This is an odd one, so it’s primarily aimed at academic types, armchair historians etc.

I’m trying to illustrate the level and extent of intellectual interaction between the United States and Europe from the end of the 19th century into the 1930s. For example, one thing I would really love to find is a concrete illustration of the degree to which American scholarly journals (and the ideas therein) proliferated in Europe and vice versa. For reasons too complex to get into here, I want to show that America was not intellectually cut-off from intellectual currents on the continent. I’ve found lots of stuff on trade — European and American economies were much more connected a lot earlier than most people might guess — but is there any way to show that the trade in ideas was also substantial? I know it was, but I’m having a hard time making that case without droning on and on about obscure academic squabbles. If I could find out how many European subscribers there were to, say, Political Science Quarterly or how many American subscribers there were to the German or French equivalents that might help. Then again, not knowing the answer it might hurt my case. But that would be good to know too.

Similarly, I know that a great number of academics from the progressive era studied in Germany and England in the 1890s and afterwards. Is there any place I can find the hard data of the extent and prevalence of such exchanges? How about the number of foreign-born or visiting European professors at Ivy League universities?

Are there other examples I’m not thinking of? Colorful, interesting anecdotal stories are useful too (so long as they can be documented). Please send suggestions, answers, etc to [email protected].