Pennsylvania Dutch Research Articles

Walkering away

Rep. Robert Walker (R‐Pa.) spent 18 years on Capitol Hill before ascending to the chairmanship of the House Science Committee. Now, after just one term leading the committee, the congressman intends to leave it. In a surprise announcement on December 15, Walker announced that he will vacate his seat at the end of the 104th Congress this year, citing a desire to “move on and, in the process, keep a little bit of history intact.” That history is a tradition in Pennsylvania's 16th district that no representative ever serve more than 20 years in the “Pennsylvania Dutch seat” (Lancaster and Chester counties).

The Roots of Amish Popularity in Contemporary U.S.A.

Journal of American CultureVolume 17, Issue 1 p. 59-66 The Roots of Amish Popularity in Contemporary U.S.A. Dachang Cong, Dachang Cong American Studies Program at The University of Texas at DallasSearch for more papers by this author Dachang Cong, Dachang Cong American Studies Program at The University of Texas at DallasSearch for more papers by this author First published: March 1994 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1542-734X.1994.00059.xCitations: 6AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume17, Issue1March 1994Pages 59-66 RelatedInformation

Barn Entry Porches, Pent Roofs, and Decorated Doors of the Eastern Midwest

Decorated barn doors occur over a large area of southern Michigan, western Ohio, and northeastern Indiana. Although conventionally assigned a Pennsylvania Dutch origin, an eastern New York origin appears more likely. Gable-side pent roofs, a second feature, do seem to have some connection with a southeastern Pennsylvania origin, although some interesting questions remain unresolved. The final feature is the entry porch, which also seems to have come to the Midwest from New York, although its ultimate origins could be in continental Europe or England. The three design features appear to be diagnostic.

Molecular basis of hexosaminidase A deficiency and pseudodeficiency in the Berks County Pennsylvania Dutch.

Following the birth of two infants with Tay-Sachs disease (TSD), a non-Jewish, Pennsylvania Dutch kindred was screened for TSD carriers using the biochemical assay. A high frequency of individuals who appeared to be TSD heterozygotes was detected (Kelly et al., 1975). Clinical and biochemical evidence suggested that the increased carrier frequency was due to at least two altered alleles for the hexosaminidase A alpha-subunit. We now report two mutant alleles in this Pennsylvania Dutch kindred, and one polymorphism. One allele, reported originally in a French TSD patient (Akli et al., 1991), is a GT-->AT transition at the donor splice-site of intron 9. The second, a C-->T transition at nucleotide 739 (Arg247Trp), has been shown by Triggs-Raine et al. (1992) to be a clinically benign "pseudodeficient" allele associated with reduced enzyme activity against artificial substrate. Finally, a polymorphism [G-->A (759)], which leaves valine at codon 253 unchanged, is described.

Liberating a Prison Inmate from Illiteracy

Lennie was serving a life sentence in a Pennsylvania Lennie prison. Joining four other inmates in an English class at the prison, he apologized at the first meeting for his presence among us. Until now, he explained, he had always been in special education classes. He justified his reporting to this class by saying, always wanted to learn to read. We assured him that he belonged with us because we were all here to explore the mysteries of words in our lives. Our guide would be the program Crashing the Language Barrier: The English Language--The Way It Is, which I had written. All that would be required of him, I explained, would be to ask questions, look for satisfying answers, and share his findings with the rest of us. From the beginning, Lennie (not his real name) had no difficulty finding questions. Finding satisfactory answers was a bit harder. In terms of reading skills, all he had brought with him that first evening, in addition to his need to know, was a recognition of the names of the letters of the alphabet. Even this information proved to be a handicap. Except for the five long vowels, a, e, i, o, u, their names were useless as tools to build a vocabulary of recognizable words. But when Lennie realized he had only thirty-seven speech sounds to distinguish, five of which he already knew, he relaxed. The fact that there were only twenty-six letters available to represent these thirty-seven sounds did not daunt him. In fact, Lennie, labeled as having an I.Q. under eighty, accepted the challenge of a language that at times seemed determined to be confusing. He began his journey to literacy by placing his trust in a simple code I had devised. In it, one symbol represented a single speech sound in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect we shared. Confident that every capital A would stand for the one sound of long /A/, as in ate, and the capital T, like all consonants in capitals, would always have the same sound, he enjoyed recognizing familiar words when represented in this code. His classmates waited patiently for him to figure out the coded words placed on the blackboard for them to spell. The easy words that I wrote for his benefit, such as RAN for rain, were as interesting to the other students as more sophisticated words, such as MANTAN for maintain (used to illustrate one spelling of the long /A/ sound). I used his easy words to introduce the code to new students.

