Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 22, No. 3 Burt Feintuch
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Ursinus College Digital Commons @ Ursinus College Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection Spring 1973 Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 22, No. 3 Burt Feintuch Susan J. Ellis Waln K. Brown Louis Winkler Friedrich Krebs Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag Part of the American Art and Architecture Commons, American Material Culture Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Cultural History Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Fiber, Textile, and Weaving Arts Commons, Folklore Commons, Genealogy Commons, German Language and Literature Commons, Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons, History of Religion Commons, Linguistics Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits oy u. Recommended Citation Feintuch, Burt; Ellis, Susan J.; Brown, Waln K.; Winkler, Louis; and Krebs, Friedrich, "Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 22, No. 3" (1973). Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine. 53. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/53 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection at Digital Commons @ Ursinus College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Ursinus College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Contributors to this Issue B RT FEI T H , Philadelphia, Penn ylvania. currentl a doctoral tudent in Folklore and Folklife at the niver ity of Penn I ania. H e i a graduate of the Penn ylvania tate niver ity, wher h tudied und r Profe or amuel P. Bayard dean of Penn- ylvania' folklori t . J J. ELLI , Philadelphia, Penn ylvania, pre ent here her M .A. pap l' in the Graduate D partment of Folkl.ore and Folklife at the ni er ity of Penn )'1 ania, a hi tory of crappie (panhaa ), one of Penn Ivania' folk food that ha attracted orne attention on th regional market. Mi Ellis is at pre ent engaged in social work among Philadelphia' ethnic population. 'VAL K. BROW , Philadelphia, Pennsylvani a, i studying for the Ph.D. degree in Folkl ore and Folk life at the niver ity of Penn ylvania. A native of York, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of the Pennsylva nia tate niver ity, Capitol ampus, he pent last summer at Eck ley in Luzerne County doing eth nographic re ar h for the Penn ylvania Hi torical and 1useum Commi ion, in connection with the open air museum of coal region culture which the Commi ion is developing at Eck ley. The photography for his arti Ie was done by Dr. Robert . Barakat, D epart ment of Anthropology, M emori al niver ity, t. John's, ewfoundland, Canada. DR. LO I v I KLER, tate College, Pennsylvania, i a member of the D epartment of Astronomy at the Penn ylvania tate ni versity. Hi article in this issue, the fifth in hi series on Pennsylvania G rman Astron omy and A trology, pre ents materials illustrating the onnection of religion, both organized and folk , with the calendar. DR. FRIEDRICH KREBS, peyer, West Germany retired recently a archivist at the Palatine State Ar chive in Speyer. His article in thi issu e deals with 18th Century emigrant from Baden-Durlach. The original documents were located in the K arlsruhe tate rchi es. EDITOR: Dr. D on Yoder SPRING 1973, Vol. XXII, No.3 EDITORIAL COMMITTEE : Dr. M ac E. Barrick LeR oy Gensler Dr. H enry Glassie Dr. J ohn A. Hostetler David J. Hufford Contents Dr. Phil Jack Dr. Hilda A. Kring Dr. Maurice A. M ook Dr. Earl F. R obacker 2 Frank Boccardo: Toward an Ethnography of a Dr. Alta Schrock Chairmaker FOLK FESTIVAL DIRECTOR: BURT FEINTUCH M ark R. Eaby, Jr. FOLK FESTIVAL P UBLIC RELATIONS: 10 Traditional Food on the Commercial Market: Peg Zecher The History of Pennsylvania Scrapple SUBSCRIPTIONS: SUSAN J. ELLIS Doris E. Stief 22 The Pennsylvania Du tch Carriage Trade PENNSYLVANIA FOLKLIFE, Spring 1973, Vol. 22 , No.3, pub WALN K. BROWN lished five times a year by the Penn sylvania Folklife Society, Inc., Lan 37 Pennsylvania German Astronomy and Astrology V: caster, P e nnsylvania. $1.50 for Rel~gion and Astronomy singl e copies; Autumn, Winter, LOUIS WINKLER Spring and Summer. $1.00 for Folk Festival Supplement. Yearly sub scription $6.00. 