ABSTRACT
In 1904, Ferdinand Toennies was invited to participate in the Congress of Arts and Science of the Universal Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, where he delivered a lecture called "The Present Problems of Social Structure". An early reference to Toennies, even prior to the Congress in St. Louis, is found in Edward A. Ross's book. Ross claims that his concepts of "community" and "society" were conceived "long before" he became acquainted with Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft. As Toennies's son-in-law, Rudolf Heberle was particularly suited to interpret Toennies's thought to Americans. Generally, European-born American social scientists have been instrumental in transmitting Toennies to America, but some of them have transferred mistaken notions along with adequate analysis and application. This is especially true of three otherwise eminent sociologists, Pitirim A. Sorokin, Robert M. MacIver, and Louis Wirth, coming from Harvard, Columbia, and Chicago, respectively. The most far-reaching influence of Toennies on American sociology was mediated by Robert E. Park.
