Historic Rittenhousetown

ittenhouseTown: A Journal of History 2006 • Vol. 3 Table of Contents Introduction: By Monica Letzring............................................................ 1 The Square Piano: A RittenhouseTown Treasure By Mary Rittenhouse Shwartzentruber .............................. 3 Invisible RittenhouseTown: Stories from Archaeology By Rebecca Yamin.............................................................. 7 William Rittenhouse as Minister: A Steady Presence in an Unsteady Context By John L. Ruth .............................................................. 20 © 2006 Historic RittenhouseTown 206 Lincoln Drive Philadelphia, PA 19144 Introduction In the introduction to its first issue, we noted that RittenhouseTown: A Journal of History would attempt to show how various kinds of investigation help us to preserve and interpret Historic RittenhouseTown. We presented the examples of the Historic Structure Reports on two of the homes, making it possible for us to date them; of our Oral History Project, from which we learned about the community of Blue Bell Hill, estab- lished on Rittenhouse property in its later years; and of the research on the work of two early 19th century writers who left us with important information about the Rittenhouse mills. This issue continues the task, first considering how specific artifacts located on the site can help us to know more about the families that lived here. Mary Rittenhouse Schwartzentruber looks at the Square Piano that once was among the furnishings of one of the homes, and now, once again rests there. She points out what the piano can tell us about the rise of the family to prosperity, adding to what we had already learned from an earlier HSR investigation of the structure and architectural details of the house. Mary, a musician herself, is a longtime member of the Franconia Lancaster Choral Singers, participant in the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, and teacher of piano and organ. Rebecca Yamin goes back to an earlier time, to the history that still lies buried in RittenhouseTown. She urges us to look under- ground for those artifacts that will tell us what the early families ate, what tools and kitchenware they used—and more. Dr.Yamin, principal archaeologist/senior partner with John Milner Associates (JMA), directed the multi-year Five Points project in New York City, and has headed several excavations on Independence Mall in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Her book, Digging in the City of Brotherly Love: An Archaeological Memoir of Philadelphia, is forthcoming from Yale U. Press. 1 Histories of RittenhouseTown and its family regularly note that William Rittenhouse was selected to be the first Mennonite minister in America. “Why him?” one might ask. For John L. Ruth, an explanation lay in the history of early Germantown settlement. His research not only gives us a better understanding of the status of the Rittenhouse family, but at the same time expands our understanding of the complex immigration patterns of the early settlement and of the conflicts, even, at times, religious rancor, among the various German and Dutch groups. Professor Ruth is well known for his writings, films and lectures on Mennonite, Amish and Hutterite history. His major writings include Maintaining the Right Fellowship, a history of Franconia and Eastern District conference, and The Earth is the Lord’s, a history of the Lancaster Mennonite conference. Monica Letzring, Editor We dedicate this Journal to the memory of Hugh B. Hanson, founder of the Friends of Historic RittenhouseTown and passionate and indefatigable supporter of it. This issue of RittenhouseTown: A Journal of History is made possible through the generous support of James M. Duffin, Frank L. Hohman III, David R. Knapton, Ann Matonis, Barry R. McKeon, Daniel Rottenberg, and Anna Coxe Toogood. Special thanks to The Lindenmeyr Munroe Paper Merchants, A Division of Central National Gottessman, Inc., for its donation of paper and envelopes; to Aztec Copies –The Loft, for its graphic design, layout, and printing; and to members of the History Committee. 2 The Square Piano: A RittenhouseTown Treasure By Mary Rittenhouse Schwartzentruber Stepping into the parlor of the Enoch Rittenhouse homestead, you will immediately be taken by the beauty of a treasured musical instrument, an American Square Piano.This square piano had quite a journey prior to its return “home”to the village where it is now displayed. Donated by a tenth generation Rittenhouse, Mrs.Theodore H. Steuber of Dallas,Texas, the piano had been in the Rittenhouse family since its original acquisition in the 1790s. Mrs. Steuber provided documentation of the piano’s journey from Philadelphia to Baltimore in 1832 by Charles Rittenhouse, son of Nicholas. For two hundred years, the piano was carefully granted to succeeding generations, who obviously valued its presence in their homes.1 1 Mignonette Rittenhouse Steuber, personal communication, September 24, 1992. 