Winter EventsYoung Curators of Our CommunitySaturday, January 24th, 1-3pm$6 for one child and one parent.$3 for each additional participantPre-Registration by January 17, 2015

Do you like to collect things like rocks, shells, toys, badges, etc.? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to create your own display to show off what you like to collect? Meet our curator and education staff! Learn from our staff the basics for exhibiting a collection and share it with visitors to the Ephrata Cloister! We’ll share with you ideas, formats, and tips on exhibiting and maintaining your collection! Bring your own questions about what it’s like to work in a museum! Each participating child will receive a prize related to the field of the collection and/or child’s interests. At least one parent or guardian must accompany his/her child. Children and their collections will be divided by age groups.

Volume XXXII Number 3

January 2015

Calendar of Events

Issue Highlights:

January1: Closed for New Year’s Day19: Closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day22: Winter History Class, 9:00 am – noon24: Young Curators of Our Community, 1:00 – 3:00 pm29: Winter History Class, 9:00 am – noon

February5: Winter History Class, 9:00 am – noon12: Winter History Class, 9:00 am – noon16: Closed for President’s Day19: Winter History Class, 9:00 am – noon21: Making History Workshop, 10:00 am - noon26: Winter History Class, 9:00 am – noon

5: Winter History Class, 9:00 am – noon8: Charter Day, noon – 5:00 pm9: Be an Illustrator, 2:30 and 4:00 pm (with EPL*)12: Winter History Class, 9:00 am – noon14: Fraktur Workshop for students, 10:00 am (with EPL*)19: Winter History Class, 9:00 am – noon21: Fraktur Workshop for students, 10:00 am (with EPL*)26: Winter History Class Field Trip – 8:30 am – 5:00 pm27, 28: Stuffed Animal Sleepover

*EPL= Ephrata Public Library

March

Page 3: Account of 1744 Comet on Loan Page 5: Important Ephrata Music Reference to be RepublishedPage 6: New Acquisitions Page 7: Member Spotlight: Arlene Huss Page 8: Choral Corner: Personal Poetics of the Music of the Ephrata Cloister Page 11: Winter History Class

A table, chairs, and an assortment of labeling supplies plus instruction will be provided to you. The Ephrata Cloister is not responsible for missing, stolen, or damaged artifacts from your collection throughout the duration of the event.

Spring 2015 Ephrata Public Library Partnership ProgramsThe Ephrata Public Library and the Historic Ephrata Cloister are proud to launch a series of free workshops and classes beginning in March for children, tweens, and teens. Our collaboratively taught classes held at both the Ephrata Public Library and at the Ephrata Cloister offer the opportunity to explore and create art projects inspired by the art and history of our Ephrata community and the museum collection of the Ephrata Cloister. All projects created in our classes will be eligible for display in a Pre-K to Grade 12 art exhibit at the Library beginning on May 15th. Our first class for families and students (ages 8-13) starts Monday March 9, where students will explore the narratives and drawings of magazine illustrator Howard Pyle who visited the Cloister in 1880.

For more information, please visit www.ephratapubliclibrary.org or www.ephratacloister.org

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President’s Message

Happy New Year!

From October through December staff and volunteers are very busy working on providing you and our community wonderful fall and holiday programming. All this culminates in a collective sigh in January when the pace slows down a bit and we’re able to work on all those projects we had to put on the back burner until there was enough time in the day to tackle them.

As it can be for many of us, January is bittersweet with endings and new beginnings. We are pleased to welcome Mark Shifflet and Joe Trynosky to your Board of Directors and look forward to their participation. Gloria Meiskey, having served three consecutive three year terms (9 years), and five of those years as your President leading you through some turbulent times, must step down from the Board. I am happy to report that Gloria intends to remain the Monday afternoon guide and continue to assist in the Museum Store. I hope you will all join me in thanking Gloria for all her hard work and dedication to Ephrata Cloister

Your board has been busy working on a Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit Organizations Governance Review. Various task forces have been busy reviewing and revising policies including: By-Laws, Code of Ethics, Volunteer Policy, Personnel Policy, Job Descriptions, and more. I’d like to extend my thanks to all who have assisted in this endeavor. It is no small undertaking!

During this slower paced time of year we’ll be planning the scheduling of the new roof for the visitor center and the maintenance shed. Hopefully this spring, work will begin on the structural repairs to the cupola of the Academy, as well as the application of a new coat of UV sealant on the Saron and Saal.

