Frederick the Great and His Court: Fashion forward

This is the third post in a series retelling Luise Mühlbach’s Friedrich der Grosse und sein Hof (Frederick the Great and His Court), originally published in serial form in Germany. Jill Fosse from the Libraries’ Division of Digital Systems and Stewardship is translating the German text as it was published in 1858 in the Baltimore newspaper Der Deutsche Correspondent.

When we last left them, the happy(?) couple was en route to see Pricker, the court tailor, so that Caroline could purchase outfits for her presentation at court during the king’s masked ball.

January 5, 1858.

The bride is to have a sky-blue velvet gown with silver brocade train for the presentation and a velvet and gold gown for the ball made of fabric her father had obtained from India. Mutual compliments ensue about the honor each side will gain from these beautiful garments, only they have to be ready in a week.

“In four days if necessary,” says the tailor airily, measuring Caroline with his tape.

Then comes the blow.

“I’ll leave all the decorations up to you,” says Caroline, “but of course the dress must be made in the very latest French design.” In horror, the tailor whisks the tape away from the bride’s waist.

“You want what?”

“Of course,” smiles Catherine. “No elegant and decent tailor would still make those heavy skirts with ruffles, it’s ridiculous. No, I want the tight waist and long points, with sleeves to the elbows and lots of lace—the French fashion!”

Pricker declaims his loyalty to tradition, how he would only make clothes in the German style and cut and would never betray his forefathers, generations of court tailors.

With a mocking bow, therefore, the Count and his lady take their leave of this “excellent tailor and complete fool.”

Poor, Tailor Pricker, punished for his loyalty to German tradition! But in Caroline’s defense, I suspect I also would have preferred French fashions to German…

In the next installment, the story switches gears, and we’re introduced to the namesake of the story, Frederick the Great.

Frederick the Great and His Court: A marriage of convenience

This is the second post in a series retelling Luise Mühlbach’s Friedrich der Grosse und sein Hof (Frederick the Great and His Court), originally published in serial form in Germany and later reprinted by the Baltimore newspaper Der Deutsche Correspondent in 1858. Special thanks to Jill Fosse from the Libraries’ Division of Digital Systems and Stewardship for providing the translation from German. In the previous post, Jill introduced us to the characters of Miss Catherine Orguelin, daughter of a wealthy merchant, and her fiancé, the heavily indebted Count Rhedern. Catherine says that she and the count need to share an understanding about the nature of their relationship.

January 2, 1858.

Caroline lays it all out for the count. She isn’t deceived by his conventional protestations of love and devotion, although she gives him credit for acting. She knows she’s not young and pretty enough to attract him by herself, but she also knows he’s flat broke and in need of a rich wife. She states frankly that she would do anything to be able to be near the king, with whose nobility, magnificence, benevolence and flashing eyes she fell in love at his coronation. So on that day, she decided to marry one of the courtiers who surrounded the king. Most were married, but Count Rhederer was not, so she went to her father and said,

“I want to marry Count Rhederer. Buy him for me, the way you recently bought me that gold and diamond Nuremburg jewelry.”

“Very flattering,” murmurs the count.

In addition to her one-million thaler dowry, Caroline’s father will give her another million, which stays in his company but she can draw on the interest. She makes it very clear this is her money to do what she likes with. Maybe she’ll spend it on the count if he behaves, maybe not.

January 4, 1858.

The count is enchanted by the idea of a second million, but Caroline warns him that his 1,000 thaler per month can be withdrawn in an instant if he fails to show respect to her, her father, or his bourgeois friends. He promises to be a good husband and son-in-law. She goes on to remind him that she has bought him and knows his worth but also wants to be treasured and respected by him, and he should never think he has conferred an honor on her by making her his countess. Rather, he has married the only daughter and heir of a millionaire who has paid him for his title and entry to court.

The count is unexpectedly delighted and enchanted to be marrying such a clever, spirited, and piquant wife and is convinced that in the fullness of time he really will fall passionately in love with her. She tells him not to bother since she will never fall in love with him.

Who says romance is dead, eh? Look for upcoming posts from the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project that continue the tale of Caroline and her count.

Frederick the Great and His Court: Getting to Know Members of the Royal Court

In the 1800s, it wasn’t uncommon for long works of fiction to be published serially in newspapers and other periodicals. Books were luxury items and inaccessible to many, but periodicals reached a much broader audience. Several renowned authors published in this format—Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Alexander Dumas, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Leo Tolstoy just to name a few.

Serialized fiction was popular in Germany as well, and stories published in German periodicals eventually made their way to the States. The first issues of Der Deutsche Correspondent digitized by the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project contain such a story by Luise Mühlbach, called Friedrich der Grosse und sein Hof (Frederick the Great and His Court). To read the story as it was published in Der Deutsche Correspondent, head over to Chronicling America and look for the story on page 1, column 6 beginning January 1, 1858.

