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UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

Finding Aid for the
DEPARTMENT OF SLAVIC AND GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE
RECORDS, 1970-1984
(UA-6XX)

Finding aid includes an administrative history and list of dissertaions produced by students only.

VOLUME: 3 cubic ft.

ACQUISITION: All items in this manuscript group were donated to the University Libraries, M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives.

ACCESS: Access to this record group is unrestricted.

COPYRIGHT: The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives will provide information about copyright owners and other restrictions, but the legal determination ultimately rests with the researcher. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the Head of Special Collections and Archives.

Department of Slavic and Germanic Languages and Literatures
Administrative History

The New York State Normal College first introduced a course in the “methods of teaching...Greek, French or German” to students in the Classical Course in 1890. [Circular of the New York State Normal College, Albany, N.Y., for 1890 and 1891, p. 10]. In 1890 the renamed College was given the mission of training high school teachers in New York. As foreign languages were not taught in the Common Schools, no instruction in German was offered by the State Normal School. Students taking the Classical Course were required to have two years of German before attending the Normal College, presumably eliminating the need to teach the subject. [Ibid., p. 8] By 1904 a course in the “Literature of the German Language” had been added to the methods course. [Circular and Announcement of the Courses of Instruction, 1904, p. 29]. The revised mission of the College adopted by the Regents on December 14, 1905, effective September 1906, which changed the school into a four year liberal arts college for teachers, schooldesignation the school adopted a four year liberal arts curriculum. German was taught in the Department of until 1964 when the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures was created.**1 Courses included German language and literature.**2 Two programs were offered: A Teacher Education Program and a General Program both leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), totaling twenty-seven hours.**3 The Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures also offered instruction in Russian, Polish, and Chinese. The department endeavored “to expand the student's intellectual horizon to embrace a culture other than his own. The foreign language is at once part of that culture and the only medium through which an intimate sense of the total culture may be gained. Extra-curricular opportunities to practice the foreign language in an informal setting are offered by language clubs and language tables."**4 In 1967 the department expanded its program by offering a year long study abroad program at the University of Wurzburg in Germany. A Masters program was established in 1968 to provide sufficient depth to prepare the student for a career in teaching at the secondary level of for further graduate study.**7

In 1970, the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures was established.**5 The Department offered three programs leading to the B.A. Degree: A Teachers Education Program, a General Program, and an Honors Program which began in 1969.**6 The department’s offerings were expanded in 1972 to include a Ph.D. in German.**8 The department offered a year abroad of instruction in Chinese at Nayand University in Singapore until a department of Chinese Studies was established in 197?.

The Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures merged with the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures in 1996. German language instruction was eliminated on campus in 1997 with German language instruction now offered through an agreement with Union College. The Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies was created in 1998.

Department Chairs:

Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, 1964-1970
George W. Kreye, Chairman, 1964-
Charles W. Coleman, Acting Chair, 1966
John Winkleman, Chairman, 1967-1970
John Spalek, Chairman, 1970

Department of Slavic Studies, 1970-1994
Alex M. Shane, Chairman, 1970 or 1971(?)-1977
Rodney L. Patterson, Acting Chairman 1977-1978
Alex M. Shane, Chair, 1978-1980
Ernest Scatton, Chair, 1980-1985
Henryk Baran, Chair (?), 1985-1988
Robinson Harlow, Chair, 1988-1989
Henryk Baran, Chair, 1989-1992
Robinson Harlow, Chair, 1992-1994

Department of Slavic and Germanic Languages and Literatures, 1994-1997
Harlow Robinson, Chair, 1994-1995
Charles Rougle, Chair, 1995-97

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Notes

Back to History

1. State University of New York at Albany Undergraduate Bulletin, 1964-66, 91.
2. State University of New York at Albany Undergraduate Bulletin Supplement, 1965-66, 45.
3. State University of New York at Albany Undergraduate Bulletin, 1964-66, 94.
4. State University of New York at Albany Undergraduate Bulletin, 1967-68, 102.
5. State University of New York at Albany Undergraduate Bulletin, 1970-71, 88.
6. State University of New York at Albany Undergraduate Bulletin, 1969-70, 93.
7. State University of New York at Albany Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, 1968, 1.
8. Graduate Council Report for the Period, April 1-30, 1970, 2.

