|
22
1907.
SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE
GERMANS IN MARYLAND.
=========
Twenty-first Annual Report of the Secretary of the "Society
for the History of the Germans in Maryland."
=========
Baltimore, February 19, 1907.
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
I have the honor herewith to submit the Twenty-first
Annual Report of this Society.
The report, though brief, aims to present a clear and com-
prehensive review of the Society's activities during the year
1906-1907.
MEETINGS.
There were nine (9) monthly meetings—the full limit—
held by the Society in the year past; meetings in the months
of July, August and September being omitted per section 5 of
the By-Laws.
The attendance, in the main, has been most gratifying;
thereby giving proof of the unabated interest of the members
in the prosecution of the praiseworthy aims and signal achieve-
ments of the Society.
The meetings, apart from the current interest incident to the
reading and discussion of original papers and the publications
of sister historical societies, together with fugitive contributions,
original and otherwise, on all manner of subjects, have invariably
been enhanced by an all-pervading spirit of good-fellowship and
cordiality among the members, being ofttimes interspersed with
23
highly interesting historical reminiscences and personal expe-
riences of the older members, covering important historic
occurrences and personages of the eventful past; of distinguished
men and families whose lives and deeds are interwoven with the
history of the pioneer Germans of our State, together with their
history, traditions and achievements in the intellectual, moral
and material development of the city, State and nation.
OFFICERS.
The grim reaper, Father Time, with the swing of his re-
morseless scythe, has cut a wide swath in the ranks of this
Society during the twelve-month past, especially among the
officers.
First Vice-President, Prof. Otto Fuchs, Principal Schools of
Art and Design of the Maryland Institute, Baltimore, and one
of the oldest and most active members of this Society, died
March 13, 1906.
The election of a successor to the vacancy thus created was
deferred until the annual meeting, Prof. Henry Wood, Second
Vice-President, officiating ad interim.
Rev. Eduard Huber, Chairman of the Executive Committee
of this Society, the duties of which he discharged with singular
ability and fidelity for many years; pre-eminent as a theologian,
bi-lingual pulpit orator (German and English) educator, scientist,
humanitarian; the pioneer who blazed the way for the successful
establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Atlan-
tic States; recognized and honored as the foremost figure in the
Councils of his denomination; pastor at the time of his demise
and for twenty-three years preceding of St. Matthew's Evangeli-
cal Church, Baltimore, died July 9, 1906, in the zenith of his
rare intellectual, scientific and religious achievements that
crowned his life's labors in the vineyard of humanity.
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my coarse,
I have kept the faith: Henceforth--------!"
11Tim. IV, 7
An irreparable loss.
24
MEMBERSHIP.
At the close of this the Twenty-first Anniversary, there are
thirty-six active and six corresponding members on the roster of
the Society.
As compared with the report of one year ago there is a net
loss of three active members, notwithstanding a gain of one (1)
during the year.
The total loss (all by death) being four, and the gain by
new membership being one, leaves a net membership of thirty-
six active members as compared to thirty-nine contained in last
report.
Mr. Eberhard Niemann, merchant, retired, for many years
prominent in the commercial life of the City of Baltimore, and
one of the oldest members and first treasurer of the Society,
died at Wiesbaden, Germany, September 9, 1906.
His remains were interred in the land of his birth,
Germany.
Mr. Henry Arens, one of the oldest and most highly
esteemed members of the Society, and one of the foremost mer-
chants of the City of Baltimore, with whose commercial interests
as importer and exporter, he was prominently identified for more
than half a century, died September 13, 1906.
The roster of Corresponding members has also suffered a
serious loss in the death of Hon. Carl Schurz.
The extraordinary losses by death in the active membership,
especially among the officers, has been unprecedented.
The significant object lesson contained in this mortality list,
admonishes more forcibly than words the importance of bringing
to the front the young and virile members, if the proud achieve-
ments and envious standing of the Society's past is to be main-
tained in the future.
LIBRARY.
The present condition of the library is, to say the least,
highly encouraging, presaging a most promising future.
During the year, covered by this report, there were received,
from all sources, the following: Twenty-eight bound volumes;
thirty-seven periodical publications, pamphlets, etc., making a
total of seventy-eight publications.
25
Prominent among the noteworthy additions is "Becker's
Weltgeschichte, vierzehn Bände, gebunden," gift of Mrs. Rosa
Flodt, and A Statistical Atlas of the United States from the
Census Library.
