Promoting Swiss-American Studies since 1927
About Tom
Thomas Quinn Marabello became President of the Swiss American Historical Society in November 2024. He served as Vice President from 2021-24. As president, he is focused on increasing membership, organizing engaging and interesting annual meetings, and supporting young historians. Tom's involvement in the Society has included writing articles and book reviews, serving as the publications lead on the Editorial Board, doing outreach, and starting the SAHS Centennial Committee. SAHS Review articles that he has written include the 500th anniversary of Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation, democracy in Switzerland, the centennial of the Treaty of Lausanne, and the connection between Zermatt and Vail. He got his BA cum laude in History from Marymount University and his MA in Medieval & Early Modern European Studies from Georgetown University. Tom has developed materials and curated resources for the National Council for History Education, EuroClio, The Renaissance Society of America and the We the People Constitution Program Hub. His first career was teaching high school history and social studies, including Advanced Placement European History for over a decade. Tom is now an onsite events sourcing manager for Maritz Global Events and part-time guide at the President Woodrow Wilson House. He lives in Washington, DC.
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About Beth
Beth Zurbuchen has been Vice President of the Swiss American Historical Society since November 2024. She served as President of the Swiss Center of North America in New Glarus, Wisconsin from 2009 until retiring in April 2024. In that role, Beth worked on collecting and inventorying Swiss genealogical and historical materials, and the founding of the Donald G. Tritt Library and Archives. Beth invited SAHS to hold its annual meeting in October 2023 at the Swiss Center of North America, and collaborated with Tom Marabello to plan and execute what was a very successful and well attended meeting. As the Society's Vice President in the U.S., Beth works on outreach to Swiss Clubs and other organizations, networking and public programming. Her grandfather and great grandparents emigrated from Switzerland to Wisconsin, and Beth is a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland. She got her BA with honors in Mass Communications from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and her first career was as a television news journalist. Beth and her husband live in Madison, Wisconsin and she has two adult daughters.​
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About Barbara
Barbara Müller joined the SAHS in 2013, became Vice President of the SAHS Swiss Chapter in 2016 and is President of our sister organization, Friends of the Swiss American Historical Society in Switzerland. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts and later raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where her father, Dr. Hans Heinrich Kuhn (born in Niederuzwil, Switzerland) was a research scientist for Deering Milliken (now Milliken and Co.), who helped found the Swiss Club of the Piedmont and served as Honorary Consul for Switzerland in North and South Carolina from 1970-1990. Barbara got her BA in History from the College of Charleston and emigrated to Switzerland in 1987 where she married Willi Müller. They travelled as expats for Nestlé living 11 years in various West African countries (Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria) and Indonesia and Australia each for 2 years, thus always exploring new cultures. She has done a lot of outreach to young historians in Switzerland and organized many interesting annual meetings in different parts of the country. Barbara has also suggested books and articles for us to publish. The mother of three adult children and several grandchildren, she lives in Murten, Canton Fribourg, Switzerland where she is a tour guide and helps with various other activities in the city.​
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About Ernie
Ernie Thurston is a longtime SAHS member who has been the Membership Secretary since 1998. He is also currently serving as Treasurer, which he has done before. Ernie got his BA in Physics from Harvard University and was a computer programmer and political consultant. His father (Ernest Albert Thürkauf) along with his parents and siblings emigrated from Liestal, Canton Basel-Landschaft in 1913 to Alberta, Canada, and then later to Washington state. Ernie edited his father's revised 1983 memoir in 2003, One Small Lifetime. Now semi-retired, he and his wife enjoy spending time with their two daughters and four grandchildren. Ernie lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
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About Robert
Robert Sherwood has been an active member since 2010 and has served on the Executive Board, currently as Recording Secretary, and is also the Book Review Editor and a member of the Editorial Board. He also coordinates the annual Leo Schelbert Award and has done outreach with Swiss-American affiliated churches, historical societies, and communities, particularly in the Midwest. He has been professor of history at Georgia Military College since 2005, where he also serves as department chair and is the cross country coach. Rob teaches a variety of courses, including Historical Research and Writing, World Civilizations and American History. He got his BA in History and French from New Mexico State University and MA in History from the University of Delaware. An area of interest is the Swiss biathlon, which Rob has researched and written about, and he is also a freelance archivist for the U.S. Biathlon Association. He and his family live in Milledgeville, Georgia.
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About Richard
Richard Hacken has been our Webmaster since 2018 and also serves on the Editorial Board. Born in Sacramento, California, a city established originally (at least by Europeans) as "New Helvetia" in the days of Johann Sutter. He is also a citizen of "Old Helvetia" (i.e. Switzerland) with ancestral lines from Rüeggisberg, Canton Bern. Richard has a doctorate in German Studies from the University of California at Davis. After having taught at Oregon State University and the University of Kansas, he was the European Studies Librarian at Brigham Young University for over 40 years (now emeritus). He has established and maintained information portals online, including EuroDocs, World War I Document Archive and Deutsche Dichterhandschriften des Poetischen Realismus. Richard has published books and articles in the areas of Swiss and German literature, European history, and library history, as well as translating articles and poetry from German, Dutch, Danish and Norwegian. His latest book forthcoming in Spring 2025 that SAHS is publishing through Masthof Press is Helvetic Heights: A Human History of the Swiss Alps. Richard and his family live in Provo, Utah.
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