SPRING 2017 Young Center construction project scheduled to begin in March Groundbreaking for the construction of an addition to the Young Center building will take place at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Febru- ary 23, at the Young Center. This brief cer- emony, which is open to the public, marks the beginning of the project. Construction is scheduled to start in early March. The additional space includes a new in- terpretive gallery and front entrance to the building that will face the parking lot. The interpretive gallery will feature permanent and rotating exhibits that explain briefly the origins, characteristics, and spread of Ana- baptist and Pietist groups, with a special focus on the Amish. Objects on display will include rare books and clothing items related to Anabaptist and Pietist groups. This gallery will be the new entry point to the Young Cen- ter in order to welcome visitors and enhance the interpretive work of the center. change should increase safety for both driv- tions can be arranged for those who would The other major part of the addition in- ers and pedestrians in the parking lot. like to see some of the unique items in the cludes a reconfigured classroom and ad- The project’s estimated completion date Young Center’s collections. ditional office and work space. New office is spring 2018. After the addition is finished, Personnel in the college’s facilities man- space will serve Steve Nolt, senior scholar, the college will host a public celebration and agement department and volunteers helped Cynthia Nolt, research and editorial asso- dedication for the renovated building. Watch to make the move to the temporary location ciate, and Donald Kraybill, senior fellow for publicity about the dedication a year successful. Special thanks go to the facili- emeritus. Two additional offices will provide from now. ties workers who moved hundreds of boxes work space for the Snowden and Kreider fel- The Young Center staff members have and some furniture from the Young Center to lows and short-term researchers. In addition relocated temporarily to a house at 905 Col- the new office space. Volunteer workers in- to office space, plans call for a new project lege Avenue. The house, owned by the col- cluded Larry Etzweiler, Larry Truax, Linda room and more storage space. The expansion lege, is adjacent to the entrance to the Brown Coble, Jim Miller, and Nick Siegert. Student will increase the Young Center floor space by parking lot, immediately across from Lake workers Megan Stoermer and Samantha about one-third. A garden courtyard will be Placida. Guest parking is available directly Kick and Young Center staff member Edsel added near the new front entrance. in front of the ground-level entrance to the Burdge helped with packing, and Hillary To accommodate the new front entry, the building. Young Center staff maintain the Daecher managed the entire project. parking lot adjoining the Young Center will same schedule: weekdays from 8:30 a.m. Visitors, researchers, college students, be reconfigured. The current entrance will to 4:30 p.m. Phone numbers and e-mail ad- staff, and faculty are all warmly welcome to be closed and a new entrance off of Campus dresses remain the same. No objects will be the Young Center’s temporary location. We Road at the end of the parking lot farthest on display at the College Avenue site but vis- look forward to offering continued service as from the Young Center will be created. This its to the Hess Archives and Special Collec- we have in the past. 1 From the Director New donations enhance collections Several donors have enriched the Young Cen- ry. Also in their donation are records of their ter’s special collections since last fall. Nancy inner-city ministry in Harrisburg and sermon The new year brings many changes Meyer Bieber donated a large collection of notes by some of their ministers, including for the Young Center. We moved papers and some plain clothing and artifacts C. Wayne Zunkel, Roger Eberly, and Murray into a new location at 905 College related to her extended family, which includes Wagner. A unique item from the congrega- Avenue on January 9. We received the Meyer, Bucher, and Wenger families of tion is an interlinear Bible published in 1620, excellent help from college staff and Lebanon and Lancaster Counties. The items containing the Hebrew and Greek texts with volunteers assisting our own staff. We date to the late nineteenth and early twentieth the Latin Vulgate text printed under the lines look forward to a groundbreaking on centuries. Sermon and ministry notes related of the original languages. February 23 for the new addition that to her father, Ammon Bucher Meyer, and Dee Ann Daniels donated photos of the will be built onto the current Young Center building. While construction her grandfather Samuel