Blanket chest initialed and dated "A.E. 1926" for Aaron Esh (b. 1907), Ronks, East Lampeter Township, maker and decorator unknown, 1926. Grain painted decoration and varnish on poplar and pine.

 

Amish Arts of Lancaster County

at The Heritage Center Museum

by Patricia T. Herr

LANCASTER, PENN. - Through January 2, the Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster is exhibiting more than 150 objects made by and for the Lancaster County Amish community between 1790 and 1970.

Including textiles, furniture, boxes, fraktur, ceramics, glass, toys and whimsies, "Amish Arts of Lancaster County" is probably the largest exhibit of Lancaster County Amish material ever seen publicly.

The visitor enters the exhibit through an introductory area that asks the question, "What is Amish Art?" Over the years this question has caused a great deal of controversy among scholars. The viewer is confronted by a Center Diamond pattern quilt of the type regarded by many collectors as an icon of American folk art. Flanking the quilt are two small watercolors, both by an Amish woman. One, "The Old Home Place," is a view of her farm. The other is a self-portrait entitled "Quilting." Neither painting has been exhibited before.

The viewer is left to contemplate the question of whether a functional bedcovering like the quilt is art, or whether its decoration is secondary to its function. In a society where objects are first functional and only secondarily decorated, the appearance of watercolors by an Amish artist is more difficult to explain.

This area of the gallery also contains several other pieces, including furniture, needlework, and lighting. A decorated Plexiglas wall plaque lists commonly used zip codes, which fall into varying classifications of function and art.

Throughout the exhibit are examples of how this conservative sect has managed to find unusual ways of recycling materials. All of the objects in this section, as in the rest of the exhibit, were collected by George Lyster, an artist born in Philadelphia and living in the Lancaster area. With his artist's eye and eclectic, open-minded view of collecting, Lyster has gathered objects that delight us with their color and surprise us with their variety and ingenuity.

Also in the introductory area is a brief history of the Amish settlements, as well as an overview of the organizational structure of the Amish Church in America. The Amish are part of a larger group of Swiss and South Germans known as "Anabaptists," or rebaptizers, who separated from the Protestant Reformation in 1525. They believed in adult baptism, obedience to the teachings of Jesus, separation from the world, and the rejection of violence.

For their beliefs they were severely persecuted. In the late 1600s the group had disagreements over the practice of shunning. Those who became known as the Amish were followers of Jakob Ammann, who took a stricter position on shunning. The rest of the group took the name Mennonite after Menno Simons, a prominent Anabaptist leader of the 1500s.

Arriving from Switzerland in 1737, the Amish first settled in Berks County. Small settlements also were made in Lancaster County at that time, but the first permanent settlement in the Lancaster area was in the 1790s. Today the Amish have almost 250 settlements in 22 states. The Lancaster settlement, with 110 church districts, is second only to Holmes County, Ohio, in size.

Exhibited in this section are two women's flat hats. The felt hat is the oldest artifact on display, dating from about 1790. The straw hat, of almost exactly the same dimensions and serving the same purpose, is one of the most recently made objects included in the exhibit.

This example of continuity through time within the close-knit community is found in many other aspects of Amish life besides clothing styles. The maintenance of close family ties, the continued practice of age-old religious traditions, farming and transportation using mules and horses, fraktur writing and hand towel and sampler making well into the Twentieth Century, are but a few examples. Further along in the exhibit, the viewer is made aware of the subtle changes that have occurred and are occurring within the continuity of Amish life.

As the visitor passes through the next gallery space, objects are exhibited in chronological order to highlight the growth and settlement of the Amish in Lancaster County. From 1800 to 1850, the Amish would not have stood out among their rural Pennsylvania German neighbors of the region in dress or home settings.

Between 1850 to 1900, the Amish became more aware of the changes in technology and what effect these might have on their community. As their "English" (non-Amish) neighbors embraced electricity and photographic imagery, the Amish dealt with the upheaval and schisms among themselves, and made decisions on how to adapt and maintain a cohesive group.

Between 1910 and the 1930s, the Amish society took decisive steps to separate itself from the technologically advancing society that surrounded them. They chose to embrace some innovations, such as synthetic fabrics, while continuing to avoid other worldly choices, such as patterned fabrics.

By the 1940s the Amish were adapting to modernity with the use of gas-powered refrigerators and stoves and farm equipment. Many modern scholars predicted that the Amish culture would soon be lost. The Amish, however, managed to pick and choose which aspects of modern culture they would adopt and which would adversely affect their society. And so, along with the traditional pincushion form, now being made with synthetic fabrics, the home might also be decorated with home-made refrigerator magnets.

By the 1970s the Amish were losing farmland to encroaching developments, and families became involved in small home-businesses. Women were becoming entrepreneurial quilt makers and farm-stand operators, while men worked in local building industries and manufactured craft items such as furniture and toys.

Another area of the gallery features the work of such artists as Henry L. Lapp and Mary Stoltzfus Lapp, who are well known to the general collecting community. Also represented are the lesser-known artists "Black" Sammy Stoltzfoos and Mary S. Lapp Bawell. Other newly discovered artists and decorators are on exhibit for the first time.

On the second floor of the museum, the viewer is challenged with questions about "Cultural Compromise." How do the Amish deal with electricity, automobiles, and telephones? A large part of the gallery also exhibits and discusses the "Stages of Life."

The "Birth" section includes a variety of objects ranging from a fraktur birth record to a diaper basket. Included in the "Childhood" area are Amish-made toys, dolls, quilts and clothing. The awards of merit and photographs seen in "Amish Schools and Education" acquaint the visitor with the Amish school system, which caused so much controversy that the Supreme Court officially permitted private Amish schools in 1972.

"Marriage" and "Housekeeping" are two more topics highlighted in the exhibit. Preparation for marriage and dowry items for both young men and young women are still important traditions within the Amish culture. Room settings, with traditional Amish paint colors, allow the viewer to visualize how objects are used and placed within the Amish home.

Rites of passage continue in displays devoted to discussions of "Grandparenthood" and "Death." The continued use of fraktur to create family records and create gifts from grandparents to grandchildren emphasizes the importance of family within the Amish community.

The exhibit brings together many of the objects collected by George Lyster in a vibrant and colorful way to allow the viewer to better comprehend the Amish culture and understand how the Amish people are different and yet like their "English" neighbors. There are surprises to be noted, some questions that are answered, and perhaps more that are posed. The mood of the exhibit is at times amusing and occasionally somber.

The staff members primarily involved in the preparation of the exhibit were Peter S. Seibert, executive director; Kim Fortney, curator of education; Wendell Zercher, museum curator; and Mike Middleton, curatorial assistant. George Lyster and Eleanor Wiedner, by their generous loans, made the exhibit possible.

Their future planned gift of objects to the Heritage Center Museum's permanent collection will allow this material to be accessible to the public in the years to come.

Amish Arts of Lancaster County by Patricia T. Herr is a 160-page book illustrated with 329 color photographs. It was produced by the museum to accompany the exhibit and was published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. It is available from the museum store of the Heritage Center Museum, 5 West King Street, Lancaster, Pa. 17603, for $29.95 plus $3 postage and handling.

Pennsylvania residents add 6 percent state sales tax.

Concurrently on view is an exhibit about the pioneering collector Henry Kauffman. The gallery contains recently donated objects from the his collection.

Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.