Banater Benefit Society (Cleveland, Ohio) records

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: IHRC281

Staff Only

Abstract

Records (1911-1964) of the Banater Benefit Society, based in Cleveland, Ohio, include minutes, membership and financial records of the Society and related groups, minutes and membership lists of the Banater Athletic Club (1922-1930), the Banater Civic League, the Banater Damen Chor, the Banater Manner chor, the Banater Frauen Verein, the Banater Hall Gesellschaft, and the Banater Sewing Circle. Also included are records of the Central Ohio Sanger Verein, the Cleveland Soccer League, the Deutsch-Canadian Verband (German-Canadian Home Society), Regina, Saskatchewan, Deutscher Stadtverband (German-American Civic League), Greater (or German) Beneficial Union, Districts 70 and 258, and papers of Mathias Bohr. Materials pertaining to Ohio State Senate Bill 389(1955), the IRS, and German American groups are also in the collection.

Dates

1911-1960

Creator

Banater Benefit Society (Cleveland, Ohio). (Organization)

Language of Materials

German (old and Roman script), and English

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS

Open for use in the Elmer L. Andersen Library reading room.

OWNERSHIP & LITERARY RIGHTS

This collection may be protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials. Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provision of the copyright law.

For further information regarding the copyright, please contact the IHRCA.

HISTORICAL SKETCH

The Banater Benefit Society (originally the Erster Deutsch-Ungarischer Unterstutzungs Verein (EDUUV), a mutual aid society, was established in Cleveland, Ohio in 1911. Membership consisted primarily of Roman Catholic German Americans from Banat, in what is now Yugoslavia and Romania. They were descendants of Swabians who had settled in the Banat in the 16th and 17th centuries, and began coming to the United States in the late 1800s. Originally limited to male membership, the Society began admitting women in 1912. Other German-speaking immigrants who settled in the Cleveland area belonged mostly to the Greater Beneficial Union, but most Banaters remained in the EDUUV. Between 1911-mid-1920s, a number of administratively separate organizations were formed which went under the Banater name. One such was the Banater Athletic Club, formed in 1921. Others included choirs, youth groups, and women's societies. The Cleveland organization was the official home of the Erster Deutsch-Ungarischer Unterstutzungs Verein, the Banater Damen-Chor, the Banater Manner-Chor, the Banater Civic League, the Banater Frauen Club, the Banater Sewing Circle, and the Greater Beneficial Union, Districts 258 and 70.