The Dedication of Germanic Museum of Harvard University/Address by H. C. G. von Jagemann

The exercises were opened by the presiding officer, Professor von Jagemann, chairman of the Germanic Department of Harvard University, with an account of the history of the Museum.

ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR VON JAGEMANN.

Mr. President, Baron von dem Bussche, and Ladies and Gentlemen:—

You have been invited by the President and Fellows of Harvard College to witness the opening exercises of a new institution connected with our university—the Germanic Museum. The small beginnings of this collection have been, as most of you doubtless know, on exhibition for some time; nevertheless there seems to be good reason for such a ceremony as that which brings us together to-day. It is a natural desire when we have reached a turning point in the road, to look back in order to measure the distance which we have traveled, rejoice at the work we have accomplished, make sure that we are pursuing the right path, calculate how far we are still from our goal. This, I take it, is the purpose of our gathering to-day.

The beginnings of our enterprise date back some ten years. The project of a Germanic Museum had its inception in the growing conviction on the part of the instructors in the Department of German, that their true function was not merely to teach the German language, or even German literature, however important these might be, but to give our students a true conception of what Germany stands for in modern civilization, what her ideals have been, what she has contributed to the world's best intellectual possessions. For this purpose books alone do not suffice. As no person ever fairly understood the spirit of ancient Greece without beholding, at least in good reproductions, some of her greatest works of art, so it was felt that some phases of German life and thought were more truthfully embodied in the architecture, sculpture and paintings of mediaeval cathedrals and town halls than even in Wolfram von Eschenbach's “Parzival” or the writings of the Mystics.

Furthermore, if we would correctly understand the life of the great masses of the people, a life that is only indirectly reflected in the higher forms of literature, of which it nevertheless is the ultimate source, we must enter not only cathedrals and castles, but also the burghers' houses and the peasants' cottages, study the manners and customs of the inhabitants, watch these at their work and their play, observe their furniture, clothing, arms, implements. It seems to me that nobody can examine carefully even the small model of the Viking-boat that we have been fortunate enough to secure, without realizing what a sturdy and intelligent race these hardy seamen were, that could fashion out of oaken planks, seventy-five feet long and eight inches thick, almost without iron, seaworthy boats as graceful as a modern yacht.

While the Germanic Museum was thus first planned merely as an aid to the ordinary class-room instruction as then organized, later reflection led to the enlargement of its scope so as to comprise Germanic culture in its various developments in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, England, Denmark, and Scandinavia. Such a museum, it was thought, would have an important place in a system of museums of the humanities, by the side of the Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, and the Semitic Museum, that were already in existence. A museum of just such scope did not, as far as we know, exist anywhere, for even the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg is in the main a German Museum.

It was thought, however, that this country, of all countries, should possess a Germanic Museum in the wider sense of the word, since the great majority of the American people are of Germanic origin, and it is here that in modern times descendants of all Germanic tribes have met on a common ground and carried on the work of civilization side by side. That the collection so far is really German and not Germanic is not due to any change in the plans, but to the practical necessity of limiting acquisitions for a time to one or two lines, along which, with the means at hand, fairly satisfactory results could be obtained, instead of collecting a number of miscellaneous objects.

Our project therefore was extensive, but our means were as limited as our desires were ambitious. Occasionally some of us doubted whether anything would ever come of the plan. However, the Committee of Visitors of the German Department, especially its honored Chairman, Mr. Putnam, heartily entered into the scheme and raised a sum of money as a nucleus for a fund. The University added a sum from the bequest of Mr. Barthold Schlesinger, a friend of the department. We also had the good fortune of winning a generous patron in the person of Mr. Heinrich Conried, who has for many years labored to exhibit to the American public, in perfect form, one phase of German art, the drama, and who has most liberally provided for us here, as many of you will recall with delight, several performances of classic German plays, the proceeds of which have considerably increased the museum fund.

When enough had been accomplished to show that those in charge of the project were in earnest, endeavors were made to enlist the aid of prominent persons abroad. It augured well for the success of the enterprise that one of the first to lend active help was the distinguished biographer of Michel Angelo and Goethe, Herman Grimm, the friend and correspondent of Emerson, at whose feet so many American students in Berlin have sat, and who always followed with interest the intellectual life of this country. He presented to the incipient museum the beautiful folio edition of his “Life of Michel Angelo,” and he rendered the cause a much greater service still by bringing it to the notice of the German Government.

With this the project entered upon a new stage. As an indirect result of Herman Grimm's suggestion and on the basis of the friendly recommendations of the then German Ambassador at Washington, Dr. von Holleben, Emperor William offered to give to the Museum a set of casts representing in typical examples the history of German sculpture. Others will speak on this occasion of the significance of this imperial gift. I must content myself with pointing out that the mere offer of it produced at once the happiest results; other givers were stimulated to follow the Emperor's example, and the Germanic character of the enterprise indicated by this gift of the head of the German nation to an American museum was further emphasized by the offers of gifts and other assistance from Germanic countries outside of Germany.