The Census Library is now on the Society's exchange list.
Thirty-four volumes, bound, were catalogued and placed on
the shelves of the library, this included the binding and cata-
loguing of two volumes (V and VI) of the Pennsylvania German ;
two volumes (III and IV) of "Deutsch-Amerikanische Geschichts-
blätter der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Historischen Gesellschaft von
Illinois; two volumes (XI and XII) The Virginia Magazine of
History and Biography, published by the Virginia Historical
Society, and two volumes (II and III, new series) German-Ameri-
can Annals, published by the German-American Historical
Society.
The removal of the Society's publications, books, news-
papers, etc., bound and unbound from the temporary storage in
the lofts of the School-house of St. Matthew's Evangelical
Lutheran Church, and their transfer to the City Library and the
Hopkins Place Savings Bank was not consummated until after
the demise of the lamented late Chairman of the Executive Com-
mittee, Rev. Eduard Huber.
Although arrangements for the removal and transfer of this
imposing quantity of the Society's property had been underway and
partly executed preceding the fatal illness of Rev. Mr. Huber,
they were, for obvious reasons, necessarily suspended until after
his death.
To date there has been transferred to the City Library one
hundred and fifteen bound volumes of newspapers, made up as
follows: Forty-three volumes of "Der Deutsche Correspondent,"
dating consecutively from March, 1887 to August, 1905, in-
clusive; thirty-nine volumes of the "Baltimore Journal," from
April, 1887, to April, 1905, inclusive; twenty-seven volumes of
the "Baltimore Wecker," from January, 1856 to December, 1872,
and six bound volumes of "Die Biene."
Apart from the expense and effort entailed in binding and
handling this formidable pile of gigantic volumes, their storage
26
and safe-keeping had become a serious problem, solved, fortu-
nately, by their acceptance by the City Librarian, through the
kindly offices of the Society's President, Louis P. Hennig-
hausen, Esq.
Consequently, in view and appreciation of these untoward
conditions, together with the passing of their control and owner-
ship into other hands, it was decided inexpedient to longer
continue this unnecessary drain on the Society's resources.
As a result of this conclusion on the part of the officers
of the Society, the generous publisher of "Der Deutsche Cor-
respondent," Col Edward Raine, and the equally generous
"Baltimore Journal," through its manager, Mr. August Gisin,
were at once notified to discontinue the further delivery of
their respective newspapers after July 1, 1906
The action of the officers of the Society was approved by
the Executive Committee at the regular monthly meeting held
October 16, 1906.
The removal of the following publications completed the
transfer of the remainder of the Society's property to the Hopkins
Place Savings Bank: One thousand and sixty-three unbound
copies of Annual Reports for 1 to 14; thirty-one bound volumes
containing Annual Reports 1 to 6; forty-six Catalogues of the
Society's Library; seventy-five Pamphlets "German-American
Day; one hundred and five Pamphlets "In Memoriam of Christian
Ax," and two hundred and and ninety-two Pamphlets, reprints
"German-American Turner Lyric," by Prof. M. D. Learned.
In closing this report, I would indeed be remiss in duty if I
failed to revert to the all-important question covering the extraor-
dinary losses sustained of late by the Society in its membership,
without a compensating offset in gain, or a seeming effort to re-
pair the loss.
This decline in the membership is, unquestionably, a serious
menace, if not an ominous portend.
It should appeal to every member interested in promoting
and actively prosecuting the object and praiseworthy aims of the
Society, and safeguarding its future.
There is no valid reason whatever why this Society, like
sister societies elsewhere, should not, in a community like ours,
27
have an active membership running up into the hundreds, and
extending the scope of its activities into the counties of the State,
especially Frederick, Washington and Carroll.
The fires of an enthusiastic inspiration should be re-kindled,
and the old spirit awakened, thereby permitting the good work
so auspiciously inaugurated twenty-one years ago to be success-
fully carried forward, and aligned with the demands of duty
imposed by our Constitution and By-Laws.
It is obvious that the remedy is within reach. The additions
to and steady growth of the library will, ere long, justify the
issuing of a new Catalogue.
The demand for the publications of the Society attests more
eloquently than words their appreciated value in contemporane-
ous historical research.
Let the good work go on.
J. LEONARD HOFFMAN,
Secretary.
|