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Start Over Subject German Americans Language German Year 1900 to 1949

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German Society of Pennsylvania Agentur records, 1854-1938 (bulk) 1847-1947 (inclusive)

Extent:
10.0 linear feet (52 boxes)
Abstract:
72 volumes of handwritten ledgers, indexes, logs, reports, and letter books, recording the efforts of the Agentur to help needy German immigrants and Philadelphia residents of German origin over a period of a hundred years. Valuable biographical information for local history, social history, labor history, immigration research, genealogy.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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German Society of Pennsylvania Foreign Relief Committee records, 1919-1925, 1929

Extent:
0.5 linear feet (2 boxes + 1 oversize folder)
Abstract:
This collection contains the records of the German Society of Pennsylvania's Foreign Relief Committee, which from late 1919 through 1922 contributed humanitarian aid to the populations of Germany and Austria in the wake of the First World War. Most of the aid was distributed through the American Friends Service Committee. The collection contains correspondence, appeals, reports, financial records, and ephemera. The correspondence includes letters from 78 charitable organizations in Hamburg, Germany, that applied for distributions of donated sacks of flour in 1919; and nine letters written from various parts of Germany in 1922 during the period of inflation. The Foreign Relief Committee was comprised of an all-male committee of the Society and a committee of the Society's Women's Auxiliary, whose greatest contributions were in the form of knitted and sewn items produced by the members at weekly gatherings. Also included is a 1929 letter from the Deutsche Liga der freien...(see more)

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Max Heinrici manuscript and photographs, circa 1936-1939

Extent:
0.83 linear feet (2 boxes)
Abstract:
The collection contains an unpublished manuscript by Max Heinrici, and several photographs of him in his later years. The manuscript (approximately 460 leaves) tells the history of the German Society of Pennsylvania from 1915 to 1935, and was intended as a continuation of an earlier history of the Society that Heinrici had published in 1917, co-authored by Oswald Seidensticker. It includes biographical sketches of prominent Society leaders, and lists of its officers and board of directors for the period. The text gives perspectives on the experiences of German Americans in the era of the First World War, and contains material on charitable relief work carried on by German Americans in Philadelphia to benefit Germany and Austria-Hungary during and after the war.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Junger Männerchor records, 1892-1966 (bulk) 1892-1966 (inclusive)

Extent:
1.7 linear feet (4 hollinger boxes + 1 oversized folder)
Abstract:
The Junger Männerchor of Philadelphia is one of the oldest German-American singing societies (founded on February 22,1852). This collection comprises membership records, ephemera, memorabilia, songbooks, sheet music, and audio recordings of the Junger Männerchor, with dated materials spanning from the year 1892 to 1966. The specific items include two member books (1906, 1911), concert programs, concert tickets, an issue of the society’s own periodical "Der Adler" (Oct. 1902), a preservation copy of a historical volume authored by J.F. Anton and published in 1902, and an extensive collection of songbooks and sheet music used by the society.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Philadelphia Turngemeinde collection, 1883-1958 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.17 linear feet (1 box + 1 oversize folder)
Abstract:
Collection of miscellaneous records as well as ephemera of the Philadelphia Turngemeinde (also known as the Philadelphia Turners), one of the oldest German-American Turner, or gymnastics clubs in the United States, founded in 1849. The records include a letter dated 1900 from Turngemeinde vice president Louis F. Schuck to the Academy of Music; an original manuscript (4 leaves), dated 1911, by member Casper Fischer, telling the history of the organization from the founding until 1899; and a guest register for events of the club from 1956 to 1958. The ephemera include invitation letters, program and admission ticket to the dedication ceremony of the new Turngemeinde hall in 1883 and the first two leaves of the Philadelphia newspaper Vereins und Logen Zeitung for 20 May 1899 containing the report of the Turngemeinde's 50th anniversary celebration.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Henry Shmith scrapbooks, 1950-1975 (bulk) 1924-1979 (inclusive)

Extent:
2.5 linear feet
Abstract:
Henry Shmith (also spelled Heinrich Schmitz and Henry Schmidt) was born on August 21, 1899 in Germany. Shmith traveled extensively, working as a professional chef at many locations in the Delaware Valley region of the United States and frequently returning to Germany for visits. He settled in Glen Mills, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where he passed away in 1982. The Henry Shmith scrapbooks, 1924-1979 (bulk 1950-1975), consist of about 20 volumes compiled by Henry Shmith, with photographs as well as clippings, ephemera, stamps, greeting cards, and letters. The scrapbooks, heavily annotated by Shmith, mostly in German with some English, focus on areas in the Delaware Valley or in and around Germany (including Spiegelau).

Held at: Delaware County Historical Society [Contact Us]

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Arion Singing Society letter book and ephemera, 1858-1870, 1907-1936

Extent:
0.13 linear feet (1 box)
Abstract:
The Arion Singing Society (Gesang-Verein) was founded in 1857 by singers who had seceded from the Liedertafel der Deutschen Freien Gemeinde (later known as Harmonie), a singing society that began under the auspices of the Independent German Congregation of Philadelphia. This collection comprises a letter book of Arion, covering the period 5 May 1858 to 1 June 1870, and various ephemera dating from 1907 to 1957, including concert programs, one concert ticket, and four souvenir programs related to an annual bal masqué, or masked ball, that was a tradition of the society since 1865.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Otto Brauch papers, 1912, 1917-1919

Extent:
0.05 linear feet (1 folder, 7 items)
Abstract:
Otto Brauch was an immigrant from Hamburg, Germany, who settled in Philadelphia some time before 1917, and was working for the Hamburg-American Line in 1918. The collection of 7 items includes an identification card and insurance fund membership card related to his employment; a letter from the United States Immigration Service, 1917; and three items addressed to him in 1919, from his brother Carl Brauch, who was a prisoner of war at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and returned home to Hamburg that year.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Deutsch-Amerikanischer Zentralbund von Pennsylvanien, Philadelphia branch, records, 1909-1941 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.21 linear feet (1 box, 18 folders)
Abstract:
This collection contains records of the Philadelphia branch of the Deutsch-Amerikanischer Zentralbund von Pennsylvanien (DAZB), also known as the German-American Central Alliance, or the German-American Federation, of Pennsylvania. The federation existed from 1899 until 1941; from 1901 to 1918 it was part of the National German-American Alliance, which it had helped to found. These extant records mainly comprise materials related to activities of the School Committee, which promoted German language learning, and learning about German-American culture, among German-American youth. Included are minutes (with financial reports), correspondence, fliers, and educational materials, dated 1909 to 1933. The remaining materials are ephemera, including a flier related to the fifth anniversary of the women's auxiliary, in 1932, and programs for German Day celebrations in 1940 and 1941. A few fliers bear texts composed by Adolph Timm and Max Heinrici concerning the preservation of...(see more)

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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Edna Fern papers, circa 1905-1941

Extent:
0.13 linear feet (1 box)
Abstract:
Clippings and typescripts of writings by the German-American author Edna Fern (pseudonym of Fernande Richter), who was active in St. Louis, Mo. Two photographs are included, one of the author and one of her husband Georg Richter.

Held at: German Society of Pennsylvania: Joseph P. Horner Memorial Library [Contact Us]

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