Page DescriptionA first-generation immigrant, George Gebelein earned acclaim for the superb quality of his handcrafted silver products, finding success as a craftsman in an era when mass-produced goods had replaced handcrafted products.
TeaserA first-generation immigrant, George Gebelein earned acclaim for the superb quality of his handcrafted silver products, finding success as a craftsman in an era when mass-produced goods had replaced handcrafted products.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Craft, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, G, Manufacturing, Metals and Mining, New England,
Page DescriptionAugust and George Gemünder pioneered high-quality violin making and trading in the United States and were responsible for establishing violin making as a respected craft in the U.S. and also for facilitating the flow of classical violins into the country.
TeaserAugust and George Gemünder pioneered high-quality violin making and trading in the United States and were responsible for establishing violin making as a respected craft in the U.S. and also for facilitating the flow of classical violins into the country.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Craft, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, G, Manufacturing, Mid-Atlantic, Musical Instruments, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893,
TeaserIn 1895, Arnold Genthe accepted an offer to work as a tutor for an affluent German-American family in San Francisco. In between tutoring responsibilities, he taught himself photography and began publishing some of his photographs in local magazines. By 1901, he had already become one of the most sought-after portrait photographers on the West Coast. His award-winning photographic landscapes and pictures would soon bring both domestic and international recognition.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, G, Mid-Atlantic, Optics and Photography, Pacific West, Protestant,
Article TitleThe German Component to American Industrialization
Page TitleThe German Component to American Industrialization
Short TitleThe German Component to American Industrialization
Index TitleGerman Component to American Industrialization
Page Keywords
Page DescriptionThe era from 1840 to 1893 was a momentous one both for German-American immigration and for U.S. industrialization, so it bears examining to what extent the two developments were interrelated. This essay will first sketch out the contours of German immigration and American industrialization in this era. It then identifies areas of the U.S. economy where Germans were particularly concentrated, and examines the industrial and geographic niches where transatlantic connections were of greatest consequence. Shifting focus from global to individual patterns, it then explores what was German and what was American about German-American entrepreneurship in the mid- and late nineteenth century.
TeaserThe era from 1840 to 1893 was a momentous one both for German-American immigration and for U.S. industrialization, so it bears examining to what extent the two developments were interrelated. This essay will first sketch out the contours of German immigration and American industrialization in this era. It then identifies areas of the U.S. economy where Germans were particularly concentrated, and examines the industrial and geographic niches where transatlantic connections were of greatest consequence. Shifting focus from global to individual patterns, it then explores what was German and what was American about German-American entrepreneurship in the mid- and late nineteenth century.
TermsA-Z, Brewing, Encyclopedia, Entries, G, Migration, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893, Thematic Essays,
Article TitleGerman Corporate Entrepreneurs in Nineteenth Century America
Page TitleGerman Corporate Entrepreneurs in Nineteenth Century America
Short TitleGerman Corporate Entrepreneurs in Nineteenth Century America
Index TitleGerman Corporate Entrepreneurs in Nineteenth Century America
Page Keywords
Page Description
TeaserMany of the Germans who came to the United States in the nineteenth century were entrepreneurs, some in the more mundane sense of owning their own businesses, others in the more exciting sense of being innovators within various business sectors. Germans also appear to have been more likely to engage in entrepreneurial activities on a scale large enough to require the formation of corporations. That hypothesis stems from the analysis of a database of the names of several hundred thousand incorporators, people (mostly men) who helped for-profit businesses to receive special charters granted by state legislatures across the United States between 1790 and 1861.
TermsA-Z, Corporations, Encyclopedia, Entries, G, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893, Thematic Essays,
Article TitleGerman Immigrants and J. P. Morgan’s Securities Underwriting Syndicates
Page TitleGerman Immigrants and J. P. Morgan’s Securities Underwriting Syndicates
Short TitleGerman Immigrants and J. P. Morgan’s Securities Underwriting Syndicates
Index TitleGerman Immigrants and J. P. Morgan’s Securities Underwriting Syndicates
Page Keywords
Page DescriptionThe Immigrant Entrepreneurship project offers a transnational perspective on American history. Transaction records from the J. P. Morgan & Co. Syndicate Books help us understand how a transnational society of bankers networked funds around the world by forming syndicates to support the globalization process. Syndicate participation provided a way for many German immigrants and German-Americans to attain both economic success and social status in America.
TeaserThe Immigrant Entrepreneurship project offers a transnational perspective on American history. Transaction records from the J. P. Morgan & Co. Syndicate Books help us understand how a transnational society of bankers networked funds around the world by forming syndicates to support the globalization process. Syndicate participation provided a way for many German immigrants and German-Americans to attain both economic success and social status in America.
