Kurt Mueller-Vollmer (Stanford) will lecture on “How the German BROCKHAUS became the ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA: A Case Study in German-American Cultural Transfer” from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in Dwinelle 219.
The presentation is aimed at expanding the traditional horizon of German-American Studies beyond immigrants’ lore or influence studies to include the important domain of the historical interaction between the two cultures that occurred within the mainstream of American intellectual andc ultural history. As case in point the making of the ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA by the German-American Francis Lieber between 1828 and 1832 will be closely examined, its contents and structure as instrument of transcultural communication be analyzed and its historical effectiveness be assessed.