The message below directs readers to a website. I used AOL to search and came up with an error message. Then I searched with Google and found the website. The site is worth a visit for anyone with interest in German Americans or German settlers of Wisconsin. Karen Cross posted from the GACGS list: -- (German American and German Canadian Scholars) In a message dated 4/18/2006 11:38:02 AM Mountain Standard Time, jsalmons@WISC.EDU writes: From: Antje Petty <apetty@wisc.edu> Max Kade Institute for German- American Studies, University of Wisconsin – Madison Date: April 17, 2006 11:36:12 AM CDT How German is American? A New Outreach and Educational Project According to the U.S. Census conducted in 2000, 42.8 million Americans identified themselves as being of German ancestry, representing 15.2% of the total U.S. population. That is more than the next largest group, Irish Americans (10.8%), or any other group. At the same time, there is little evidence of a distinct German- American subculture in America today. How to explain this conundrum? Has German-American identity been submerged over the last century? Have German-Americans, consciously or not, come to identify themselves according to new categories that cut across ethnic lines? Or can influences deriving from German-speaking immigrants actually still be seen flowing in the mainstream and tributaries of American culture? By asking the question How German is American? the Max Kade Institute hopes to engage its audience in examining the various ways, past and present, that German-speaking immigrants to the United States and their descendants have contributed to and been influenced by the American cultures. The project consists of a poster, companion booklet, and Web page. Featured on the poster are twenty historic and contemporary images that reflect major themes of German-American-German cultural exchange. The timelessness of these themes is underscored by the poster layout based on principles of the Bauhaus school of design, which was influential both in Europe and in this country. Images range from an eighteenth century oil-painting depicting Moravian missionary David Zeisberger preaching to Native Americans and a 1898 map showing the distribution of European-born German speakers in the U.S., to a photo of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and a Zits cartoon prominently featuring the word “über” in this century. Together the images portray how influences from German-speaking immigrants endure in the United States often in almost invisible ways. While short captions identify the pictures on the back of the poster, the more comprehensive 48-page companion booklet puts them into a broader thematic context in four sections: Settling in America, Building Communities, Growing into the Nation, and Shaping Culture. Here the images are touchstones for a broader discussion of continuous transatlantic ties and even though they derive from a specifically German-American context, the issues they raise in this country apply across cultural lines. Poster and booklet are downloadable on the MKI Web site: http:// mki.wisc.edu which represents another important branch of this project. While poster and booklet represent finished products, the How German is America? Web site will continue to evolve. In the coming months we will post additional materials, a German translation of the booklet, and lesson plan ideas for teachers on the site. We also very much welcome your feedback. We do not expect a definitive response to the question How German is American?, but we hope that viewers and readers will be informed and inspired to think about “Germanness” and “Americanness” in new ways. Your insights and comments will be an important part of the evolution of this project. If you would like to have a free poster or booklet mailed to you, please contact Kevin Kurdylo, kkurdylo@wisc.edu or 608-262-7546. Shipping and handling charges will apply.