Heritage Center News
Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University
610-683-1589 . www.kutztown.edu/pgchc
Issue 60
Fall 2014
_____________
Contents
Herb Club
Workshop............... 1
Heemet Fescht
Gallery..................... 2
News from the
Guild....................... 3
From the
Library.................... 4
A New Collection
of Pottery................ 5
Folk Art Murals
in the Sharadin
Farmhouse.............. 6
PA Dutch Calendar
Order Form............ 7
Membership
Form........................ 7
Herb Club Garden Workshop Hosted by Dr. William Woys Weaver and Owen S. Taylor
by: Amanda Lynn McCoy-Richardson
Director of the Keystone Center for Regional
Foodways, William Woys Weaver, Ph.D., and
Owen S. Taylor, Roughwood Seed Collection
Manager, hosted a workshop on August 6th in
the Heritage Center’s Kitchen Garden.
30 members of the ladies-only Herb Club
attended the lecture and workshop. The group
learned about the history of kitchen gardens
from the Medieval period through today even touching upon the idea of the rooftop
garden.
Also discussed were seed-types, seed saving
practices, and what can and cannot grow
together in a garden.
Dr. Weaver also presented a Kitchen Garden
Lecture at Heemet Fescht on Sept. 27 at 1 p.m.
in the Freyberger One Room Schoolhouse. A
book-signing followed the talk.
More Garden Workshop images are available
on the Pennslvania German Cultural Heritage
Center’s page on Facebook.
News from the Guild
by: Patricia Oxenford
The Reading-Berks Chapter, PA Guild
of Craftsmen
Many thanks to our friends in the Reading-Berks Guild
of Craftsmen who demonstrate their arts in the Guild
Log Cabin at our yearly events.
The Reading-Berks Chapter
Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen is
celebrating their 70th anniversary this
year as well as its 65th Annual Holiday Show. It is the
longest running craft show in the area. The dates were
the last weekend of October (a week earlier than usual),
Saturday, October 25, 2014 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and
Sunday, October 26, 2014 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Denise Wilz, Wilz Pottery
Ethan Nealon, Ethan’s Woodcrafting
Hunter Yoder, The Hex Factory
Kutztown University Biology Department
Dan Aruta, Hand-hewn Log Cabins
Kutztown University’s O’Pake Field House (312 Trexler
Avenue - South Campus Drive - and Baldy Street, Kutztown,
PA 19530) was the site of the show, with plenty of free
parking and it is also handicap accessible. The first 65 people
through the admission door on both Saturday and Sunday
morning received a free gift.
Hourly door prizes were drawn every hour on the hour for a
$10.00 gift certificate to the lucky winner to be used towards
your purchase with any of our artisans. Among the many
traditional and contemporary artists were furniture, pottery,
tin, scherenschnitte, German paper folded stars, theorems,
jewelry, photography, folk art, dried floral art, clothing,
decoy carvings, just to name a few crafts. We also had the
Student Gallery featuring Kutztown University students
displaying and selling their wares as well as students from
GoggleWorks.
Barrel Rides by The Old Time Plow Boys Club, Inc.
In honor of our 65th anniversary show we had some of our
local retired members returning to showcase and sell their
work. There was also a special exhibition of work created by
some of our members who are no longer actively producing
their craft, along with an exhibition of work from our
archives that has been created by members who have passed
away.
Cookie Crazed
This was a great place to begin holiday shopping for the
2014 holiday season. Guests were able to shop leisurely
among our artisans in the comfort of the indoors, enjoy the
music provided by the Acoustic Road Show and take time
out for lunch or light refreshments prepared by Dori Martin
Caterers.
Make Your Own Music Tent, provided by The Acoustic Roadshow.
Heemet Fescht 2014
We want to thank all those who participated in Heemet
Fescht this year - without your help, this event would not
have been such a great success!
2
Raymond Oxenford is the tinsmith at every PGCHC event, this image
is from the 2014 Heemet Fescht. Patricia Oxenford also demonstrates
at every one of our events, this image is her demonstration of feather
tree making at the 2013 Easter on the Farm.
Last, but not least we held two days of silent auction items
created by the late W. Eugene Burkhart, Jr. Each day featured
a different selection of items that were offered to the highest
bidder of each item. We can’t forget to mention the raffle
table, which was laden with wonderful treasures created and
donated by our members. Guests could purchase your raffle
tickets and place your “lucky” tickets in the respective box
with each item.
Heemet Fescht on September 27, 2014 saw more visitors
and vendors in attendance than any Heemet Fescht in
recent years! Approximately 1,000 people came to visit for
this day of Fall fun - and we had had over 75 volunteers,
vendors, and demonstrators on-site.
Doctor Kelly’s ‘Cure it All’ Medicine Show
Matthew Vardjan, Jr. demonstrating paper star folding at Heemet
Fescht 2013.
We hope everyone had a great time at the 65th Annual Show!
Hope to see you at Christmas on the Farm on December 6.
More images are available on our Facebook page!
Heritage Center News
Issue
60
Louise Hutchings demonstrates Fraktur at the 2014 Heemet Fescht.
