Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present—An Online Project of the German Historical Institute Washington

Abstract

IN 2012 THE GERMAN Historical Institute Washington launched Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, an online project that explores three centuries of immigrant entrepreneurship in the United States. When complete, the project website (www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org) will feature more than two hundred biographies of German American businesspeople. German immigrants founded numerous firms, including well-known brands such as Berlitz, Kroger, Lillian Vernon, and Blue Note Records, as well as lesser-known companies such as Miller & Lux. Firstand second-generation German American businesspeople also played leading roles in established firms such as General Electric, Sears, and Columbia Sportswear. In addition to biographical articles, the website offers a wealth of primarysource materials (business records, paintings, photographs, and video clips) and thematic essays that provide background on the changing context of German American life and business in the United States. These resources may be utilized in the classroom to address a number of different historical themes, including immigration and identity, transnational history, globalization, capitalism, entrepreneurship, and historical methodology. Each of these topics is well-supported by the Immigrant Entrepreneurship website, which is divided into five chronological volumes that cover a period from the early modern era through the post-industrial age. The biographical articles are structured in a standardized format in which authors focus on each subject’s background and immigration experience, business activities, social status and personality, ethnicity and entrepreneurial practices, and social and professional networks. Each biography is also categorized by the business activity of the entrepreneur, project themes (e.g., first generation, second generation, ethnic societies, transfers), and the geographical region or regions in which the entrepreneur was active, all of which are