As we all look forward to what the new year may bring, I’d like to offer the following quote from Edith Lovejoy Pierce, an American poet and pacifist:

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”

Happy New Year! How exciting to welcome in a new year here at the beautiful Historic Ephrata Cloister. New years like the spring, give us an opportunity to push the reset button and start things off anew. We had a good year this past year and we are looking forward to an even better 2015.

The financial audit for fiscal year 2013, that ended July 31, 2014, showed we made good financial decisions and showed us some areas where we need to work harder to improve our financial position. It was a good year financially for the Ephrata Cloister Associates. Through the hard work and effort put forth by the ECA Board Treasurer, Wayne Gongaware, and our Administrative Coordinator & Bookkeeper, Maria Asin, a new budget process for the ECA is being implemented that will help us plan and monitor our financial position on a more consistent basis.

The end of year 2014 saw the Board saying goodbye to two ECA Board Members with many years of experience and service. Gloria Meiskey and Joanna Gasparich have served our board and the Cloister with amazing dedication and class. They have been a very valuable resource for those of us who are new to the Board. They have both pledged to continue to volunteer at our site and be a resource for us to call upon. Thank you ladies!

With the ladies departure we welcomed the arrival of two new board members, Joe Trynosky and Mark Shifflet. Welcome aboard guys, we look forward to working with you .

A very high priority for this coming year is to market the site, our various programs, and fundraisers to get more attendance and participation. We need more paying visitors, we need more bus tours, we need more shoppers in the Museum Store. We have a gem here at the Cloister, it’s now time to polish that gem and show it off to the public. As an ECA member, here is where you can help and get involved. Bring a friend or two and revisit the site, as a member your visit is free, and your paying guests will help us out greatly. Thank You!

Drew Myers, President ECA Board of Directors

Unusual Medical Book Translated by Peter Miller now available in the Museum Store

“Every Man His Own Doctor, or the Poor Planter’s Physician”, was written anonymously by Doctor John Tennent of Virginia. By 1751 four different editions had been published in Williamsburg, VA; Annapolis, MD; and Philadelphia, PA. This how-to book of advice for medical cures was written for the common person to make use of the things in his or her own home or back yard. Tennent introduced the use of native Virginia Rattlesnake Root, a tradition he learned from Native Americans. By 1749 Benjamin Franklin, knowing

of Pennsylvania’s large German population issued a German edition. On the cover, Franklin acknowledges the German translation by P.M. commonly thought to be Peter Miller of Ephrata. It demonstrates how the talents of Ephrata reached beyond the small back country settlement along the Cocalico Creek. This facsimile edition published by the Ephrata Cloister Associates has 72 pages and is $8.95.

Susan Shober, Museum Store Manager The Museum Store (717) 733-6600 email c-sshober@pa.gov.

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THE MUSEUM STORE

In conjunction with the Lantern Tours theme this season, a rare contemporary manuscript account that mentions the Great Comet of 1744 is on temporary loan from Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum. The inscription is written on the back of a family register of the children of Peter and Anna Reist of Warwick Township, Lancaster County. The register descended through the Reist family and was the gift of Marian Reist Griffith in 2012. Dr. Jeffrey Bach, Director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College graciously provided a translation of the inscription. The Great Comet was first seen in Europe in late November 1743 and was last seen in the northern hemisphere on March 9, 1744. At its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion), the Great Comet was visible in daylight with the naked eye. As the great Comet moved away from the sun, it displayed a unique “fan” of six spectacular tails. This is the first time this rare account has been publically exhibited; it can be seen in the Visitor Center until the end of January. Also currently on exhibit during Lantern Tours is Ephrata’s copy of Sauer’s 1743 Bible, the first Bible printed in a European language in North America.

Account of 1744 Comet on Loan Through JanuaryKerry A. Mohn

Above and left images of the register and comet inscription courtesy of Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum.

Please note The Museum Store at the Ephrata Cloister will be closed the months of January and February. The store will reopen on Friday March 6, 2015.

