About

Letters from the Attic is a digital commonplace book dedicated to exploring the history, literature, and immigrant experiences of German-Americans, with a particular focus on 19th-century communities and historical networks in the Midwest.

Think of this space as a study desk piled with old correspondence, marginalia, and recovered stories. It is a place to gather digital artifacts, trace the social and civic institutions built by nineteenth-century immigrants, and examine the linguistic and cultural threads they brought across the Atlantic.

More practically, it started because I have a Google Drive folder overflowing with things I saved that never made it into my ArcGIS Story Map (which will be live as soon as I get permissions for the last few images!). I decided I needed a place for the little things that catch my interest.

Behind the Archives

I am a graduate student in Modern Languages focusing on German at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where my research centers on nineteenth-century German-American community building, Low German identity, and historical records. My work bridges traditional archival research with digital humanities mapping—tracing how European political movements, such as the failed 1848 revolution in Schleswig-Holstein, echoed into the civic organizations and local press of places like Grand Island, Nebraska. I’ve been learning Kurrent and can now recognize names in a letter I already knew was in there. Remember, we celebrate the little things here.

When I’m not deep into historical newspapers, immigration manifests, or nineteenth-century texts, you can usually find me practicing historical German handwriting scripts (like Kurrent and Sütterlin) with a traditional dip pen, tending to native pollinator plants, or exploring regional trails on an electric bicycle.

Get in Touch

Whether you are tracking down historical family connections, researching Nebraska history, or simply want to swap notes on archival findings, I would love to hear from you. You can drop a line anytime via the contact page.