4 Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society • www.lmhs.org

Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society (USPS 882-020)2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, PA 17602-1499

Inside: y Mennonite Authors Share Experiences y Music in Worship y Cultivating Historical Thinking

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Upcoming Events

Pacifists in ChainsMonday, May 19, 7 pm

Forest Hills Mennonite Church

Herr House Opening DayTuesday, April 1, 8:30 am

1719 Hans Herr House and Museum

Lancaster Family History ConferenceSaturday, April 24, 8:30 am-4:30 pm

Lancaster Host Resort

Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society thanks these

generous business supporters:

Sponsors Four Seasons Produce, Inc.

“Growing Ideas, Producing Excellence”www.fsproduce.com

Landis Homes“Serving One Another”www.landishomes.org

Volume 46, Number 1 • February 2014Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society • www.lmhs.org

Shirley Showalter (left) and Valerie Weaver-Zercher (right)

Mennonite Authors Share Their Experience

Two writers from two generations will speak side by side about their experienc-es as Mennonite women authors. Shirley Showalter and Valerie Weaver Zercher will also reflect about their writing processes on Monday, February 24, 7 pm, at Mellinger Mennonite Church, Lancaster Pa.

Valerie Weaver-Zercher is the manag-ing editor of trade books at Herald Press. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Mennonite, The Mennonite Weekly Review, and other venues. Weaver-Zercher grew up in Ephrata and attended Lancaster Mennonite School be-fore going to Eastern Mennonite Universi-ty and the University of Pennsylvania. She and her husband, David, have three sons and live in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Weaver-Zercher is the author of Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Ro-mance Novels, published in February 2013 by John Hopkins Press. Thrill of the Chaste analyzes the thriving Amish romance

novel market, looking at how it sits in the context of broader American culture.

Shirley Hershey Showalter grew up in Lancaster before attending Eastern Men-nonite University and later University of Texas at Austin. She was a faculty member of Goshen College, first as professor of English and later as president—a position she held for eight years until 2004. She then worked for the Fetzer Institute in Kalam-azoo, Michigan, as vice president of pro-grams, a position she held until 2010. She is now a full-time writer and part-time teacher.

Showalter’s memoir, Blush: A Menno-nite Girl Meets a Glittering World, was pub-lished in September 2013 by Herald Press. In it she chronicles her childhood and adolescence in Lancaster County, which coincided with a period of upheaval and change within the church.

This event is free and open to the public. Blush and Thrill of the Chaste will be for sale. The authors will be available to sign their books.

Fraktur Workshop

Fraktur is a distinctly American folk art dating back to the mid-1700s and was an important part of Pennsylvania German culture. The traditional motifs of birds, flowers, and hearts are rendered in ink, accompanied by ornate calligraphy, then painted in watercolor.

Emily Smucker Beidler will lead an upcoming class for beginning fraktur artists. She will begin with a presentation on fraktur, its history, and three distinctly different styles from southeastern Pennsylvania, with special emphasis on its role in Mennonite culture. Then Beidler will demonstrate the use of the ink and watercolor that are specific to the craft. During the latter portion of the class, students will spend time creating their own small fraktur piece. The class will focus on the imagery of fraktur, rather than calligraphy.

There is a $70 fee ($75 for nonmembers) for participation, which includes a starter kit. It contains the basic supplies so students can continue to explore the world of fraktur once the class is over. No previous experience is required. The class will be held on Saturday, March 15, from 9:00-12:00 at Society headquarters. For tickets visit www.lmhs.org, or call (717) 393-9745.

PA German Dialect Classes at the SocietyPennsylvania German Dialect classes, taught by Butch Reigart, return to the Society in 2014. Two levels are offered: Beginner (Tuesdays, March 11-May 13) and Intermediate (Thursdays, March 13-May 15). Classes run from 7-9 pm. All are welcome. Classes cost $100 ($115 nonmembers) Visit lmhs.org/Home/Classes for more information.

2 Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society • www.lmhs.org

The Mirror (ISSN 0738-7237) is a bimonthly newsletter published by the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society; Joel Nofziger, editor. Phone: (717) 393-9745; fax: (717) 393-8751; e-mail: mirror@lmhs.org. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Mirror, Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, PA 17602-1499.

Summer intern opportunity—Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society has a summer internship available for a college student attending a Pennsylvania college or university. If interested, please contact Rolando Santiago at director@lmhs.org.

