Date of Award
Spring 1943
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History
Abstract
American history has its roots in Europe. Scholars have long ago realized this and accordingly they have investigated the lands from which America's citizens migrated. They have investigated the literature, art, customs, and politics of those lands with a view to explaining the origin of American culture. Foreign groups also brought their religion to the new world, and in some cases the fatherland of such groups tried to assist them in maintaining their religious convictions and organizations. In other cases, groups of disinterested Europeans took an interest in assisting this or that religion on the American frontier not an account of the nationality of its adherents but on account of the religion itself. In studying the Austrian contribution to early American life it soon becomes evident that little attention has been directed to the far flung polyglot Austrian empire. References are indeed made to Bohemia Manor, or to Comenius' invitation to Harvard College, or to the Salzburg Protestants who were given sanctuary in Georgia, but detailed analyses of Austro-American relations have yet to be made.