SPRING 2019 Center schedules multidisciplinary conference on the Amish “HEALTH AND WELL-BEING IN AMISH SOCIETY” TO BE HELD JUNE 6–8, 2019 Registration is now open for “Health and of the presumptions of biomedicine. King is health care, hospice care, alternative medi- Well-Being in Amish Society.” Hosted by a teaching assistant professor in the depart- cine, and barriers to care. the Young Center, cosponsored by WellSpan ment of anthropology at the University of Three pre-conference tour options— Health, and open to the public, the confer- North Carolina at Chapel Hill. health care, business, and agriculture—are ence focuses on health, healing, health care, Melissa Thomas will discuss the cultural available to attendees for an additional fee. and individual and community welfare and components of successful public health out- Highlights of the health care tour include a well-being in Amish life. reach efforts in “Understanding the Why: visit to a health care center for Plain people, Joseph B. Martin, Edward R. and Anne Engaging Amish and Plain Communities in a stop at a center for women’s health that G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology, Emeri- Addressing Health Disparities.” Thomas is serves women from Plain communities as tus at Harvard Medical School, will deliver an assistant professor in the family medicine well as women in the broader Lancaster the keynote address, “Ancestral Antecedents department at the Ohio University Heri- County area, and conversation with a physi- of Illness: Opportunities for Assessment tage College of Osteopathic Medicine. She cian who uses some alternative health thera- and Amelioration.” Martin, whose research has worked on addressing health disparities pies. Participants on the business tour will was instrumental in identifying the genetic through community-engaged research and visit with Amish entrepreneurs, including underpinning of Huntington’s disease and outreach models for over 20 years, with a the owner of a metal fabrication shop and a other disorders, will describe today’s rapidly specific emphasis in rural and Appalachia snack food vendor. The agriculture tour will developing landscape of medical genetics, Ohio. include Amish farms with traditional or in- focusing on the power of genetics to identify In addition, scholars and researchers will novative ventures, including a dairy farm inherited disorders and the promise of new present their work during paper sessions; and an herb farm. Each tour’s itinerary in- treatments. seminar speakers from the Clinic for Special cludes lunch in an Amish home. The conference will include three ple- Children and the University of Maryland For more information and to register, nary sessions. In “The Amish as Healthcare Amish Research Clinic will discuss recent visit www.etown.edu/amish2019, call 717- Consumers,” Katherine Hempstead will dis- findings and ways patient care is affected by 361-1470, or send an e-mail to amish2019@ cuss the unique role of the Plain community genomic advances; and workshop presenters etown.edu. Register by May 1 to receive a as health care consumers: they shop for care, will address practical issues related to mental discount. negotiate directly with providers, and engage in medical tourism. Further, they receive ex- tremely transparent information about health care service prices, the very type of informa- tion that providers generally take great pains not to release. Hempstead is a senior policy adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Founda- tion, where she works on health care issues, mostly related to coverage, cost, and access. Martha King will present “Medicine and the Modern Amish,” a discussion of how Amish group identity, understandings of the body, and bodily practice contrast with many Joseph B. Martin Katherine Hempstead Martha King Melissa Thomas 1 From the Director Christopher Herbert to serve as this year’s Durnbaugh Lecturer This semester we begin our second The Young Center is pleased to announce Herbert worked with Young Center di- full year in our expanded building with that Christopher Dylan Herbert will deliver rector Jeff Bach in summer 2017 to research several new events. We have already the Durnbaugh lecture and seminar on Thurs- Ephrata music for his dissertation. His pre- welcomed our new administrative day and Friday, March 14 and 15. sentation on that music will be held on assistant, Rose Fisher. We will celebrate the renovated building and Herbert holds a B.A. in music from Yale March 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Leffler Chapel. The new Bowers Interpretive Gallery with University, an M.A. in Middle Eastern stud- Durnbaugh seminar will be held on Friday, a dedication event on March 14. ies from Harvard University, and a D.M.A. March 15, 10:00 a.m. to noon, in the Young in voice from the Juilliard School. He is an Center’s Bucher Meetinghouse. We have some other new experiences assistant professor at William Paterson Uni- Herbert will also be in the area on Febru- this semester. Our Amish conference versity, where he heads the voice program. ary 17 and 18, when New York Polyphony features a new hybrid pattern of presentations that includes a forum As a vocalist, Herbert performs through- presents Gregory Spears’ The Bitter Good, for more presentations by and for out the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He has based on the earliest hymn tunes in America health care practitioners who work soloed with the San Francisco Symphony, from the Ephrata community, at the Trust with the Amish. