Past Event Category: Lecture
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Feb 25Virtual Lecture: ” German and American Protestant Pastors in Occupied Germany”Brandon Bloch
Free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register for the Zoom Webinar Following Germany’s defeat in 1945 and its occupation by the Allied powers, the German Protestant Church assumed critical social and political roles as both a provider of humanitarian aid and a mediator between the German population and …
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Feb 12Virtual Lecture: “German Americans and the Founding of the United States”Emily Sneff
Free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register for a Zoom link. The names of German Americans do not often come to mind when we think about the founding of the United States. In fact, some of the “Founding Fathers” held negative views of German communities. However, immigrants and …
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Feb 3Language and Place: Poetry in Yiddish and Pennsylvania DutchJosh Brown (UW–Eau Claire), Matt Johnson (UW–Madison), Mark Louden (UW–Madison), Sunny Yudkoff (UW–Madison)
UW–Madison Memorial Union, Old Madison Room, 800 Langdon Street
Yiddish and Pennsylvania Dutch are among a small number of minority languages in North America that are thriving. In addition to being vibrant vernaculars, both languages serve as vehicles for multiple literary and dramatic genres, including poetry. This event will showcase poetic works in Yiddish and Pennsylvania Dutch that deal with the concept of place. Josh Brown (UW–Eau Claire), …
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Nov 20Virtual Lecture: The German Audience for the U.S. Declaration of IndependenceEmily Sneff
Virtual Lecture
Free and open to the public, but registration is required. Click here to register for a Zoom link. July 4, 2026, will mark the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence. Almost immediately after being adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the document was translated into German. Join Dr. Emily …
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Nov 11Eau Claire, WI: Hybrid Lecture “German-Speakers in America: An Overview of Three Hundred Years of Immigration”
Antje Petty
LE Phillips Memorial Public Library, 400 Eau Claire St, Eau Claire, WI and Virtual
This presentation will look at the experiences of German-speaking immigrants who came from Europe in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including the earliest settlers in William Penn’s colony, the three waves of mass immigration in the nineteenth century, and the most recent significant number of arrivals in the 1950s. Antje Petty is the Associate Director …
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Oct 14New Richmond, WI: “The German Presence in Wisconsin”
Mark Louden
Friday Memorial Library, 155 East 1st Street, New Richmond, WI
In this talk Professor Louden will provide an overview of the impact that German-speaking immigrants and their descendants have had in shaping the life and culture of Wisconsin, from the nineteenth century to the present. Mark Louden is the Alfred L. Shoemaker, J. William Frey, and Don Yoder Professor of Germanic Linguistics in the Department of …
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Oct 14Germantown, WI: “German Community Life and Traditions in Wisconsin”
Antje Petty
Germantown Community Library, N112W16957 Mequon Road, Germantown, WI
German immigrants kept many of their traditions while also being part of the state’s multi-lingual and multi-ethnic society. This presentation will look at their organizations and clubs; music, theater, and tavern culture; newspapers and magazines; as well as events today that have a German angle, such as Christmas markets and Oktober fests, but represent a …
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Sep 18Two Rivers, WI: “German Community Life and Traditions in Wisconsin”
Antje Petty
Lester Public Library, 1001 Adams St., Two Rivers, WI 54241
German immigrants kept many of their traditions while also being part of the state’s multi-lingual and multi-ethnic society. This presentation will look at their organizations and clubs; music, theater, and tavern culture; newspapers and magazines; as well as events today that have a German angle, such as Christmas markets and Oktober fests, but represent a …
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Sep 13Monroe, WI: “1972 Supreme Court Decision in Wisconsin versus Yoder”
Mark Louden
Monroe, WI Public Library, 925 16th Ave, Monroe, WI
The 1972 Supreme Court decision in Wisconsin v. Yoder, which upheld Amish parents’ right to determine their children’s education on religious grounds, is considered a landmark in American constitutional history. In this presentation Mark Louden will discuss the background to the case, which began in New Glarus, WI, and its implications today. Mark Louden is …
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Apr 10Virtual Lecture: “Translating History: The Milwaukee Pabst Family Letters (1841–1887)”Viktorija Bilić
Virtual Lecture
Free and open to the public but registration is required. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER A link to the Zoom webinar will be sent to you after registration. In 2005, about 350 letters dated between 1841 and 1887 were discovered at Pabst Farms in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. They were written in the old German Kurrent script by …