sister organization, Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society …

Swiss American Historical Society Annual Business Meeting Report, Jane C. Maurer

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 AM. Observed Moment of Silence to remember longtime members who passed away in the past year (Dr. Heinz B. Bachmann, former SAHS President and Treasurer; Heinrich L. Wirz, Max A. Gonzenbach, Fred C. Moser, Richard Blatter and Paul R. Judy).

Annual Membership Report

Swiss American Historical Society Review

We have 208 current members, a 1% increase over the 205 reported last year at this time. We received a donation of $10,000 from the Northlands Foundation. And one of $1,000 from the Gonzenbach Family Foundation, in honor of former member Max Gonzenbach (now deceased.). Other members made extra contributions this year totaling $1,240, and one became a Life member.

Friends Of The Swiss American Historical Society (Sahs) Switzerland Chapter, Barbara Müller

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Swiss Chapter of SAHS held their annual general meeting and outing in St. Legier, Canton Vaud at the Pepperdine University campus in the renovated Château d’Hauteville on September 10th, 2025. The château belonged to Pierre-Philippe Canac, who installed Benjamin Franklin’s lightning rods on the château roof when he built it in the 1760s. It then passed through marriage to Daniel Grand, the youngest son of Franklin’s French banker. The installed lightning rods still protect the château today from the storms passing over Lake Geneva. Pepperdine has done a wonderful job in renovating the château and keeping it for generations …

“None In Velvet Gowns”: Camp Followers And White Womanhood In Eighteenth-Century Anglo-American Warfare, Angelica Labren Torres

History Theses

For over two hundred years, women who followed American and European armies during the long eighteenth century were popularly stereotyped and denigrated as prostitutes, burdens, and generally individuals of ill repute by both contemporaries and subsequent generations of historians. While recent scholarship has largely debunked this long-standing characterization as simplistic and inaccurate, the question remains: why exactly were these women so mischaracterized in their own time, particularly by commissioned officers and other members of Anglo-American middling and elite classes, when ample evidence existed of their material usefulness and comparative marital fidelity? This thesis seeks to address the ideological and cultural …

The Seed That Begot America: How Political Principles Of The Reformation Contributed To The American Founding, Gabriel Stisser

Senior Honors Theses

When teaching the American founding, the contemporary public-school curriculum tends to emphasize the influence of the thinkers from the antiquity and Enlightenment periods. However, the curriculum tends to neglect the impact that the Reformation had upon America's formation. Through a qualitative historical review, this study will analyze both primary and secondary sources to examine how Reformed ideals of the political covenant, limited government, and resistance to tyranny influenced the American founding. This analysis finds that the Reformed (sometimes called Calvinist) political ideals from the Reformation had a significant influence upon the formation of the New England colonies, the enlightenment figures …

Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The Geneva Summit 40 Years Later:, Thomas Quinn Marabello, Jonah S. Schaller

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Forty years ago this month, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev met for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland. What became known as the “Geneva Summit” was an important Cold War meeting between the two superpowers that would reset and impact their relations to this day. The Geneva Summit, some would argue, was the beginning of the end of the Cold War, as both leaders began working towards arms reduction, peace, and cultural and educational exchanges between both countries. It is hard to believe that November 1985 was forty years ago. The world watched as the …

Did A Swiss American Invent The Cheeseburger?, Susann Bosshard-Kälin

Swiss American Historical Society Review

We know about Ricola. But hamburgers? Rumor says that German sailors in an American port put chopped beef on bread and named it “Hamburg” after their hometown. Whether this is true or not is unclear.

What is documented, however, is that Texan Fletcher Davis sold “hamburger steaks” at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. They consisted of a beef patty – a flat minced steak patty – with sweet pickles, mustard and onions, sandwiched between two halves of a bread roll.

So far so good.

But who invented the cheeseburger?

A 16th Century Anabaptist Woman Defies Zurich Authorities And Writes About It, Joël László

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Members of the Anabaptist movement in and around Zurich were persecuted and executed for their convictions during the Reformation. They continue to be disparaged and stereotyped to this day. But a look at the historical sources reveals a different picture ‒ that of a defiant movement in which women such as Margret Hottinger played a key role.

Nicola Wenz:, C. Naseer Ahmad

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Nicola Wenz is an award-winning bi-national producer and journalist from Switzerland and Germany, based in Washington, D.C. She works as a news producer for the German public television service Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), where she manages U.S. political coverage, including the White House, State Department, Capitol Hill, and the Pentagon. Her assignments are diverse, ranging from indepth feature stories and environmental issues to major news events across a wide geographic area from North America to China.