3
A New Resource for Pennsylvania Researchers
Save the Date!
by: Lucy Kern
Ancestry can be
accomplished by
registering online
at no cost through
http://www.portal.
state.pa.us/.
Out
of
state
residents need a
subscription
to
Ancestry to access
these
records.
However,
many
libraries
and
research
centers
Rep. Matt Baker (standing, center) joined Gov. Tom Corbett (sitting, center), Sen.
Bob Robbins (sitting, left) and others for the public bill signing Senate Bill 361
provide
free
access
into law, which will provide public access to birth and death records of Pennsylvania citizens after a specified period of time.
to Ancestry. After
-- Image & caption courtesy www.pahousegop.com.
three years, the
records will be
Good news for genealogical
moved
to
the
Pennsylvania State
researchers!
Archives website where they will be
free to all.
Vital Records Law Senate Bill 361
was signed into law on 15 December
2011, went into effect on 13 February
2012, and was changed in April of this
year to allow birth certificates over
105 years old and death certificates
more than 50 years old become open
records.
Courtesy of the Pennsylvania State
Archives through Ancestry.com,
Pennsylvania death certificates for
the years 1906 to 1944 are now
online. Death certificates for the
years 1945 to 1963 are expected to
be available in November of this
year. Birth certificates from 1906 are
expected to be online in March 2015.
According to People for Better
Pennsylvania Historical Access
(PaHR-Access),
Pennsylvania
residents (and only Pennsylvania
residents) have free access to this
database online through Ancestry.
Death certificates are effective tools.
They provide a wealth of information
about an individual — date and place
of birth, date of death, place of death,
age at death, date and place of burial,
undertaker, physician attending the
individual, cause of death, marital
status, occupation, name of parents,
birthplace of parents, and the name
and signature of the informant, that
is, the person who provided personal
information. One should be advised
that the information given by an
informant is true “to the best” of his
or her knowledge and may have to be
verified using other sources.
Those of you interested in
genealogical research will find this
new resource useful.
4
Heritage Center News
December 6, 2014
10a.m.-4p.m.
Christmas on the Farm
March 28, 2015
10a.m. - 4p.m.
Easter on the Farm
March 28-29, 2015
The Reading-Berks Guild of
Craftsmen’s Spring Juried
Craft Show at O’Pake Field
House
April 25-26, 2015
Old Time Plow Boys Club
Spring Plowing Show
May 02, 2015
Pennsylvania Chapter,
Palatines to America
(PALAM) Conference
at the Academic Forum
Over the past four months, more
than 300 pieces of late
nineteenthcentury
Pennsylvania
redware were
donated to
the Heritage
Center by
Charles and
Carolyn Nippert of
Sanatoga, Pennsylvania.
In 1896 the pottery works was
turned over to his son, Charles
W. Bach the younger, who
operated the business until
about 1905. After that
time, the business
began to focus more
on greenhouse plants and
cut flowers.
Charles Nippert is the greatgreat-grandson of Charles W. Bach, a
mid-19th Century German immigrant
from Stuttgart, who in 1875, opened
the City of Allentown’s
first pottery works.
Bach came from a
long line of German
redware
potters,
and the Allentown
Pottery Works produced
utilitarian, horticultural,
and decorative wares in
keeping with the redware
traditions in Germany
and Pennsylvania.
June 27 - July 05, 2015
Kutztown Folk Festival
at the Kutztown Fairgrounds
July 27-31, 2015
Kid’s Camp
Charles Bach was not
Pennsylvania
Dutch,
but instead a German
American, having arrived
in the late 19th century
from an urban German
population, rather than from
the pre-industrial, primarily
18th century immigrant population
that formed the rural Pennsylvania
Dutch culture. Despite this cultural
difference,
Charles
blended
seamlessly into the thriving
urban environment
of Allentown, and
was
renowned
for his skill and
industry, both in pottery,
and also as a florist who
August 08-09, 2015
Old Time Plow Boys Club
Summer Plowing Show
September 11-12, 2015
Genealogy Conference &
Bus Tour
Conference held at the
Academic Forum
Issue
kept greenhouses, and produced
decorative vases, pots, and urns.
by: Patrick Donmoyer
September 26, 2015
10a.m. - 4p.m.
Heemet Fescht
Free access for Pennsylvania residents
who do not have a subscription to
The Nippert Family Collection
60
Later, his daughter Florence
ran the business until it
closed in the 1950’s. Following
the close of the flower shop located
at 413-419 N. Penn Street, the entire
contents of the pottery show room
were carefully placed in storage by
the great-grandson of Charles
Bach, Charles Nippert Sr., in
whose name the donation
to the Heritage Center was
dedicated.
Highlights from the NippertBach donation include a wide
variety of decorative floral
vessels, especially those
of a particular late
19th century fashion,
which were made to
look like knotted
trees
on
their
outer
surfaces.
Utilitarian objects,
such as ingenious
redware
chicken
waterers produced
in diverse forms, are
among some of the most
striking. Culinary vessels,
including plates, pitchers, dishes, and
cake molds are now on display in the
kitchen of the Sharadin
Farmhouse.
