Adult Programs
The Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center offers a wide variety of Adult programs from group tours, symposia, lectures, and special events related to the history and culture of the Schwenkfelders, PA Germans, and the local area.
Brown Bag Lunch Lectures
Bring your lunch and join Dr. Allen Viehmeyer and guest lecturers the second Wednesday of each month for a closer look into the SLHC collections, local, and Schwenkfelder history. Lectures are repeated the following Sunday at 2pm.
Upcoming Programs
The Exile Society and the Friends of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center host special guest lecturers, groups, and events at the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center.
- Pa Dutch Dialect Program: Busch Knibbel—Friends of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
- March 21, 2010, 2:00 pm
- Open to the Public. Light refreshments provided. Follows the Friends Annual meeting at 2:00 p.m.
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Long time readers of the local weekly paper Town and Country most likely recall the Pennsylvania Dutch column called DER BUSCH KNIBBEL. During the seventeen years this column was published, the author's identity remained somewhat of a myster. Not until after his death in 1966 was it generally known that Rev. William Rupp—at one time a minister at Great Swamp Church, Spinnerstown—was the author who wrote under the pen name DER BUSCH KNIBBEL.
William Rupp was born on a farm in 1911. While he was growing up, he heard the tales older people told each other during their everyday conversations. He later recalled their stories and antics in his weekly columns. Some of his entertaining accounts will be presented during a program at the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center. Get your funny bone tickled listening to more Busch Knibbel yarns on the first day of spring, March 21, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. - Pennsylvania German Foodways: Documenting Pa Dutch Cooking/Recipes/Ingredients/Methods
- May 20, 2010 7:30 p.m.
- Free, Open to the Public
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Nancy Roan and Gail Albert will be leading a meeting of the Goschenhoppen Historians held in the Heritage Center Meeting Room. Join Nancy and Gail on an entertaining and enlightening journey through seasonal Pennsylvania German foodways with this illustrated discussion.
Workshops
- Hooked Rug Pattern Design Workshop with Susan Feller
- April 24, 2010 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
- $45.00 per participant. Contact Michelle Pritt at the Heritage Center, (215) 679-3101.
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Susan Feller will lead a group through the history of illuminated documents, Fraktur, in eastern Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and Ontario, Canada. Feller will assist each student in designing a unique hooked rug pattern, documenting an event, memorializing a person, or complementing their modern decor. Required skills: an interest in rug hooking, open to novice to experienced individuals. The workshop focuses on designing a pattern.
This is a one day workshop of approximately seven hours with a lunch break. Described as a "work and learn" session, the introduction to history will be brief, with individuals beginning to design right away. Using templates, sample borders, and a library of designs, each student will create a paper pattern sized 18"x 24" or 24" x 36". Transfer material and backing cloth (linen or monks) will be available for an additional fee. Trunk show of wools and patterns will complete the supplies offered by Feller. - German for Reading Knowledge, Adult German Language Course
- Month by month, October 2009 through May 2010
- $80.00 a month, Thursday evenings, 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
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Join our Associate Director of Research, Dr. Allen Viehmeyer, for a month by month course to acquire a reading knowledge of German. Courses cost $80.00 per month, Thursday evenings from 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m. in our Library. Interested participants should contact Rebecca Lawrence or Allen Viehmeyer, 215-679-3103 or rebecca@schwenkfelder.com to register and receive information on the required text.
Symposia
- Symposium: The World in Schwenckfeld's Day
- October 23, 2010
- Open to the Public. Pre-registration and payment required.
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This symposium is designed for the general public curious about life in a former time. Dr. Peter Erb will moderate a day of presentations by Emmet McLaughlin, Rev. Luka Ilic, Dr. Jill First, Dr. Ann Tlusty, Dr. Michael Baylor, Dr. Hilda Binford, and Dr. Lisa Norris. Topics to be explore include printing, religion in everyday life, art, music, taverns and food, rebellion and war. More details to come this spring!
Heritage Tour 2010
Dr. Allen Viehmeyer and Rev. David Luz are once again beginning plans for a Schwenkfelder Heritage Tour in 2010, July 25–August 9. See Berlin, Dresden, and the city of Luther: Wittenberg. Come with us off the beaten track in eastern Germany and western Poland. We'll walk where our forefathers and mothers walked as they left their homes and came to Pennsylvania. In Poland we will visit monastery and castle ruins, Legnica (Liegnitz), Osiek (Ossig), Zlotoryja (Goldberg), Twardocice (Harpersdorf), and more! Along the Elbe river we'll take passage on a river board from Dresden to Meissen, then stop at the small cities of Torgau, Magdeburg, and Tangermünde. If you are interested please contact David Luz at the Heritage Center for a tentative itinerary and additional information. Tour is limited to 20 persons. Participants will be limited to a first come, first served basis. Contact Rev. David Luz at info@schwenkfelder.com for hard or pdf copy of detailed tour itinerary.