WERE STEUBEN SOCIETY MEDALS DESIGNED BY ALPHONSE KOLB? Público Deposited
QUERY
- Ilse Hoffmann, Secretary of the National Council of the Steuben Society of America submitted the following query for E-Sylum readers. -EditorI find several references to the work of Alphonse Kolb, of Rochester, NY, in your newsletter (e.g., Vol 11, No. 45). Coincidentally I came across Kolb's name in the pages of history of the Steuben Society of America. He was a member of the Ellwanger Unit No. 53 in Rochester, and was a member of the Society for more than 50 years.
The Steuben Society archives contain medals with Steuben likenesses that were customarily given as part of scholastic awards for proficiency in the study of American history or German language. I suspect but cannot be sure that these are from the hand of Kolb. Does anyone out there know this for a fact? Thank you for any information regarding this topic. My email address is steubensociety@aol.com.
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: MORE ON SCULPTOR ALPHONSE ANTON KOLB (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v11n45a08.html)
The Steuben Society of America was founded in May of 1919, in the aftermath of the First World War, by patriotic Americans of German descent. Our mission from the inception of our organization to the present day has remained essentially unchanged. Our goals are to foster good citizenship in the German-American community, to educate the public as to the positive role our ethnic group has always played in American society, and to preserve a sense of ethnic pride amongst German-Americans.
By no means was it an accident that our founders chose to name our organization after one of the greatest German-Americans. Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben epitomizes all the virtues our society holds most dear. The baron dedicated his life to public service. Von Steuben was recruited to the cause of American Liberty by Benjamin Franklin who persuaded the baron to offer his services, without compensation, to the Continental Congress. The baron, a Prussian officer by training, was given the rank of Major General in the Continental Army and distinguished himself as our country’s first effective Inspector General. He trained the troops through the brutal winter at Valley Forge where he converted a loosely assembled hodgepodge of untrained militia into a fighting force capable of standing toe to toe with the mighty British Army.
For more information on the Steuben Society of America, see: www.steubensociety.org - 2009-06-21
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