Kutztown Folk Festival: America’s Oldest Folklife Celebration

Posted by on Mar 13, 2020 in | Comments Off on Kutztown Folk Festival: America’s Oldest Folklife Celebration The Kutztown Folk Festival, originally called the Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Festival, is a milestone among American community celebrations. Observing 70 years in 2019, it is the first and longest-running folklife festival in the history of the United States. Although many other popular celebrations preceded the Kutztown festival, it has had a national impact as the first festival founded and...
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The State Normal Schools: Teaching Teachers and Others

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The State Normal Schools: Teaching Teachers and Others In view of their complex, if not complicated, information systems, computers and advanced technology seemingly snatched from the next century, Pennsylvania’s “modern” state universities evolved from what were originally called “normal” schools. During the last century, both educational and social traditions have changed drastically; in fact, nineteenth century...
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To Forge History for the Future

Posted by on Nov 25, 2013 in | Comments Off on To Forge History for the Future Not infrequently, the history of how an object, artifact, or even building or structure has been preserved for the future is every bit at least as interesting as the reasons for which it was saved. Historical organizations and cultural institutions – from large city museums to county historical societies – brim with compelling “behind-the-scenes” stories that provide...
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Meet Don Yoder: Dean of Folklife Scholars

Posted by on Nov 24, 2013 in | Comments Off on Meet Don Yoder: Dean of Folklife Scholars In 1710, Hans Joder, originally from Canton Bern in Switzerland, arrived in Pennsylvania and made a home in the fertile Oley Valley of southeastern Pennsylvania. Twenty-eight years later, Johannes Cronister of Franconia in northern Bavaria, whose grandfather had been a Protestant fugitive from Lower Austria, came to the province and settled in the region that would later become Adams County....
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Principal’s Quarters, Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown, Pa.

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Principal’s Quarters, Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown, Pa. On a post card bearing an image entitled “Principal’s Quarters, Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown, Pa.,” and postmarked April 12, 1910, C. H. Yost inquired of Ella M. Kunkel, “Is the Normal crowded with new students this term? There are more here than there ever were.” Miss Kunkel’s address at West Chester and, especially, “W.C.S.N.S.,” suggests she was a student at what is today West...
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Mississippian Amphibian

Posted by on Nov 20, 2013 in | Comments Off on Mississippian Amphibian When people think of fossil vertebrates, they usually think of fossilized bones or footprints, the most common of remains. On rare occasions, paleontologists may come across other fossils that are truly exceptional, such as an entire body outline or impression. A recent rediscovery of a highly unusual specimen hidden away in the vaults of the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Berks County, has...
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