3 The piano was made by John Haberacker of Reading, PA, circa 1794. (Some documents list the name as Jaberacker, perhaps a misinterpretation of the German script used at the time.) Upon inspection of the piano, a piano technician deemed the instrument “of very high quality construction for the time.”2 The piano has undergone a very careful restoration by Christopher M. Swan, of Colonial Williamsburg,Virginia. An example of the care given to the restoration is the description of the string tension loosened gradually over a period of six months by Mr. Swan. Each pin in a single row of tuning pins was loosened one-quarter turn every two weeks, repeatedly rotating through all four rows of pins. The piano was rendered unplayable at the time of restoration to preserve the fragile condition of the action.3 The RittenhouseTown square piano has sixty-one keys compared to the standard eighty-eight keys of current pianos. The white keys have an ivory overlay while the black keys are dark stained wood. The case, which is rectangular, is of rosewood inlaid with holly and harewood.4 When the lid is down, covering the keys, the case rather resembles a coffin, not an uncommon shape for pianos of that era. The panel above the keyboard has a typical German-style presentation of exquisitely decorative hand drawn, colored scrolls, leaves and wreath centering the John Haberacker’s name. The legs are attached by means of hand-wrought wooden screws with heads the size of a black walnut. Lion-faced brass medallions guard these screws and swing easily to reveal the practical mechanisms. The history of stringed instruments can be traced to biblical times when a kind of primitive harp, the psaltery, had its strings 2 Eben Goresko, personal communication, September 22, 1994. 3 Christopher M. Swan, Treatment Report (September, 2000). On file, Historic RittenhouseTown. 4 Historic RittenhouseTown Catalog Sheet, Accession Number RT1993.1. 4 attached to a sounding board. Both the virginals of Shakespeare’s time and the later sophisticated harpsichord of Bach’s and Mozart’s time are derived from the psaltery, in that the playing mechanism plucked the strings. Newer keyboard instruments were developed which used soft hammers to produce tones, allowing more sensitivity to the player’s touch while giving variety to the tones with exquisite crescendo and decrescendo qualities. Between the harpsichord and the piano e forte was the clavichord, played by both Mozart and Bach. Bach is said to have loved the clavichord as a domestic instrument since the music could be played softly for his wife while his many children were sleeping.5 Mozart is reported to have carried a clavichord with him for daily practice in his travels throughout Europe.6 The American Square Piano had the strings grouped in sets of two. Modern pianos have the strings grouped in triplicate except for the lower register where two thicker strings are enough to produce the tones. Square pianos were the most common of the domestic keyboards, widely used in England and Colonial America during the time Haberacker was making pianos in Reading, PA. The construction of square pianos continued as late as 1868 when eighty percent of Steinway’s production was still the square piano.7 By this time upright pianos were becoming a preferred alternative as they were easier to build and to maintain. The RittenhouseTown square piano tells us something about domestic life and architecture in America and at our site. First, the size of the instrument is appropriate to a small room in a country house. The square form of the instrument is adaptable to a living 5 Anthony Burgess, “The Well-Tempered Revolution: A Consideration of the Piano’s Social and Intellectual History,” The Lives of the Piano, ed. James R. Gaines (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1981), 9-10. 6 Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, rev. ed. (1911; repr., New York: Dover Publications, 1972), 32. 7 Ronald Lee Berry, “The Square Piano,” from David Crombie, Piano (1995). http://www.ptg.org/resources-historyOfPianos-square.php. (March 5, 2006). 5 or a dining room, where its dimensions would fit in with other, non-musical, furniture. There was a market for such instruments among families who had the time and money for music, but whose rooms might not accommodate a grand piano. A look at the elegant wooden inlay work and painting on the cover of the piano reminds us of two facts: the buyer could afford such craftsmanship, and the instrument was meant to be seen at close range, as well as heard. Most likely the square piano was meant to be played alone or to accompany one other instrument or a few voices. We can see this in the paintings of the Dutch painter, Jan Vermeer, the most famous of a group of 17th century artists who painted people making music.Vermeer returns several times to the subject, with similar elements in each case: one person at the keyboard, a second person perhaps singing, and an optional third person listening. One can only imagine the type of music played on the square piano now resting in Historic RittenhouseTown.

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