He studied at the Charles University in Prague, where he was involved in the revolutionary movement spreading across the German states.

Fleeing political persecution after the Revolutions of 1848, Jakob emigrated to America in 1850, journeyed across the country, and eventually settled in Wisconsin.

The Max Kade Institute has in its collection a cache of about two hundred letters of Jakob Sternberger's correspondence.

The scores of letters in the Sternberger file indicate that several of Jakob's friends and family eventually joined him in his new home.

The Sternberger Collection, which contains quite a few letters from several generations, provides a wealth of historically, socially, linguistically, and even politically relevant information.