Switzerland’s reception policy not only included groups of journalists, but also people involved in the arts and culture, such as writers and translators. Among the guests invited during the 1960s and 1970s was Herbert Kubly of New Glarus, Wisconsin USA.

As a writer and journalist showing a keen interest in the country of his ancestors, who emigrated from the canton of Glarus in the 19th century, Kubly wrote two books about his experiences after several visits to Switzerland in the early 1950s. In 1968, a grant from Pro Helvetia, the National Tourist Board, and The American Society for Friendship with Switzerland allowed Kubly to spend a year in Switzerland. He returned to travel in Switzerland in 1973 and 1977 and thus witnessed the changes that had occurred in the country since his first visit.

Up until the 1980s, New Glarus, Kubly’s place of birth, was a rather important influence on the Swiss image in the United States. In 1958, a Switzerland Week was held in Chicago and in 1968, the HemisFair world exhibition took place in San Antonio. Folk-groups and alphorn players from New Glarus and the Swiss Colony in New York competed against each other for a chance to attend both events. In 1969, Pro Helvetia supported the building of a Hall of History in New Glarus with a grant of 10,000 Swiss Francs. In the latter half of the 1970s, the idea of a Swiss professorship at the University of Wisconsin was much bandied about. Finally, during the Swiss week held in Houston in 1981, the steering committee responsible for coordinating the promotion of the Swiss image abroad presented a Heidi-exhibition in the Hall of History, prepared by the inhabitants of New Glarus, Wisconsin, a follow-up to an event, also sponsored by Pro Helvetia, dedicated to William Tell.

Herbert Kubly himself contributed generously to the image of Switzerland in the United States. In 1981, his Native’s Return: An American of Swiss Descent Unmasks An Enigmatic Land And People, an account, summarising his experiences when travelling in Switzerland, was published by Stein & Day, New York. His critical view of Switzerland in the 1960s and 1970s also included a wry glance at the institutions responsible for the reception of foreign dignitaries. In his tale, Kubly renamed Pro Helvetia “PURS” – “Pour Une Renaissance Suisse” i.e. : “For a Swiss Renaissance.” and turned the news service of the political department into the “Federal Information Bureau.” As recounted in the book, rivalries between “PURS” and the “Federal Information Bureau” had vastly complicated the administrative part of Kubly’s visits to Switzerland.

Kubly’s journey to Switzerland and his focus on the numerous changes in Switzerland, questioning Swiss myth and Switzerland as a special case, the Swiss “Sonderfall”, finally led to a reassessment of the traditional images and imagery of an alpine country, preserved only in places such as New Glarus, Wisconsin. (tk)

Archives
Pro Helvetia, procès-verbaux du groupe I

Bibliography
Kubly, Herbert : Switzerland, New York, Time Inc. 1964
Kubly, Herbert : Native’s return: an American of Swiss descent unmasks an enigmatic land and people, New York, Stein and Day 1981
Tschudy, Kim D. : The Swiss of New Glarus, Charleston, Arcadia Publishing 2007