Gender and the Perceived Expertness of the Speaker as Factors in ESL Listening Recall

The study reported in this article examined the effects of gender and the perceived expertness of a speaker on the recall of orally presented material. A total of 45 advanced and 53 intermediate ESL subjects listened to an expository prose passage (536 words) concerning the Pennsylvania Dutch. The four treatment conditions were (a) presentation of the passage by a male speaker who was not introduced; (b) presentation by a female speaker who was not introduced; (c) presentation by an expert male speaker, preceded by a brief, fictitious introduction concerning the speaker's educational training and publications; and (d) presentation by an expert female speaker, preceded by a brief, fictitious introduction concerning the speaker's educational training and publications. The results indicated that the level of student proficiency and passage condition were significantly (p < .01) related to recall, with no interaction effects. Both advanced and intermediate subjects listened more attentively to the male speaker. Although the topic requires further exploration, the findings also indicated that the introduction (expertness factor) had the effect of neutralizing the gender bias.

The phonotactic patterning of pennsylvania dutch consonants

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size SUMMARY This paper deals with two aspects of Pennsylvania Dutch. The first section outlines the sociocultural features of Amish society within which Pennsylvania Dutch is spoken. The second section gives an outline of the phonotactic patterning of the initial and final consonants used in Pennsylvania Dutch. The conclusions presented here are based on an analysis of spoken language recorded by the author in Lancaster County PA in 1985, and on recordings of Pennsylvania Dutch listener participation radio, programs. Information has also been cross checked in or derived from a number of traditional grammars of Pennsylvania Dutch. This phonotactic analysis focuses on the permissible consonants and consonant clusters which are used in the syllable initial and syllable final positions of Pennsylvania Dutch. Some attention has also been given to instances of phonetic variation and to a number of processes such as na-za1ization, apocope and cluster simplification that distort the phonotactic mirror image symmetry of initial and final consonants and clusters in Pennsylvania Dutch. The data base in hand however did not permit a quantitative analysis of such variation or processes. Neither has the effect of American English on Pennsylvania Dutch been analized in this paper.

The Pennsylvania Dutch and The German-American Diaspora in 1790

Previous efforts to determine how many inhabitants of Pennsylvania and other states were of German descent at the taking of the first Federal Census in 1790 have produced estimates that vary greatly. This study presents an improved procedure for using surname analysis to calculate the German stock in post-Revolutionary America, and it offers new data describing the distribution of that group throughout Pennsylvania and the rest of the United States. The revised estimates show that German-Americans were not only the predominant ethnic group in Pennsylvania, but also were dispersed more widely among its counties than had been thought. The study then employs the same methodology to identify localities in other states inhabited by sizeable German communities, in order to trace patterns of internal migration by Pennsylvania Dutch emigrants, and also to provide more accurate information about the group's contribution to 18th-century population growth and frontier expansion.