RESEARCH CORNER

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Fraktur and the Everyday Lives of Germans in the Atlantic World 1683-1850 , Philadelphia, PA March 5-7, 2015; Organized by the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.Exhibition opening of Framing Fraktur, Free Library of Philadelphia, March 2. Rebecca Lawrence and Michael Showalter, Placards of Pietism: The Wallcharts of the Ephrata Cloister. Exhibit opening of Framing Fraktur featuring the Historic Ephrata Cloister Chorus, March 2, beginning at 5pm, Free Library of Philadelphia, funded by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. The conference also includes Ephrata research by: Lisa Lauria, The College of New Jersey, “The Materiality of Utopia: Material Culture and Communal Space at Ephrata Cloister”.

National Council on Public History Annual Conference, Nashville TN, Nick Siegert and Rebecca Lawrence, April 16, Members of a panel discussant group Religion, Historic Sites, and Museums, with facilitators: Melissa Bingmann, West Virginia University and Barbara Franco, Gettysburg Seminary Ridge Museum.

Beyond highlighting our educational programs for K-12 students and families and human interest stories regarding our membership and donor interests, we begin this year with a new regular feature in our Chronicon that highlights professional activities by our staff and new research from independent researchers and academics.

When we share and promote the Historic Ephrata Cloister as a place of historic research within academic and professional communities on a national scale, it facilitates and sustains collaborations and relationships with institutions and independent researchers, provides national recognition for the Historic Ephrata Cloister and its governing bodies (The Ephrata Cloister Associates and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission), and enriches our professional efforts, ideas, and enthusiasm.

Editor’s Note:

Placards of Pietism: The Wallcharts of Ephrata

The production, graphic design, and use of Ephrata’s Fraktur are indicative of a word-image tradition, self-education, household devotional practice, and ideological connotations found in the vast European Pietism movement. The Ephrata Community extended and preserved Pietism in the New World through their creation and use of Fraktur. Our wallcharts, meant for display, were products of self-education and devotional practice assisting the creators and readers of the texts - our Ephrata Brethren- to define and reflect on the physical and ethereal spaces of their earthly and future life. While created by and for a specific place and for use within their own community, they are historic precursors to Pennsylvania German items as printed broadsides like the Geistliche Irrgarten (Spiritual Labyrinth), mid 20th century house PA Dutch House Blessings our grandparents used to own, and the present trend of wall quotations -notes to reflect upon in ones daily living and in some cases, reminders of ones devotional and spiritual committment.

We are incorporating existing research with our interpretations of the wallcharts uniquely known to the Ephrata community in our paper, Placards of Pietism. Michael Showalter and I will be sharing a summary of our paper during Winter History Class on February 26, and we hope to see you at the Fraktur and the Everyday Lives of Germans in the Atlantic World 1683-1850 conference this spring in Philadelphia.

Upcoming Conferences

Photo of pre-conservation wallchart from newly acquired Shelley notebook

Rebecca Lawrence

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Susan Shober, the manager of the Museum Store, has initiated a campaign to re-publish An Index to Hymns and Hymn Tunes of the Ephrata Cloister in 2015. The book was compiled by Dr. Allen Viehmeyer and originally published by the Ephrata Cloister Associates in 1995. The Index represents many years of research by Dr. Viehmeyer and has been out of print for some time. Dr. Viehmeyer taught German language and culture at Youngstown State University. Since his retirement in 2006, Dr. Viehmeyer has joined the staff at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center in Pennsburg as the Associate Director of Research. For many years he collected German language hymnals published in North America, but his specialty was Ephrata hymnology.

Dr. Viehmeyer has identified more than 1000 hymns written at Ephrata through an extensive study of the still surviving Ephrata hymnals and tune books. The new 2015 volume will be revised by Dr. Viehmeyer to correct a few typographical errors and author assignments. The format will be improved upon. The length of space allotted to the hymn first line is greater. Library holdings of hymnals and music tune books will be updated as much as possible. The re-printed edition will have a modest increase in the number of pages and will be hard bound. A frontispiece will be included of a Fraktur illustration taken from a tune book in the collection of the Ephrata Cloister. The press run will be limited and will partially depend on the available funding for the reprint. Individuals who would like to help defray the cost of bringing this important work back into print are cordially invited to make a monetary gift designated for the Viehmeyer Book. The number of gifts received for this project will help to determine the number printed and the retail price. Please take a moment to consider a gift and identify with this worthy project sponsored by the Ephrata Cloister Associates. For a minimum contribution of $100 individual donors will be recognized in the publication.

