Transatlantic World of Higher Education

Anja Werner studied at the University of Leipzig, the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle—Paris III, and Harvard University. From 2006 until 2009 she was affiliated with Vanderbilt University, where she coordinated the international Alexander von Humboldt in English project, whose annotated, new English translation of the Political Essay on the Island of Cuba was published in 2011. Her latest projects include a multiauthor volume on Black intellectual history in global contexts and research on the Deaf Atlantic World at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany.

• AcknowledgmentsNote on Sources and QuotationsIntroductionChapter 1. Movement and the History of Higher EducationEducational DynamicsFive Phases of Educational Reform and Student Migration, 1760s-1914Transatlantic Dynamics: Linking War and Education in America and EuropeRegional Dynamics: The South in the History of US Higher EducationDisciplinary Dynamics: Revisiting the Ideal of “German Science”SummaryChapter 2. US Student Numbers at Göttingen, Halle, Heidelberg, and LeipzigThe Challenges of NumbersRevisiting Existing ScholarshipDifferent Student StatusesUS Student Numbers Abroad I: Statistical OverviewUS Student Numbers Abroad II: Developments over TimeComparison: Total Student NumbersUS Students’ Backgrounds: Regional Origins and Socio-Economic BackgroundsReligionAgeSummaryChapter 3. The German University, Masculinity, and “The Other”White Men vs. the Other?Matriculation Procedures for White Able-Bodied American MenAfrican American MenGay American MenWhite US WomenBlind and Deaf AmericansSummaryChapter 4. Choosing a University: The Case of LeipzigThe Appeal of InnovationInterdisciplinary Collaborations at LeipzigAntiquated Leipzig up to 1830On the Eve of Greatness: The Mid-Nineteenth CenturyLeipzig’s Sudden HeydayLeipzig’s Decline since the Late 1890sSummaryChapter 5. Transatlantic Academic NetworkingThe Idea of German-American Networks in Science and ScholarshipUS Students’ Faculty Choices at Halle and LeipzigTransatlantic Routes of StudyPatterns in Transatlantic Mentor-Disciple RelationshipsWomen’s Roles in Academic NetworksCase Study: Wilhelm Wundt and his American DisciplesSummaryChapter 6. Networking Activitiesof Leipzig’s American ColonyFormal and Informal NetworkingThe American Students ClubThe American ChurchA Central Leipzig-American Networker: Caspar René GregoryHospitable Families, the Knauths, and US ConsulsFamily and FriendsHousing MattersSummaryChapter 7. Forging American Culture AbroadApproaching a Foreign CultureThe Guide BookLanguage ConsiderationsImpressions of German Student LifeReflecting German Student Culture in Activities of the American Students ClubLittle America in LeipzigSummaryChapter 8. Returning HomeThe German Venture and the Transformation of US Higher EducationShifting the Scientific-Scholarly Focus to North AmericaScouting Young Academic Talent in EuropeWomen’s Colleges as a Career BoostThe Ph.D. DegreeMaterial Improvements I: Libraries and BooksMaterial Improvements II: Laboratories, Apparatuses, and JournalsSummaryConclusionAppendix I: TablesAppendix II: List of Leipzig Professors of Interest to US StudentsAppendix III: List of Leipzig-American DissertationsBibliography

“Anja Werner’s excellent and well written study, complemented by appendices… and names and subject index, offers a central step toward an understanding of the German history of science and its growing international character throughout the 19th century. Of essential importance seems to be the author’s  interest in networks, which clearly goes beyond a classic history of a European contribution to American culture or that sees scientific transfer as a process of a complete move without modification and reflection.” · Neues Archiv für sächsische Geschichte“Academic networking is the prominent theme in this book. Werner provides valuable insights in the form of both statistical data and biographical information and considers a broad range of topics such as gender diversity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities, economic factors, and even military history… an important contribution to the research of American student life in Germany in terms of personal educational experiences.” · Amerikastudien / American Studies“Regardless of Werner’s predominant focus on Leipzig, she is to be lauded for the sheer volume and sophistication of her research. In the detailed stories of American life in Germany alone, this study builds upon existing literature, and will be valuable to all who study the transatlantic world in the nineteenth century.” · German Studies Review“…an important, much-needed, and very welcome study of a significant aspect of nineteenth-century German and American history that is frequently mentioned in the existing literature, yet rarely actually examined.” · American Historical Review“Werner effectively utilizes a wide range of primary documents, including university records, previously untapped student lists, travel journals, and correspondences by students, professors, and diplomats… [Her book] should be a must read for advanced historiography students but will also be of interest to any historian of transatlantic ethnic studies or the American education system.” · Yearbook of German American Studies“Academia always benefits from international cooperation. [This volume] delves into the international relationship between America and Europe. Discussing the long period between the establishment of the United States and the start of World War I, Anja Werner compiles a fascinating study of the countless Americans who traveled to Germany to embark on the journey of learning, and what this level of travel can teach people about the world and this worldly education's applications. Scholarly and insightful to this old school way of learning that still lives on, The Transatlantic World of Higher Education is a scholarly addition to history collections focusing on academia and education.” · Library Bookwatch“The book makes a significant contribution to the scholarship on the history of higher education and revises and corrects many over-simplifications in earlier scholarship.” · John B. Boles, Rice University“Werner provides finally, through an extraordinary rich effort with great sophistication and archival mastery, a description of the long discussed yet never fully documented attraction that German universities had for the number of Americans seeking research methodological expertise, modern research in the sciences (especially chemistry), or advanced study leading to an earned, research-based doctoral degree, which began at the University of Berlin in 1810 and then elsewhere thereafter in the German lands.” · Lester F. Goodchild, University of Massachusetts Boston, Distinguished Professor of International and Comparative Education