Haldan Keffer Hartline, 22 December 1903 - 18 March 1983

Haldan Keffer Hartline was of genuine ‘Pennsylvania Dutch’ stock. His grandfather, James A. Hartline, a cabinet maker and also a farmer was from Reading, Pennsylvania. With his wife Hettie (Esther Ann) Schollenberger he lived as a farmer in Berks county, a Pennsylvania Dutch settlement (Dutch = Deutsch = German). One of the children of this couple was Daniel Schollenberger Hartline (b. 1866). This farmer boy rose in education to become a teacher in the natural sciences at Bloomsburg State Normal School. Clearly a man of considerable gifts he had taken a Master’s degree at Lafayette College and afterwards had spent some time (1901-1902) studying at the universities of Bonn and Heidelberg. In 1897 he married Harriet Franklin Keffer (b. 1864), daughter of Washington Henry Keffer, a violinist and orchestra leader in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and his wife Elizabeth Ann Moss of a New England colonial-time family. Harriet Keffer taught English at Bloomsburg State Normal School and played the violin in the school orchestra. She was a skilful amateur gardener and botanist and something of a connoisseur of ferns. The son of the two Bloomsburg teachers, Haldan Keffer (b. 1903) became the visual physiologist, known to his friends as Keffer. He grew up in an English-speaking family but his father had still spoken the Pennsylvanian German dialect at home and learned English in school.

Pennsylvania German Dictionary: English to Pennsylvania Dutch

Pennsylvania German Dictionary: English to Pennsylvania Dutch

English in Contact with Pennsylvania German

The Pennsylvania Germans (also commonly known as the Pennsylvania Dutch) provide an interesting paradigm of the nature of language contact because within the total Pennsylvania German community is enmeshed a variety of subgroups, each having a different relation to the dominant culture. The Pennsylvania German community is not one community, culturally or linguistically, and this diversity is reflected in the nature and extent of the languages used by the various communities which comprise the whole Pennsylvania German group. The Pennsylvania Germans began arriving in America as early as 1683. The German dialect they brought with them resembles most closely the Franconian dialects of the Rhenish Palatinate with some Alemanic influences.' This dialect continues to be spoken natively by many Pennsylvania Germans today, especially by the Old Order Amish and Old Order Mennonites, who form a small but highly visible percentage of the total Pennsylvania German population. Members of the Old Order sects (the plain people) generally learn English in school and use it in school and when speaking to outsiders. Old Order religious rites and ceremonies are conducted in a form of High German which is essentially the eighteenthcentury literary German of their Bible and hymnal. No one converses in this High German form, and most Old Order people have only a passive knowledge of it. It is recited with Pennsylvania German phonology. Pennsylvania German is the main language used within plain families and communities, the language which is passed on to children as their mother tongue. Less conservative Amish and Mennonites tend to use more English in their daily lives and religious services than do the Old Orders, and this parallels their greater accommodation of the dominant culture in terms of life style.

On the Indian Place-Nallles of South Carolina

OF THE MORE THAN 15,000 place-names that have been discussed in Names in South Carolina under the editorship of Claude Henry Neuffer during the past 24 years, a mere 230 are names of Indian origin. This fact alone reveals much about the naming practices of the predominantly English-speaking population that settled the state and eventually displaced the indigenous population. For the most part the settlers chose names using formatives from their own language. Thus we find major cities bearing names of transparent origin: Charleston (originally Charles Town, named for Charles II of England), Columbia, Greenville, Spartanburg, Orangeburg, Rock Hill, and the like. Most of these are based on personal names or descriptive designations. Some can be found suggesting French influence, such as Port Royal,l or German influence, such as Fork,2 a settlement of Pennsylvania Dutch (i.e., Germans who originally called themselves Deutsch). Spanish influence is found in a name such as Monterey, named to commemorate the Battle of Monterey in the Mexican-American War. 3 The names of Indian origin are confined mainly to rivers and streams or to communities or plantations. Often a place-name appears to be based on a stream name, and in some cases a place-name may preserve an earlier stream name that has since been replaced by a non-Indian name. Many of the Indian names are found only in historical references, having been replaced in modern times by European formations or, in the case of names referring to now-extinct tribes, having fallen into disuse. Although 230 names may seem like a small number to represent the original inhabitants of the state, the names are conspicuously different from other place-names in the area and thus invite special investigation.