Dear Humoristisches: German Romance Advice and Married Life for Charm City

Today’s post is written by Elliott Wrenn, Student Assistant for the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project and MLS candidate in UMD’s College of Information Studies. Many thanks go to Jill Fosse for translating the Humoristisches captions from the original German to English.

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we at the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project decided to ask: how did Baltimoreans a century ago write and joke about romance? So we peeked into the cartoon section of Der Deutsche Correspondent, a German-language paper published in Baltimore from 1848-1918.

Humoristisches

How to search for Maryland newspapers in Chronicling America

The first issues digitized by the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project are now live on the Library of Congress database Chronicling America. (See the official announcement here!) Thus far, only issues of the German-language newspaper Der Deutsche Correspondent are online; however, some English titles will be available later in the year.

This post will provide an overview of how to use Chronicling America‘s interface to search for digitized newspapers. Click on the images to see an enlarged view, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments!

Searching in Chronicling America

The easiest way to search for digitized Maryland newspapers is to use the “Search Pages” tab on Chronicling America’s homepage. From this bar, you can narrow your search by state, year, and/or keyword.

Even more options are available from the “Advanced Search” tab.

From this tab, you can search by newspaper title, limit you results to only front pages, search English-, Spanish-, French-, or German-language newspapers, or perform more precise keyword searches.

If you perform a search using either one of these tabs, you will see thumbnails for the first 20 results that meet your search criteria. This is called the “gallery view” of your results. You can switch your view to see a simple list of your search results instead using the “List” link in the top right corner of the results display.

Click on a result to get a closer look at that page.

Using the buttons and links in the newspaper viewer, you can zoom in and out on the page, view additional pages of the issue, and download pages.

If you used the keyword search feature, you’ll notice that the search terms have been highlighted in red. For example, I used the “Advanced Search” tab to limit my search for the phrase “Enoch Pratt” to newspapers from the state of Maryland and only from the year 1886, the year that the Enoch Pratt Free Library opened in Baltimore.

My search returned 64 results. The first result has my search phrase “Enoch Pratt” highlighted several times, plus it is dated January 5, the day that the library opened. I’ll click on the page to get a closer look.

Zooming in on the article reveals the following headline:

Die “Enoch Pratt-Freibibliothek.” Offizielle Eröffnung der großartigen Stiftung des Hrn. Enoch Pratt.

This roughly translates to:

The “Enoch Pratt Free Library.” Official opening of the great Foundation of Mr. Enoch Pratt.

Browsing newspapers in Chronicling America

If you’re more interested in browsing newspapers, the calendar view offers a quick way to see dates for which digitized newspapers are available for a given title. Getting to the calendar view for a title is easy. Click the third search tab, “All Digitized Newspapers 1836-1922,” and limit your results by state, ethnicity, or language.

If you have already performed a search and are viewing one of the result pages, you can also navigate to the calendar view by clicking the “All Issues” link in the newspaper viewer.

I limited my search to the state of Maryland to in order to see which titles have been digitized from Maryland thus far.

Click the calendar icon in the “Browse Issues” column to see the calendar view.

Use the dropdown menu to view different years. Dates with an active link have at least one edition for that date; click to view the issue(s) for that date.

Additional Resources

Those are the basics, but if you need more information, check out the plethora of online tutorials that others have created for Chronicling America:

• 5 Tips for Undergraduate Research in Chronicling America (from the South Carolina Digital Newspaper Program)
• Chronicling America Search Strategy Videos (from Ohio Memory)
• Finding Treasures in an Archive of Historical Newspapers: Chronicling America (from the Library of Congress)
• How to Successfully Use Chronicling America (from the genealogy blog The Ancestor Hunt)
• Searching Chronicling America (from the National Endowment for the Humanities)
• Topics in Chronicling America (from the Library of Congress)
• Using Chronicling America (from the National Endowment for the Humanities)
• Using Chronicling America Podcast Series (from Ohio Memory)

A Merry German Christmas in Baltimore

Today’s post is written by Elliott Wrenn, Student Assistant for the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project and MLS candidate in UMD’s College of Information Studies. Thanks to Jill Fosse for providing the translations in this blog post. Enjoy!

Der Deutsche Correspondent, December 24, 1900

With the holidays upon us, we at the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project cannot help but post a few images of what Baltimore residents saw in Der Deutsche Correspondent during the holidays. The images primarily come from paid advertisements posted in the paper.  As ads can play a significant role in shaping and reflecting material and visual culture of the time, the news daily allows us to look at daily life as a turn-of-the-century Baltimorean saw it.

November and December issues are filled with ads for the holidays.  These include advertisements for a Thanksgiving Grokes Austern-Souper (oyster supper); week-long train getaways for Weihnachten-Neujahr [Christmas-New Year]; Christmas stocks of “fresh raisins, currants, citron,” books and games for children; and Christmas showpieces at the Ford’s Grand Opera House in Baltimore.