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Performing Arts Center in Lancaster. Visit International Contemporary Ensemble, and the Trust’s website for tickets and details. Another new enterprise is a course that I am team teaching with Susan the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and regularly The Durnbaugh lecture series was estab- Asbury, who works in our residence presents Winterize, an outdoor adaptation of lished in 1993 to commemorate the scholar- life office and is a candidate for a Winterreise with transistor radios. Herbert is ship of Don and Hedda Durnbaugh. It brings Ph.D. in American Studies. The course also the baritone in the critically acclaimed a noted scholar of Anabaptist or Pietist stud- is supported by the Mellon grant the ensemble New York Polyphony. ies to campus annually. college received. We will work with the artifacts of the Young Center’s special collections, assisted by college archivist Rachel Grove Rohrbaugh. Students will practice creating curatorial files and interpretive essays Center welcomes new staff member similar to what they might do if they worked in small museums or archives. In October, the Young Center welcomed Fisher’s background was a large part of Rose Fisher as its new administrative as- the job’s appeal for her, given the nature of In another new venture, Steve Nolt, sistant. Fisher graduated from Millersville the center’s work. “I have found the Young Edsel Burdge, and I are developing University in May 2018 with a bachelor’s Center to be an extremely warm and wel- a training unit for government employees working in conservation degree in German and psychology and a mi- coming atmosphere, Fisher said. “I enjoy who interact with farmers in Plain nor in history. She was born into an Amish what I do, and I enjoy interacting with peo- communities. The unit gives the family—her parents chose to leave when she ple who share many of my interests. Most conservation workers more insight into was eleven years old—and is a native Penn- of all, I enjoy learning more about my own values of people in Plain communities sylvania Dutch speaker. Anabaptist background.” related to family life and farming. This year’s Durnbaugh Lectures feature a new format. The Elizabethtown College concert choir will assist Christopher Herbert by New publication performing some of Herbert’s new transcriptions of music from the Simply Amish, by senior fellow emeritus Don- historic Ephrata community. Herbert ald Kraybill, was published by Herald Press will combine spoken word with the last summer. A small volume intended to be choir’s performance to interpret new an introduction to the sect, the book explains research about music composed about Amish history, theol- 250 years ago. ogy, and culture in We are thankful for the support short sections using that has made our expanded facility plain language. Kray- and our new programing possible. bill also addresses Details about our events appear in growth and diversity this newsletter and on our website. I as well as popular hope that you can join us for our new misconceptions and adventures! common questions Jeff Bach the “English” have Director about the Amish. 2 Brethren Historical Committee meeting The Brethren Historical Committee held its annual meeting at the Young Center on No- vember 2, 3, and 4. The committee, which serves an advisory function to the direc- tor of the Brethren Historical Library and Archives (BHLA), chose to meet in Elizabeth- town in order to see the newly expanded Young Center and the Hess Archives. The weekend meeting included a visit to Breth- ren sites in Germantown and worship with the Germantown Church of the Brethren congregation. The committee members and associated visitors are, from left, Terry Bark- ley, Maddie McKeever (BHLA archival intern), Kelley Brenneman, Bill Kostlevy (archivist at BHLA), and Dawne Dewey. (Committee member Jeff Bach is not pictured.) Pennsylvania Dutch receives Brown Book Award The Dale W. Brown are sure to delight.” And Michael T. Putnam, Kade Institute for German-American Studies Book Award, named of Pennsylvania State University, called the at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He for noted author book a seminal work, saying, “Louden suc- holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral de- and theologian Dale cessfully weaves a complex tapestry that pro- grees from Cornell University. Louden will Brown, is given an- vides an exhaustive historical account of this present a lecture about his work in fall 2019 nually to an outstand- language and its speakers and is easily acces- at the Young Center.