TermsA-Z, Banking and Finance, Brewing, Electronics, Encyclopedia, Entertainment Industry, Entries, Food and Food Processing, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, G, Manufacturing, Metals, Mining, and Resource Extraction, Retail, Thematic Essays,
Article TitleGerman Immigrants in the United States Brewing Industry
Page TitleGerman Immigrants in the United States Brewing Industry
Short TitleGerman Immigrants in the United States Brewing Industry
Index TitleGerman Immigrants in the United States Brewing Industry
Page Keywords
Page Description
TeaserImmigrant groups in the United States sometimes find an economic niche that allows them to become dominant in a particular business, or, at the very least, to become associated with that niche in the public mind. For the German-American community before nationwide Prohibition (1920–1933), domination of the American brewing industry was both a cliché and a reality.
TermsA-Z, Brewing, Encyclopedia, Entries, G, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893, Thematic Essays,
Page DescriptionPeddling helped launch the Jewish migration out of Germany and its predecessor states. The knowledge that thousands of young single men could come to America and get on the road, laden with a jumble of goods on their backs, and reasonably hope to end up a married proprietor of a thriving business, propelled them. The fact that they could fulfill the aims of their migration, settle down, and succeed in business, also helped change the face of the Jewish world for decades to come.
TeaserPeddling helped launch the Jewish migration out of Germany and its predecessor states. The knowledge that thousands of young single men could come to America and get on the road, laden with a jumble of goods on their backs, and reasonably hope to end up a married proprietor of a thriving business, propelled them. The fact that they could fulfill the aims of their migration, settle down, and succeed in business, also helped change the face of the Jewish world for decades to come.
TermsA-Z, Encyclopedia, Entries, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, G, German-Jewish, Retail, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893, Thematic Essays,
Article TitleGerman Social Entrepreneurs and the First Kindergartens in Nineteenth Century America
Page TitleGerman Social Entrepreneurs and the First Kindergartens in Nineteenth Century America
Short TitleGerman Social Entrepreneurs and the First Kindergartens in Nineteenth Century America
Index TitleGerman Social Entrepreneurs and the First Kindergartens in Nineteenth Century America
Page Keywords
Page Description
TeaserTwo German women, Caroline Louisa Frankenberg and Margarethe Meyer Schurz, are credited with bringing the kindergarten movement to the nineteenth-century United States by opening kindergartens that served children of German immigrants. They conducted classes in the German language and were social entrepreneurs in that they made an innovative, long-term, social impact on the American educational system. Their primary interest was not personal financial gain, but rather the humanistic, social, and educational development of children. As word spread of their efforts, Anglo-American educators took note and grew the movement, establishing English-language kindergartens and kindergarten training schools for teachers. The creation of kindergartens fundamentally changed how Americans thought about the ideal environment for beginning a child’s education.
TermsA-Z, Education, Encyclopedia, Entries, G, Midwest, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893, Thematic Essays,
Page DescriptionWorld War I had a devastating effect on German-Americans and their cultural heritage. Up until that point, German-Americans, as a group, had been spared much of the discrimination, abuse, rejection, and collective mistrust experienced by so many different racial and ethnic groups in the history of the United States. Indeed, over the years, they had been viewed as a well-integrated and esteemed part of American society. All of this changed with the outbreak of war.
TeaserWorld War I had a devastating effect on German-Americans and their cultural heritage. Up until that point, German-Americans, as a group, had been spared much of the discrimination, abuse, rejection, and collective mistrust experienced by so many different racial and ethnic groups in the history of the United States. Indeed, over the years, they had been viewed as a well-integrated and esteemed part of American society. All of this changed with the outbreak of war.
TermsA-Z, Anti-German Sentiments, Citizenship, Encyclopedia, Entries, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, G, Thematic Essays,
TeaserJelly Belly traces its roots to the entrepreneurial efforts of Gustav Goelitz, who came to the United States in 1866 and with his younger brothers, Albert and George, built a successful confectionery business, Gustav Goelitz Candy, in Belleville, Illinois, and later Goelitz Brothers' Candy in St. Louis, Missouri.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, Food and Food Processing, G, Midwest, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893,
Article TitleHenry Goldman: Immigrant Outsider as Empire Builder
Page TitleHenry Goldman: Immigrant Outsider as Empire Builder
Short TitleHenry Goldman
Index TitleGoldman, Henry
Page Keywords
Page DescriptionToday, second generation German-Jewish immigrant Henry Goldman is primarily remembered for his role as an early partner in Goldman Sachs, the international investment bank that still bears his family’s name. His accomplishments stretched well beyond his own firm, however. In addition to revolutionizing Goldman Sachs, he helped change the American economy by shifting investment banking away from railroads and heavy industry and toward mass-retail establishments. He also pioneered an approach to capital valuation that focused not on physical assets, but on future earnings.
