Current Changing Exhibits

A Culinary Journey from Germany to Pennsylvania

Dolloff Local History Gallery

July 21–May 10, 2024

Combining exhibit panels from “Culinary Customs: A Taste of Germany,“ an exhibit from the German American Heritage Center & Museum of Davenport, Iowa with our own artifacts we explore Pennsylvania German food traditions. For a full description and list of accompanying programs, click here.

Fraktur in Miniature

Fraktur Gallery

August 18–March 2024

Fraktur in Miniature showcases a small segment of one of our largest collections. Fraktur is a Pennsylvania German tradition of calligraphy and  art on religious manuscripts and certificates that also influenced drawing in these communities. In this exhibit, see over thirty charming artworks made between 1769 and 1853. The largest measures 8” x 4”, but many are about 4” by 3”. Real miniature masterpieces!

A Loving Tribute to a Quiltie Lady: The Quilts of Nancy Roan

Putera Meeting Room

October 5–April 14, 2024

Our beloved friend Nancy loved quilting and cooking, among other things in her rich life. In this exhibit, we are showing 34 quilts that she made. Many of them ended up in the hands of her friends, who have been very generous to lend them to us. She also gave quilts to the Heritage Center and Goschenhoppen Historians, which you will see in this exhibit. You will be enchanted by the range of Nancy’s creativity with the needle.

Christmas Putz

Ground Floor Exhibits

October 24–February 25, 2024

Visit the ground floor to see what our Putz team put together for you this year. The putz team is comprised of our wonderful volunteers Barb Dulin, Fran Witte, Jeanette Witte, and Thelma Craig. We don’t how we’d get the Putzes together every year without them! This year, there’s a charming winter scene outside the Fraktur Gallery, and a farm scene (very fittingly) in the Schultz Rural Life Gallery. The team was able to use a group of vintage farm building toys donated by Roger and Jean Kriebel for that scene, which makes it all the more fun.

Changing Exhibit Spaces

Fraktur Gallery on Ground Floor

Often showcasing our large Schwenkfelder fraktur collection, this gallery also is used for other small exhibits. During the Penn Dry Goods Market, the Fraktur Gallery is often home to special textile exhibits.

Art Gallery on First Floor

The Art Gallery is home to smaller exhibits of local artists and a variety of short-term exhibits featuring the permanent collection. Occasionally the Art Gallery also serves as overflow space for exhibits in the adjacent Dolloff Local History Gallery.

Dolloff Local History Gallery on the First Floor

The Dolloff Local History Gallery is specifically dedicated to exhibits with a non-Schwenkfelder focus. In the past, exhibits on community history, both broadly, such as on local and regional historic architecture and Native American presence, and more specifically, including historical overviews of our local municipalities and organizations, have been held in the gallery.

Putera Meeting Room on the First Floor

The walls of the Putera Meeting Room are often lined with artwork by local artists, both as individual and group shows. When not being used as an art space, quilts are often exhibited in this room, and it also has hosted student art exhibits from our local schools.

Artists who are interested in exhibiting in the Putera Meeting Room or the Art Gallery should contact Candace Perry, Curator of Collections, at 215-679-3103 or candace@schwenkfelder.org for more details.