Okay, trying to decide if this is genius or insanity:
Dear Prof. Dr. Fredersdorf,
I'm an American scholar, and I came across your name while working on a historical research project about an 18th century Prussian, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf.
I know this is a long shot, but I thought I would ask if you might be related to him, and if so, if your family has any unpublished material or anecdotes relating to him that you'd be willing to share.
Regards, Dr. [my name]
He has several books published on Amazon and a webpage for the center that he founded at the vocational university that he works at, and I *have* run across him before in my Fredersdorf searches before; I recognize his photograph.
I know that Fredersdorf isn't exactly a rare name (plenty of hits just on LinkedIn), but I don't *think* it's like emailing a random Schmidt on the internet and asking if he's related to another Schmidt? And he *is* a research academic, so this is one scholar reaching out to another.
I mean, I wouldn't do it just on the very slim chance that some guy by the same name had family history material on my subject, but I have this very tentative link between him and the Fredersdorf Wikipedia page, and he might actually be the one who knows where the embezzlement allegation comes from.
What do you guys think? Send? Don't send? Add a line apologizing for contacting him out of the blue? Let Selena do this so that the email's at least in German, which might help push the weirdness level down a notch? Forget about the whole idea?
Taking votes! Especially from people who might have a sense of how much this would violate cultural norms in the German-speaking world. (Include "Dr." from an American PhD for extra credibility? Not include it? German title conventions are so different from American, and idek about Austria.)
Re: Fredersdorf: exonerated!
Dear Prof. Dr. Fredersdorf,
I'm an American scholar, and I came across your name while working on a historical research project about an 18th century Prussian, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf.
I know this is a long shot, but I thought I would ask if you might be related to him, and if so, if your family has any unpublished material or anecdotes relating to him that you'd be willing to share.
Regards,
Dr. [my name]
He has several books published on Amazon and a webpage for the center that he founded at the vocational university that he works at, and I *have* run across him before in my Fredersdorf searches before; I recognize his photograph.
I know that Fredersdorf isn't exactly a rare name (plenty of hits just on LinkedIn), but I don't *think* it's like emailing a random Schmidt on the internet and asking if he's related to another Schmidt? And he *is* a research academic, so this is one scholar reaching out to another.
I mean, I wouldn't do it just on the very slim chance that some guy by the same name had family history material on my subject, but I have this very tentative link between him and the Fredersdorf Wikipedia page, and he might actually be the one who knows where the embezzlement allegation comes from.
What do you guys think? Send? Don't send? Add a line apologizing for contacting him out of the blue? Let Selena do this so that the email's at least in German, which might help push the weirdness level down a notch? Forget about the whole idea?
Taking votes! Especially from people who might have a sense of how much this would violate cultural norms in the German-speaking world. (Include "Dr." from an American PhD for extra credibility? Not include it? German title conventions are so different from American, and idek about Austria.)