40-50% Off on Selected MKI Publications!

Just in time for the holidays and for a limited time only, the MKI drastically reduces the prices of some of its popular books, when ordered directly from the UW Press: click on the link below, add to cart, add promo code KADE11, click checkout and the new price will appear.

"Pickled Herring and Pumpkin Pie: A Nineteenth-Century Cookbook for German Immigrants to America," paper, now $14.95.

"German Jewish Identities in America," cloth, now $14.95.

"Land Without Nightingales: Music in the Making of German America," cloth with CD, now $19.95.

"Atlas of Pennsylvania German," cloth, now $19.95.

"Other Witnesses: An Anthology of Literature of the German Americans, 1850-1914," cloth, now $19.95.

Foremothers: Genealogy and Gender

In a lecture entitled “Foremothers: Genealogy and Gender,” presented on October 8, 2011, for the Dane County Area Genealogical Society, Cora Lee Kluge outlined—using as her example a family that lived in the latter part of the nineteenth century in Janesville, Wisconsin––special difficulties researchers encounter when looking into female ancestors. It is often difficult to find out about their backgrounds, since their names may be subsumed under those of their husbands. Furthermore, they lived their lives for the most part in the private rather than the public sphere, so that official documents and records relating to them may not exist at all. Even death notices, obituaries, and grave markers may be of no help, and the records they left—including diaries, letters, or autobiographical writings—tend to belittle their own contributions and achievements. Cora Lee pointed out that such problems confront all genealogists and researchers, but particularly those looking for immigrant forebears. After outlining resources and approaches that are easily overlooked, she asked whether information about these “anonymous” women would be of interest, concluding that without them, their perspectives, and their interactions with others, we are missing a large and equally valid part of the story.

The MKI Library Project Campaign

We are almost there! As many of you have heard, the Max Kade Institute is now moving to a much larger and more centrally located place on the UW–Madison campus: the University Club. We are using this opportunity to build a state-of-the-art library and archival facility for our unique collections of German-language materials published in North America, including an exhibit space and comfortable reading areas for our patrons. The renovation is budgeted at $1.1 million, and we are within reach of our goal. Please help us preserve this important part of American history and support our efforts to raise the final $200,000.

HELP US RAISE $200,000

Through the end of 2011 all donations will be matched dollar for dollar by the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

· Gifts can be made by check, made out to UW Foundation, with MKI Library Project in the memo line and mailed to: Max Kade Institute, 901 University Bay Dr., Madison, WI 53705

· or online through the MKI Web site: http://mki.wisc.edu (click on “MKI Library Campaign”).

All gifts to the MKI Library Project are fully tax deductible.

For additional information contact: Antje Petty at the Max Kade Institute (608-262-7546) or apetty@wisc.edu