The Susanna saga continued
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — “And so,” Michael Freiherr von der Tann continued, “we are so pleased to have these documents returned to our family. They will join the rest of the Tann Archive in the Hesse State Archives in Marburg.” With a hand-off of an acid-free box containing four vellum documents, this chapter of […]
Susanna’s papers
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — A man walked into the museum. Handing me four folded documents he said, “These are German. Do y’all want them?” A thrill moved through my fingertips to my brain as I took them. The documents were written on vellum. By vellum, I don’t mean the paper you buy at Hobby […]
“Hairstory”
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — “Hairstory” is a new and unusual exhibit opening in April at the Sophienburg Museum. The museum’s collection was scoured for artifacts of human hair. What? Yes, the museum has a collection of human hair artifacts that include jewelry, wreaths and saved first curls. You might think that odd, but even […]
Cold War fears in New Braunfels
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — In recent days, we have all watched heart-breaking images flash across our screens as Russia exerts its power over Ukraine. News of such events has stirred up childhood memories of my classmates and I scrambling under our metal school desks during bomb drills of the Cold War Era in the […]
Easter nests and Easter bunnies
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — I know it’s a little early, but Easter has already arrived in stores — so why not here? In German families, like mine, we (the children) made Easter nests. No, not for a bird or a chicken, but for the Easter bunny. Everyone gathered Easter weekend at my Grandma and […]
Millett family
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — There are times, during the course of researching a topic, that we come across a story that just says it all. The following, a reprint of a story written by Susan Flynt England, is exactly that. It appeared in the Herald-Zeitung on Sunday, January 7, 1996. Local family traces heritage […]
Comal Sanitarium
By Tara V. Kohlenberg — I love driving through the tree lined streets of New Braunfels in the winter month(s). The absence of leaves invites a closer look at the buildings, the rooflines, the architectural details, the landscaping. Oddly, I have always been drawn to the properties lined with mature palm trees. They seem so […]
The House That Jack Built
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — I have heard some murmurings in town lately about a place called The House that Jack Built. As often happens at the Sophienburg, I had already done some research into this business. Let me share some facts and a couple stories that I discovered along the journey. In February of […]
Express it with words
Keva Hoffmann Boardman — I have always found that the imagery of an idiom helps me to better understand a person’s meaning. However, discerning the meaning behind an idiom, or expression, in a foreign language is often challenging. At the Sophienburg, we are faced with interpreting German expressions when we translate letters and newspaper accounts. […]
Bohemian John
By Keva Hoffmann Boardman — The best part of the local newspaper, for me, has always been the “society pages”. Since the Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung’s first issue back in 1852, there was always a section for local news called Lokales (German for local). This section described events, weddings, the births of babies and funerals. It told […]