I want to make a gift to the Ephrata Cloister Associates to fund the publication of an updated edition of Dr. Allen Viehmeyer’s Index of the Hymns and Hymn Tunes of the Ephrata Cloister.Name:Address:City, State, Zipcode:I want my designated gift to remain anonymous. Check enclosed, made payable to the Ephrata Cloister Associates, memo line: Viehmeyer Book

I authorize the Ephrata Cloister Associates to collect my gift through my: VISA AMEX DISCOVER MASTERCARDCard number:Exp date 3 digit security code: Signature:

Donations are tax-duductible according to the fullest extent of the law.

Please mail contributions to:The Ephrata Cloister Associates Attn: Susan Shober, Museum Store 632 West Main Street Ephrata PA 17522

The Index includes information about each hymn including: the first line of the hymn text; the name of the writer, birth and death date to the extent known; metrical information about the hymn text; chronological order of appearances of the hymn in sources, the voices for the hymn setting, changes in the text over time, indexes for tune names and notation, index of library holdings and locations and much more.

Important Ephrata Music Reference to be Republished in 2015Kerry A. Mohn

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The estate of Mrs. Esther L. Shelley offered the Ephrata research notebook of her husband Dr. Donald A. Shelley [below] to the Historic Ephrata Cloister. The notebook contains manuscript and typewritten notes and many photographs which were used to

illustrate his dissertation and book. The photographs are quality prints of Ephrata Fraktur from a number of collections. Photographs of several of the wall placards in the Ephrata permanent collection are included. The wall placard images are especially important for their record of the pre-conservation condition of these important artifacts just prior to or during early Commonwealth ownership.

There is also a page in the back of the notebook with photos of Ephrata and Snow Hill buildings and several pages with photos of examples of Schwenkfelder Fraktur. The notebook was accepted for its research value, potential exhibit value, and its photographic content.

The notebook was begun in the 1930s when Dr. Shelley began his research about Pennsylvania German Frakurschriften. His doctoral dissertation was published in 1961 by the Pennsylvania German Folklore Society as Volume XXIII of their annual series. His book, Fraktur-Writings or Illuminated Manuscripts of the Pennsylvania Germans, remains an important study to this day

Dr. Shelley was born in York, PA and received his undergraduate

New Acquisitions Kerry A. Mohn

degree from Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Shelley served for a time as the Director of the Reading Public Museum and Art Gallery and later as the Director of the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. Dr. Shelley is remembered as a scholar, author and collector. Donald and Esther Shelley retired to Oley in Berks County where he died in 2006. Esther Shelley died earlier this year.

The Ephrata edition Martyrs Mirror [below] was translated into German and printed in 1748-1749; at 1500 pages it was the largest book published in colonial America. Mennonite representatives from the

Franconia Conference in eastern Pennsylvania approached the Ephrata Community about producing a German language edition for their German speaking members. Not much is known about how the Ephrata edition was distributed in the Franconia Conference. It is believed that local Lancaster County Mennonites purchased their copies at the Cloister.

This copy contains a manuscript register of the children of Samuel and Hanna Musselman who were members of the West Swamp Mennonite Meeting in Bucks County, part of the Franconia Conference. Samuel (1759-1847) was a Mennonite minister and later a bishop. His father was Michael Musselman (1727-1773) who was also a Mennonite minister and possibly the original owner of this copy. The original West Swamp meeting house was built on land owned by the Musselmans.

This Ephrata Martyrs Mirror is the gift of Raymond V. Shepherd, who is the retired administrator of Old Economy Village. The significance of this copy is the provenance and connection to a member family and minister(s) in the Franconia Conference. This book provides our permanent collection with an example of an Ephrata Martyrs Mirror from the wider regional distribution of this important and historic book and has future research and exhibit value. The clue to the ownership of this Martyrs Mirror was the translation of the family register by Dr. Jeff Bach. From that information research into that Musselman family could be completed, adding to the task, the names of the parents were not included in the register.

The Winger china plate [above] was offered to the Cloister by Museum Educator, Michael Showalter, and dates between 1891 and 1911. Dr. Franklin Winger was an 1886 graduate of Jefferson Medical College and came to Ephrata about 1891. Dr. Winger was the proprietor of a drug store on East Main Street between State and Lake Streets. In his drug store, Dr. Winger sold a large variety of china ware imported from Austria with five different scenes related to the Ephrata Cloister as part of the pattern. The plate offered by Mr. Showalter has the rear view of the Saron and Saal scene and was the only scene not represented in the permanent collection.

