Ursinus College Digital Commons @ Ursinus College Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine Pennsylvania Folklife Society Collection Fall 1981 Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 31, No. 1 Henry J. Kauffman John D. Kendig Guy Graybill Marie K. Graeff William T. Parsons Ursinus College See next page for additional authors 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 Kauffman, Henry J.; Kendig, John D.; Graybill, Guy; Graeff, Marie K.; Parsons, William T.; and Sauers, Ray W., "Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 31, No. 1" (1981). Pennsylvania Folklife Magazine. 94. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/94 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]. Authors Henry J. Kauffman, John D. Kendig, Guy Graybill, Marie K. Graeff, William T. Parsons, and Ray W. Sauers This book is available at Digital Commons @ Ursinus College: https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/94 6:otltributors MARIE K. GRAEFF, with her late husband, Dr. JOHN D . KENDIG, Manheim, PA, is a local historian, Arthur D. Graeff, ha been active in preservation of author, after-dinner speaker and photographer with Pennsylvania German Folk Culture for everal decades. special interest in Northern Lancaster County. He has She lives in Robe onia and participate in Conrad universal interests in furnaces and forges, Pennsylvania Weiser and Tulpehocken hi torical organizations; she barns, forestry and just plain local people. He has an is the guiding spirit in the newly formed We t Baerricks eye for hi storical scenes and artifacts; his latest book Fersommling. The Go chenhoppen Historians pre­ i Lancaster County Waysides, a 1979 publication. sented their 1981 award for achievement in folk cultural studies to Marie K. Graeff. WILLIAM T. PARSONS, of Collegeville, PA, Editor GUY GRAYBILL of Middleburg, R.D. #3, is a World of PENNSYL VANIA FOLKLIFE and Directo~ of the Culture teacher whose articles on history and related Pennsylvania German Program at Ursinus College, has subjects have appeared in eight regional or national investigated English and American Friends and Gennan­ magazines. He wrote the preliminary script for Penn­ Americans in his research ·and has long been interested sylvania's official bicentennial record album, narrated in their interaction. 20 years ago he discussed Port by Lorne Greene. Several photographs by Graybill Royal-Philadelphia implications with Henry Cadbury. have recently appeared as cover illustrations for" Penn­ After numerous other Penna. German and some Quaker sylvania Forests" and "Pennsylvania Township News." articles, this seemed to have matured. His PhD topic in 1955 dealt with Isaac Norris II. HENRY J. KAUFFMAN of Lanca ter, Pennsylvania, is a veteran author on the subject of Pennsylvania ROY W. SAUERS, of Middletown, OHIO, is retired Arts and Crafts, from pewter and brass to early but busily occupied in rural Ohio, although he spent American gunsmiths. Books, articles and monographs most of his youth on a Pennsylvania German farm and have flowed from his pen to cover many topics. travelled locally throughout Snyder and Union Counties, Kauffman wrote extensively for The Dutchman in PA. He believes that a sure way to keep the old earlier years with twenty articles to his credit. More ounds alive is to repeat them while reliving the old recently he concentrated on books. Welcome back experiences. He and his wife have been a devoted to our company, Henry J. Kauffman! couple for many decades. DITOR : William T . Par on DI RIALAD l ORY OMM ITf M ac . Barrick AUTUMN 1981, VOL. XXXI, No.1 Monroe H . Fabian John B. Frantz Thomas E. allagher, Jr. Albert T . Gamon CONTENTS Mrs. Arthur D . Graeff H owell J. Heaney H einrich Kelz 2 The Pennsylvania Copper Tea Kettle Earl F. Robacker HE RY J . KAUFFMA Karl Scherer Antje ommer 8 "Our Camp and Soldiers Life" (1861-65) Paul R . Wieand JOH D . KE DIG, Editor Don Yoder FOLK FESTIVAL DIRECTOR: Mark R . Eaby, Jr. 17 The Surprising Come Back of The FOLK FESTIVAL P UBLI R ELATION S: Pennsylvania Rifle Peg Zecher GUY GRAYBILL SUBS RIPTI ONS: Nancy K. Gaugler 20 Folk Songs P ENN YLVA IA FOLKLlFE, MARIE K. GRAEFF Autumn 1981 , Vol. 31, No. I, pub­ Ii hed four time a year by Penn­ sylvania Folklife Society, lnc., P .O. 26 Port Royal and Philadelphia Box 92, Collegeville, Pa. 19426. WILLIAM T. PARSONS $2.00 for ingle copie, Autumn, Winter & Spring. $1.50 for Summer. Yearly ubscription $7.00; Back is­ 38 Pennsylvania