41 American Emigration from Baden-Durlach in the Years 1749-1751 MSS AND PHOTOGRAPHS: The Editor will be glad to consider FRIEDRICH KREBS MSS and photographs sent with a view to publication. When unsuit 47 Folk-Cultural Questionnaire No. 29 able, and if accompanied by return The House: External and Internal Orientation postage, every care will be exercised toward their return, although no responsibility for their safety is as Pennsylvania Emigrants from Friedrichstal sumed. (Inside back cover) Editorial correspondence : Dr. Don Yoder, College Hall, Contributors to this Issue Box 36, University of Pennsylvania, (Inside front cover) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104. Folk Fes tival correspondence: College Blvd. and Vine, Kutztown, Pennsylvania 19530. COVER: Folk Festival public relations: Frank Boccardo, chainnaker of Newtown, Bucks County, Peg Zecher, 717 N. Swarthmore Ave., Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081 . Pennsylvania. Subscription, business correspondence: Box 1053, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Contents copyrighted. Entered as second class matter . at Lancaster, Pa. Franl{ Boccardo: Toward an Ethnography of a Chairmal{er By BU RT FEINTUCH In the fall of 1971, while working on a photographic Francesco Boccardo was born in 1885 in a farming study of house types in ewtown, Pennsylvania, with district on the Adriati coa t of Italy acros ountry fellow student Richard R aichelson, we observed several from aples. His fath r had nine hildren and wa a traditional slatback styled chairs fo r sale on the porch farmer. In the old country, whi h is how he always of an unusual house. There was also a small hand refers to I taly, Frank made a few rough chairs for hi painted sign announcing that caning and rushing of own use and he also remembers repairing wo en eats. seats was done there. We went in and met Frank H e learned to do both by finding an exampl , taking Boccardo, an extraordinary man and raftsman. This it apart, and basing his work on the way in whi h paper is a brief discussion of Frank Boccardo; the man, the example appeared to ha e been ('o n truct d. 'fhi his life, and his craft.' learning method is the one that Frank alwa Newtown, Pennsylvania, is a small, predominantly to have u ed when learning irtually anything; h r middle class community 10 ated in Bucks County ap ceived no training (formal or informal ) in mo t f th proximately eight miles from the northeast boundary things he do s, including reading and writing Engli h of Philadelphia, about half way between Bristol and and I talian. When an xampl is unavail abl h Im Doylestown on state highway 413. The center of town provi es, basing hi improvisation on a combinati n of is quite old, having several 17th Century buildings and pa t xperienc and ingenuity. quite a few 18th Century buildings. During the 18th Frank njoyed farming, but ther wa no land [or Century it was the county seat. It was also briefly a him at home. "Old ountry g t no ground to work, headquarters for George Washington, and is located too many people." When he was s venteen years old fairly near the point where the American troops crossed he I ft home and worked in a brick and til yard. the D elaware River to take Trenton. Today Newtown oon after that he started his own brick yard: " nd is flanked on several sides by new suburban-type houses. The people who live in Newtown seem for the most Frank Boccardo and two samples of his work. part to value the town's heritage and appearance. Many of the old houses are owned and have been restored by middle or upper class white collar workers who often do not work in ewtown. It has become very difficult to find any sort of housing at all. The town is situated in rolling countryside and is really the beginning of the farming areas of the county. There are a few wooded areas and Newtown Creek runs through the center of the town. William Penn originally set aside the land on either side of the creek as a commons but today all that remains of the com mons is a small plot behind the postoffice, marked by a small monument.' The creek runs through Frank Boccardo's back yard. 'This paper is based on interviews conducted by Richard R aichelson and myself in J anuary and February of 1972, done at Frank Boccardo's home at 109 Sycamore Street, ewtown, Pennsylvania. Quotations which are not footnoted have been taken from transcripts of Boccardo's remarks. 'Historical information about ewtown was learned from various county historical markers scattered about the town. 2 an acre of land roughl y a block from the main bu ine-s street, on what today has become a busy street with houses on one side and several automobile dealers and supermarkets on the other side. The treet is dominated by a large 18th entury stone church. Following his father's precedent, Frank built hi own house. I sta rted to build around, one corner a year. I started to build around 1922- 1 ain't got done yet. Built one corner at a time and I lived inside the little old house. [What part didn't you fi nish ?] The kitchen. I started in the other corner and came this way . ... By myself, no help ...