Newsletter from the Moravian Archives, Bethlehem PA Voices from the Vault Issue 22 July 2015 Reading Room Renovation Project Finished Special points of interest: The renovations to our reading room and offices have been com- Moravian Archives receives pleted. This was the final phase of second NEH grant a three-year renovation project Lehigh University students to increase capacity, access, and work on Christian’s Spring outreach of the Moravian Ar- summer project chives in order to better serve the Assistant Archivist Tom community. McCullough visits Herrnhut During phase 1 (2013) we dou- archives bled the storage capacity of our manuscript vault; during phase 2 New logo for the Moravian (2014) we updated our exhibition Archives space with museum-quality light- Exhibit on Jan Hus ing. This last phase includes a complete overhaul of the 1977 reading room, as well as the ex- pansion of the workspaces for equipped to assist the public in lic programming, and to provide staff and volunteers. The Moravi- the reading room, to host school ample workspace for community an Archives is now better and college classes, to offer pub- volunteers. New NEH Grant for Moravian Archives In March 2015, the Archives and conservators will assess indi- as an independent federal agen- received its second prestigious vidual items in the collection in cy, supports research and learn- Inside this issue: grant from the National Endow- order to prioritize the material ing in history, literature, philoso- ment for the Humanities (NEH). according to its humanities val- phy, and other areas of the hu- New Book on 2 The grant award of $37,982 is to ues. This assessment will provide manities by funding selected, the Sifting Time fund a planning project for the written guidelines for prioritiza- peer-reviewed proposals from conservation and digitization of tion of treatments and digitiza- around the United States. $22.8 Transcribathon approximately 120 linear feet of tion as well as a foundation for million was awarded to 232 hu- 2 records from Moravian churches securing future grants to carry manities projects in the second in the Eastern West Indies. The out the recommendations. The round of NEH grants this fiscal Word from Ar- 2 grant project will serve to im- “Eastern West Indies Planning year. chives’ Presi- prove accessibility to the Eastern Project” is the first step towards dent West Indies Collection, of which a the goal of making these unique majority of records are in ex- materials fully accessible to re- Tom Visits tremely poor condition from long searchers worldwide. In 2012, the 4 -term exposure to a tropical envi- Moravian Archives received its Herrnhut ronment and damage from wa- first grant from the NEH to install Any views, findings, conclusions, or recom- mendations expressed in this article, do not ter, insects, and fire. Beginning in movable shelving in the main necessarily represent those of the National News 5 late June, a team of historians vault. The NEH, created in 1965 Endowment for the Humanities. Issue 22 Page 2 New Book on the Sifting Time At the end of the 1740s, the Mo- depth look at the Sifting Time and and wounds of Christ. By returning ravians experienced a crisis soon argues that it did not consist of an to this earlier phase, Moravians lost labeled the Sifting Time. As leaders extreme form of blood-and-wounds their dynamic character and be- attempted to lead the church away devotion, as is often assumed. Ra- came more conservative. It was at from the abuses of the crisis, they ther, the Sifting Time occurred this moment that the radical-Pietist also tried to erase the memory of when Moravians began to believe Moravians of the first half of the this controversial and embarrassing that the union with Christ could be eighteenth century reinvented period. Archival records were sys- experienced not only during marital themselves as a noncontroversial tematically destroyed, and official intercourse but during extramarital evangelical denomination. histories of the church only dealt sex as well. Peucker shows how with this period in general terms. It these events were the logical conse- 264 pages | 6 x 9 in. | hardcover | 10 illus- Available at the is not surprising that the Sifting quence of Moravian teachings from trations | ISBN 978-0-271-06643-1 Time became both a taboo and an previous years. As the nature of the Moravian Available for purchase from the enigma in Moravian historiography. crisis became evident, church lead- Archives for In A Time of Sifting, Paul Peucker ers urged the members to revert to Moravian Archives for the reduced provides the first book-length, in- their earlier devotion of the blood price of $63.70 $63.70 Transcribathon On April 15, Archives staff mem- College, the University of Pennsyl- University. This experiment was bers Paul and Tom participated in a vania, Pennsylvania State Universi- initiated by members of Keystone