Events

Penmanship sample (Vorschrift) for Martin Dettweiler, 1788. 8 1/4" x 13 1/8". Object number 00.265.22. Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center.

The Word in the Wilderness:
Unearthing Records of Spiritual Culture in the Pennsylvania German Archive

Lecture at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center - Brown Bag Lunch Series
Wednesday, August 11, 2021  |  12 - 1 p.m. 

Fraktur manuscripts are some of the best-known artifacts in the world of early Pennsylvania German material culture, and the documents have inspired much interest among collectors and scholars for generations.  Yet fundamental questions about the manuscripts’ textual contents and religious significance remain.  In this presentation, Dr. Alexander Lawrence Ames discusses his new book, The Word in the Wilderness: Popular Piety and the Manuscript Arts in Early Pennsylvania (Penn State Press, 2020), now available in paperback, which seeks to place the manuscripts in their transatlantic religious context.  Attendees will learn about the global history of manuscript culture in the 1700s and 1800s before discussing new ways to analyze and interpret this famous Pennsylvania art form.  

Historic Ephrata Cloister, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Ephrata, Pennsylvania.

​“The Spirit of the Letter":
Pennsylvania German Calligraphy, Manuscripts, and Popular Piety in Context

Virtual Lecture at Historic Ephrata Cloister - Winter History Class 2021
Thursday, April 1, 2021  |  9 a.m. - 12 p.m. 

​Join Alexander Lawrence Ames for an extended discussion of The Word in the Wilderness: Popular Piety and the Manuscript Arts in Early Pennsylvania as part of Historic Ephrata Cloister's Winter History Class.  For more information, visit ​https://ephratacloister.org/winter-history-class-2021/.  

Mennonite bookmark from Upper Bucks County, Pennsylvania, ca 1800. Courtesy of The Winterthur Library, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera, Winterthur, DE. Col. 320, acc. 65x547-548.

​Virtual Author Presentation at the Indian Valley Public Library
Thursday, September 10, 2020, 7 - 8 p.m.
​Free of charge!

Join Alexander Lawrence Ames for a virtual lecture sponsored by the Indian Valley Public Library in Telford, Pennsylvania.  For more details and registration information, visit https://ivpl.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/virtual-author-presentation-alexander-ames/.  If you have any questions, please contact DeAnne O'Brien, Adult Services Librarian, at dobrien@ivpl.org.  

Attend the virtual book launch for The Word in the Wilderness: Popular Piety and the Manuscript Arts in Early Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 19th at 4:30 p.m.  The free Zoom event is hosted by the Horner Memorial Library of the German Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  Advance registration is required by emailing gsplibrarian@gmail.com.  Download the e-invitation here for more details.   

A recording of the book launch event is below. 

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Johannes Bard, penmanship sample, "Alphabet Romain," Adams County, Pennsylvania, ca. 1819-1821. Courtesy of the Winterthur Museum.

​Pennsylvania State University Press Virtual Author Panel

​Join PSU Press and the authors and volume editors of four recent books in Early American Studies for a virtual panel on Friday, June 19th at 1pm EST! Panelists will discuss their new books and answer your questions.
 
Our guests are:
Alexander Ames, author of The Word in the Wilderness: Popular Piety and the Manuscript Arts in Early Pennsylvania
Wendy Bellion, author of Iconoclasm in New York: Revolution to Reenactment
Cecile Fromont, editor of Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition
Bethany Wiggin, editor of Babel of the Atlantic
 
Moderated by Kathryn Yahner, PSU Press Acquisitions Editor
 
A recording of the panel is available on PSU Press's Facebook page: ​https://www.facebook.com/PennStateUniversityPress/videos/612536482725084

Image: Matthew Carey, map of Pennsylvania, published in Philadelphia, 1813.  Courtesy, The Rosenbach, Philadelphia.