Advantages of Early Theoretical Study

The importance of a theoretical foundation for the music student cannot be overemphasized. Par ents often believe that with lessons in piano and addi tional study of another instrument they are providing their child with a thorough musical education. Music theory, acquaintance with and study of tonality, intervals and chords, is considered a complex subject to be pur sued at college level. Yet four years before college, a youngster learns algebra, geometry, elementary chem istry, and physics. After I had given a piano recital a charming teen-ager was presented to me by her piano teacher and her mother. The girl was studying three instruments, piano, clarinet, and bassoon. I remarked that this was commendable es pecially if she wanted to compose music. The girl smiled and nodded. She appeared extremely well adjusted and was wearing a lovely, Pennsylvania Dutch print dress which she had made herself. I asked whether she was studying harmony. She didn't know what it was. I added that it was the study of chords. At this statement, the mother said, She's too young This was not the time nor the place for launching into a lengthy discussion, but the incident remained in my thoughts. I recall also a gifted piano student of mine, a Sophomore at the university where I teach, who was spending part of her summer holidays beginning the study of harmony. The initial piano teacher who instructs a child in playing scales and at the same time gradually introduces the tonic, dominant, subdominant, and the remaining fundamental triads is leading the pupil towards musical independence at a period much earlier than college. Cer tainly by the age of nine, with two years of piano lessons as foundation, the study of harmony may very well begin. The child thus forms the habit of writing notes, first by means of exercises in chord progressions. Occasionally, he should be encouraged to write something original. The regular exercise of notation will make writing music as easy as writing a letter. If there is creative talent, the aforementioned practice will facilitate it. If the student becomes a music major in college, he will not need to struggle with simple harmony exercises, for he will have mastered theoretical essentials along with his finger tech niques. He may take a placement examination for advanced standing and begin the formal study of composi tion. Even if a student is learning an instrument as a pleasurable hobby, a knowledge of the construction of music will enhance his understanding of what he is playing. This writer sees no reason why the study of strict counterpoint should not commence once intervals, chords, and modulation are understood. This may well take place at secondary school age, conservatively at age fourteen. The painstaking practice of writing exercises in species counterpoint will develop within the student a careful, analytical approach to all music that he will play on his chosen instrument. It is especially important to the keyboard performer, for the strict rules of 16th century counterpoint are not only a challenge when writing an exercise, but they clarify for all time the voice lines in whatever music he will perform. A study of strict counter point leads to understanding first hand the significance of a musical composition. Naturally, it follows that the more inherent the musical ability, the more the student will perceive. Most students of keyboard music can immediately see the contrapuntal lines in J. S. Bach's Inventions, and the Well-Tempered Clavier as well as the Suites and Par titas, but theoretical study causes a respect for this music that no listening, no history books, not even the music itself could produce. For example, in the second part of the Caprice from the C minor Partita, is it not a joy for a student to discover for himself that wonderful little wistful commentary by the middle voice in answer to the staccato humor of the upper voice-line? Here we see Bach looking ahead to 19th century Romanticism. Ex. 1 Partita No. II in C minor, Caprice, 2nd. part, meas. 16-20

The Pennsylvania Dutch: A Persistent Minority

The Pennsylvania Dutch: A Persistent Minority

Pennsylvania Dutch Country: Stevens' World as Meditation

We can see a poet, by a deliberate process of self-knowledge, rebuilding himself and his poetry, rebuilding himself through his poetry, and achieving, in Transport to Summer (1947), a volume of meditative poetry that is in every way the equal of his great, first volume of hedonist poetry. It is not a question of setting up divisions, but of watching recessive elements in the early poetry develop into dominance.1

Joel hildebrand.

