German Lecture Series and New Book on Germans

Sponsored by the St. Clair County [Illinois] Historical Society

Proceeds from audiotapes of this lecture series and the book benefit the Gustave Koerner House Preservation located at 200 Abend Street, Belleville, Illinois.

The following Audiotapes are available for $12.00 each by mail; $10.00 at the Historical Society. Make your check payable to Gustave Koerner House Preservation, c/o St. Clair County Historical Society, 701 East Washington St., Belleville, IL 62220. Feb 8, 2004 Dr. Tom Jewett "Gustave Koerner: A Man Who Shaped His Time" Emphasizes Koerner’s contributions of national importance. Feb 15, 2004 Dr. Steven Rowan - "St. Louis - That's Near Belleville, Isn't It? Or, Why Germans Came to the Metro St. Louis Area and Their Life Once Settled During the 1850s" Feb 29, 2004 Dr. Steven Rowan - "The Fantasy Prairie: Southern Illinois in 1850s German-American Trash Novels" May 23, 2004 Roland Paul of Kaiserslautern, Germany - Special Guest Lecturer. - "Gustave Koerner – a political activist in Germany and in the U.S." In addition, the Engelmann-Hilgard family connections of Koerner will be emphasized. In Roland's words, 'Without these families Koerner would probably not [have] ended up in Belleville!' About the Presenters Thomas Jewett, Ph.D. (St. Louis University); Assistant Professor, McKendree College; Professor Emeritus at Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville, author, “Belleville Man Challenged Lincoln” (1983), “Gustave Koerner and the Republican Party” (2003), The Belleville Germans (1986), Ethnic History of the Metro East: World of Difference (1990), and “Mr. Jefferson’s Libraries” in The Early American Review (Summer-Fall, 2003). Roland Paul was educated in the universities in Landau and Mainz (History, German language, and Folklife studies). He is associate director of the Heimatstelle Pfalz, (now Institut fuer pfaelzische Geschichte und Volkskunde) in Kaiserslautern (Research center for the History and Folklife Studies of the Palatinate) since 1978. He specializes in the history of emigration and is responsible for the largest card file of emigrants you will find in Germany. Mr. Paul often visits the settlements of German emigrants in the United States. He lectures in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and California. His special research interests are German political refugees in the U.S., and Jewish emigrants 1933-1945. He has published many essays in books, magazines and newspapers, is editor/co-editor of several local histories and of "Pfaelzer in Amerika – Palatines in America" (1983/1995), "Das Grosse Pfalzbuch" (1995), "Von Dachau bis Basel – Memoirs of the Palatine Jew Alfred Schwerin, 1938-1940" (2003). Steven Rowan, Ph.D. (Harvard University); Professor, History Department, University of Missouri at St. Louis. Current research on German Radicals in the 19th century Missouri and Illinois; translator, Wilhelm Kaufmann's The Germans in the American Civil War (Carlisle, Pa: Kallmann, 1999), and Baron Ludwig von Reizenstein, The Mysteries of New Orleans (Baltimore, 2002); author, Germans for a Free Missouri: Translations from the St. Louis Radical Press (University of Missouri Press, 1983).

Special Announcement Just released in Fall 2004 by Don Tolzmann, Ph.D., (Milford, Oh.: Little Miami Publishing Company). He is working on a similar book for publication in 2005 on Illinois' German Heritage. Missouri's German Heritage contains the following chapters: German Immigration and Settlement by Gustav Koerner St. Louis as a German-American Center by Gustav Koerner German-American Life by Gustav Koerner Gottfried Duden: The Man Behind the Book by Dorris Keeven Franke A Visit with Friedrich Muench by Siegmar Muehl Missouri's German Heritage by Don Heinrich Tolzmann Selected Sources by Don Heinrich Tolzmann Obtain a copy of this book for $18.00 (postage paid), or $16.00 cash and carry. Make your check payable to Gustave Koerner House Preservation, c/o St. Clair County Historical Society, 701 East Washington St., Belleville, IL 62220. Koerner's chapters provide a contemporary view of the subject matter through 1848 from one who experienced it first hand. He first published them in Das deutsche Element in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerica, 1818-1848 (Cincinnati: A.E. Wilde & Co., 1880). [The German Element in the United States of North America 1818-1848]. These chapters were translated from German into English but never published by William G. Bek. Tolzmann improved on Bek's translation after comparing it to the original, included the summary list of topics introduced with each chapter, rendered the names back into German to eliminate problems with verification, and completed or corrected bibliographic information cited in Koerner's original work. The next two chapters 'provide further information on two individuals who played important roles in Missouri German history, and who are worthy of more in depth coverage: Gottfried Duden and Friedrich Muench (p. 2, 3).' Duden visited Missouri in the 1820s and authored an influential pamphlet upon his return to Germany, of which the short title (translated) is: Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America. In it, Duden glamorized immigration to Missouri. Muench 'wrote prolifically and published widely in leading German-American newspapers and periodicals'...frequently 'under the pseudonym "Far West" (p.98).' Writings of both men had far-reaching influence on German settlers in America. The final chapter 'provides a survey of Missouri's German Heritage that begins where Koerner's history leaves off, and brings the story of the German-American experience in Missouri up to date.' Each chapter has many endnotes and an authoritative list of sources for further study of German history in Missouri appears at the end of the book. This select list of sources will steer the reader to books on German settlement patterns, the role of German women during settlement, material culture (illustrated), history of the village of Hermann and city of St. Louis, resources for German-American journals and letters, and works on the German-American press and literature. About the Editor and Authors Don Heinrich Tolzmann, Ph.D. is the Curator of the German-Americana Collection and Director of the German-American Studies Program at the University of Cincinnati, and author and editor of numerous works relating to German-American history and culture. Dorris Keeven Franke is editor of the German-American journal, Der Maibaum. Siegmar Muehl, author on various topics in the field of German-American studies.