Press Releases
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 1, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: David W. Luz
Tel. 215-679-3103
Fax 215-679-8175
Humanities on the Road Taping at the Heritage Center
Pennsburg, PA ---
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, 105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, PA, is the host for an episode of "Humanities On The Road," a new television initiative presented by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council (PHC) to be broadcast on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN). The Heritage Center was selected from more than seventy-five organizations from across Pennsylvania to present "The Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodges" featuring William Donner. The episode will be taped before a live audience on April 25, 2010, at 2:00 pm at the Heritage Center Meeting Room. PCN will broadcast the episode to 3.3 million households in the fall.
HUMANITIES ON THE ROAD: A new television series that showcases humanities presentations at select cultural sites across Pennsylvania, "Humanities on the Road" features award-winning broadcast journalist Tracey Matisak, as well as talent from PHC's speakers bureau. The series features interactive presentations on topics ranging from Nancy Drew to African American folk traditions to John Updike to Pennsylvania German culture. Filmed in front of a live audience at different venues, each episode shines a spotlight on some of Pennsylvania's most intriguing cultural landmarks and communities.
THE EPISODE: The taping of William Donner's presentation on Pennsylvania German groundhog lodges is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Heritage Center at 215-679-3103.
PENNSYLVANIA GERMAN GROUNDHOG LODGES: Since 1934 Pennsylvania Germans have held annual meetings to celebrate their culture and heritage while paying homage to the weather-predicting abilities of the groundhog. At these meetings, humor, songs, plays, and speeches are offered, all in the Pennsylvania German language. Although less-known than the famous Punxsutawney Phil, there are now seventeen Pennsylvania German groundhog lodges that hold annual meetings. This talk describes the cultural and historical background of Pennsylvania Germans and explains how these lodges play an important part in developing and maintaining Pennsylvania German ethnic identity in the 21st century. Illustrated with slides, this presentation includes examples of Pennsylvania German humor.
WILLIAM DONNER, KUTZTOWN, PA: William Donner is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Kutztown University. For the last ten years he has been learning about Pennsylvania German history and culture, especially about issues concerning cultural preservation and change. He has been published in a wide variety of journals and is working on a book about Pennsylvania German groundhog lodges. Donner is Secretary of the Pennsylvania German Society and a cultural advisor for the Kutztown Pennsylvania German Festival. He lives outside of Kutztown with his two sons.
THE HOST ORGANIZATION: The Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center was founded in 1884 as an informal collection in a private home to assure the preservation of the Schwenkfelders' 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 & 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.
SEASON ONE TAPING SCHEDULE
Season One of Humanities on the Road will be taped at cultural venues across Pennsylvania between April and June. The complete taping schedule follows.
Southwestern PA
Taping Date: Saturday, June 19 at 2pm
Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh to host African Arts of the Yoruba Diaspora with artist Temujin Ekunfeo
Taping Date: Saturday, June 26 at 2pm
Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh to host Teenie Harris' Photographs and Black Pittsburgh with historian Laurence Glasco
South Central PA
Taping Date: Saturday, April 10 at 1pm
Jump Street to host Can't Tell a Lie, Peach Cobbler Pie! with storyteller Linda Goss at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg
Taping Date: Saturday, May 22 at 3pm
Albany Township Historical Society in Kempton to host PA German Music, Dance & Instruments with musician Keith Brintzenhoff
Taping Date: Wednesday, June 30 at 6pm
National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg to host Thaddeus Stevens: The Politics of Freedom with actor/storyteller Steven Anderson
Northeastern PA
Taping Date: Sunday, May 2 at 2pm
Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock to host Alive to the Call: Women and History in NEPA with art historian Josephine Dunn
Taping Date: Thursday, May 20 at 6:30pm
Albright Memorial Library in Scranton to host John Updike's Pennsylvania with journalist Frank Fitzpatrick
Taping Date: Thursday, June 24 at 6pm
Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre to host The (R)Evolution of Nancy Drew with scholar Michael Cornelius
Southeastern PA
Taping Date: Sunday, April 25 at 2pm
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center in Pennsburg to host PA German Groundhog Lodges with anthropologist William Donner
Taping Date: Thursday, June 3 at 5:30pm
University of Pennsylvania Museum in Philadelphia to host American Indian Cultures in the 21st Century with scholar John Sanchez
Taping Date: Thursday, June 10 at 2pm
Belmont Mansion in Philadelphia to host My Name is Oney Judge with historian Diane Turner
Taping Date: Thursday, July 8 at 7pm
Trinity Center for Urban Life in Philadelphia to host The Black Mozart:
Joseph Boulogna Chevalier de Saint-Georges with pianist Charles Pettaway
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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