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FormatJournal Article
Author, AnalyticKluge, Cora Lee
Title, AnalyticTheodor Kirchhoff and the German Scandal of the American West: Hurdy-Gurdy Dancing Girls from the Rhine
Journal TitleMax Kade Institute Friends Newsletter
Date of PublicationSpring 2007
Volume ID16
Issue ID1
Location in Work10, 13, ill.
AbstractIn the Wild West of the 1850 and 1860s, dance halls and saloons advertised that "Hurdy-Gurdy girls" were available for the entertainment of miners. Most of these women were from the Duchy of Nassau and the Darmstadt area. Questions about the circumstances under which they had come to American and what their role was in the West were hotly debated in German lands and in the German press. Theodor Kirchhoff, a native of Holstein, had come to the U.S. in 1851 and had lived in many parts of the country. In 1865 he sent his eye-witness report to the German illustrated magazine, Die Gartenlaube. A translation of part of his report is included.
Call NumberMKI Periodicals
MKI TermsUnited States -- History/ United States -- Foreign public opinion, German -- History/ Kirchhoff, Theodor, 1828-1899/ Women