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My mother introduced me to the Cloister years ago after seeing a report on TV on shake shingles being made for one of the Cloister buildings. That led to coming to see for ourselves one Saturday afternoon. As someone of German descent who worked in Germany for a number of years, is a history buff and has always been interested in communal societies, I was hooked. It was on my “must-see” list of places to show visiting friends, especially those with whom I worked with in Germany.

I signed up for three of the two-day seminars (1991, 1995, and 1998) and every winter history class since 1997 and I still support the winter history class even when I can’t make it. Since the late 1990’s I’ve helped out with the Store inventory, Community Days, played hostess for a number of authors, wept at the burial of Conrad Beissel during the production of a new orientation film for visitors, and served on the ABC Book Committee. I also joined Susan Shober to sell treasures from the Museum Store at Hagley Museum, and provided earrings and bookmarks to the Museum Store resulting in several hundred dollars profit. The most fun I guess, was volunteering with the archeological digs over seven years.

Most exciting was in 1977 when I received from Ginny Hann, a friend in Illinois, who I knew while working in Germany, four books associated with Sebastian Keller, an early physician at the Cloister, dating from 1735 to 1830. They were bought by a friend of hers, Gloria Spencer for $5.00 forty years ago and were appraised for $9000.00 before I gave them to the Cloister. One of the volumes, Georg Von Welling’s “Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum” had extraordinary significance. These books were fascinating to Michael Showalter and Jeff Bach and gave the Cloister front-page coverage in the newspaper. This volume was very valuable to Jeff Bach in his research for “Voice of the Turtledoves”, probably the best book about Ephrata. On the day of the re-enactment of Beissel’s burial, Michael Showalter took my photo posing in the garb of the sisters. Arlene Huss

Ephrata Cloister Board and Associate Member Shirley Gockley recently asked longtime Associate Member, Arlene Huss to reflect on her long relationship with the Cloister

Member Spotlight

Arlene’s Journey with the Cloister

The plate is a wonderful early example of the use of Cloister images in popular culture for the production of keepsakes and souvenirs available to people visiting Ephrata around the turn-of-the 20th century. Our permanent collection now has an example of each scene sold by Dr. Winger.

The wooden work bench [above] was the gift of volunteer William R. Miller of Ephrata and dates between the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. The work bench was accepted “for use” which means that it can literally be used by volunteer demonstrators for interpretation and does not have to be cared for at the same level as artifacts in the permanent collection. The work bench will allow us to add to the visitor experience with regularly scheduled demonstrations inside the Carpenter’s House during the summer season. The site now has the option to move wood working interpretation inside if the weather is inclement for school and other special programs. The work room in the Carpenters House has been completely re-arranged to accommodate the new interpretive work bench.

FamilyJessie Shirk

IndividualJoseph R. SiegertMark ShiffletCharlene Gier

Senior ContributingClaudia and Herb AltmanAlbert and Ruth Rogers

Welcome New & Renewing Ephrata Cloister Associate Members

Senior IndividualCeleste DuffyKenneth KulakowskyKaren Leonhard

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Choral Corner

“Nun wahle ich, in frieden fort… [I choose to walk in peace]

I stroll through the crisp darkness of autumn, where towering chestnuts and locust watch over the Ephrata Cloister, and into a world at once foreign and familiar. My movement begins a meditation quickly continued in communal singing. Places like the Cloister, the buildings and the grounds, just a few hundred feet from 322, evoke a profound sense of place/time, a mélange of present and past, of history and imagination. Add music in an heirloom tongue, and the transformation is complete. If you’ve walked a frozen winter’s night to the Saal for a Christmas service, you understand how visual, physical, and sonic architecture blend into evocations of sacral pastness but also call one into a profound sense of presentness.

…bis ich geh ein, zu Himmelspfort… [until I enter Heaven]For me, having spent much formative life in German-speaking Central Europe, the walk was a weekly homecoming. Growing up in Durlach-Mt.Airy, Ephrata was the distant “city” home of my grandparents, Amos and Myrtle Martin and where I first learned German with Fr. Dr. Anderson at Ephrata High.

