By Laura Beach
LANCASTER, PENN. — Much is known about the commercially manufactured weathervanes of A.L. Jewell & Company, Cushing & White, J. Harris, J.W. Fiske and other late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century makers. As fond as we are of these familiar forms, there is something irresistible about the one-off vanes, quirky and often primitive, that began appearing atop American barns, churches and public buildings soon after Europeans arrived on these shores.
Working with curators Bruce Bomberger and Jennifer Royer, collector, dealer and researcher John Kolar set out to gather 50 weathervanes, most of them unique, with documented histories in southeastern Pennsylvania. Kolar and Royer’s findings are gathered in the exhibition “Weathervanes: Three Centuries of a Pennsylvania Folk Art Tradition” at the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum through December 31 and in a companion catalog accompanying the show. The weathervanes on view are drawn from notable private collections, museums, historical societies, heritage centers, churches, libraries and fire companies. Their survival, often with their history intact, is remarkable.
The Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum began as a private concern founded by brothers Henry and George Landis in 1925. The steward of a 100,000-object collection, ranging from fraktur to Conestoga wagons, the museum, now administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, sits on 100 acres in Lancaster. Its mission, says director James Lewars, is to interpret the history and material culture of the surrounding Pennsylvania German community from 1740 to 1940.
Kolar, an Ohio resident who organized “American Engraved Powder Horns” at the Hudson Library & Historical Society in Hudson, Ohio, in 2015 and co-wrote The Lancaster Long Rifle, published in 2012 to accompany an exhibit of the same name for the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, said the weathervane project began in 2014 with a discussion among Lewars, Bomberger, Royer and himself.
“No one had done a comprehensive exhibit of this kind. Fortunately, we had many documented weathervanes to choose from. For instance, we knew of the great 1699 banner vane from the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent and of important early vanes at the Mercer Museum.” Initialed WP, SC and CP for partners William Penn, Samuel Carpenter and Caleb Pusey, the wrought sheet-iron example, on loan to the show, once topped a gristmill in Chester Creek, south of Philadelphia.
The team vetted their choices carefully, at times referring to published research by conservator Jennifer Mass and the collector and dealer Julie Lindberg. Kolar, a mechanical engineer with a master’s degree in business administration, says, “Without detailed analysis of the paint and the physical structure it can be hard to tell a weathervane’s age. We had examples we knew were old because they were donated to institutions over a century ago. Some of these vanes have been painted or gilded half a dozen times in their lifetime, and had repairs, too. We hope to do paint analysis on some of these vanes.”
In a short history, Kolar writes that weathervanes have been with us in one form or another since antiquity, appearing as cloth streamers at Luxor and surmounting the Tower of the Winds at the Acropolis. Americans made vanes as early as the Seventeenth Century. Besides the William Penn vane, the oldest sculptures in the show are a 1753 banner vane believed to have been the work of blacksmith Michael Schaeffer of Rockland Township in Berks County; and a pair of banner vanes, dated 1743, that are possibly the work of Friedrich Marsteller and come from Pennsylvania’s oldest Lutheran church, in Trappe. Dating to circa 1772–1842, a sheet iron rooster vane from the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Manheim is accompanied by a period drawing, itself a vernacular treasure, showing the church and its vane. Cocks, referenced in Jesus’s prophecy in the garden of Gethsemane, were common figures on church steeples, organizers say.
Four vanes in the show represent fish, another motif often associated with churches. More than 88 inches long, a giant fish weathervane loaned by the Lebanon County Historical Society capped the bell tower of the Tabor Reformed Church in Lebanon County. Vane and bell date to 1831 and were removed in 1914 when the structure became unsafe. On loan from Ephrata Cloister is a smaller fish vane. An archival photo shows it on top of the Ephrata Cloister Academy, built in 1837.
One highlight among the show’s 29 individual examples is the so-called “Little General,” a 49½-inch-tall painted sheet iron weathervane borrowed from the Laurel Fire Company #1. The figure, which topped York’s first courthouse, was clockmaker John Fisher’s homage to Count Casimer Pulaski, who rallied York militiamen in 1779. Church and vane are depicted in an early Nineteenth Century drawing by Lewis Miller, a sketcher of Pennsylvania German scenes.
“Members of the Laurel Fire Company rescued the ‘Little General’ when the courthouse was torn down. Replicas now adorn both the rebuilt courthouse and the firehouse,” says Kolar.
