Germania Club Collection

An inventory of the collection at the University of Illinois at Chicago

Administrative History

The Germania Club was founded in Chicago in 1865 and incorporated in the State of Illinois in 1869. The Club's stated purpose is to bring together American citizens of German extraction, to foster and perpetuate German cultural ideals, and Gemuetlichkeit, roughly translated as "sociability." The Club was originally known as the Germania Maennerchor and initially had a more intensive focus on music. The group was created when onlookers were moved by the requiems sung by German-American Civil War veterans before President Lincoln's body as it lay in open coffin for public viewing in Chicago. The Germania Club constructed a club house on Germania Place and Clark Street in Chicago that included a grand ballroom. This facility once hosted a banquet for Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and later showcased German works of art as the club's focus expanded beyond music.

Scope and Contents

The Germania Club Collection consists of an illustrated centennial book that includes information about the history, membership, and activities of the Germania Club, the centennial issue of the club's newsletter, and a brochure that discusses the April 25, 1965 Lincoln Centennial event observed by the club in Chicago with an emphasis on German-American participation in the U.S. Civil War.

Detailed Description/Box and Folder Listing