Emil Schaefer was born in 1892 in Jurich-hong, Switzerland. He attended primary and secondary schools in Winterthur, Switzerland. Originally intending to immigrate to Brazil and take up farming, Schaefer had received agricultural training as an apprentice on a large farm in Oberdiesbach (Canton Berne). He had also attended the Gymnasium (Industrischule) Winterthur. Instead, Schaefer immigrated to the United States at the age of nineteen. He went first to Monticello, Wisconsin, where he worked on the farm of Ernest Robert, a Swiss from Chaux-de-Fonds. Farm work was followed by short term jobs in Milwaukee, and Zion and Elgin, Illinois. He then spent three years at Naperville, Illinois, where he attended North Central College and received a Bachelor of Science degree.
Schaefer spent several years in the West, teaching high school in Buckley and Seattle, Washington. He then returned to Illinois and taught high school courses in chemistry, zoology, and botany. He eventually became a high school principal in Zion, Illinois, and also taught at the small College of Zion. During the summers he attended courses at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Schaefer then moved to Wisconsin and joined the faculty of Madison Vocational and Adult School as instructor of distributive education. By the time of his retirement in 1960 Schaefer had become the head of his department which had expanded to a faculty of 18 and an enrollment of 900. While living in Madison, Schaefer attended the University of Wisconsin and earned a Master of Adult Education degree. He was also director and announcer of a weekly half-hour radio program of Swiss music, “Alpine Melodies,” which he broadcast on radio station WHA for 37 years. In 1938 Schaefer was one of the founding members of the Madison Swiss Club.
In 1940 Schaefer was elected president of the Swiss American Historical Society (SAHS), an organization which remained one of his chief concerns until his death. Though he became president at a time when the SAHS was plagued by dissension and factionalism, and though the years of his presidency were difficult ones for German speaking Americans, Schaefer managed, in an unassuming and friendly way, to hold the Society together. During Schaefer's administration the SAHS enjoyed its largest membership and three publications were produced under its imprimatur: The Swiss in the United States, edited by J. P. Von Grueningen, and two volumes of The Swiss Record, edited by Alfred Senn. Schaefer remained active in SAHS long after he resigned the presidency in 1952. He served as acting president in 1964 and as treasurer in 1965. In 1966 he was vice-president and from 1968 to 1971 librarian. As librarian Schaefer assumed responsibility for the sale and distribution of the Society's publications. Following his retirement Schaefer taught English for a brief period at the Kantonsschule in Winterthur, Switzerland. He died in Madison in April 1973.
The Swiss American Historical Society was founded in Chicago on July 4, 1927, for the purpose of “collecting, preserving and disseminating historical and biographical information about Swiss settlers in the United States, and to satisfy a widely expressed desire to have the collected material published in book form.” Membership in SAHS has fluctuated greatly over the years. From a high point of 175 members in 1942, membership declined until in 1960 there were only 24 members. The Society was reorganized under a new constitution in 1963 and entered a period of growth and renewed activity. The Swiss American Historical Society was small in numbers but it included among its officers several prominent Swiss-American academics. Heinz K. Meier, Professor of History at Old Dominion University, and Alfred Senn, Professor of Germanic Languages at the Universities of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, served as presidents. J. P. Von Grueningen of the University of Wisconsin German Department was also an active member.