Swiss National Day

Swiss American Historical Society Review

The Swiss American Historical Society had a table at Swiss National Day, which was celebrated on the grounds of the Swiss Embassy and Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, DC on Saturday, July 26th. While overall turnout was down from previous years, we had over 20 visitors stop by our table. Many had never heard of us before and we gained a few new members! We gave away extra copies of the June issue of the SAHS Review and talked about our recently published book, Helvetic Heights: A Human History of the Swiss Alps and William Tell virtual event for August 14th.

End Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Why Is Ticino Part Of Switzerland?, Noah Businger

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Nowadays, the Canton of Ticino is considered as Swiss as anywhere else in Switzerland. However, it wasn’t always like that: putsches, revolutions, and independence movements once posed serious challenges to the status of the south-lying canton as part of Switzerland. So, how is it that Switzerland’s borders ended up south of the Alps? The answer lies not only in political upheaval and a desire to preserve local autonomy, but also in the symbolic integration of the canton into the national narrative. Over time, figures like William Tell and events like the uprising of 15 February 1798 became powerful tools of …

Gallatin Award Given To Outstanding Swiss Restaurant, Susann Bosshard-Kälin

Swiss American Historical Society Review

David Fritsche from Einsiedeln runs the successful Swiss restaurant STABLE in the U.S. capital city of Washington, DC, together with his business partner Silvan Kraemer. At the Swiss Embassy’s Soirée Suisse, held on September 10, the two were honored with the Gallatin Award. The Gallatin Award is given annually at the Soirée Suisse to an organization that embodies the attributes of Albert Gallatin. The award celebrates the close ties between Switzerland and the United States, as “sister republics”, and honors special Swiss achievements. STABLE was recognized for its role in strengthening the relationship between the two countries through food. The …

Partnership With Pepperdine

Swiss American Historical Society Review

On Saturday, May 31st, SAHS officers and members served on a panel and presented their knowledge of different aspects of Switzerland on Zoom to graduate and doctoral students at Pepperdine University (their main campus is located in Malibu, California). These students went on a study tour in Switzerland for a week in June.

A New Book By Sahs Member, Novelist & Literary Historian, Padraig Rooney

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908– 1942) was one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable women, possibly the greatest sexual and political radical of the 1930s. But until now she’s been largely ignored.

The Initial Calvinistic Business Spirit, Rev. Dr. David W. Hall

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Within days of John Calvin’s death on May 27, 1564, his mantle of leadership passed to Theodore Beza (1520-1605). Geneva found itself on the world’s stage as various groups, such as Catholics and Anabaptists, hoped to overturn the newfound Calvinist establishment. The crucial forty year period between the death of Calvin (1564) and the death of Beza (1605) determined whether or not Calvinism would be a lasting force in Geneva and elsewhere. Historian William Monter attributes much of Geneva’s growth and stability during this period to the intellectual magnetism of Calvinism.

Swiss Club Dc Trip To Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Swiss American Historical Society Review

SAHS President Thomas Quinn Marabello, who is also a member of the Swiss Club DC, joined them on a weekend trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They carpooled from the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, DC and drove to Pittsburgh on the morning of September 20th.

Full Issue

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

America’S Best Idea: The Separation Of Church And State, A Review, Michael A. Smith

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

This article critically assesses Randall Balmer’s America’s Best Idea, a historical and legal examination of the Jeffersonian principle of church-state separation. Drawing on Jefferson’s 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists and Roger Williams’ earlier theological insights, Balmer frames the metaphorical “wall” as both a constitutional safeguard and cultural cornerstone. The review analyzes the book’s treatment of evolving Supreme Court jurisprudence, particularly the shift from strict separationism to accommodationism in recent decisions. It contextualizes this legal transformation within the broader rise of Christian Nationalism, examining the ideological and institutional pressures reshaping civic discourse. While affirming Balmer’s historical rigor and rhetorical …

The Architects Of Consensus: Propaganda, Patriotism, And The Owi’S Battle For The American Mind, Ryan G. Fix

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

During World War II, the Office of War Information (OWI) became the United States' most sophisticated domestic propaganda agency, charged with forging national unity in the face of global conflict. This paper explores how the OWI fused federal authority with private-sector cooperation to influence public sentiment through film, advertising, journalism, and rumor control. Rather than resorting to direct censorship, the agency relied on voluntary collaboration, emotional appeal, and strategic framing to shape a coherent narrative that blurred the line between democratic persuasion and ideological management. Drawing on an extensive range of primary sources, including internal memos, field reports, and public …