JOEL HILDEBRAND* DESCRIBED by HIMSELF Why Write about Myself? Friends have long urged me to write an autobiography. I have excused myself hitherto by saying that I am still having too much fun investigating the ways of nature to care to take out time to write about myself. I do not expect after my departure to be looking at the earth from some extraterrestrial observation point to check on whether proper respect is being paid to my memory. Furthermore, I have not been convinced that enough persons would be sufficiently interested in reading about me to make the task of writing about myself worthwhile. But my esteemed friend, Editor Ingle, assures me that there are, and he may be right. Two big city newspapers have confirmed his opinion. The San Francisco Chronicle published a half-page on "The U.C.'s Ageless Scholar," and the Oakland Tribune gave like space to a "Retired U.C. Chemistry Prof Going Strong at 90." I am neither a biologist nor an M.D., only an old physical chemist, but scores of biologists and M.D.'s write for certain of my reprints, and some may even be curious to learn about the fellow who wrote them. Ninetieth-birthday letters and events revealed that I have many more friends among former students and associates than I realized . The San Francisco Bay area chemists put on a Hildebrand Night; a guest lecture to a large audience of freshmen was greeted by prolonged applause; friends at the Faculty Club lunch table provided a cake, a candle, and four bottles of champagne; forty-five friends gathered from several countries for a Hildebrand Symposium; former students flooded me with birthday letters. Such outpouring of goodwill arouses a response in me altogether different from pride. Its nature is well stated in a poem by Carl A. Dragstedt published in these Perspectives in the 1971 Summer issue. I read it at the dinner * Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720. 88 I Joel Hildebrand · Joel Hildebrand that followed the Hildebrand Symposium on December 11, 1971. It concludes with these lines: Life's Prize Life's prize is not a big trophy That you can win in a game; It's something entirely different From wealth or power or fame. It's the look of respect and affection, That one can see in the eyes Of the folks who know all about you, That really is Life's great prize. During my long career I have done the things that I considered worthwhile, and I like to talk about them to any persons who feel for me any "respect" or "affection," so, here begins a "Perspective" on Joel Hildebrand. Forebears I selected my ancestors carefully. They were tough, healthy, industrious Pennsylvania Dutch, who immigrated before the Revolution from the upper Rhine valley. Great-great-grandfather Johannes Hildebrand was born in Zurich. I know of none who died before the age of eighty-three. The genes they transmitted to me produced a strong healthy body, still active at ninety. I have treated it with respect, not abusing it with drugs, tar, gluttony, or stasis. I have kept my blood flowing through the aorta too swiftly to permit globules of cholesterol to get a foothold on the wall and start a deposit. I stroked a varsity crew. I carried duffel bags and canoe over portages . My young wife and I hiked on trails in the Sierra Nevada, leading burros carrying duffel and children. I discovered skiing at forty and became sufficiently adept to manage the U.S. team at the 1936 Olympic Winter Games in Bavaria. At seventy-seven I swam a half-mile in twenty-two minutes; I used swim fins because a man of my intelligence should apply his power efficiently, not just churn the water. Another important result of the shuffling of my ancestral genes was a lively curiosity. I early became an avid reader and observer of nature. My outlook was like that of the youngster who said, "Sis, I have found out that there is no Santa Claus, and when I'm a little older I'm going to look into this stork business, too." Most...