TeaserToday, second generation German-Jewish immigrant Henry Goldman is primarily remembered for his role as an early partner in Goldman Sachs, the international investment bank that still bears his family’s name. His accomplishments stretched well beyond his own firm, however. In addition to revolutionizing Goldman Sachs, he helped change the American economy by shifting investment banking away from railroads and heavy industry and toward mass-retail establishments. He also pioneered an approach to capital valuation that focused not on physical assets, but on future earnings.
TermsA-Z, Banking and Finance, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, G, German-Jewish, Mid-Atlantic, Retail, Second Generation,
TeaserMarcus Goldman immigrated to the United States in 1848. After twenty-one years working as an itinerant peddler and a shopkeeper, he carved out a niche for himself in commercial promissory notes forming what would eventually become Goldman, Sachs & Co.
TermsA-Z, Banking and Finance, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, G, German-Jewish, Mid-Atlantic, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893,
Page DescriptionBrothers Barnard Gratz and Michael Gratz were merchants and land speculators from the Prussian occupied territory of Silesia whose commercial enterprises connected Philadelphia to port cities in other continental American colonies, the Caribbean, and Europe, and to the North American frontier.
TeaserBrothers Barnard Gratz and Michael Gratz were merchants and land speculators from the Prussian occupied territory of Silesia whose commercial enterprises connected Philadelphia to port cities in other continental American colonies, the Caribbean, and Europe, and to the North American frontier.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, From the Colonial Economy to Early Industrialization, 1720-1840, G, German-Jewish, Import and Export, Mid-Atlantic, Real Estate, Retail,
TeaserJoseph Griesedieck was one of the most influential brewers in St. Louis in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. From the 1880s to the 1910s, he helped run several city breweries. At the outset of Prohibition, he acquired the Falstaff label and built the Falstaff Corporation around it. While many other brewers failed during Prohibition, Griesedieck kept his company afloat by selling “near beer,” soft drinks, carbonated water, and pork products. After the repeal of Prohibition, he obtained the first federal permit to begin brewing beer legally again. Within five years, the Falstaff Brewing Corporation was operating four plants in three states and had gained a national market.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Brewing, Catholic, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, Food and Food Processing, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, G, Midwest,
Page DescriptionEckhart Grohmann does not fit the all-too-familiar narrative of the old world European immigrant peasant turned captain of industry that permeates much of the American popular memory. Grohmann was already a member of the entrepreneurial class in Germany. After immigrating to the United States, he acquired his own company, Aluminum Casting and Engineering Co., a small Milwaukee foundry that he expanded into a major firm.
TeaserEckhart Grohmann does not fit the all-too-familiar narrative of the old world European immigrant peasant turned captain of industry that permeates much of the American popular memory. Grohmann was already a member of the entrepreneurial class in Germany. After immigrating to the United States, he acquired his own company, Aluminum Casting and Engineering Co., a small Milwaukee foundry that he expanded into a major firm.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, From the Postwar Boom to Global Capitalism, 1945-Today, G, Metals and Mining,
TeaserAfter learning the watchmaking trade in the Black Forest region, Dietrich Gruen immigrated to the United States, where he eventually patented an improved center pinion for watches. This innovation became the foundation of Gruen’s business ventures, which included the Gruen Watch Company, a leading watch manufacturing firm that operated for half a century.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Craft and Artisanal Economy, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, G, Manufacturing, Midwest, Protestant,
Page DescriptionCarl Hilmar Guenther established a mill on the Texas frontier in 1851 that grew into one of the largest food processing companies in the nation, producing well-known flour brands such as Pioneer and White Wings, home baking products under the Morrison Mills name, and Sun-Bird and Williams prepared foods. Guenther originally came to America in 1848, seeking greater political freedom and hoping for economic opportunity.
TeaserCarl Hilmar Guenther established a mill on the Texas frontier in 1851 that grew into one of the largest food processing companies in the nation, producing well-known flour brands such as Pioneer and White Wings, home baking products under the Morrison Mills name, and Sun-Bird and Williams prepared foods. Guenther originally came to America in 1848, seeking greater political freedom and hoping for economic opportunity.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, Food and Food Processing, G, Protestant, Southeast, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893,
TeaserKonstantin Guericke is a web 2.0 pioneer and co-founder of LinkedIn, the world’s largest online business network. Guericke first came to the United States as a high school exchange student and then returned to pursue further studies at Stanford University. Benefiting from a unique environment for innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration, he found pathways to Silicon Valley’s high tech start-up scene.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Computers, Internet, and Software, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, From the Postwar Boom to Global Capitalism, 1945-Today, G, Pacific West, Telecommunications,
Page DescriptionFelix Guggenheim emigrated to the United States in 1940. An influential publisher in Germany, Guggenheim was able to utilize his former contacts to establish a successful business as a literary agent and legal advisor for clients in the U.S. and in Germany after the end of World War II.