…Ich lauf , ich renn, ich stehe still…[I walk, I run, I stand still]Moving back to Lancaster County, after 15 years spent bouncing among borders of town, state, and nation, a weekly evening singing in German offered a sense of the familiar. Coming into this hallowed place, one consecrated by language and the communal tradition of song, was a homecom-ing with profound resonances for me.…Erwartet nur was Gottes will.” [Anticipating only what God will]Initially, singing in the choir felt like suitable service to my old community, a struggling post-industrial small town, but also, to honor the memory of a cousin, Carl Fuehrer, who once performed with the choir and was tragically taken while a child. However, I quickly came to revel in the curative powers of music, most profoundly experienced when singing together.

If you’d like to share in something only Ephrata has to offer, come listen, come sing.

-Dr. Eric Martin Usner

Wie Manches Lieder: Personal Poetics of Music of the Ephrata Cloister

New Chorus Member

What enticed you to audition for the Cloister Chorus?I play in a small orchestra with Kay Hoefner who sang with the Chorus a number of years ago. She knew that I was look-ing for a new place to sing and thought that I might like to audition for Ephrata.

What was your first impression of the Chorus?Everyone was very friendly and helpful. They couldn’t have been any nicer. I was surprised at the quality of the singers. They sound really good.

Do you have a musical background?I took piano lessons as a child, played the flute in high school, and took up the viola and violin when I was in my fifties. I sang in various choirs after I retired.

Where have you worked?I went to college at West Chester University and became employed there after graduation. I taught elementary school in West Chester. My husband and I live in Reamstown, so I had a two-hour round trip to teach each day.

continued on next page

Cathie Oliphant, Chorus Concert Coordinator, welcomes Stephanie Hartman, our newest volunteer Chorus member in this interview:

Guest contributor and chorus member Eric Martin Usner, joined us this issue for our Choral Corner to personally reflect upon the hymn, Nun walle ich im Frieden fort written by Conrad Beissel.

Nun walle ich im Frieden fort Bis ich geh’ ein zur Himmels-pfort; Ich lauf ’, ich renn’, und stehe still, Erwart nur was Gottes Will

Conrad Beissel

Janice L. RuhlLeon RunnerCharles W. SheidySeventh Day Baptist Historical Society William and Sandra SouleWilliam and Ada SteirerEd Stoudt, Stoudts Black Angus Restaurant & Pub*Robert StremmeFrank StroikDorothy E. WalizerDr. and Mrs. Melvyn G. WengerRichard and Barbara Will

Steve Feite Ephrata Merchants Association* Suzanne FisherDavid E. FuchsWayne GongawareHistoric Smithton InnDixie HessG. R. Kleinfelter UnderwritersDavid and Marcia MartinWarren and Gloria MeiskeyPhyllis MillerScott and Claire MooreDrew MyersJoice E. NoltErika PassantinoDr. Jobie Riley

BenefactorsGrace AdamsArlene HussBlue Ridge CommunicationsEli WengerGiant Foods*Members 1st Federal Credit Union*

SponsorsBeverly ArnwineLucy Carroll, DMACloister Restaurant, Inc.David and Denise CurrinE & G Concrete Inc.*Rev. Dr. Frank Fahnestock

Generous Support has been Provided by New Donors & Members:

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*These specific businesses and individuals have graciously provided us with designated monetary and in-kind support for programs.

What do you like about being a Chorus member so far?I really like the director, Martin Hinkley. At rehearsals he gives us so much information about the music, and the composers, and history of the music. It’s like getting a little music lesson at each week’s rehearsal. I am very pleased to be singing.

Have you had any difficulties learning the music? I am able to read and speak French but not German. I appreciate that one of the sopranos, Vanessa Garman, is willing to give us German pronunciation lessons before rehearsals each week. I am also learning to listen to the pitch pipe and find my starting note from Martin.

What are you looking forward to at the Cloister this concert season?Singing in my first concert in the Saal. Years ago I visited the Cloister and took a little tour. We didn’t go upstairs, so it will be a new experience singing up in the balcony of the Saal. I am wondering what it will be like to wear the white garb.

Welcome New Board MembersJoe TrynoskyJoe is a graduate of the Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Education from Penn State University and a Masters Degree in Administration from Temple University. Joe was a machine shop teacher for ten years at the Lancaster County Career & Technology Center, Mount Joy Campus. Joe served as Principal for 25 years at both the Mount Joy and Willow Street campuses of the Lancaster County Career & Technology Center and was a founding member of the Board for Lancaster County Career Link.

