The Germans in America
Relevant American Memory Presentations
Many American Memory presentations have items relating to German
immigration:
- Documents from
the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789
Printed broadsides offering an account of America's struggle
for nationhood. Contains some reflections of America's early concerns
with Germany and the Germans.
- George Washington
Papers at the Library of Congress 1741- 1799
The holdings represent about 65,000 items among which are
letters from George Washington to Philadelphia German Lutherans, April
27, 1789 and to German Reformed Church Officials, June 10, 1789.
- Words and
Deeds in American History: Selected Documents Celebrating the Manuscript
Division's First 100 Years
Significant and interesting items from the hands of the prominent
and the obscure, selected from the manuscript holdings of the Library
of Congress. Contains Albert Einstein's handwritten draft report, in
German, on theoretical physics, with an English transcription of same,
23 October, 1937.
- California as
I Saw It: First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900
More than 180 books about individual experiences in and on
the way to California during and after the Gold Rush. Includes references
to travelogues by German-language authors.
- The American
Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920
Multiformat collection of selected materials from the popular
stage and allied arts. German accent and attitudes caricatured with
broad humor.
- Touring Turn-of-the-Century
America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920
About 4,000 panoramic views of American main streets, landscapes,
bathing beauties, disasters and other events. The collection also has
images of buildings and vistas familiar to many German Americans such
as Chicago, Illinois, in front of German Building, Jackson Park, Waterfront
near German Building, Jackson Park, Chicago, Illinois, Das Deutsche
Haus, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Postal Telegraph Cable Co. on ground
floor below German Bank, possibly Detroit, Michigan.
- Early Motion
Pictures, 1897-1916
Four groupings from the earliest period of the medium. Includes
depictions of immigrants arriving and landing at Ellis lsland.
- California
Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties
Multiformat ethnographic field collection that includes sound
recordings, still photos, drawings and written documents from a variety
of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in
Northern California. Included is the song: My little German home across
the sea.
- Built in America:
Historic American Buildings Survey/ Historic American Engineering Record,
1933 - Present
Prints and photographs of achievements in architecture engineering,
and design in the United States and its territories. Contains references
to German-American structures depicted in the HABS/HAER collections
of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
- Architecture
and Interior Design for 20th Century America: Photographs by Samuel Gottscho
and William Schleisner, 1935-1955
Photographs of buildings, interiors, and gardens of renowned
architects and interior designers. This collection of approximately
29,000 photographs includes images of Pennsylvania Dutch interiors
and Lutheran Churches.
- American
Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project 1936-1940
Life histories of individuals from a variety of backgrounds
are featured in this collection of 2,900 documents. Interviews were
conducted by over 300 writers for the Federal Writers' Folklore project
as part of the WPA (U.S. Works Progress--later Work Projects--Administration),
1936-1940. A good source for vignettes from the German American experience.
- Color Photographs
from the FSA and OWI, ca. 1938-1944
Color photographs from the Farm Security Administration and
the Office of War Information. One photograph is entitled: Gus Worke,
a farmer who came from Germany 40 years ago, Southington, Conn.
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