TeaserFelix Guggenheim emigrated to the United States in 1940. An influential publisher in Germany, Guggenheim was able to utilize his former contacts to establish a successful business as a literary agent and legal advisor for clients in the U.S. and in Germany after the end of World War II.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, From the Postwar Boom to Global Capitalism, 1945-Today, G, German-Jewish, Manufacturing, Nazi Germany, Pacific West, Publishing,
Page DescriptionLeopold H. Guldman was born in 1852 to Jewish parents in Harburg, a village in the kingdom of Bavaria. After arriving in the U.S., Guldman eventually made his way to Colorado, where he opened small outlets in bustling mining towns and supplied goods to miners. By 1879, at the age of twenty-six, he founded the Golden Eagle Dry Goods Company, which quickly became one of Denver’s leading popular-price department stores.
TeaserLeopold H. Guldman was born in 1852 to Jewish parents in Harburg, a village in the kingdom of Bavaria. After arriving in the U.S., Guldman eventually made his way to Colorado, where he opened small outlets in bustling mining towns and supplied goods to miners. By 1879, at the age of twenty-six, he founded the Golden Eagle Dry Goods Company, which quickly became one of Denver’s leading popular-price department stores.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, G, German-Jewish, Mountain West, Retail,
TeaserHeinrich (Henry) Hackfeld was born in Almsloh, a village in the parish of Ganderkesee, in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. He eventually became part of the Bremish mercantile elite, but was atypical in that he came from a humble background. His firm, H. Hackfeld & Co. of Honolulu, was one of a number of German mercantile businesses founded in Melanesia and Polynesia during the nineteenth century. Initially the main focus of the firm’s business was both indirect and direct involvement in the North Pacific whaling industry. After the demise of this industry, at the beginning of the 1870s, the firm shifted its focus to another part of its business, the provision of factoring services to the Hawaiian sugar industry. By the time of the incorporation of Hawaii as a United States Territory in 1900 the firm was one of a small group of sugar factors that dominated the islands’ economy.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, H, Pacific West, Protestant, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893, Trading, Transportation,
Article TitleAdam Hammer and the Reform of Higher Medical Education in the United States: The Creation of the Humboldt Institute in St. Louis
Page TitleAdam Hammer and the Reform of Higher Medical Education in the United States: The Creation of the Humboldt Institute in St. Louis
Short TitleAdam Hammer
Index TitleHammer, Adam
Page Keywords
Page DescriptionAdam Hammer was a German physician who immigrated to St. Louis, after having participated in the uprising in Baden. Soon after his arrival in the United States he became aware of the deficiencies in the American medical education system. He determined that the most effective remedy for the situation would be to carry out a comprehensive reform of the medical sector using the educational and medical practices of Germany as a model. Hammer’s entrepreneurial significance is found in his contributions to society as a social entrepreneur in the worlds of academia and public health, rather than as a profitable commercial entrepreneur.
TeaserAdam Hammer was a German physician who immigrated to St. Louis, after having participated in the uprising in Baden. Soon after his arrival in the United States he became aware of the deficiencies in the American medical education system. He determined that the most effective remedy for the situation would be to carry out a comprehensive reform of the medical sector using the educational and medical practices of Germany as a model. Hammer’s entrepreneurial significance is found in his contributions to society as a social entrepreneur in the worlds of academia and public health, rather than as a profitable commercial entrepreneur.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Catholic, Education, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, H, Midwest, Philanthropy and Social Advocacy, The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893,
Page DescriptionPeter Hasenclever was a German-born international businessman active from approximately 1733 until 1792. From 1764 to 1770, he resided in the British colonies of New York and New Jersey, where he established an ultimately unsuccessful transatlantic enterprise to produce, transport, and market iron and steel.
TeaserPeter Hasenclever was a German-born international businessman active from approximately 1733 until 1792. From 1764 to 1770, he resided in the British colonies of New York and New Jersey, where he established an ultimately unsuccessful transatlantic enterprise to produce, transport, and market iron and steel.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Encyclopedia, Entries, From the Colonial Economy to Early Industrialization, 1720-1840, H, Manufacturing, Metals and Mining, Mid-Atlantic, Protestant,
TeaserJacob Hasslacher has been counted among the American chemical industry’s “founding fathers.” The manufacture and sale of specialty chemicals was more advanced in his native country than in his adopted one, and his firm, the Roessler & Hasslacher Chemical Company, benefited from its German connections during most of the period in which it was led by Hasslacher.
TermsA-Z, Biographies, Chemical Industry, Encyclopedia, Entries, First Generation, From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918, H, Mid-Atlantic, Pharmaceutical Industry,