Mark is a former Keystone Intern for the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission at the Ephrata Cloister. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Education from Shippensburg University with a concentration in history. He has been involved with his university’s History Club, was the President of the Phi Alpha Theta chapter on his campus, and the Student Senator for the College of Education and Human Services. Mark is currently a substitute teacher in the area and is a member of the Committee for Outreach and Advocacy for the Pennsylvania Historical Association.

Mark Shifflet

Our Mission Statement

Historic Ephrata Cloister’s preservation and programing invites the exploration of this unique community’s spiritual, creative, and intellectual accomplishments by encouraging visitors to develop a personal connection to Pennsylvania’s significant role in religious toleration and intellectual freedom.

The Ephrata Cloister Associates is a non-profit organization that works in partnership with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, supporting the mission of preservation and education at this National Historic Landmark.

Fundraising UpdateAndrea L. Glass

For the third consecutive year, the Ephrata Cloister Associates participated in the Lancaster Community Foundation’s Extraordinary Give. This year, we hosted an open house at the site that featured a breakfast by the Smithton Inn, a discussion about items in the collection that were acquired through the Back to the Cloister fund, a Lantern Tours preview, and a performance by our chorus. Staff, board members, and volunteers worked hard that day to raise $4,750. The Extraordinary Give raised $4,474, 027 total in just 24 hours! We thank you for your continued support in the past and in the future.

In addition to our fundraising efforts, both through the annual appeal and the Extraordinary Give, we are also working hard to secure new sponsorships and write grants for educational programming and community outreach. We recently received a $500 sponsorship from both Giant Foods and Members First Credit Union to offset the cost of our holiday programs. In addition, the Anne Brossman Sweigart Foundation awarded us a $5,000 grant towards our upcoming family programs in 2015. Finally, we are very excited about new partnerships with the Ephrata Merchants Association and other area businesses. We participated in the first annual Jingle Bell Trolley Tour in December and we will be hosting a launch party for the #Ephratagram contest on Sunday, January 11, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Please contact us if you are interested in serving on the fundraising committee.

#Ephratagram

Join us for a celebration and viewing of the winners from the #Ephratagram photo contest at the Ephrata Cloister January 11th. From October 1st through November 11th photographers were invited to submit their Instagram photos online. 10 winners and 5 honorable mentions were selected. The Ephrata Merchants Association sponsored this contest for local and visiting Instagram photographers, both professional and amateur. #Ephratagram was inspired by #Lancastergram – a contest created by the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitor Bureau (PA Dutch CVB) – in partnership with local photographer and marketing consultant Paul Anater. Here are the top four pictures selected:

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Feedback from our recent events:Email us at Ephrata1732@gmail.com

or message us on www.facebook.com/HistoricEphrataCloister

We want you to be proud to read and receive the Chronicon. Have suggestions

for future articles? Have comments & questions? Your editorial team looks forward

to hearing from you!

Nick Siegert, Editor Rebecca Lawrence, Assistant Editor

Launch Party Sunday January 11, 2015 2:00-4:00pm

“My husband & I wanted to do something special for our 8th anniversary, so we bought tickets for Christmas at the Cloister! What a lovely program it is! We could have listened to the Cloister choir a lot longer! The singing, the Bible passages and the reverent atmosphere all added up to a thoroughly enjoyable experience.”

December 12, 2014; review on TripAdvisor

“I think this [was] one of the very best having come for 5 years. Great interaction! Very Very well done!”

December 2014

“... it was an honor to witness such great work by young students.”

December 2014

“Can’t imagine living as they did way back when... The stark lifestyle that was lived here makes us feel selfish and wasteful today. A very interesting experience, very humbling”

November 2014; review on TripAdvisor

On Lantern Tours:

On Christmas at the Cloister:

On our Tours:

On Lantern Tours:

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Winter History Class 2015 Registration Form

Name

Address

Telephone ____________________________ E-mail__________________________________

Tuition: $40.00 current Ephrata Cloister Associate member $50.00 non-member $8.00 for a single day, please indicate which day (s)______________________________Credit card accepted via phone order 717.733.6600 or online. Please visit http://www.ephratacloister.org/events.htm to register online.

