Database of Funded Projects
The Botstiber Institute for Austrian-American Studies has generously funded academic research and public history projects that promote an understanding of the historic relationship between the United States and Austria. The following search tools make it possible to explore these projects and to learn more about the scholars and organizations who have received BIAAS grants and fellowships.
Veronika Zwerger
The United States were one of the most important receiving countries for Austrians who had to flee National Socialists. A vast amount of archival material in the Austrian Archive of Exhile Studies proofs these tight historic connection between the two countries. The exhibition will educate a new generation of Austrians about the deep-rooted connections between its citizens and the countries which housed its refugees, such as the United States.
Filip Šír
Music was of crucial importance to the immigrants from Austria-Hungary, and cultural and social practice of great importance to their communities in the USA. They could document this facet of their self-identification thanks to new technologies - in the form of wax cylinders. A remarkable set of recordings can be found under the title of "Ed. Jedlička Records'' in two phonograph cylinder collections held at the University of Iowa Libraries and Library of Congress. This more than a century-old set of unique cylinders contains original recordings of Bohemian songs, music, or short humorous performances, and are some of the earliest recordings made for and by a specific ethnic group in the United States.
Anjeana Hans
This project focuses on Jewish filmmakers, actors, and film technicians forced to leave Germany after the Nazi’s rise to power, many of whom went first to Austria and worked in the independent film industry that existed there between 1933 and 1937. The project will examine how these independent films engage with the experience of persecution and whether the trauma of expulsion and expatriation finds expression on the levels of both narrative and form. Further, in examining these productions closely, contextualizing them in their historical moment and against the broader backdrop of early Austrian film, and considering their afterlives, the aim is to trace not only the impact of exile on these films, but also their influence on film broadly, both internationally and in Hollywood specifically. Anjeana Hans is a Professor of German Studies and affiliated faculty in Cinema and Media Studies at Wellesley College.
Marsha Leah Rozenblit
Three Times Homeless: The Last Generation of Austrian Jews explores how Jews born in Habsburg Austria around 1900, who came of age in that large multinational state, coped with the fact that they lost their homeland several times in the course of their lives and had to craft new homes for themselves, first in the Habsburg successor states, and then elsewhere as refugees from Nazi Europe, especially in America. How did these Jews create new national and Jewish identities, and how successful were they in forging a new sense of at-homeness in very foreign environments? What connections did they still retain to their former Austrian homeland? Why were they more successful in making a new home in America than anywhere else?
Andreas Praher
The research project will analyze the transatlantic migration of skiers and ski instructors who migrated from Austria to the United States for different reasons in the first half of the 20th century. The focus will be on sociopolitical, economic, cultural, institutional and structural circumstances in which migration in skiing took place from the 1930s to the 1960s. In studying the historical patterns of migration, factors that have influenced and stimulated the movement of sport labor should be identified. The research work asks about the socio-cultural background of men and women. It will take into account the female ski migration and the impact of the Jewish exodus in skiing on the American sport system.
Dóra Fedeles-Czeferner
Rosika Schwimmer (Budapest, 1877-New York, 1948), one of the best-known women’s rights leaders in the Austro-Hungarian Empire became a celebrated peace activist in the U.S. She was awarded the World Peace Prize and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Schwimmer formed a crucial link between the Hungarian, Austrian and transnational women’s and peace movements and made a marked contribution in the U.S. where she lived in exile from 1921 until her death. The project seeks to explore these transatlantic connections by drawing on the widest possible range of archival sources from Hungary, Austria, the U.S., England and the Netherlands. The ultimate aim is to provide a comprehensive monograph on Schwimmer’s life and career.
James Boyd
Selling Emigration examines how the commerce of migration influenced departures from Europe in the nineteenth century. It explores migration as a sellable commodity, interrogating the role of migration commerce in migration decisions, and demonstrating the ways in which transport and shipping were connected to ethnic economies of mobility. The project is a monograph study on the role of migration commerce across Europe. The chapter funded by this grant will examine economies of mobility in Central Europe, and the role of Atlantic migration commerce as it affected the territories of the Habsburg/Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Megan Brandow-Faller
The cult of child creativity taking root in postwar America—or notions that all children are inherently creative with unique access to expressive powers—remains ubiquitous in contemporary American society. But rarely are such discourses connected to their intellectual roots in Secessionist Vienna. My project spotlights the critical role of pedagogue, craftswoman and designer Emmy Zweybrück-Prochaska (1890-1956), a partially-Jewish Austrian-American émigré, in shaping and popularizing Secessionist ideals of child creativity in postwar America. The goal of the grant is fund research for two peer-reviewed essays on Zweybrück’s American influence while feeding into a book project entitled Inventing Child Art in Secessionist Vienna.
Allison Schmidt
Dr. Allison Schmidt has received a $15,000 research grant for her project "Emigration Routes from Austria-Hungary," a focus on emigrant journeys to the United States in the late-nineteenth, early-twentieth century. Archival research in Austrian and Czech Archives will contribute to an article on the subject and a book on state surveillance of the transmigrants in Germany. Allison Schmidt received her PhD from the University of Kansas and currently serves as a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania.
German-American Heritage Center
The GAHC seeks to present an exhibition, conference, and related events and publications exploring the impact of emigres from Vienna to Iowa from 1846-1868. Several thousand Hapsburg emigres came to Iowa during and after the revolutions of 1848 seeking liberty and freedom. Many of these individuals and families had a lasting impact on the culture, economy, and civic direction of the state, although many returned to Vienna after 1868. We will explore the stories of these emigres and their lasting influence in Iowa. In collaboration with scholars, other cultural organizations, and a Community Advisory Committee, the GAHC will produce a traveling and virtual exhibition on this topic. The main event promoting the exhibition and scholarly work will be a conference held in Davenport, Iowa with participants joining in-person and virtually. The conference will consist of an opening reception, keynote speaker address, workshop, and historic walking tour.