Description
Who or what is German? Who or what is American? How do the two converge in Kentucky? This course seeks to explore the German heritage and history of Kentucky and its surrounding areas both in historic and contemporary terms while examining the visible as well as the hidden connections between the two. This course considers these issues through a number of lenses beyond ancestry, including historical events, geography, architecture, art and media, food, religion, cultural traditions, memory and academic research and documentation. Following an on-campus introduction to the history of German-Americans in the U.S., and a look at the German-American presence in Lexington, the class will travel to the two major German-American centers for Kentucky (and the country as a whole), Louisville and the Greater Cincinnati area to explore how German-American immigrants helped to shape the history of the two cities and experience firsthand how their influence continues to be felt today. Also listed as GER-2294.
Explore resources below for research.
Background - Encyclopedias
McDonald, William C. "German-Speaking Political Refugees and Economic Migrants." In American Immigration: An Encyclopedia of Political, Social, and Cultural Change, 2nd ed., edited by James Ciment and John Radzilowski, 362-366. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference, 2014.
Purdy, Elizabeth Rholetter. "German Immigrant Families." In The Social History of the American Family: An Encyclopedia, edited by Marilyn J. Coleman and Lawrence H. Ganong, 629-631. Vol. 2. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Reference, 2014.
Schneider, Dorothy. "German Americans." In Dictionary of American History, 3rd ed., edited by Stanley I. Kutler, 559-560. Vol. 3. New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003.
- GVRL - Gale Virtual Reference Library Encyclopedias This link opens in a new window
Search many top encyclopedias on multiple topics for background information on your topic. Articles in these encyclopedias are written by experts.
Places this class is visiting
- Filson Club CollectionsThe Filson has been collecting for over 130 years, preserving the history of Kentucky and the Ohio Valley in order to share it with current and future generations.
- German Americana Collection - University CincinnatiBrowse finding aids and information about the collection held at the University of Cincinnati. These materials are not digitized. but you will be visiting University of Cincinnati.
Primary History Sources
- Chronicling America - Library of Congress Newspapers, 1789-1963 This link opens in a new window
Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963. Chronicling America is a website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Papers included can be browsed by state. - Local History Index - Lexington Newspapers - LexPubLib This link opens in a new window
The selective citations included in the Lexington Public Library’s Local History index refer to various Lexington newspapers beginning with the Kentucky Gazette in 1787 through the Lexington Herald-Leader of December 31, 2007. The nucleus of the database index is a card file in the Kentucky Room developed by staff over a number of years. Not all newspapers for all years are indexed. The full text of these articles is available on microfilm in the Kentucky Room of the LexPubLib. - DPLA - Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new window
Mega database of historic materials from institutions all over the US. - Immigrations, Migrations And Refugees: 1940-1996 This link opens in a new window
From the archives of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency come government reports covering all aspects of global migration during much of the 20th-century, including such pivotal events as post-World War II Jewish resettlement, South African apartheid, Latin American migrations to the United States and much more. This digital archive captures translated and English-language radio and television broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals and government documents, along with analysis by the CIA predecessor agency. - ExploreUK This link opens in a new window
Historical Photos, documents, newspapers, and more from the University of Kentucky Special Collections and archives. Great resource for materials on Lexington and Kentucky. - Kentucky Historical Society This link opens in a new window
Resources include archival collection finding aids and digitized materials selected from the Kentucky Historical Society's archival and library collections, sound recordings from the Kentucky Oral History Commission and more.
- Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History - German - Library of CongressClassroom resource on German immigration to the United States from the Library of Congress.
Louisville
- Lost LouisvilleCreated by University of Louisville, this site allows the user to explore photos of buildings in Louisville. Scroll down to "The Map" to explore. Items marked with a red star slide between current and historic images.
- Kentucky historical newspapers from Chronicling America This link opens in a new windowFull text historic newspapers from Kentucky included in Library of Congress's Chronicling America Newspaper database.
Cincinnati
- Cincinnati Star newspaper, 1875-1880While most papers in Cincinnati had a political affiliation, the Star remained independent, focusing less on politics and more on the happenings of the greater Cincinnati area. The Star reported on national news, with a sprinkle of international news, but catered mainly to the needs of the readers in the Cincinnati area and the neighboring cities in Kentucky across the Ohio River.
- Ohio historical newspapers from Chronicling AmericaBrowse historical Ohio newspapers included in Library of Congress's Chronicling America.
Find articles - secondary sources
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides articles from 1,900+ scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and sciences and around 5,000 ebooks. Coverage dates for journals are from the very first issue of each journal (the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries for many) and continues to 2 – 5 years prior to the current year (moving wall). - Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes searchable PDF content going back as far as 1887.
Books
- Search the catalog for more books
Search for books and other materials that you have immediate access to through Transy.