To mail in your payment, please enclose a check for $__________ made payable to the Ephrata Cloister Associates. Mail to: ATTN Rebecca Lawrence, The Historic Ephrata Cloister, 632 West Main Street, Ephrata, PA 17522

Winter History Class 2015 Registration & ScheduleWinter History Class is an adult learning opportunity that brings together scholars, volunteers, staff, and interested people to explore the history of Historic Ephrata Cloister, the wider Pennsylvania German world, and early Pennsylvania history. The class will be held in the Ephrata Cloister Visitor Center each Thursday morning from 9:00 a.m. until noon.

The first session will be offered on Thursday, January 22, 2015.

January

22: Introduction, overview of Ephrata’s history—Michael Showalter, Museum Educator; Origins of Ephrata Theology—Nicholas Siegert, Tour Guide Supervisor

29: Cloister Member Johannes Hildebrand—Dr. Jeff Bach, Director of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies

February5: An Overview of the Amish— Edsel Burdge, Jr., Research Associate, Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist StudiesA Primer on Post Card History and Ephrata Post Cards—Kerry Mohn, Curator of Collections

12: Oral History Interviews with Dan Kachel and Marie Bucher, last members of the Ephrata German Seventh Day Baptist Church—Michael Showalter

19: 18th Century Cloister Neighbors; Christopher Beeler and the Ghosts —Michael Showalter

26: Placards of Pietism: The Wall Charts of Ephrata—Rebecca Lawrence, Program & Volunteer Facilitator and Michael Showalter, Museum EducatorLadder Back Chairs--David Hoffman, scholar and craftsmen

March5: PA German Kitchen Gardens; 18th Century Squash William Woys Weaver, scholar and author 12: Homes of Iron Masters – Earle Henderson and William Coleman, estate owners Archaeology at the Alexander Schaeffer Farm—Dr. Patricia Gibble, archaeologist

19: The Sisters’ “Other House”—Nicholas Siegert Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives and Revolutionary Communities during the War for Independence --Dr. Ken Miller, Associate Professor of History, Washington College

29: FIELD TRIP to Philadelphia, Framing Fraktur exhibition at the Perlemen Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Free Library of Philadelphia (additional cost)

Volunteer Breakfast Dates Our Volunteer Breakfasts normally scheduled on the third Thursday morning of each month will be postponed until after Winter History Class. They will resume in April, beginning April 16, at 9am.

If you want to find the path to wisdom, then associate with all kinds of things which you do not understand...

Conrad Beissel

Ephrata Cloister Associates, Inc. is a registered 501(c)3 organization. The official registration and financial information of Ephrata Cloister Associates may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.

Telephone: 717-733-6600www.EphrataCloister.orgEphrata1732@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/HistoricEphrataCloisterHistoricEphrataCloister.blogspot.com

EPHRATA CLOISTER STAFF

Elizabeth Bertheaud…...……….…...........…DirectorMike Wagner……......Building Maintenance ForemanDavid Smoyer…….....……...Maintenance RepairmanKerry Mohn………………...….……….........CuratorNick Siegert….……………..…..….Guide SupervisorSarah Klapper-Lehman...........................................GuideRebecca Lawrence.........Program/Volunteer FacilitatorAndrea Glass...Marketing /Development CoordinatorMichael S. Showalter…….…….….Museum Educator Maria C. Asin..Administrative Coordinator/BookkeeperSusan Shober……………......Museum Store ManagerMiriam Moore……………...Assistant Store ManagerStephanie Frymyer……………..……..Sales AssociateMartin Hinkley........................................Choral DirectorJuliet Mitton…………….…..…..............Accompanist

BOARD OF DIRECTORSPresident..................................................Drew MyersVice-President....................................Shirley GockleySecretary......................................................Jane KochTreasurer........................................Wayne Gongaware

Linda P. Carvell Brenda MummaCathie Oliphant Mark Shifflet Joe Trynosky

632 West Main StreetEphrata, Pennsylvania 17522

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LANCASTER, PAPERMIT NO. 23

®

Betty Weidman...............................President Emeritus

Ephrata Cloister is administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Tom Corbett, Governor Andrew E. Masich, ChairmanJames M. Vaughan, Executive Director

The Chronicon is published four times a year by the Ephrata Cloister Associates a non-profit organization

dedicated to the preservation of this National Historic Landmark