three-hour online “Transcribathon,” ty, and the University of Pittsburgh. Digital Humanities, a program in which they were tasked with Using a program called JuxtaEdi- seeking to foster digital humanities transcribing German script docu- tions, Paul transcribed a letter from collaboration in Pennsylvania. The ments. Meanwhile, they were con- August Gottlieb Spangenberg. Tom Moravian Archives plans to use nected by online chat and webcam began transcribing a travel diary by JuxtaEditions for a new transcrip- to scholars at various Pennsylvania Matthaeus Hehl. Both Paul and tion project which will allow re- institutions. Other participants Tom also collaborated and tran- searchers and former German script included Lehigh University, Buck- scribed research materials for Ar- students to contribute transcrip- nell University, Lafayette College, chives’ board member, Dr. Kathe- tions through a webpage where Moravian College, Muhlenberg rine Faull, professor at Bucknell images of documents are hosted. A Word from the Archives’ President The last of the planned capital tionality of the offices and reading Archives’ Board with emeritus sta- improvements which have occurred room. tus to our board. I am pleased to as a result of the Moving History We recently welcomed new board enjoy Ralph’s expertise, insightful Campaign are complete by the time members, Scott Gordon, Marian input, and years of dedication to the you receive this newsletter. Many Shatto, and Thomas Bross. They Archives and its mission. thanks are due, especially to our serve in addition to board members As in all things, we endeavor to director and head archivist, Paul, Rose Nehring, Kevin Kelleher, David discern God’s will for the manage- and to the Moravian Archives staff, Parker, Donald Squair, Katherine ment of our charge as Archives’ to Jeffrey Long, project manager Faull, Alice Mosebach (secretary), board members. As we plan for and to the Friends of the Archives Karl Butz (treasurer), and Diane many years of archival and research and other contributors who made Shaw (vice president). We at the needs, we pray for a future filled this possible. Archives benefit from an abundance with Moravian history yet to be I especially want to thank the Ar- of talent and expertise from these revealed and recorded. chives’ board who, along with Paul thoughtful volunteers. and Jeff, have researched, evaluat- One of the people who has seen Michael A. Long, President ed, budgeted, and overseen a sig- the development implementation nificant expansion of our archival and fruition of this and previous Michael Long capacity and improvement in func- campaigns is Ralph Schwarz. Ralph has recently been recognized by the Issue 22 Page 3 Christian’s Spring Summer Project On May 27, five Lehigh University Christian’s Spring, southwest of cluding maps, membership cata- students attended a daylong Ger- Nazareth) as part of a summer 2015 logs, memoirs, surveys, and letters. man script workshop held by assis- Mountaintop project at Lehigh Midway through the summer, the tant archivist Tom McCullough. University. Under the mentorship students themselves will devise a These students will spend 10 weeks of Archives’ board member and digital platform with which to pre- this summer working with a variety Lehigh University Chair of English, sent their findings about the indi- of German-language primary Dr. Scott Gordon, the students will viduals who lived at Christiansbrunn sources from the former Moravian work as a team to analyze a variety and the many activities in which community of “Christiansbrunn” (or of primary source documents, in- they engaged. Jan Hus Exhibit Six hundred years ago Jan Hus, Moravian Church. The Moravian priest and professor in Prague, was Archives, under the leadership of burned at the stake in Constance, former archives assistant Zack Biro Germany. His martyr death caused and current assistant Donnie a wave of protest throughout Wieand, has put together an exhibit Prague and Bohemia. Among his which examines the life and work of followers were the founders of the Jan Hus and shows valuable copies Unity of Brethren in Kunvald in of his work from the collections of 1457/58, the predecessor of the the Moravian Archives. Tom Visits Herrnhut Archives While the Archives was closed for helpful during the entire experi- would make Paul Peucker proud renovations this spring, I had the ence. He not only housed me and that I seemed to have developed a opportunity to spend four weeks in fed me delicious meals, but he was Dutch German accent. Germany! This was my first trip to so kind in organizing weekend and The staff at the Herrnhut Archives Europe, and it was truly an nighttime excursions to cities like was very friendly. I helped Claudia Entdeckungsreise (trip of new discov- Dresden, Weimar, Bautzen, Naum- Mai translate the website and ar- eries). I spent these weeks working burg, Gera, Görlitz, and Erfurt.