Swiss American Historical Society Review
Abstract
This special issue is devoted to nineteenth century Swiss of Ohio, and it also commemorates the work of Dr. Adelrich Steinach who published in 1889 the book Geschichte und Leben der Schweizer Kolonien in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nord-Amerika. Although no edition of this work exists in English, fortunately Picton Press republished it with a "Combined Place Name Index" (pp. 393-412), an "Index of Place Names in Swiss Cantons" ( 412-414 ), an "Index of Place Names in America" ( 415-420), and an "Index of Personal Names" (pp. 421-525), expertly compiled by the historian Urspeter Schelbert, an archivist at the Staatsarchiv of the Canton Zug. These indexes make the book accessible to those who do not know German since they can easily find a name or place mentioned in the book, thus may assist people interested in Swiss in the United States. Wanting to encourage a wider use of this important work by Steinach, I privately contracted a linguist to translate sections pertaining to Ohio. The draft was sent to Leo Schelbert who found the translation in need of additional work. I was pleased when Prof. Schelbert not only offered, pro bono, to prepare a new translation but suggested that the resulting text be issued as a special issue of the SAHS Review on Ohio Swiss, a proposal which Editor H. Dwight Page gracefully accepted. Steinach' s chapter, I hope, might inspire others to sponsor translations for other States of the Union.
Recommended Citation
Tritt, Donald G.
(2004)
"Preface,"
Swiss American Historical Society Review: Vol. 40:
No.
2, Article 2.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/sahs_review/vol40/iss2/2