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FormatJournal Article
Author, AnalyticRamsden, Randi Julia
Title, AnalyticShaping Identity: The History of German-Language Newspapers in Wisconsin
Journal TitleWisconsin Magazine of History
Date of PublicationFall 2016
Volume ID100
Issue ID1
Location in Work28-43, ill.
View Onlinehttp://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wmh/id/52450/show/52419/rec/3
AbstractAlmost five and a half million immigrants arrived in the United States from the German Confederation and the German Empire between 1820 and 1910. By 1914, there were 66 German-language newspapers in Wisconsin serving the state's German immigrant communities. But when the US government declared war against Germany in 1917, these papers were declared a potential threat to national security. As the need for a unified American identity and the pressures of censorship grew, the decline of the German-language press in Wisconsin increased. Within the four years of the war, about 36 percent of these papers disappeared. This article chronicles the process by which German-language newspapers started as a side effect of German immigration and ended under the rise of patriotism, but ultimately proved to be a central influence in shaping Wisconsin culture.
Notes2 copies (original magazine and photocopy.) Includes bibliographical references.
Call NumberMKI P2017-02
MKI TermsNewspapers, German-American/ Wisconsin/ German Americans -- Wisconsin/ Ethnic identity/ 16th century/ 19th century/ World War, 1914-1918