Department of Slavic and Germanic Languages and Literatures
Series Description

Series 1: German Dissertations, 1975-1997, 3.0 cubic ft. (26 vols.) Arranged chronologically and alphabetically thereunder.

Contains departmental copies of dissertations submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Department of Slavic and Germanic Languages and Literatures
Box and Folder List

German Dissertations, 1975-1997

Box 1

Vander Heide, Ralph Peter. Deutche Blatter fur ein europaisches Deutschland/Gegen ein deutsches Europa: A Cultural-Political Study. 1975
Broerman, Bruce M. The German Exile Novel After 1933. 1976
Hartzell, Richard E. Ulrich’s Pathway to the “Other” State An Investigation of the central Problem in Musil’s Novel “Der Mann Ohne Eigenschaften”. 1976
Steiner, Frank circa Manfred George: His Life and Works. 1977
Lennig, Hannelore W. Gunter Eich und Sprache: Untersuchung zu Wandel und Entwichlung des Sprachverstandnisses in seinem Werk. 1978
Nagy, George L. Ferenc Molnars Stucke Auf Der Deutschsprachigen Buhne. 1978
Kellenter, Sigrid. Das Sonell bei Rilke. 1978
Guenter, Walter P. Theodore Fontanes “Schach von Wurthenow” Wirklichkeil un Verklarung. 1980
Barber, Sigmund. The Amadis de Gaule of the compte de Tresan and W. circa S. Mylius: an analytical comparison of the sixteenth and eighteenth Amadis editions. 1981
Krolick, circa Margaret. The Esoteric Tradition in the Novels of Gustav Meyrink. 1983
Wehage, Franz-Joseph. Karl Otto Patel: Leben and Werk eine Literaturkritikes. 1983

Box 2

Geyer, Eberhard. Die Funktion der Elementargeister im Werk E. T. A. Hoffmans. 1985
Skwara, Erich Wolfgang. Hans Sahl: Leben und Werk. 1985
Steppich, Christoph J. Die Vorstellung vom gottlich inspirierten Dichter in der humanischen Dichtungstheorie un Renaissance-Philosophie Italiens und in der Dichtungspraxis des Deutschen Humanismus. 1986
Van Ness, Silke. Pennsylvania German in West Virginia: Language Variations and Language Attrition. 1988
Willard, Penelope. “Gerfuhl” und “Erkenntnis:” Ernst Toller’s Revisions of His Dramas. 1988
Ebel, Christine K. Funktional-pragmatische und Struktural-syntagmatische Aspekte des heilsgeschtlichen Kontextes am Beispiel der Herzeloyden-Figur in Wolframs von Eschenbach Parzival. 1991
Macris, Ursula A. Otto Furth, das dramatische Werk der Wiener Jahre und Prosa im Exil. 1991

Box 3

Kufner, Stephanie E. Nur einem menschen bracht dies amt zum politichen helden in Schiller’s Don Karlos. 1992
Straif-Taylor, Helga. Lothar Schreyer’s Das Expressionistiche Theater: Content, Background, and Translation. 1992

Weigel, Robert G. Zur Geistigen einheit von Hermann Brochs Werk: Massenpsychologie, Politologie, Romane. 1992
Posthofen, Renate S. George Saiko (1892-1962) Leben und Werk eines unbekannten grossen Autors. 1993
Wilson, Kelly E. Force and Love in the Works of Rainer Maria Rilke (Heroic Life Attitudes and the Acceptance of Defeat and Suffering as Complementary Parts). 1996
Giguere, Undine G. Frauen im Exil Untersuchung exilrelevanter Themenbereiche anhand der autobiographisch ausgewahlten Texte von funf Exilautorinnen (1933-45). 1997
Lorenz, Erich J. Ueberlegungen zu den unterschiedlichen kommunikationsbedingungen in ost- und westdeutchland. 1997
Loyola, Annette. The Role of the Woman in Wirnt Von Grafenberg’s Wigalois. 1997

*Two dissertations are missing:
Froelich, Ulrich R. Fritz von Unrahs Spat Werk der neu verlor. 1980
Reich, Terry. Franz Werfel’s exile works: analysis and bibliography of their reception. 1992

*Copies of all these works (including the missing copies) can also be found on microfilm in the University Libraries’ Microforms Department or in hard copy the University Archives’ Dissertation and Thesis Collection.

Last updated July 19, 2004