Are you a historian trying to decipher old German handwritten documents? A genealogist researching your German-speaking ancestors?  In this workshop, Mark Louden will introduce you to the basics of reading German handwritten materials, with a special focus on those from the 19th century. Antje Petty will give suggestions on how to work with German-language genealogical records. The workshop combines presentations with practical exercises. You are welcome to bring your own documents to work on. Though a reading knowledge of German is helpful, it is not required.

Join the Friends for this fun workshop on September 30, 2017, in Milwaukee.  For more details, including registration information, click HERE.

Check out the latest Friends Newsletter! Become a member, if you have not received your issue in the mail.  You will find the following articles:
–Report on the MKI Symposium “People of Faith, Voices of Tradition”
–Friends Annual Meeting 2017: An Exploration of Milwaukee’s German Art
–Welcome to Three New Members on the Friends Board of Directors
–Mark Twain’s “Magnanimous-Incident” Hero and Berthold Brecht’s “The Good Person of Szechwan”

Explore German Art in Milwaukee with the Friends

This year’s Friends of the Max Kade Institute Annual Meeting will take us to Milwaukee, where we will learn about the magnificent German art treasures that have been collected in the city for well over 150 years. We will begin with a private, guided tour of the German art collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM), where, after major renovations, a thousand works of art have been added to the galleries.

Our day will continue with the annual meeting and a dinner at the Envoy Restaurant in the historic Ambassador Inn Hotel, an Art Deco icon. We will conclude the evening with a lecture entitled “German Art, American City: The Fishman Collection in Milwaukee’s Museums” by Curtis L. Carter, Professor of Philosophy and Aesthetics at Marquette University.

For details and registration information click HERE.

The Winter 2016-2017  issue of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute Newsletter is here! Read about:
— “A Trip to the Haslibacher Farm” in Switzerland’s Emmental Valley
— The Friends of the Max Kade Institute’s upcoming Annual Meeting on May 7 in Milwaukee
— “Handwritten Letters and Family Histories”
— The upcoming MKI International Symposium “People of Faith, Voices of Tradition: Germanic Heritage Languages among Christians and Jews.”
— “Ersatz Kaffee Ads from the World War I Period”

The Friends of the Max Kade Institute are an exceptional group. We value the work of the Institute because it sheds light on the German-American experience and on the inter­connected­ness of people’s lives, past and present. In this way, the MKI shows that German-American studies is not just about the past, but it is very much a part of today’s America.

I want you to know that your participation throughout the year, along with your membership in the Friends, sustains the daily work and programming of this unique Institute. Please renew your membership now, and consider a gift membership for a friend or family member. Please, also support the Max Kade Institute Library Project Campaign, now entering its final, decisive year.  (John Pustejovsky, President)