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Home > News & Events > CLA Today Archive > Spring 2004 : Keeping History Alive in the New World

Keeping history alive in the new world

by Joel Hoekstra

Bruce Larson '73 believes that engaging the new Europe and understanding its past are key to America's own future.

It's a small world after all. Commodities pass over oceans in a matter of hours. Information is sent halfway around the world with a keystroke. Satellites facilitate intercontinental conversations.

But Bruce Larson (B.A. history '73) worries about the growing gap between the Old World and New World. He sees divisions in foreign policy and politics, and in Europeans' and Americans' seemingly growing disdain for each other's culture. Most U.S. citizens seem uninterested in the development of the European Union and its historic importance, Larson says. But if we truly live in a shrinking global community, he warns, we Americans need to interact with and engage our neighbors.

“There's an intellectual isolation going on that I think is perverse,” he says.

Which is why Larson, a St. Paul businessman, recently committed an endowment gift of $125,000 to the U's Center for German and European Studies (CGES). The center, launched in 1998 and initially funded by CLA and a grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD)—also known as the German Academic Exchange Service—is a consortium program aimed at developing a new generation of scholars and producing new knowledge related to Germany and the new Europe.

One of just five DAAD-sponsored centers of excellence in America and the only one based in the Midwest, CGES seeks to bring together contemporary scholars to discuss contemporary developments and trends. Says Larson: “I think the most important thing the center can do is get professors out of the ivory tower. I'd like the center to be a resource for local and regional discussions on the new Europe.”

Larson's gift is critical to CGES's ability to facilitate such discussions. The DAAD and CLA committed to funding the center through 2007, but its ongoing work will require additional money. So CGES has begun an endowment campaign to raise $5 million to support the center's activity. “Bruce's pledge is a recognition that our support of education and community outreach is important—not only to the University but also to the community at large,” says CGES director and history professor Eric Weitz, who holds the Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Chair.

From Schiller to sausages

The descendant of German immigrants on his mother's side, Larson has always had a soft spot for German culture and history. A few years ago, he founded the German American Heritage Foundation, which awards scholarships to high school students who continue their German language or history studies at the college level. He also serves as impresario of the Emperors Ball, an annual gala held at St. Paul's Landmark Center to celebrate German heritage.

Larson says CGES should serve as a dynamo for discussion of Europe's past, present, and promise. From Schiller to sausages, German culture can be enjoyed by academics and regular folks alike, he notes. Moreover, German history—both good and bad—is just too important to forget. It has shaped America's own development in many ways.

From bookworm to benefactor

Curiosity drives learning, and Larson has long shown himself to be driven by it. He grew up in River Falls, Wisc., the son of a truck driver and a meat-packing company employee. Early on, he became a bookworm, devouring The Wind and the Willows, The Red Badge of Courage, and even The Iliad and The Odyssey before age seven.

“I had the good fortune of having a friend who was the son of a college professor,” he recalls. “I think a seed was planted there, interacting with a family that had as their tradition social justice, literature, and all of the things that make a Renaissance man.”

Science captivated him in high school, but after entering the U's Institute of Technology in the late 1960s, he realized that his gifts and interests were too broad to channel into a chemical engineering career. So he transferred to CLA to pursue a history major. Professor Theo Stavrou tapped into the part of Larson that couldn't resist a good story. “Theo always anchored the subject of history in the life of the common man,” Larson says.

“He could connect the patterns of history with great works of literature. I found myself reading and reading and reading.”

An omnivorous appetite for history, sociology, and psychology kept Larson in school for eight years. His career since graduation has been no less diverse. He's worked with disabled and elderly people, and with kids at risk. The founder and owner of Equity Services of St. Paul, a home health-care business, he believes strongly in community involvement. He's deeply committed to the growth and development of Frogtown, the St. Paul neighborhood where he lives.

Larson sees a real connection between his past business success and his investment in the future of the CGES. “My business is about keeping old minds, bodies, and spirits alive with as much soul and dignity as possible. That's about sustaining the life of the mind. On the other side, I think it's important to keep old ideas alive, too, to celebrate our heritage. How do we make our heritage relevant to this new world?”