University Libraries Press Release

Contact: Melissa Cox Norris, Director of Library Communications, (513) 556-1558 or melissa.norris@uc.edu

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF THE GERMAN-AMERICANA COLLECTION

March 31, 2004 - The year 2004 marks the 30th anniversary of the German-Americana Collection at the University of Cincinnati. Established in 1974, and today totaling more than 10,000 items, the collection is one of the largest and most comprehensive holdings of materials relating to German-American history, literature, and culture.

Roebling Suspension Bridge (see below)

Located in the Archives and Rare Books Department, items in the collection such as books, pamphlets, documents, journals, newspapers, manuscripts, and memorabilia document German settlement and life in America. While the emphasis of the material is on the Ohio Valley – Cincinnati was one of three major hubs of German settlement along with Milwaukee and St. Louis – the collection also includes a strong national perspective. “Although there are a number of German-Americana collections with a regional or religious focus, there are very few with a national focus on the German-American experience," said Don Heinrich Tolzmann, curator of the German-Americana Collection. "The University of Cincinnati’s collection is clearly one of the largest, if not the largest, of its kind."

Materials in the collection range in date from the 18th to the 21st century with new items added regularly. Highlights of the collection include:

• the title page of a Bible printed in 1776 by Christoph Saur of Germantown, Pennsylvania. The oldest item in the collection, this Bible became known as the “Gun-wad Bible” because soldiers used the pages to stuff their muskets during the early days of the Revolutionary War.
• items from Dr. H.H. Fick (1849-1935), which comprise the core of the collection. Fick, along with being a German emigrant and educator, edited an illustrated children’s journal Jung-Amerika (Young America) from 1901-1906. There are five of these journals in the collection, each containing 14-16 pages of German prose, poetry, biographies, and brief historical essays.
• an 1857 letter by the famous bridge builder John A. Roebling. In the letter to naval engineer Charles Copeland, Roebling discusses the benefits of iron wire in relation to copper wire. The 1,619 foot Roebling Suspension Bridge on the Ohio River connecting Ohio with Kentucky at Cincinnati was the largest of its kind and was the forerunner in design to the Brooklyn Bridge, which was also designed by Roebling.

"To School!" Illustration from Jung-Amerika

In celebration of the 30th anniversary, a Web site has been created exhibiting highlights of the collection’s holdings. Available at www.archives.uc.edu/german/exhibits/index.html, visitors to the Web site can view and learn about some of the rich materials available in the German-Americana Collection.

“The German-Americana Collection is one of the gems of our special collections,” said Victoria A. Montavon, dean and university librarian. “Its richness and depth, as well as its regional and national focus, give it both national and international prominence. Scholars and institutions from throughout the world consult these materials.”

For more information about the German-Americana Collection at the University of Cincinnati, visit their Web site at www.archives.uc.edu/german/index.asp.

 

###

Return to list of press releases