Etwas fuer die Baden-Wuertemberg pages oder Emigration? Gruss, Dora ----- Begin Included Message ----- From: KarenHob@aol.com Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 01:37:27 -0400 (EDT) To: german-bohemian-l@rootsweb.com This is forwarded from another mailing list. The writer is Dr. Ruth Reichman of the Max Kade Institute in Indiana. We just came back from New Harmony, IN, founded 1814 by the Rappites (Harmonists) from Wuerttemberg, who developed it into the "Wonder of the West" within less than a decade. There in progress is the reconstruction of the old Harmonist Granary/fort (Wehrscheuer) of 1818. I am not certain how much you know about New Harmony, therefore I give you a brief synopsis. In 1804 Johann Georg Rapp of Iptingen, the leader of a group of separatists from the Lutheran church, left with a group of app. 800 and settled in Harmony, PA. After 10 years he came with his group to Indiana and built a thriving town, then called Neu Harmonie, today it is called New Harmony on the Wabash. After 10 years he moved back to Pennsylvania and founded another town, Old Economy. He sold New Harmony to a Scottish social reformer, Robert Owen, best known for his efforts in starting the labor union movement in England. While Owen went to England, several of his children stayed. Mrs. Owen is the wife of one of the descendants. German on fathers side and English on mothers, she is the angel of New Harmony and has kept rennovation going. There are now app. 12 house museums and half of these are German. Among several Harmonist structures, they also include a permanent exhibit of the travels of Prince Maximilian zu Wied with Karl Bodmer, who made etchings and drawings of their travels. The last building to be restored in New Harmony is the old granary. The person in charge of this project is Prof. David Rice, President Emeritus of the University of Southern Indiana. Historic New Harmony is under the auspices of this university, which is located in Evansville. New Harmony has a sister city--Wiernsheim, which incorporates Iptingen, the village where Johann Georg Rapp was born and raised. Another item that keeps us busy is planning a program to commemorate the 1848 Revolution, the 1848ers and our Deutsches Haus-Athenaeum, a splendid Tunrverein building built by 1848ers in 1898. We will have the Society for German-American Studies (SGAS) Symposium there April 23-26, 1998. There will be things going on the German side also. I know of the Badische Landesmuseum in Karlsruhe. They will have exhibits and other events throughout 1898/99. Also, a very [better: most] important person to feature next year is Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), first outstanding woman in cosmology, botany, medicine, music and poetry. In our area many programs, presenting her music, her poetry and her life, are planned. Wozu in die Ferne schweifen? Sieh, das Gute liegt so nah! (Goethe) Eberhard and Ruth Reichmann Max Kade German-American Center Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ. Indianapolis 401 East Michigan Street Indianapolis, IN 46204 317 464-9004 Office 812 988-2866 Home 317 630-0035 FAX reichman@ucs.indiana.edu http://www-lib.iupui.edu/kade/ ----- End Included Message -----