Dorris Keeven-Franke
Wednesday, 11:00 a.m., W123–“Gottfried Duden”
Friday, 4:00 p.m., F357–“The Giessen Emigration Society”
Dorris’ lifelong passion for history was sparked when her great-grandfather shared research of the family tree when she was only nine. She has written countless articles on local history; consulted with film and television producers; traced heirs for law firms; and been an archivist for the St. Charles County Historical Society. Dorris travels giving talks on local history and German emigration. She teaches genealogy for the local Adult Education classes. Besides blogging, writing, and collaborating on five books, she is director for the Missouri Germans Consortium, and editor of their quarterly e-journal Der Anzeiger.
Since 2009, Dorris has worked on the international project Utopia–Revisiting a German State in America, as a team member of the Traveling Summer Republic and their U.S. contact. The bilingual project shares the story of one of the largest most organized emigration societies to come to the United States. In 1834, Friedrich Muench and Paul Follenius followed Gottfried Duden’s advice laid out in his “A Report on a Journey to the Western States of North America” and founded the Giessen Emigration Society.
With this group of archivists, writers, film makers, photographers, and artists in Germany intrigued with this nearly forgotten piece of history, they have produced a huge traveling exhibit, book, and documentary film. The exhibit was funded in Germany and traveled from Giessen, after opening on 1 November 2013, to the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis. Dorris is looking forward to sharing her passion at the National Genealogical Society Conference.
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| Utopia exhibit - opening night - St Louis - November 21, 2014 - photo Peter Roloff-3665 |
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