University of Wisconsin–Madison
For most of us, this holiday season is very different from previous years. However, Christmas trees remain the centerpiece of festivities in many American households. In fact, as more people stay home this year, Christmas tree sales have been booming. Nobody quite knows how the Christmas tree tradition came about, but it is thought to have originated …
We are delighted that MKI Associate Director Antje Petty is one of three recipients of the 2020 UW–Madison College of Letters & Science Academic Staff Mid-Career Award.
Dr. Sandra Rebok’s presentation from November 19, 2020, on Alexander von Humboldt’s Quest for Knowledge in a World of Politics can now be watched online. Click HERE for an abstract, further information, and a link to the video.
Dr. Helmut Schmahl’s presentation from October 29, 2020, on the Southwest German immigrant experience in 19th century Wisconsin can now be watched online. Click HERE for an abstract, further information, and a link to the video.
The first presentation in the Max Kade Institute Virtual Lectures Series is now online: Faithful to the Fatherland or Doughboys of Deutsch? New Perspectives on the World War I Experience, a lecture given by Professor Walter D. Kamphoefner on October 1, 2020. You can watch the lecture HERE, and find an abstract HERE.
Starting this fall, the Max Kade Institute is offering a new live Virtual Speaker Series. We are inviting guest speakers from around the country and Europe to give live virtual lectures on a variety of German-American topics. The presentations are free and open to the public, but require pre-registration. Our first guest will be Walter …
Most museums, historic homes, libraries, galleries, and other buildings are closed this summer, but there are many places outdoors that we can still visit and explore. Take a road trip, go on a bike ride, or join a walking tour, and make a German-American site your destination! The following are just three suggestions in and around …
As we eagerly await a vaccine and effective treatments for the COVID-19 virus, it is easy to forget how much has changed in the field of medicine in the last 100–150 years. At a time when there were neither vaccines nor antibiotics, people often had to be their own doctors. This is reflected in the …
German immigrants arriving in America marveled at the different flora and fauna they encountered, which included many birds they had never seen before. Some were much bigger or more colorful than the ones they remembered from home. Others looked remarkably familiar, but their songs were different. And some didn’t sing at all. One of the …
One of the hardest things about isolating at home during the COVID-19 crisis is not being able to meet with family and friends. We now Zoom, FaceTime, chat, write emails, or “simply” talk on the phone. In the nineteenth century, when many Germans left for America, they could stay in touch only through letters. It …
