Contributors Sought for GHI Project on Immigrant Entrepreneurship

The German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. (GHI) is seeking contributors for a massive project "aimed at fostering research into the cornerstones of the American experience." Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present will, according to the Institute,

consist of approximately 250 biographical articles of first- and second-generation German-American entrepreneurs, contextual essays that explore the wider business and immigration themes of the period, and a complementary website providing a wealth of additional material. . . . The project will trace their lives, careers and business ventures from colonial times to the present, integrating the history of German-American immigration into the larger narrative of U.S. economic and business history and situating the American past in a transnational framework. Key questions that will be addressed include the importance of business strategies, knowledge transfer, forms and sources of entrepreneurship, and change over time. . . . A project team at the GHI will coordinate an interdisciplinary group of scholars from both sides of the Atlantic who will contribute to a multi-volume print publication and an online platform. The electronic resource will include statistics and raw data on businesses and immigration, visual materials such as archival photos and video clips, interviews with contemporary entrepreneurs, business documents and personal correspondence.

German immigrant David G. Yuengling founded the
Eagle Brewery in 1829.

The volume editors are:

Volume 1: "From the Colonial Economy to Early Industrialization, 1720-1840": Marianne Wokeck (Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis)

Volume 2: "The Emergence of an Industrial Nation, 1840-1893": William J. Hausman (College of William & Mary)

Volume 3: "From the End of the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era, 1893-1918": Giles R. Hoyt (Max Kade German-American Research and Resource Center, Indiana University, Purdue University Indianapolis)

Volume 4: "The Age of the World Wars, 1918-1945": Jeff Fear (University of Redlands)

Volume 5: "From the Post-war Boom to Global Capitalism, 1945-Today": R. Daniel Wadhwani (University of the Pacific)

The GHI is seeking scholars who are interested and/or have done research on businesspeople, companies, industries, or regions where German-Americans were active to contribute a 15-20–page essay to this project. Contributors will receive an honorarium of $400. For more information, such as the project proposal, a list of potential candidates, and guidelines for writing an essay, please see www.ghi-dc.org/entrepreneurship or email the project coordinator Jessica Csoma.