Joseph Balmer (historian)

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Joseph Balmer

Joseph Balmer ( December 26, 1914 in Ebikon , Lucerne - June 4, 2006 in Küsnacht , Zurich ) was a Swiss historian and Indian expert in the 20th century.

Youth and education

Born as the son of Peter Balmer von Flühli , Canton Lucerne and Josephine Magdalena, née Schwerzmann. In 1920 the family moved to Horw , Canton Lucerne, where he attended primary school for six years and then completed secondary school in the city of Lucerne. In 1929 the family moved again to Zurich , Switzerland, where his father found work in a trading company that mainly imported oriental carpets. Balmer worked for a short time as an unskilled worker in the same company as his father. In 1930, at the age of 16, he began a commercial apprenticeship at the association of the "Konkordia" cooperative in Switzerland, which he successfully completed in 1933 after three years of training. But his leisure time and interests lay elsewhere. He was fascinated by the Indians of North America .

Career

From 1929 onwards, Balmer spent many hours of his free time in the local libraries of the city of Zurich, where he first found books about Indians, and specifically a book by Wilhelm Herchenbach entitled "The Last Mandan Chief" which made him his lifelong interest and fascination should inspire on this subject, specifically on the history of the prairie nations of the Sioux and Cheyenne . Balmer, who now spoke perfect English, began an intensive correspondence with American scholars, historians, anthropologists and writers such as Stanley Vestal , George E. Hyde , Earl Alonzo Brininstool , Mari Sandoz and in this way acquired knowledge about the Indians, the Indian Wars and in general of the Wild West , so that he was considered an expert in this discipline. He learned the Lakota language in self-study . Balmer wrote up to 800 letters a year. The descendants of Red Cloud of the Pine Ridge Reservation adopted Balmer into their family gave him the Lakota name Wambli Ista ( eagle eye ), a fact of which he was particularly proud. Over the years Balmer has acquired a private library of several hundred books, many of them by famous writers, who have given them personal dedications. He also owned a collection of Native American objects, including a pair of moccasins by James Henry Red Cloud (1879-1960), grandson of the legendary Chief Red Cloud, and a train adorned with eagle feathers, which formerly belonged to the latter's son Jackson "Jack" Red Cloud (approx. 1858-1918) belonged. Balmer also owned a large number of original photographs by American photographers David Francis Barry , Orlando Scott Goff , John CH Grabill , Stanley J. Morrow, Frank Bennett Fiske , George W. Scott, Laton Alton Huffman , George E. Trager & Frederick Kuhn and other. From 1950 he was known as an Indian expert, although he never visited America. He was often consulted by scholars and writers, such as the Swiss author Ernie Hearting and numerous others in German and English-speaking countries.

Personal life

Balmer married Hedwig Huber (1915–2011), who came from the same place, in Zurich on May 21, 1937. He was the father of two children, Josef James and Susanna Hedwig Maria Balmer. Balmer died on June 4, 2006 in Küsnacht ZH .

Gravestone of Joseph Balmer in Küsnacht, Canton Zurich

Web links

Commons : Joseph Balmer  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ manuscript, Joseph Balmer's autobiographical notes, courtesy private information by Mr. Josef J. Balmer, Küsnacht ZH, Switzerland
  2. ↑ Zurich City Archives, Neumarkt 4, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
  3. ^ The English Westerners' Society - Custer Association of Great Britain, The Tally Sheet, Spring 2007, Volume 53, Number 2, pages 13 through 15
  4. ↑ Herchenbach, Wilhelm (1813-1889) ... 2565/162 The last mandan chief. Story for people and youth. Regensburg: Manz (1883) 8 °, 154 p., With 2 chromolithographs, (new stories for people and youth. 70th volume), 4th edition (1914)
  5. ↑ Klotz, Aiga, Children's and Young People's Literature in Germany 1840-1950, Volume 2, complete list of publications in German, by Aiga Klotz, JB Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung Stuttgart (1992), page 223
  6. ^ The English Westerners' Society - Custer Association of Great Britain, The Tally Sheet, Spring 2007, Volume 53, Number 2, pages 13 through 15
  7. ^ Tombstone at Holy Cross Cemetery, Pine Ridge SD
  8. ↑ death date and english first name detailed on the tombstone at Holy Cross Cemetery, Pine Ridge SD
  9. ↑ manuscript, Joseph Balmer's autobiographical notes, courtesy private information by Mr. Josef J. Balmer, Küsnacht ZH, Switzerland
  10. ↑ Zurich City Archives, Neumarkt 4, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
  11. ↑ Balmer's Burial site. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/203455446/joseph-balmer
  12. ↑ 'The Indian Hobbyist Movement in Europe', in Wilcomb E. Washburn (ed.) Handbook of American Indians Vol. 4: History of Indian White Relations, Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, pp. 562-569, published in 1986
personal data
SURNAME Balmer, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss historian and Indian expert in the 20th century
DATE OF BIRTH December 26, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Ebikon , Lucerne
DATE OF DEATH June 4, 2006
Place of death Küsnacht , Zurich