St. Louis Public Library

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Source: www.slpl.org

ST. LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARY CELEBRATES THE CITY'S GERMAN HERITAGE WITH TWO SPECIAL EVENTS

The St. Louis Public Library is proud to celebrate the City's German Heritage with two special events, a genealogical seminar and an author visit from local historian Jim Merkel, in March. Both events are FREE and open to the public.

             On March 5, the Library presents WILLKOMMEN! A Day of German Genealogy at Central Library.  The Library is teaming with the Germanic Genealogy Group of the German American Heritage Society in offering a FREE day-long seminar on March 5 at Central Library, 1301 Olive St.,from 9 a.m. –4 p.m.  (Locust Street Entrance doors open at 8:30 a.m.).  Registration is required.  Call 314.539.0385 or visit the Library's Calendar of Events.

The seminar,  German Genealogy Research: Beyond the Basics, consists of four classes presented by noted speaker and author, Dr. Roger P. Minert.  Topics include Cemeteries in Central Europe, Deciphering Handwriting in German Documents, Communicating with Agencies and Individuals in Europe, and Census Records in Germany.  

Minert received his doctoral degree from Ohio State University in German language history and second language acquisition theory. Accredited by the Family History Library for research in Germany and Austria, he has more than 238,000 hours in research experience and has spent four years in Germany and two years in Austria. In 2003, he became a professor of family history at Brigham Young University. He is the author of ninety books and articles and is currently directing the research project, German Immigrants in American Church Records.  His newest book, German Census Records, 1816-1916, is currently being published and will soon be available. Attendees may order Dr. Minert's books at the event. Personal checks will be accepted. Representatives from various German cultural groups in the St. Louis area will also be on hand to provide information about their organizations.

             If you want to attend only one or two of the classes, please contact Library Staff at 314.539.0385.

             For those attending the all of the programs, lunch may be pre-ordered through Urban Eats Café Central.

         On March 26, the Library presents local author/historian Jim Merkel as part of

its popular Authors @ Your Library series.Have breakfast with Merkel as he discusses and signs his most recent books, including an expanded second edition of his bestselling Beer, Brats, and Baseball: St. Louis Germans, at the Buder Branch, 4401 Hampton Ave.,at 10:30 a.m.

As much as St. Louis is a French city, it's also a German city. Merkel explores the "often-serious, sometimes funny, and truly amazing story of Germans in the Gateway City from the arrival of the first German priest right after the City's founding to the present."

Immigrant Germans started arriving in large numbers in the 1830s. On the eve of the American Civil War, "native-born Germans amounted to more than a quarter of the city's population, with their own newspapers, theaters, clubs, and churches. After the Civil War ended, Germans brewed the beer, named the streets, ran the local baseball team, and were a force in city politics. In their drive for success, which some might call Teutonic stubbornness, Germans formed industries, communities, and institutions that remain vibrant today."

Merkel has written other books for Reedy Press, including Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch: St. Louis' South Side;and The Making of an Icon: The Dreamers, The Schemers, and The Hard Hats Who Built the Gateway Arch.

             Books available for purchase courtesy of the author.

   According to the latest U.S. Census data, German is the largest ancestral group in the country with nearly 50 million Americans claiming German ancestry. In Missouri and Illinois, nearly 4 million persons claim German heritage, with 750,577 of these descendants in the metropolitan St. Louis area alone.

During the early half of the 19th century, thousands of German immigrants made their way to the St. Louis area and settled on both the Missouri and Illinois sides of the Mississippi River. By 1860, German immigrants and their children composed sixty percent of the St. Louis population. Learn more about German Americans in St. Louis, by visiting the Library's online exhibit, Lasting Impressions: German-Americans in St. Louis

For more information,visit slpl.org or call 314.241.2288.

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