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FormatBook Chapter
Author, AnalyticWehner, Silke
Title, AnalyticGerman Domestic Servants in America, 1850-1914: A New Look at German Immigrant Women's Experiences
Author, MonographicDirk Hoerder and Jörg Nagler, eds.
Title, MonographicPeople in Transit: German Migrations in Comparative Perspective, 1820-1930
Place of PublicationCambridge
PublisherCambridge University Press/German Historical Institute
Date of Publication1995
Location in Work267-293
View OnlinePDF
Abstract"By investigating the particular motives and conditions of emigration of some of the many young German women belonging to the lower social classes who emigrated -- not as accompanying family members, but as independent individuals or daughters traveling without their parents -- it will be shown that their experiences are too important to be ignored. My argument contends that the experiences of young German women could in fact have had an accelerating influence on the process of acculturation of these young women and their future children. . . .

"Because they used domestic service as an ideal 'springboard' into life in America, their social position and opportunities as young single women had changed tremendously compared with their situation in Germany, even if they did not pursue a professional career or reach an upper-class lifestyle."
Call NumberDigital file (PDF)
MKI TermsWomen/ German Americans/ United States -- History/ Social conditions/ Employment