Gibble Meyer, both Lake Ridge Church of the Brethren in King is underway, work will continue to Brethren ministers, are in the collection, as Ferry, New York, which will be added to design a new interpretive gallery in the is correspondence from Bucher and Wenger existing archival material from the congre- finished building. On January 9 we also relatives. The materials will be known as the gation. The family of Roger Sappington do- welcomed our new Kreider fellow for Bucher, Meyer, and Wenger Collection. They nated several more boxes of books and peri- this semester, Rebecca Janzen. She is provide information about families connect- odicals to add to the Sappington Collection. writing about Old Colony Mennonites ed to Elizabethtown College and the Church David Fuchs donated a rare German book on in Mexico, a new topic for one of our fellows to address. In addition, we of the Brethren. the doctrine of universalism, printed in Halle, have received new research materials Lucille Oberholtzer donated five boxes of Germany, in 1770. This copy has additional in recent months, which expand and memorabilia, several books, and two scrap- importance because of annotations written in enrich our research collections. The books from her late husband, Henry Ober- the margins of many pages. Carl W. Zeigler award for a student holtzer. Henry was born in China to Brethren We are grateful to these and other donors essay on Anabaptist or Pietist topics missionaries Isaiah and Elizabeth Oberholtzer, who have added to the research collections of is back again as an opportunity for and was a student at Elizabethtown College. the Young Center during the past year. Elizabethtown College students. Mark Flory Steury donated a painted The Dale Brown Book Award for 2016 glass screen brought back to the U.S. in the and for 2017 will be presented this fall 1930s by his late wife’s grandparents, Byron at separate programs. The 2016 award and Nora Flory, who were also Brethren mis- Carl W. Zeigler was deferred due to uncertainty about sionaries in China. These items will be useful the timing of the Young Center’s closure in a class about the Brethren missionaries and for construction. The winning books for Award for student twentieth-century China being team taught both years will be announced at this year’s spring banquet on April 20. by Young Center director Jeff Bach and Asian research paper history professor David Kenley this semester. The Carl W. Zeigler Award, a prize of $250 With so many new developments, The Harrisburg First Church of the Breth- for the best student research paper related to we are also glad for continuity as we ren donated several historic photos from their historical or current aspects of Anabaptist or carry out our mission. Our staff is earliest years just before the twentieth centu- ready to assist visitors, students, and Pietist studies, is back. Any full-time or part- faculty, and we continue to welcome time student enrolled in the current academic researchers from around the world. year at Elizabethtown College is eligible to We continue our own work of research enter the competition. Papers should be from and interpretation and our book series with Johns Hopkins University Press. 12 to 25 pages long (double-spaced; one-inch Generous donors and supporters margins). Students wishing to submit a paper continue to share financial gifts, are encouraged to consult with Young Center donations of research materials, and director Jeff Bach about their topic and must words of encouragement and good will. notify him of their intention to submit a pa- per by March 1. Submissions are due by April We will work at our new location until the building project is completed, 1, and the winner will be announced at the currently projected to be spring of Young Center banquet on April 20, 2017. 2018. As we continue with our mission, The papers will be evaluated by a panel we hope that you will stop in to see our consisting of the director and two other judges. new place and join us for our events The criteria are (1) scholarship and substance, during the semester. We are grateful (2) research methodology, and (3) clarity of for your support in our new ventures. writing, organization, and documentation. The award is named in honor of Carl W. Jeff Bach Zeigler, a long-time religion professor at Eliz- Director College archivist Rachel Grove Rohrbaugh and Nancy Meyer Bieber examine plain abethtown College and an active leader in the clothing worn by Bieber’s family members. Church of the Brethren in Pennsylvania. 2 Heritage Festival Theresa Eshbach looks on as Anna Mae Belser, quilting group coordinator for the Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren, demonstrates her fine quilt stitching at the Brethren Heritage Festival held during Elizabethtown College’s Homecoming on October 15.