The Pennsylvania Dutchman Vol. 8, No. 4
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Ursinus College Digital Commons @ Ursinus College The Dutchman / The eP nnsylvania Dutchman Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection Magazine Summer 1957 The eP nnsylvania Dutchman Vol. 8, No. 4 Earl F. Robacker Joseph T. Kingston Edna Eby Heller Vincent R. Tortora Evelyn Benson See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/dutchmanmag 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 Robacker, Earl F.; Kingston, Joseph T.; Heller, Edna Eby; Tortora, Vincent R.; Benson, Evelyn; Brendle, Thomas R.; Unger, Claude; Krebs, Friedrich; and Yoder, Don, "The eP nnsylvania Dutchman Vol. 8, No. 4" (1957). The Dutchman / The Pennsylvania Dutchman Magazine. 12. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/dutchmanmag/12 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 The Dutchman / The eP nnsylvania Dutchman Magazine by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Ursinus College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors Earl F. Robacker, Joseph T. Kingston, Edna Eby Heller, Vincent R. Tortora, Evelyn Benson, Thomas R. Brendle, Claude Unger, Friedrich Krebs, and Don Yoder This book is available at Digital Commons @ Ursinus College: https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/dutchmanmag/12 Summer • Fall, 1957 75 Cents I tl OPEN LETTER Octob er 5 , ] 957 Dear Dutchman F amily Memher: The editor has just r e turned front a six-week study tour of the open air nluseums of Europe . Four year s ago-in the fall of 1952-1 was abroad pursuing the same purpose. But since I at that time had an opportunity to have a look at but about half of these institutions and particularly siJl{'e the Folklore Center is presently en gaged in laying the groundwork f or a P ennsylvania Dutch f 'olklife Mu seum, I f elt that I sh ould also inf orm m yself concerning the r emainder. On m y r ecently terminated tour I first visited the Welsh Folk Museum in Cardiff and the Museum of English Rural Life in R ead ing, both of them founded in the 194 0 's. On the Continent I r e visited Skansen in Stockholm, the world's first-and to date the largest-of the open air museums, and the F rilandsmuseet in Cop enhagen. (Unfortunately, b ecause of the brief time I had abroad I could not r evisit the Norwegian and Dutch museums.) At Oden se, the birthplace of H an s Christian Ander son, I acquainted m yself with D enmark's most important provincial F rilandsmuseet. T h e re npon I visited the only open ail' museUlU in Gernlany, the Mu seulu dorf in Cloppenburg. The last institution on m y tour was the petite Au strian F r eilichtmuseum in Klagenfurt. Also on my itinerary were two major folklore llluseums, the one in Graz, Austria, the other in Basel, Switzerland. In addition, I was able to r en ew contacts with a score of folklore institutes, the major nU1uber of them Univer sity-sponsored. Back hOlue now we face a two-fold task: first, to delineate finally the nature and scope of the P ennsylvania Dutch Folk Mu seum, and secondly, to raise the funds n ecessary to translate the Folklife Museum plan into r eality. In the last Dutchman I outlined the Folklore Center 's overall plan for the Folk Museum and announced a program to raise $ 30,- 000 in Ce rtificates of Indebtedness to enable u s to commen ce build ing the first unit. In the m eantime each one of you has b een mailed a Certificate form. Up to Octobe r I we r ealized one-fifth of our goal. ( See the back inside cove r.) The Folklore Center appeals to the r est of you to h elp so that we may m eet our goal expeditiol1sly, for no spade can turn until this modest sum is subscribed in full. Sincer ely yours, Alfred L. Shoemaker SUMMER-FALL 1957 VOL. 8, NO.4 EDITOR: Managing: Dr. Alfred 1. hoemaker Associate: Dr. Don Yoder Contents DEPARTMENT EDITORS: "Su ch Fancy Boxf"s, Ye t" . .. ... ..... 2 Antiques: Dr. Earl F. Robacker EAHL F. RO B" Kr:n. Art: Frances Lichten Crafts: Dried Corn 9 XV]{l Centu ry: H enry J. Kauffman Jo F;PH T. K]i\GSTo:\ Contemporary: Olive G. Zehner Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking is COR NY 12 Design : LeRoy Gensler ED~ _" EBY FI ELLER Folklore: Rev. Thomas R. Brendle Food: Edna Eoy Heller The Amish at Play 14 Genealogy: Frederick Weiser VII\CENT R . TORTOR<\ History : Dr. Arthur D. Graeff Colonial Buttoll Mold . .. 