Speaker(s):
Daniel Hammer
Location:
Union South, UW-Madison
Co-sponsor(s):
UW-Madison German Department, Center for German and European Studies, History Department, School of Library and Information Sciences
Description:
This talk uses primary source objects and documents to explore the history of Germans in New Orleans and ask questions about where this history is convergent with, and where it is divergent from the regular narrative of German-American history. Topics explored include the establishment of a German colony outside of New Orleans in the 1720s, German experiences in New Orleans during the first half of the 19th Century, including German influences on the New Orleans cultural scene at that time, social and charitable organizations from ca. 1850 forward, and impacts of World War One on the local German community. Moreover, the discussion will also include comments on the challenges of preserving an archival collection of considerable significance, but with many barriers to access, including condition, language and paleography, and obscurity.
Daniel Hammer is Deputy Director of The Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum, research center and publisher dedicated to preserving the history and culture of New Orleans and the gulf south. He has a Bachelor’s degree in German literature from Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation from Tulane University School of Architecture. He works closely with The Collection’s significant holdings relating to the history of the German community in New Orleans.