Beer in Pre-Prohibition USA: From a German Cultural Asset to an Americanized Mass Product? A 'Reinvention of Tradition and Consumption'
African, American and Oceania Studies
Final Report Abstract
By building upon studies in the field of (German-)American immigration and food studies, the project analyses the historical development of the marketing, consumption, and perception of beer in the U.S. from the beginning of the 19th century when German-style beers were first introduced until national prohibition in 1920 when the production, sale, and transport of alcohol over 0.5Vol.-% was legally banned. German immigrants triggered the so-called “lager beer revolution” in the middle of the 19th century and fundamentally changed America’s drinking culture. Accordingly, the project studies the cultural transfer of beer as a “(re)invention of tradition and consumption” (Hobsbawm 1983), i. e. as a differentiated geographical and socio-cultural exchange process between diverse ethnic brewing traditions in the U.S. Based on case studies of three regions (Midwest, East and West Coast) the focus is on three interrelated aspects: (1) product development and marketing in relation to pre-existing and newly emerging patterns of consumption; (2) the role of breweries/brewers as centripetal forces; (3) the effects of recurring anti-German propaganda, public health campaigns, and the temperance movement. The funding’s main objective was to gather primary sources relating to the three case studies regions and the three focal points. The collected primary sources can be roughly divided into three groups: (1) media reports, comments and advertisements in selected national, local and ethnic newspapers and periodicals; (2) individual records and collections of breweries; as well as (3) the “grey” literature such as advertising posters, calendars, etiquettes, and collectibles. Overall, the research was carried out as planned over the course of the twelve months and the wealth of material strengthened the focus and scope of the study. For instance, the German-language sources such as newspapers and early brewing periodicals open up a German-American perspective and not only complement and add to the narrative found in the English speaking sources but also at times question or contradict the general view. Similarly, while the majority of the smaller breweries did not leave behind a collection of archival material the records that are available (mostly those of larger breweries) document both the history of the individual company as well as the local and national development of the brewing industry in general. So far, the focus on gathering material has only left limited time for evaluation. However, first results have been published and presented at international conferences as well as at public events. Moreover, I have enlarged my network through memberships in (academic) societies as well as by meeting several authors, archivists and curators. Reaching out has already lead to collaborations as I was interviewed and videotaped for the second edition of the documentary "Brewed in Brooklyn" (DVD, 2016).
Publications
- ‘Hopfen und Malz, Gott erhalt’s’: How German-Americans Shaped America’s Beer Drinking Culture, Max Kade Institute Friends Newsletter 24/3 (2015): 12-13
Jana Weiß
- Frederick Pabst (2016), in: Deutsches Historisches Institut (D.C.), Immigrant Entrepreneurship. German American Business Biographies
Jana Weiß
- ‘The Art of Brewing Was Developed by the Germans’: Der Einfluss deutsch-amerikanischer Einwanderung auf die US-amerikanische Brauindustrie vor der Prohibition, in: Willi Kulke (Hrsg.). Vom Streben nach Glück. 200 Jahre Auswanderung aus Westfalen nach Amerika. Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2016: 136-147
Jana Weiß