Decorative statues
were also included in
the Bach repertoire,
such as a series of
redware bulldogs,
one of which is lifelike and intended
as
a
silent
‘guardian’ of
the front door,
while
three
other bulldogs
are jars, with
removable heads
that serve as lids.
One of the most spectacular
portions of the collection is a Christmas
putz – miniature architectural pieces
used as holiday decorations, which
could be illuminated with candles.
The putz, along with many other
pieces, decorative and utilitarian,
will be on display at Christmas on the
Farm this December. We encourage
all of our members to attend the
event and appreciate the generous
donation of the legacy of the BachNipperty Family and the Allentown
Pottery works.
Christmas in Kutztown
Downtown Kutztown, 12p.m. - 6p.m.
. Greet Santa at Pop’s Malt Shoppe
. Horse-Drawn Wagon Rides
. Craft & Christmas Vendors
. Santa’s Workshop
. Free Ornament Workshop
. Tree Lighting at Historical Society at
5:30p.m.
Register for Breakfast with Santa at KU, call
Kutztown University Foundation at 610683-4110
Kutztown Community Partnership
www.keepinitkutztown.com . 484-646-9069
______
Christmas on the Farm
22 Luckenbill Rd, Kutztown,
10a.m. - 4p.m.
. Cookie & Cider Sale by the Bonfire
. Blacksmith & Hearth Cooking
Demonstrations
. Wagon & Barrel Rides
. Craft & Food Vendors
. PA Dutch Folklife Traditions
. Kid’s Activities & Petting Zoo
. Christmas Tree Sale
. Free Admission
Pennsylvania German Cultural
Heritage Center at
Kutztown University
www.kutztown.edu/pgchc . 610-683-1589
5
The Ernst Hartenfeld Wildlife Murals
by: Patrick Donmoyer
In the winter and early
spring of 2013, the
Heritage Center staff,
as well as a team of
volunteers and interns,
began the process of
installing four late 19th
century murals in the back
portion of the dining room
of the Sharadin farmhouse.
These murals comprise
only a third of a series of
twelve folk art paintings
that were donated by Mary
and Bob Sodaitis in the fall
of 2008. Painted directly
onto the wooden walls of
an historic home, these
paintings were removed
from their original location in Weisenberg Township.
The house was built for the family of the Reverend
Johannes Helfrich of Weisenberg Township, an influential
Pennsylvania Dutchman who was the co-founder of the
first homeopathic medical school in the United States,
in Allentown. Due to the expansion of industrial zoning
in Weisenberg Township along Interstate Route 78,
the house was slated for demolition, but not before the
paintings were painstakingly removed from the house by
the Sodaitis family and a work crew.
Mary Sodaitis distinctly remembers growing up in the
house, where the entire kitchen and closed-in back porch
were lined with murals painted by the hand of Ernst
Hartenfeld, a late 19th-century immigrant who arrived
in Philadelphia in 1885.
Hartenfeld was an itinerant
painter, who took up
residence at hotels and
boarding houses in order
to exchange his artwork
for lodging and food.
sometime in the late
1920’s or early 30’s
in Emmaus where he
lived at the time.
Application & Renewal Form
Membership & Hiwwe wie Driwwe
Although none of the
Heritage
Center’s
Hartenfeld murals are
signed, his distinctive
style and subject
matter
is
easily
identifiable. A stag,
a family of raccoons,
a snowy owl, and a
pair of falcons are
featured in the four
murals installed in
the Sharadin farm house.
Name(s):_______________________
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More murals are slated to be installed in the Sharadin
farmhouse dining room in the near future, including
images of geese, deer, squirrels, song birds, and other
local wildlife.
☐Hunnert Daaler Helfer $100
Hundred Dollar Helper
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Gross Helfer $101-$499
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These paintings
are a spectacular
addition to the
steadily growing
collection of folk
art in the Sharadin
farmhouse.
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Although
Hartenfeld
appears
on
several
decades of the US census
as a laborer and as a
worker in a cement mill,
he is listed once as a
“landscape painter.” Little
is known of Hartenfeld’s
life, although he was
rumored to have suffered
a fall down a staircase
that resulted in his death
6
Membership Categories:
The mural with the stylized image of the stag in particular
has been used to positively identify the work based on
another Hartenfeld painting recently obtained by the
Heritage Center which depicts the very same stag, dated
1915.
Heritage Center News
Email:_______________________________________________________
Please send _______ Calendars at $15 each (Price Includes $3 Shipping/Handling).
If you would prefer to pick-up your calendar, they are $12 each.
Please make checks payable to Kutztown University.
Total Amount Enclosed: ____________
Check number ______________
Cut out and mail this form to the PGCHC/Attention PA Dutch Calendar
22 Luckenbill Road, Kutztown PA 19530
Issue
60
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dialect newspaper.
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Call 610-683-1589 for more information.
7
Pennsylvania German
Cultural Heritage Center
at Kutztown University
22 Luckenbill Rd, Kutztown PA 19530
Phone: 610.683.1589
Web: www.kutztown.edu/pgchc
4511080200
610-683-1589
www.kutztown.edu/pgchc
December 06, 2014
10a.m. - 4 p.m.
s
ChristonmtheaFarm