Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Library/Resources

The Library and Archives of the Max Kade Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are a resource for those seeking a better understanding of the experiences of German-speaking immigrants to North America and their descendants.

The MKI Library and Archives include rare German-language items written or published in America, ranging from cookbooks and religious works to family records, historical texts, and literature, as well as magazines, pamphlets, photos, and other materials. The Max Kade Institute is dedicated to preserving these documents and serving as a repository for them to ensure that they remain available to scholars and the general public for generations to come. A virtual exhibit of some of our books can be viewed online.

IncluCover of "Vom Lande des Sternenbanners," poems by Neeffded in the Max Kade Institute’s holdings are:

  • More than 3200 books, pamphlets, and periodicals in the German language published in America, and/or by German-American authors;
  • More than 5300 books, articles, and pamphlets dealing with the emigration experiences and the political, cultural, and religious aspects of German, Swiss, and Austrian settlement in North America;
  • A collection of more than 400 family histories, diaries, and manuscripts of German-speaking immigrants and descendants;
  • More than thirty current journals or newsletters on the subject of German-American studies or genealogy.
  • The North American German Dialect Archive (NAGDA), which contains several thousand hours of recordings of immigrant dialects from the mid-1940s to the present.

Our collections continue to grow, and we welcome donations of books and other documents. Please check our Donate Materials to the Library page, or contact MKI Librarian and Archivist Kevin Kurdylo.

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The Max Kade Institute Library has received significant support from the Max Kade Institute Library Project Campaign, which has been made possible in part by major funding from the  Max Kade Foundation, New York and by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this Web resource do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.