Pennsylvania German Arts and Antiques

Popularity of "Amish Fiction"

"Wanda E. Brunstetter has written more than 45 books and six series. Her first Amish novel, 'A Merry Heart,' featured an embittered Amish schoolteacher and is the first book in her Brides of Lancaster County trilogy."

Read this article.

PA German Folk Art Exhibit in Latrobe, PA

"The exhibit was assembled by Casey Wertz of Latrobe, a senior history major and public history minor at Saint Vincent, who has worked at the gallery for the past two years."

Read this article.

The Nicodemus Center for Ceramic Studies

"The guild and Nicodemus Center also sponsor the annual Cumberland Valley Pottery Festival, a clay only celebration of the ceramic arts featuring 25 regional studio potters, held at Renfrew Park on the third Saturday of September."

Read this article.

Pennsylvania German Yuengling: "America's Oldest Brewery"

"Pottsville, Pennsylvania, is actually one of the most German places in the United States. Campaign posters show the names Staudinger and Hess, and if you need a doctor in this small town you can go and see Dr Altmuller. Yuengling beer, the area's biggest employer, could hardly be more German."

Read this article.

Himmels Brief: Letter from Heaven Insurance Policy

"Hanging framed copies of this 'Himmels Brief' (or Heaven’s Letter) on the wall protected a house and barn 'from fire and water. ... Anyone who carries this letter with him or has it in his house will not be struck by thunder and lightning.'"

Read this article.

Anabaptist Lecture Series at Kutztown

"James Weaver, a member of Kutztown's Old Order Mennonite community, and Benuel Riehl of Lancaster's Old Order Amish community will discuss the similarities and differences of the two Anabaptist sects Feb. 22 at 5 p.m. in Rohrbach Library on the Kutztown campus."

Read this article.

Pennsylvania German Textiles to be Cataloged Online

"Selected were the Goschenhoppen Historians in Green Lane, the Mennonite Heritage Center in Franconia and the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center in Pennsburg"

"The three heritage centers’ grant award was one of 19 applications selected from 71 received and will support cataloging their Pennsylvania German textile collections and posting the catalogs online."

Read this article.

Patrick Donmoyer: Hex Sign Researcher

 

Readingeagle.com

 

"As a Kutztown University student in the summer of 2008, Patrick J. Donmoyer began documenting hex signs on Berks County barns."

"Traveling the county's rural byways, he would photograph hex signs - sometimes called barn stars - on about 425 barns."

Read this article.

Christmas at Lebanon's Stoy Mansion

"'Early Americans thought of Christmas trees as an oddity,' she said."

"'The first record of one being on display is in the 1830s by the German settlers of Pennsylvania,' she said. 'The Pennsylvania German settlements had community trees as early as 1747. But as late as the 1840s, Christmas trees were still seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.'"

Read this article.

Christmas at the Cumberland County Historical Society

"The Cumberland County Historical Society Museum features an exhibit of such a model town, hand-crafted by Alonzo A. Goodyear. This model town features the traditional fixtures of a putz - a main house with a barn, fence and animals, as well as a few additional touches, all crafted with elaborate detail."

Read this article.