35 Literature : Walte r E. Boyer EVELYI\ A. B ENSON Mnsic: Dr. J. V\ ' illi am Frey Illness and Cure of Domestic Animals among the Pennsylvania Dutch. ... 36 UBS CRIPTIO N RATE : THOMA R. BRE ' DLE "ND CL.-.UDE W. NGER $3.00 a year in the nited State and Canada. Elsewhere fifty cents addi Pennsylvania Dutch Pioneers ... .. .. 4 8 tional for postage. Single copie $.75. FRIEDR ICH KR EBS (Translatecl b y Do ' YO DER) MSS A D PHOTOG RAPH S: The Editor lI'i ll be glad to consider M S and photograph sent with a NOTICE: This issu e of the Dutchman view to publi cation. When unsuit -dubhed hy one of our subscribers a ble, and if accompanied by return " The Indian Sunuuer Issu e", for ap postage, every care will be exerci ed parent reason s - te rn'linates another toward thei r return, although no re- year of publication. Beginning with ponsibility for their afety i as umed. Volume IX (number one WILL b e out in January), the Dutchman will gr eatly expand its scope. The mails will shortly THE PE J YLVA JIA D TCH tell you more. MA , S ummer-Fall. 1957, Vol 8, o. 4, publi hed quarterl y by the P enn- ylvania Dutch Folklore Cen te r. Inc .. 307-311 West Main t. , Kutztown, Pa. Executive and editorial office Bethel, P a. Content Copyrighted. Press of Entered as second cla.s matter at the Post Office CRAFTSMEN. INC. at Kutztown. Pennsylvania, under the Act of Kutztown. Fa. M arch 3, 1879. Ca ndle box with orall ge background and blu e and white tulip deco ration on fOI l/' sides. Its construction seems to plare it ill th e Eighteenth Ce ntury. II lUas found in Stroudsbu rg. Pa. One of the ea rliest flat , compartmented s pic e boxes known. Dater! 1750 and marked with the initial ADC. it, sholUs igns of hard wecr. Th e sides ar(' dovctailed: the bollo'l7 8nd slidin £," cover orp pegf;ed. 2 ~~Such Fancy Boxes~ Y et~~ By EARL F. ROBACKER An old box has no particular mean in g just becau e it with these condimenls to render palatable the food which is old. any more than other antiques have merit olely co uld not be preser ved for consumption in any other becau e of their age. What i ignificant is that in age kn own way. there is often a stor y- a story of people wh o acted dif· Small wonder, then, th at the pice box often became ferently. lived differently, and thought differently from a work of art when other food containers remained mun the wa y we do. And for people who are interested in the dane and uninteresting. (In Conn ecti cut, nutmegs were pa t because it differentness may throw light on and so highl y esteemed that the were presented as gifts in help to interpret the present, to say nothing of the future. individual container , Eric Sloane reminds us, and the even an old box mar have a value which ha little to do quality of the container was commensurate with the re with dollars and cent. gard in which the nutmeg wa held. ) To keep the odors In Dutch P ennsylvania there are a great many kind from mingling, spices were often kept in eparate drawers of boxes-"such fancy boxes, yet;' as the local saying in cabinet made to hang on the wall. Some of these were goes- a nd as many storie a there are kinds. That the o r plain wood; others, particularly in P ennsylvania, were boxes are old, attractive, in many cases unique and in a gail decorated. One very early specimen, dated 1750, is f IV, priceless, is important to the collector. but that they Rat, with comparlments instead of dra wers. stand as monuments to omething which went into the Equally important in Colonial times was the matter of making of America should be important to a much wider illumination, with homemade candle doing heavy duty c ircle than th ose who merely collect and perhaps admire. until whale oil in glas or metal containers released them Take spice boxes, for instance. In Spain in the 1400's. from ni ghtl y ervice. Candles were set in mold s or, more with ice a luxury during most of the year and the deep· rarely. dipped. and after the operation they had to be freeze undreamed of. spi ce performed a servi ce of uch stored where they would be afe from marauding mice.