Hey, summer has arrived. For some people, this means heading to Bradford Beach or the local parks. A good idea, I heartily approve. For others, 90-degree weather is a bit too warm for them. I am in that camp, give me the 60-degree and 70-degree days, and I am in heaven. Hey, Salzmann has air conditioning! It feels wonderful.
I also want to make special mention of an exhibit that is set up here at the Salzmann Library. The project is entitled “Milwaukee’s German Newspapers: An index of death notices and related items at the Salzmann Library.” It is an incredible resource for anybody looking to do genealogical research on German ancestry from between 1844 – 1930. The creator of this amazing index, Gary Rebholz, has done an incredible job of scouring the microfilms from our collection here at Salzmann and the collection at the Milwaukee Public Library, and creating this index with the names of the individuals, the date the name appeared in the paper, and even which column and page of the paper it is.
Gary started working on this project 4 years ago, and it is a personal project that he works on when he has time. All quotations are from a personal interview with Gary. “German papers are such an incredible resource for the working class… (I was) afraid that they would be all about the beer barons but, no, they are about the middle class people that were the “movers” in their church and Germanic circles.” He does this with no thought of recompense. “This is not a money-making project, and never will be.” He has been able to help people all over the world, from Germany to Australia to many places in the United States. “It was astonishing to me that nobody had done anything like this before.” Having been a professional singer, concentrating on the classics, he had to learn foreign languages, and this is where he picked up German, as well as Italian, French and Latin.
If you have any questions for him, he can be reached at grebholz@yahoo.com, as well as on his blog or his website. However, you can always visit us here to look at the exhibit, as well as use our two microfilm machines (bring a digital camera or camera phone with you) to look at the newspapers themselves. So, if you are interested in your German heritage, come in and use this incredible, growing resource.
As always, if you have any ideas and comments for things I could change, please let me know. These are always appreciated, anything I can do to make this better I will strive my best to accomplish.
Here is some of the basic information about the library:
- Our standard hours are Tuesdays, Thursdays, 12 to 8 p.m.; Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Our address is 3257 S. Lake Dr. St. Francis, WI 53235, right next to Henni Hall, due west of the South Parking Lot.
- The library’s phone number is (414) 747-6479. If you would like to contact me through email, it is mschrauth@sfs.edu.
- There is free Wi-Fi available.
So, come in and check us out – everybody is welcome.