Museum Store Manager & Special Event Coordinator—The 1719 Hans Herr House & Museum is looking for a Museum Store Manager and Special Event Coordinator working 60% time year round. Applicants should send a resumé and cover letter to director@hansherr.org. A detailed job description is available on request. Applications are due by February 15, 2014.

Save the Date: Saturday, April 5, at 6:00 pm,

Yoder’s Restaurant, New Holland, Pa.

Come fellowship with Ervin R. Stutzman as he reflects on “Can the quiet in the land keep their peace?”

Stutzman is executive director for Mennonite Church USA. Previously he served as a professor and dean at Eastern Mennonite Seminary. He also served the Mennonite Church in the roles of pastor, district overseer, missions administrator, conference moderator, and moderator for Mennonite Church USA.

Ervin is a preacher, a teacher, and a writer. He has written two books about his Amish parents—Tobias of the Amish, and Emma, A Widow among the Amish. His most recent books are From Nonresistance to Justice, a book that examines a century of change in peacemaking in the Mennonite Church; Discerning God’s Will Together, a study about communal discernment; and Jacob’s Choice, a historical novel about an Amish ancestor.

Tickets are $25, available at lmhs.org or by calling (717) 393-9745.

Annual BanquetPositions Available at LMHS

Singing Tradition to be Showcased in March

“O Gott Vater, wir loben dich…” goes the opening line of the Lobg’sang, the praise song shared across the Anabaptist tradition. This piece will open the Society’s second Music in Worship night. It will be sung in three different ways—the “slow” style of the Amish, “half slow” as sung by the Old Or-der Mennonite Groffdale Conference, and “fast” as in Lancaster Mennonite Confer-ence. The evening will continue to enthrall with a diverse selection of singing from the Anabaptist experience, including the Old Order Groffdale Mennonite Conference, Old Order Mennonite Weaverland Confer-ence, Lancaster Mennonite Conference, as well as the Church of the Brethren, Old Or-der Amish, and Old Order River Brethren.

This event with its full program of music is “not a concert but a hymn sing,” notes organizer David Sauder. “The audi-

ence is always invited to sing along.” To help facilitate this, representatives from each group will lead the audience from their seats around the singers’ table. Two songs common to the Sunday worship of each tradition will be sung.

This event is not to be missed by any who are interested in hymnody, under-standing their Anabaptist neighbors, or in worship through song. Sauder says the event is unique because it represents “one of the few places, if not the only place, where all of these traditions can gather in one setting.”

Music in Worship, organized with the Swiss Pioneer Associates, will be held Thursday, March 6, starting at 7:00 pm at the Martindale Mennonite Fellowship Cen-ter, 352 Martindale Road, Ephrata, Pa. The event is free and open to all.

Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society • www.lmhs.org 3

Cultivating Historical ThinkingHave you ever asked yourself,

“Why is history important?” The award-winning book, Historical thinking and other unnatural acts: Charting the future of teaching the past (2001), helped me find some answers. Its author, Sam Wineburg, argues that “the sustained encounter with this less familiar past teaches us the limitations of our brief sojourn on the planet and allows us to take membership in the entire human race” (p. 7).

I would add that engaging our past with humility accentuates the creative nature of God which allows generations of people to experience the interplay between humanity and the divine through the window of life. I felt this type of engagement with the past when five Anabaptist church groups from Old Order to Lancaster Mennonite Conference gathered in a rare event to learn about the sacred musical traditions that have evolved over time in their respective cultural communities. This Worship in Music event drew 1,100 people and will be repeated on Thursday, March 6, 7 pm, at the Martindale Mennonite Fellowship Center.

Wineburg, who is an educational psychologist at Stanford University, goes on to say that “each generation must ask itself why studying the past is important, and remind itself why history can bring us together rather than

. . . tear us apart” (p. 5). He advocates for historical thinking that involves “generat[ing] topographies of historical memory, rough maps of how ordinary people think about the past and use it to understand the present” (p. 248). Such historical thinking occurs “in the context of the family, the school, the church, and the community” (p. 249).