A rare Nineteenth Century fireman’s speaking trumpet is on loan from the Mercer Museum, whose records show that it probably topped a firehouse.
A stylized, sheet iron silhouette of a steam-engine weathervane of circa 1870–90 is emblematic of the agricultural vitality that sustained Lancaster County. The vane, from the collection of Eugene and Vera Charles, came off an Amish barn. Preacher Joseph Cassel (1799–1868) of the Plains Mennonite Congregation near Lansdale hoisted the lithe figure of a bright, red Indian holding a bow on his barn.
Several vanes were chosen for their direct links to Landis Valley. A painted, sheet iron deer of circa 1876 was made, possibly by a Lancaster die maker named Zell, for Henry Landis to celebrate the 1876 centennial. A painted, sheet iron rooster initialed and dated “GDL 1867” belonged to museum founder George Diller Landis, born September 7, 1867. There is also an Indian weathervane made by Henry Brackbill, keeper of the Landis Valley House Hotel.
The show also includes a few templates. Two whimsical sheet iron patterns of a deer and an eagle are by Charles F. Zimmerman, a metalworker from Ephrata, Penn.
Ten manufactured weathervanes tell interesting stories. Collectively, they underscore the growth of the commercial weathervane industry after the Civil War. On loan from the Chester County Historical Society, a filigreed banner vane, its gilded surface now worn, was probably made around 1875 and is illustrated in J.W. Fiske’s catalog. The vane was removed from the Chester County Prison when it was demolished in 1960.
A Cushing & White molded copper dog weathervane dates to the 1870s and is illustrated in Weathervanes alongside the carved wood pattern used to make this repousse form.
Loaned by Carol S. Mance, a distinctive Goddess of Liberty vane flying a red, white and blue American flag is immediately recognizable as a Cushing & White form but is exceptional in its small size, only 21 inches tall; its combination of gilded and painted decoration and the punched stars on its flag. According to Kolar, most Goddess of Liberty vanes are 28 inches or larger.
Another popular late Nineteenth Century form is the Horse and Sulky, which honored Ethan Allen, Black Hawk and other famous horses of the day. The large gilded-copper and iron vane in this display measures almost 42 inches long, was manufactured by J.W. Fiske in 1887 and represents the trotter Maud S.
“To refer to these vanes as manufactured is really a misnomer. There was a great deal of hand work. It took a really accomplished metalworker many hours to create this figure from wood mold to plaster cast to iron molds to copper,” Kolar says admiringly.
An unpainted copper owl sitting on a hollow, realistic looking broomstick is from the collection of John Kolar, who says the figure’s glass eyes may have been a special order by the vane’s original owner. The form is illustrated in the 1893 J.W. Fiske catalog.
“You could order this vane gilded, painted or ‘in the bright,’ which meant unfinished,” says the guest curator.
For residents of southeastern Pennsylvania, organizers included a banner vane, on loan from auctioneer Jeanne Bertoia. The figure, visible from Route 283 between Harrisburg and Lancaster, topped the Star Barn in Lower Swatara Township in Dauphin County.
“Bill Bertoia stopped and was able to buy it the mid-1990s. He had always loved it. Sometimes you just have to ask,” says Kolar.
“Weathervanes: Three Centuries of a Pennsylvania Folk Art Tradition” is installed in the spacious quarters of the museum’s visitor center gallery, accompanied by other two- and three-dimensional works of art that support the curators’ story.
“Weathervanes were part of the scenery 200 years ago,” says Kolar, who sought depictions of the sculptures in various media. From his personal collection came a 1784 powderhorn engraved with weathervanes by the Revolutionary War seaman Isaac Harrington of Rhode Island. It joins two watercolor-on-paper fraktur, still vivid nearly two centuries later, by Johannes Bard and a drawing by Ferdinand Braider.
In May, Kolar set up a table at the Greater York Antiques Show and was pleasantly surprised by the response. He sold 50 books at the show and gave out nearly 200 postcards for the exhibition, reflecting the great public appeal of these sturdy, hardworking, yet playful remnants of America’s past.
As Kolar writes, “Although America did not originate the idea of the weathervane, the freedom, energy and creativity of its people enabled it to reach its zenith as an art form.”
The Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum is at 2451 Kissel Hill Road in Lancaster. Weathervanes: Three Centuries of a Pennsylvania Folk Art Tradition is for sale in the museum’s shop for $20, plus $3 postage. For information, 717-569-0401 or www.landisvalleymuseum.org.
