Identifier
CSUMC0003-CG (local)

Repository
Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin--Madison Wisconsin Historical Society, Library-Archives Division Wisconsin Historical Society, Museum Division University of Wisconsin-Madison Folklore Program

Date
1984 - 1986 (Inclusive dates)

Summary

The German-American Music Project documented significant aspects of German-American music and related cultural traditions in Wisconsin, mainly in Calumet, Dodge, Marathon, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, and Milwaukee counties. The research and fieldwork, conducted from 1984 to 1986, uncovered a wealth of traditional music and related information on German-American customs, including weddings and holidays. Three fieldworkers and a photographer documented 25 bands or organizations and 60 individuals. The research resulted in a two-disc commercial LP recording of traditional music, a two-hour Wisconsin Public Radio program, and a 30-minute slide/tape program. Materials include field reports, slides, sound recordings, sound recording indexes, and other documentation generated and collected during the project, and the slide/tape program.

Creator and/or Contributor
Wisconsin Folklife Center (creator)

Scope and Content Note

Wisconsin Music Archives at Mills Music Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison, has an unprocessed collection of materials from the Wisconsin Folk Museum in its archives. An inventory prepared by Ayako Yoshimura in 2003 provides access to the collection. Several boxes include materials related to the German-American Music Project. A "German-American Project" file contains correspondence, a tape index of an interview with Albert Kolberg, field notes on Syl Groeschl, project contacts, press releases, notes concerning the production of the Ach Ya! recordings, and release authorizations. The 7-inch reel masters are contained mostly in Boxes 7-9. Audiocassettes of German music in Wisconsin and interviews and a box of slides are also available. The slides include field documentation, copies of prints from the artists documented, and copies of prints from the Wisconsin Historical Society Visual Materials collections. Finally, there are numerous posters, pamphlets, scores, and newspapers collected during the project

The Wisconsin Historical Society Library-Archives Division has 69 folders associated with the German-American Music Project. The "Wisconsin Folk Museum Records" (call number M98-044) contain files formerly maintained by the Wisconsin Folk Museum. The files include tape indexes, field notes, flyers, copies of newspaper articles, letters, and some release forms. The Wisconsin Historical Society Museum Division possesses concertinas obtained during the project

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Folklore Program houses the slide/tape program, which consists of 79 slides and an accompanying audiocassette, plus slides, 898 negatives, and contact sheets of Lewis Koch's photography and historical images. Koch's work includes depictions of musical performers, dancing in clubs, and a Fourth of July parade. Many of the slides of historical images were made from images in the holdings of the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Administrative/Biographical History Element

Staff/Fieldworkers
Philip Martin was Executive Director of the Wisconsin Folklife Center at the time of this project and served as Project Director. Folklorist James P. Leary and ethnomusicologist Philip Bohlman, both Wisconsin natives with prior fieldwork experience in the state, joined Martin in conducting interviews for the project. Photographer Lewis Koch, who had previously worked with Martin on the Wisconsin Old-Time Traditional Music Project, photographed German-American musicians, public events, architecture, and landscapes for the project.
 

The German-American Music Project followed upon Phil Martin and Lewis Koch's Wisconsin Old-Time Traditional Music Project, sponsored by Folklore Village Farm in Dodgeville, which had emphasized traditional Norwegian-American fiddling in Wisconsin. By the time of the German-American project, Martin had created the Wisconsin Folklife Center concept as an umbrella entity for his documentary research and productions, which then proved to be the foundation for the Wisconsin Folk Museum and several Wisconsin ethnic music documentary projects and commercial recordings. The German-American Music Project documented significant aspects of German-American music and culture in Wisconsin, from 1984 to 1986, through a cooperative effort between the Wisconsin Folklife Center, then based at Folklore Village Farm, and the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Funding was awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts (Folk Arts), the Kohler Foundation, Stackner Family Foundation, the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Wisconsin Humanities Committee, M&I Banks, and the H.J. Hagge Foundation.

Project director Philip Martin and folklorist James P. Leary, along with documentary photographer Lewis Koch and ethnomusicologist Philip Bohlman, conducted research and interviews with key musicians and traditional practitioners in Calumet, Dodge, Marathon, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, and Milwaukee counties. The researchers recorded a wealth of traditional music and information on subjects such as traditional German-American weddings, shivarees, holidays, foodways, and social history. Besides a capella religious hymns and children's songs, music included numerous dance tunes performed by German concertina players especially, as well as brass and reed Dutchmen ensembles, button accordionists, fiddlers, and experts on Hackbrett (type of hammered dulcimer) and zither. The research and fieldwork generated a number of productions. A commercial two-disc LP recording, Ach Ya!: Traditional German-American Music from Wisconsin, was released in December 1985. It includes 47 songs and melodies performed by 22 individuals or ensembles and emphasizes secular traditional music, especially dance tunes. The selections represent a wide range of family and neighborhood sources, printed songbooks and church hymnals, and semi-commercial radio and dance hall recordings.

