National Carl Schurz Association records

The National Carl Schurz Association, Inc. (NCSA) was originally established in 1930 as the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation (CSMF), named in honor of the ambassador, senator, and Secretary of the Interior on the centenary of his birth. The founders were several German professors and teachers, includ...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Corporate Author: National Carl Schurz Association (Creator)
Collection:National Carl Schurz Association Records
Collection Number:MSS167
Format: Manuscript
Language:English
Online Access:Link to finding aid
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Physical Description: 112.0 Linear feet 225 boxes, 105 volumes, 10 flat files
Summary: The National Carl Schurz Association, Inc. (NCSA) was originally established in 1930 as the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation (CSMF), named in honor of the ambassador, senator, and Secretary of the Interior on the centenary of his birth. The founders were several German professors and teachers, including Ferdinand Thun, Gustav Oberlaender, Henry Janssen, and Hanns Gram, who each wished to promote and improve the teaching of German language and culture, and to foster friendship between the United States and German-speaking countries. Shortly after the Foundation was established, Gustav Oberlaender founded the Oberlaender Trust for the purpose of sponsoring visits by American scholars to German-speaking countries for the purposes of study and research. The trust provided a circulating film library, sponsored lectures and exhibits, and distributed American books to German libraries. Beginning in 1934 the CSMF and the Oberlaender Trust together published a quarterly newspaper, The American-German Review, which shifted to bi-monthly publication in 1938. This paper primarily focused on German culture and arts, with an additional amount of material in each edition pertaining to the projects and successes of the CSMF and Oberlaender Trust. The Oberlaender Trust went out of existence in 1953. In 1962, the CSMF opened to general membership and changed its name to the National Carl Schurz Association, Inc. The association focused on providing and stimulating interest in German studies, facilitating occasional student and teacher exchange, fostering international education, and providing audio-visual language teaching aids. The NCSA continued the publication of the American-German Review. Beginning in 1964 the NCSA worked closely with the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), Inc., sharing headquarter space, personnel, and expenses. The AATG had been established in 1926 for the enhancement of German teaching at schools and universities. In 1968 the AATG and the NCSA established an umbrella organization - the American Council on German Studies (ACGS), Inc. with the mission of raising funds, implementing policies, and prioritizing programs. Also in 1968, the NCSA alone established the National Federation of Students of German (NFSG) division, which promoted German language and culture through clubs and regional chapters at various junior highs, high schools, and colleges across the United States. The NFSG also sponsored summer study abroad programs in Germany. After the NFSG was founded, publication of the American-German Review was halted and the newspaper was folded into a monthly publication, Rundschau [Review], whose distribution was limited primarily to the NFSG membership. In 1972, the NCSA, the AATG, and the ACGS founded Educational Services International, (ESI) Inc., which then developed a large collection of German books, conducting book sales and operating as a travel agency. In the mid-1970s, an increasingly contentious relationship developed among the partners, due to competitive bidding for funding. A state of tension and increasing lack of cooperation over a period of several years ultimately resulted in litigation. It appears that the NCSA, as well as the ACGS and ESI, have not survived these difficulties, although the AATG remains in existence as an independent organization as of 2004. The collection consists of materials that belong to CSMF, the Oberlaender Trust, NCSA, AATG, ACGS, and ESI, with the prevalence of the materials stemming from the NCSA. The majority of the records from each organization are correspondence and financial documents. Other records include organizational charts; bylaws; agreements between partners; convention and annual meeting minutes and reports; committee reports; bicentennial exhibit inventories and catalogs; bicentennial contests essays; membership and employment records; materials that illustrate the programs implemented and provided, and publications. Also present are some of Carl Schurz’s personal documents from unknown sources, including his speeches, certificates, correspondence, memorials, and family genealogy. The collection is completed by scrapbooks, photographs, negatives, slides, and artifacts belonging to each organization.