Dutch Life Along sue (v.21-30), $2.50 each; others Switzer Run and Penn's Creek P .O . R. RAY W. SAUERS MSS A D PHOTOGRAPH : The Editor will be glad to consider MSS and photographs sent with 43 Aides un Neies/Old and New a view to publication. When unsuit­ able, and if accompanied by return CONTRffiUTORS po tage, care will be taken for their (Insidefront cover) return, although no responsibility for their afety i as umed. Editorial correspondence: COVER: Dr. William T. Parsons Brazier, coppersmith, gunsmith and cooper are P.O . Box 92, among the skilled craftsmen who helped maKe Collegeville, Pennsylvania 19426 Pennsylvania great and who appear in articles in Subscription, business correspondence: P.O . Box 92, this issue. The Pennsylvania long rifle in the hands Collegeville, Pennsylvania 19426 of a woodsman shares the spotlight with the copper Folk Festival correspondence: utensil a village brazier is shaping. College Blvd. and Vine, Kutztown, Pennsylvania 19530 Folk Festival public relations: Layout and Peg Zecher, 26 E. Knowlton Rd., Special Photography: WILLIAM K. MUNRO Media, Pe!1nsylvania 19063 Copyright 1981 Entered as second class matter at Collegeville, Pa . ISSN 0031-4498 The large and small ex­ amples of copper tea ket­ tles made by Pennsylvania craftsmen. Private Collection THE PENNSYLVANIA COPPER TEA KETTLE by HENRY J. KAUFFMAN Pennsylvania was a much favored region by hand­ The production of tea kettles started early in Penn­ craftsmen who worked there from 1750 to 1850. Man­ sylvanja, for Peacock Bigger advertised them in the ufactures such as the Conestoga wagon, Stiegel glass PENNSYLV ANIA GAZETTE on June 29, 1738. To the Kentucky rifle and a wide range of fraktur work are date no products of Bigger have been found, and one usually associated with the region. Other products of can only speculate whether hjs were in the European equal importance, although little recognized, are the style or the emerging Pennsylvania fa hion. articles turned out by Pennsylvania Coppersmiths. Advertisment of Peacock Bigger in the Pennsylvania These craftsmen operated between Philadelphia and Gazette, 29 June 1738. Tea kettles are the first items Pittsburgh, with a large proportion of them working in he mentions, possibly to emphasize their importance. the so-called "Dutch Country." They made a wide range of objects many of which are distinctly Penn­ sylvanian in character, but most famous and distinctive were their copper tea kettles. Some were crafted in adjoining New York, Connecticut, and Maryland, but production outside Pennsylvania was minimal Probably the most mysterious detail in the production was its design, which one would expect to be practically a replica of European models. And in fact, at least three American coppersmiths: Benjamin Harbeson, David Cummungs, and William Bailey, pictured Euro­ pean-designed kettles on their trade cards. These kettles might be described as globlar except for flat bottoms and tops for the lids Just why this European design was discarded at an early time may never be known. 2 Fig . 2 - ormin Tea-Ket­ tle Body. ig. / - Body o/Gallon Glue Pot or Tea-Ke((le. ---::.:::.-~ - There were two possi ble u age of the tea kettle in The fir t tep was to make a c linder with parallel id colonial day; u pen ion from a crane, trammel. or pot as in Figure I. 10 ing the c linder \ the \ ell-kno\\ n hook, none of which required a nat bottom; or placing joint, frequently but erroneou I known a a do e-tail on a nat trivet on the hearth, a procedure which did re­ joint, more correctly called "Tab". The ere ut quire a nat bottom. The fact that many bottom were into one edge of the cylinder and half turned upright. worn through and a new one attached by a eam, suggests The oppo ing traight edge wa ad anced to the bot­ that they were used on iron stove after they came into tom of the tab , and the rai ed one ere hammered nat common u e. The bottom might ha e been worn again t the traight edge of the copper. Thu, half the through by use on a trivet, however, they were easily tab were on the inside, the other half on the out ide. adapted to stove use uggesting that many of them mu t A high temperature older wa nowed through the joint, have been worn out before they were di carded. which wa ery trong, yet ery ne ible. Thereafter Measured dimension of copper tea kettles indicate the joint could be ignored and the cylinder regarded a they were made in a large range of ize , some holding one continou heet of metal.