A two-hour Wisconsin Public Radio Simply Folk program aired in 1985 and featured artists Ruth Flaker of Wausau, Albert Kolberg from the Sheboygan area, Elfrieda Haese and Heidi Schlei of Colgate, and Irving DeWitz of Hustisford. In 1986, a 30-minute slide/tape program, "Ach Ya!: The Story of German Music in Wisconsin," toured 10 community sites. The historical and contemporary images evoke the long-standing heritage and rich diversity of Wisconsin's German musical traditions, while the synchronized recorded narrative explains the field research process and includes music and interview clips from field recordings.

Conditions Governing Access

Contact records custodians for access information.

Wisconsin Music Archives at Mills Music Library
University of Wisconsin-Madison
B162 Memorial Library
728 State St.
Madison, WI 53706-1494
Email: askmusic@library.wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 263-1884
Web site: http://music.library.wisc.edu

Wisconsin Historical Society
Library-Archives Division
Reference Services, Archives
816 State St.
Madison, WI 53706
Email: askarchives@wisconsinhistory.org
Phone: (608) 264-6460
Web site: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives

Wisconsin Historical Society
Museum Division
816 State St.
Madison, WI 53706
Email: paul.bourcier@wisconsinhistory.org
Phone: (608) 264-6573
Web site: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/museum/collections/

UW-Madison Folklore Program
Prof. James P. Leary
2315 Sterling Hall
475 N. Charter Street
Madison, WI 53706
Email: jpleary@wisc.edu
Phone: 608-262-8107
Web site: http://folklore.wisc.edu

Conditions Governing Reproduction

Consult repositories for information on use restrictions. For items held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Folklore Program, duplication of the materials for non-profit personal, educational, and research purposes within the scope of the Program's jurisdiction may be arranged. Duplication of materials for public presentation, publication, and production requires negotiation with the Program Director, the fieldworkers, and the people documented, or their representatives.

Custodial History

Wisconsin Folklife Center documentary materials became Wisconsin Folk Museum collections after the museum opened in 1986. Ruth Forrester (formerly Fahnestock) catalogued and numbered the majority of the German-American project's documentary components in 1990-1992. This numbering system remains on the materials that were transferred from the Wisconsin Folk Museum to Mills Music Library, the Wisconsin Historical Society, and University of Wisconsin-Madison Folklore Program upon closure of the museum in 1996.

Related Archival Materials

Wisconsin Folksong Collection: Helene Stratman-Thomas Collection. Mills Music Library. UW-Madison

Wisconsin Folk Art Survey. John Michael Kohler Art Center. Sheboygan, WI. 1985-1987

Wisconsin Swiss Traditional Music Project Collection. (CSUMC0005-CG)

"Polka Music, Polka Culture." Traveling photo-text and related in-house exhibits. Wisconsin Folk Museum. 1990-1992; traveling photo-text exhibit is available for viewing and rental through Folklore Village Farm, Dodgeville, WI

In Tune With Tradition: Wisconsin Folk Musical Instruments Collection (CSUMC35-CG)

Smithsonian/Wisconsin Folklife Festivals Collection. Wisconsin Arts Board. Madison, WI

General Note

Productions resulting from the described fieldwork were:

Ach Ya!: Traditional German-American Music from Wisconsin. Dodgeville, WI: Folklore Village Farm Records. 1985

"Ach Ya!: The Story of German Music in Wisconsin." 1986. Touring 30-minute slide/tape program

Simply Folk program. Wisconsin Public Radio. Fall 1985. Two-hour segment featuring artists Ruth Flaker, Wausau; Albert Kolberg, Sheboygan area; Elfrieda Haese and Heidi Schlei, Colgate; and Irving DeWitz, Hustisford. (Records now held by the University of Wisconsin Archives, Madison, WI.)

Extent
71 (folders)
223 (sound recordings)
1330 (color slides)
21 (pieces of ephemera)
4 (artifacts)
898 (negatives)
20 (contact sheets)
1 (slide/tape program)

Language
English (Languages)
German (Languages)

Other Subject Headings
Dutch (Local)
German Americans (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Germans (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Accordion (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Brass instruments (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Button-key accordion (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Concertina (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Dulcimer (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Hackbrett (Local)
Harmonica (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Violin (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Woodwind instruments (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Zither (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
English language (Local)
German language (Local)
Art Altenberg's Concertina Bar (Milwaukee, Wis.) (Local)
Dodge County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Cleveland (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Colgate (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Gasthause Zur Krone (Milwaukee, Wis.) (Local)
Madison (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Maplewood Nursing Home (Sauk City, Wis.) (Local)
Mayville (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Mead Public Library (Sheboygan, Wis.) (Local)
Menominee Falls (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Milwaukee (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Milwaukee County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Phil and Clancy's Bar (Watertown, Wis.) (Local)
Sheboygan (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Sheboygan County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Theide's Tavern (Burnett, Wis.) (Local)
Watertown (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Wausau (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Calumet County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Wisconsin (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Yodeling (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Marathon County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))
Ozaukee County (Wis.) (Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH))

URL

Preferred Citation
Please consult repositories for guidelines. We suggest the following citation form when using direct quotes from a person documented: [Name of person documented]. [Date]. [Tape/video/other]-recorded interview by [Fieldworker name]. [Place interviewed]. [Name of collection/project]. [Repository, city, state]. When using a specific image: [Identify subject matter/people in caption]. Photo/image by [Photographer/fieldworker name]. [Date]. Courtesy of [repository]. To quote fieldworker, follow bibliographical style

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