Western American Barns: Architectural Form and Climatic Considerations

Western American Barns: Architectural Form and Climatic Considerations Richard V. Francaviglia* Barns are important cultural features of rural America. The term barn in the United States and elsewhere designates any one of several types of buildings which differ greatly in architecture and in function. Comparison of a large Pennsylvania Dutch type and a New England connecting barn emphasizes some of these differences. Western United States is rich in barn types, most of which apparenüy originated in eastern states and which have been modified to meet the needs of western farmers and ranchers. This is particularly applicable to the barn types to which tiiis study is limited, i.e., roofed and walled structures serving at least a dual function of hay storage and animal shelter. A large number of barn types may be found in a relatively small area. In Washington's Puget Sound area a huge unpainted gambrelroof barn, a white round roof barn, and a red barn with a simple gable roof may be observed in close proximity. Nevertheless itappears that types of barns have rather specific distributions which contribute to the character of places. For example, simple gable-roofed, weather beaten barns of Utah with open or uncovered haylofts are strikingly different from the tall barns of western Oregon, many of which have elaborately protected haylofts and steeply pitched gambrel roofs. A series of impressionistic patterns based upon architectural form, colors, locations, and specifics of siting of barns emerged after extensive travel in the west.1 The personality of a structure relates ß Dr. Francaviglia is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455. This paper was first presented at the 1970 meeting of the Association at Santa Cruz. 153 154ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC COAST GEOGRAPHERS to all these factors. Certain elements such as roof lines and loft cover types are important and characteristic enough to be usable as classification elements (Figure 1).2 Six main roof types in this specific regional classification system range from the simple gable roof (1), gently sloping three-bay wide roof (2), broken angle roof (3), clerestory (4), gambrel (5), and round roof (6). Roof types are easily identified by the form of the gable end. The second part of the classification system, the characteristic of loft protection—often called a hay hood, hay bonnet, or hay gableis also related to the roof line of the barn (Figure 1). The simplest type (a) has no hay hood. OÜier forms (b, c, d) offer increasing degrees of protection from rain. The epitome of protection is achieved in type (e) which access to the loft is gained only from the bottom of the hay bonnet. By combination of roof types and hay hoods shown in Figure 1, thirty distinct combinations result. Almost every possible combination can be found somewhere in the west, but of all the possible combinations , five in particular are discussed here: the intermontane barn, western barn, western Willamette barn, gambrel-roofed barn, and the round-roofed barn. What follows is a study of five western barn types, a brief discussion of forms, some rough generalizations about distributions and relationships to the physical and cultural settings in which they occur. The simplest barn, type la, herein called the intermontane barn (Figure 2), is a rectangular structure witii simple gable roof and no hay hood, the hay trolley projecting outward on the uncovered ridge pole. Some variants have no hay loft door. This type is found throughout the intermontane west and is truly dominant in Utah. This is one of the oldest general purpose barn types in the west.3 It was devel1 Field reconnaissance and an investigation of aerial photographs supplied much of the data here. General patterns, not specific details of location, are discussed. Much of what follows is based on impressions. 2 Other elements such as location and type of doors and windows, type of ventilation, and size and proportion of structure, etc. could have been used. Only roof and loft types were considered here. 3 Ages of barns were determined by discussions with farmers, by consulting old photographs of farms, and by an analysis of plan and pattern books on barn architecture. YEARBOOK · VOLUME 34...

Except He Come to Composition

I TAKE rr that you are all aware that this is the medicinal part of the program, the penalty for your indulgence up to this point: first the sour mash, and then the sour note. I don't know whether the program chairman thought of me as a sort of living pill or as a Pennsylvania Dutch uncle. At any rate he put his kind invitation in a disarming fashion: he said that I would probably soon be disappearing from the scene but might first want to make a few latter-day remarks. A colleague of mine who is a big wave in the Four Seas interpreted this: we mean, he said, that if we let you hold forth here, will you then just go away and hold your peace forever. It would be soothing to the speaker if he could think of himself as a sort of spiritual digestif, a Courvoisier for communicators. He is

Pregnancy Insurance Pennsylvania Dutch Style

Pregnancy Insurance Pennsylvania Dutch Style

The Pennsylvania Germans, 1891–1965 (Frequently Known as the “Pennsylvania Dutch”): Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Volume of the Pennsylvania German Society. By &lt;italic&gt;Homer Tope Rosenberger&lt;/italic&gt;. [Volume LXIII, the Society.] ([Allentown:] the Society. 1966. Pp. 619. $12.50)

Journal Article The Pennsylvania Germans, 1891–1965 (Frequently Known as the “Pennsylvania Dutch”): Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Volume of the Pennsylvania German Society. By Homer Tope Rosenberger. [Volume LXIII, the Society.] ([Allentown:] the Society. 1966. Pp. 619. $12.50) Get access The Pennsylvania Germans, 1891–1965 (Frequently Known as the “Pennsylvania Dutch”): Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Volume of the Pennsylvania German Society. By Rosenberger Homer Tope. [Volume LXIII, the Society.] (Allentown: the Society. 1966. Pp. 619. $12.50.) Philip S. Klein Philip S. Klein Pennsylvania State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Historical Review, Volume 73, Issue 3, February 1968, Pages 933–934, https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/73.3.933 Published: 01 February 1968