German Contribution to Material and Popular Culture in America
June 5th, 2008 | Other Contributions |By Cynthia Elyce Rubin
The earliest German immigrants arrived in America with a rich cultural heritage that was expressed in the folk arts and popular culture of their homeland.
Crafts that had played an important role in the daily lives of the immigrants before they left Germany—pottery, painted and decorated furniture, and textiles—continued to be made in the new communities they established in America.
Other art forms, such as colorful fraktur writing and cake or cookie molds, reflect the importance of religion and ritual in the hearts and homes of early German immigrants.
In popular culture, everyday artifacts such as Victorian advertising trade cards and the postcard are commentary on the continuing vitality of German ingenuity and innovation on American soil.
Germanic culture in America survived because young America changed values but it also preserved values. American cultural roots, celebrated today for their complexity and richness, demonstrate a continuing vitality of German historical forms that reflect America’s cultural values up to this day.
Great post. The other week I was writing a german essay including the word “schlagzeilen” which is german for headlines, kept laughing at that.