SCHWENKFELDER LIBRARY & HERITAGE CENTER
105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, PA 18073
Phone 215 679-3103 Fax 215 679-8175
info@schwenkfelder.com
www.schwenkfelder.com

March 28, 2008
Contact: David Luz
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
215-679-3103, phone;
215-679-8175, fax

DR. PETER C. ERB LECTURES ON EMBLEM BOOKS AT THE HERITAGE CENTER

PENNSBURG, Pa. - The Board of Directors of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, 105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, invites the public to two illustrated lectures by Dr. Peter C. Erb, "Pictures Worth a Thousand Words: Schwenkfelders and Emblem Books," on Tuesday, April 8, 2008, at 7:30 pm and repeated on Wednesday, April 9, 2008, at noon. The lectures are presented at no cost, and attendees are welcome to bring a brown bag lunch to the Wednesday noon presentation.

Among the many art forms that interested Schwenkfelders before and after their emigration to America were what are known as "emblems" - engravings, etchings, or woodcuts, depicting various objects, people, and activities alongside small mottos or poems directing the readers to reflect further on their meaning. These were often printed in complete collections known as "Emblem Books," and equally often scattered throughout other books. In his presentation, Peter Erb will provide a background to the development of the emblem tradition, introducing some of the major uses of emblems in books preserved in the Schwenkfelder Library and commenting on the importance of emblems for Schwenkfelders in earlier centuries.

In addition to being an internationally renowned commentator on the Da Vinci Code phenomenon, Peter C. Erb is a graduate of the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. He is a recently retired faculty member from Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in the Department of English, 1971-1984, and thereafter in the Department of Religion and Culture, and is currently a visiting lecturer in the Centre for Christianity and Culture at the University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown. He has served as Associate Director of Theology of Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, Pennsburg, Pa., for the past 30 years. He is the author and editor of some 15 books and numerous articles on patristic and medieval spirituality, the Radical Reformation, German Pietism, German-American religion and culture, Catholic thought in the Romantic era, and for the past two decades has devoted most of his time to the study of nineteenth-century Anglican/Roman Catholic relations, recently completing a three-volume critical edition of the correspondence between the British Prime Minister, William E. Gladstone, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Henry E. Manning. He lectures and writes regularly on religious themes in twentieth-century German and English fiction. He holds an Outstanding Teacher award and has been honored for his service to the perpetuation of Pennsylvania-German culture by the Pennsylvania-German Society.

The Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center was founded in 1884 as an informal collection in a private home to assure the preservation of the Schwenkfelder cultural identity. Today the Heritage Center, a not-for-profit organization, is still preserving, interpreting, and documenting the history of this German Protestant group, along with the history of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. The Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm; Thursdays 9:00 am to 8:00 pm; Saturdays 10:00 am to 3:00 pm; and Sundays 1:00 to 4:00 pm. The Heritage Center is closed to the public on Mondays. For additional information call 215-679-3103 or visit our website www.schwenkfelder.com

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Images available upon request - email info@schwenkfelder.com or call Dave at 215-679-3103


David W. Luz
Executive Director
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
105 Seminary Street
Pennsburg, PA 18073
Tel. 215-679-3103
Fax 215-679-8175
email: info@schwenkfelder.com
www.schwenkfelder.com