Santa Claus is prominent throughout December editions in the 1880s and 1890s, appearing in countless Christmas stories, poems, and ads for children’s toys and men’s clothing.

Der Sonntags-Correspondent, December 15, 1894

Der Deutsche Correspondent, December 15, 1896

In one image a store advertises its in-store holiday musical performances, decorative displays, ice palace, and post bureau for Santa Claus; in another Santa Claus himself fits a man for an overcoat.

Der Deutsche Correspondent, December 19, 1896

Der Deutsche Correspondent, December 18, 1897

Der Deutsche Correspondent, December 19, 1896

If the fact that Der Deutsche Correspondent was published in German wasn’t enough to link a portion of Baltimore immigrants to the old country, Der Deutsche Correspondent advertised its forwarding service for Christmas remittances to Germany. The ad reads:

Der Deutsche Correspondent, December 10, 1896

Remittances to Germany.

Remittances to Germany that are intended for Christmas should be sent very soon, so that they arrive in good time. If they get there earlier, they aren’t any less welcome, but if they arrive late, they lose a lot of their value as Christmas presents. The forwarding service of the “Correspondent” is the most punctual and cheapest way of getting payments of small and large sums to Germany. Address your request to: E. Raine, Baltimore, MD.

 
Der Deutsche Correspondent consistently printed a yearly calendar and inserted it into an issue either at the end of the year or very beginning of the year. On one calendar the paper proudly advertises its founding in 1841 and displays the building built by George A. Frederick on the corner of East Baltimore Street and Postoffice Avenue (now Custom House Alley) where the paper was drafted and printed. The building later was burnt down in the 1904 fire that consumed large portions of downtown Baltimore at the time. (Look for a detailed post on the Baltimore fire of 1904 in the months ahead.)

Der Deutsche Correspondent, December 29, 1896

Der Sonntags-Correspondent, December 24, 1897

 
Happy Holidays from the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project! See you in the new year!

Story on 1912 typhoon goes viral

In the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda’s destruction in the Philippines earlier this month, a 1912 newspaper hosted by Chronicling America has gone viral.

The November 30, 1912, issue of the Washington Herald contains a front page story about a typhoon estimated to have killed 15,000 people and “practically destroyed” Tacloban, the same city hardest hit by Yolanda. Additional details were sparse because the storm had destroyed all telegraphic communications infrastructure.

Although I usually don’t buy into the pessimistic idiom that “history repeats itself,” that’s exactly what seems to have happened with the devastating typhoons of 1912 and 2013.

See the entire issue of the Washington Herald here.

Brewers converge in Baltimore in 1878

As last Sunday was the final day of Oktoberfest in Germany, it seems only fitting that we should feature beer in today’s blog post from the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project.

The June 5, 1878, issue of Der Deutsche Correspondent contains a special supplement that I first noticed because it bears several large and intricate illustrations. The largest and central illustration features King Gambrinus—the fabled patriarch of brewing—with a stein of beer in one hand and the other outstretched, welcoming brewers from all over the country to Baltimore.

The translated caption reads: “18th National Brewers’ Congress of the United States, held in the City of Baltimore on the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th of June 1878.”

Inaugural post of the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project

Have you ever had to do research that involved looking at newspapers on microfilm? If so, then you know that it can be a tedious process. After hours of scrolling through reels of microfilm, patiently scanning each page to find the information you need, at long last you’ll find the one sentence of an article that proves your thesis correct—or at least hopefully you will! I’m sure at several times throughout the course of your research you thought to yourself, “This would be so much easier if I could just do a keyword search of this whole newspaper. And it would be great if I could do it from home. In my pajamas.” Luckily, some folks at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and Library of Congress agree!

Through August 2014 the NEH will fund the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project at the University of Maryland Libraries through a National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) grant. Our project will digitize 100,000 pages of newspaper content from the state of Maryland and make it free and searchable via the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America digital newspaper collection. Chronicling America allows users to search over 6.6 million newspaper pages by title, date or location of publication, and keyword.*

The first title to be digitized by the Historic Maryland Newspapers Project is Der Deutsche Correspondent. This German-language newspaper was published in Baltimore from 1841 to 1918.

Image of the offices of Der Deutsche Correspondent in Baltimore, MD from the June 5, 1878 issue of the newspaper.

We hope you’ll join us for a series of posts about Maryland’s newspapers, including a preview of some of the fascinating content we’ve stumbled upon so far in Der Deutsche Correspondent! More to come soon!

*Since Chronicling America is hosted by the Library of Congress, you’ll have to wait until the government reopens to try it out. 😦

[UPDATE: As of 10/4/13 at 10am, Chronicling America appears to be up and working!]