Focusing on the context of the “church,” I ask myself, how does the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society as one of its educational institutions

encourage historical thinking? The Society fosters historical thinking when it makes the diaries, letters, sermons, and other material culture of people associated with Anabaptist communities available for study. The Society also stimulates historical thinking when it organizes special occasions, such as last October’s “What young

historians are thinking,” which brought together older generations who have experienced events occurring earlier in their lifetimes, with younger generations who are just learning second-hand about these same events.

It is my hope that the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society will continue to organize events that will teach the virtues of “humility in the face of our limited ability to know and awe in the face of the expanse of human history” (p. 24).

Select Library Recent Acquisitions

Bean, Esther Louise. Anabaptist beginnings : Swiss & South German Anabaptists. Faith Build-ers Resource Group, 2010 (BX4933.S9 B43 2010)

Epp-Tiessen, Esther. Mennonite Central Com-mittee in Canada : a history. CMU Press, 2013 (BX8128.W4 E67 2013)

On being human : essays from the fifth Shi’i Mus-lim Mennonite Christian dialogue. CMU Press, 2013 (BP172 .S55 2013)

Stoltzfus, Duane C. S. Pacifists in chains: the persecution of Hutterites during the Great War. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013 (BX8129.B63 S76 2013)

Zerbe, Gordon M. Citizenship : Paul on peace and politics. CMU Press, 2012 (BS2655.P64 Z47 2012)

Brubaker family tour. Wastler Escorted Trav-el, Inc., 1985 (CS71.B886 1985)

Hurst, Elva. Changing seasons : a true story. Barn-yard Art, 2013 (BX8143.H84 A3 2013 (CD))

Klassen, Maureen. It happened in Moscow: a memoir of discovery. Kindred Productions, 2013 (BX8143.K53 A3 2013)

Yoder, Betty Ann. Menno Simons, Dutch Ana-baptist leader. Faith Builders Resource Group, 2010 (BX8143.M5 Y63 2010)

A peculiar mixture : German-language cultures and identities in eighteenth-century North America. Ed. by Jan Stievermann and Oliver Scheiding. Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013 (E184.G3 P43 2013)

Conlogue, William. Here and there : reading Pennsylvania’s working landscapes. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2013 (F149 .C66 2013)

Martin, Richard E. Penryn Fire Company No. 1, 1912-2012. . . Penryn Fire Company No. 1, 2011 (TH9505.P46 M37 2011)

Stadler, Alois. Leben im Grenzbereich : Fest-schrift zur 300-Jahrfeier der Kapelle Oberholz. Ka-pellgenossenschaft Oberholz, 2007 (DQ851.O24 S73 2007)

Es Haus wu der Jack gebaut hot = The house that Jack built. [Translated by] Walter Sauer. Edition Tintenfaß, 2013 (PF5938 .H38 2013)

King, James Reuben. False graining techniques: how to add the rich look of wood to your next project. Fox Chapel Pub., 2013 (TT330 .K56 2013)

Pellman, Rachel T. Quilted projects with wool and wool felt : easy techniques with full-size templates. Design Originals, 2014 (TT835 .P45 2014)

Smucker, Janneken. Amish quilts : crafting an American icon. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013 (NK9112 .S68 2013)

Zehr, Angela K. Born to die. Ridgeway Pub., 2012 (PS3626.E345 B67 2012)

Kaufman, Gerald W. Necessary conversations : between adult children and their aging parents. Good Books, 2013 (HQ1063.6 .K38 2013)

Yoder, Sharon Fay. To have and to hold : hope restored for single women. Faith Builders Resource Group, 2012 (HQ800.2 .Y63 2012)

LMHS will conduct an auction of rare and used books on February 14, 2014, 6:30 pm at the Society headquarters. Included in the sale is the unique collection of books by Harrisonburg, Virginia, resident Rich-ard Ours. Thirteen different editions of the Harmonia Sacra, beginning with the 1847 fourth edition, will be sold. Of special in-terest are 1804 and 1808 Ein Unpartheyisches Gesang-Buchs, which were used in the Bur-kholder (now Weaver) meetinghouse. Pe-

Book Sale Features Virginia Mennonitester Burkholder, an early Virginia Menno-nite bishop, translated an early Mennonite “Confession of Faith” in 1837. Five copies of this confession are included in the sale listings. Various other books published by Joseph Funk will be auctioned.

The sale also features many genealo-gies of Mennonite and Amish families.

The entire sale catalog can be accessed at lmhs.org. Information can also be ob-tained by calling 717-393-9745.