Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Foreign Languages
First Advisor
Franz Langhammer
Term of Graduation
Spring 1983
Date of Publication
6-3-1983
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.) in German
Department
Foreign Languages
Language
English
Subjects
German Americans -- Oregon -- History
DOI
10.15760/etd.5316
Physical Description
1 online resource (3, vi, 109 pages)
Abstract
Of all the foreign-born elements of Oregon's population, the German-born have been the most prominent in terms of size and continuity. At the turn of the century they were an organized and enterprising ethnic group that supported a German-language press, numerous social clubs and ethnic churches. The German-born contributed their share to the development of Oregon through men whose names are almost household words today: Meier and Frank, Weinhard, Dammasch, Villard and Weyerhaeuser. Yet for all of their visibility, the Germans in Oregon have not been remembered as a particular ethnic group.
The demise of a visible German culture in the United States is commonly associated with the patriotic fever and anti-German hysteria that characterized the period of World War I. Tensions evoked by war with the German fatherland undoubtedly had an impact on the German community in Oregon as well, leading to the disappearance of ethnic institutions. Consequently the question is raised regarding German-American loyalties, their assimilation or lack of it.
In order to address this question, however, the identity of the Germans in Oregon before the outbreak of World War I had to be assessed. This thesis, then, is a background study with the intent of identifying and describing the average German-Oregonians behind the names that stood out in business, politics and social contributions. With regard to assimilation, the self-perception of the German-born is considered. It is a generalized work that could serve as a point of reference for more specialized studies of individuals and specific communities, institutions, contributions and issues. It is also just one dimension of the whole issue of World War I and the German-born that should be a basis for future studies of the activities of the German-Oregonians during that period and the reception accorded them by native-born Oregonians.
To a large extent this study is demographic. In order to arrive at descriptive statements, statistics regarding the German-born, native-born and foreign-born in the census reports from 1850 to 1910 were compared. Where appropriate, secondary history sources were utilized in order to relate the statistical observations to the historical events of which they were a part. This method if inquiry identified the German-Oregonians according to general trends and attitudes. Immigrant memoirs and self-expressions added a more personal dimension to the statistical observations.
Generally speaking, German-Americans are thought to have been followers of the frontier, not pioneers, and to have had a preference for living among their own kind, particularly in larger cities. This thesis does not dispute these statements but illuminates a similarity between the native-born and German-born whereas such theories taken alone tend to give the German-born a separistic character. Only a few of the German-born were among the early pioneers, but likewise the pioneers represented just a minute portion of the entire population. The Germans in Oregon did live predominantly in Multnomah County, but the native-born resided primarily in just a slightly larger radius. There were also similarities in the waves of immigration of both population elements into Oregon as well as in occupational stratification.
German immigrants of the 1900's seemed to have seen their heritage as being from the early German pioneers as well as from their homeland. Thus they were hyphenated Americans but not with the generally assumed negative connotation. They perceived themselves not as Germans in Oregon but rather as German-Oregonians with a tie to both cultures.
Rights
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/19450
Recommended Citation
Schmalenberger, Roberta Lee, "The German-Oregonians, 1850-1918" (1983). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3430.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.5316
Comments
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