The. March April 2017 Vol. MMXVII No. 2

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1 The March April 2017 Vol. MMXVII No. 2 Upcoming Events New Exhibit: Stitch to Learn, Learn to Stitch Opens Weds., March 1st FREE Photograph & Paper Ephemera Preservation Sun., March 19th 1 to 2 pm Pre-register FREE Above: Photograph taken by Eliza B. Pennypacker of Grandma taken on her 80 th birthday shown sewing by a window. Sewing and embroidery were things a woman would do their entire life. Pennypacker Mills opens a new exhibit on embroidery on March 1, 2017 that runs until January 31, Needlework throughout history has been an art form associated with women. Young girls made a sampler containing the alphabet, thus they learned embroidery techniques and the alphabet at the same time. As a teenager they would make a decorative pictorial sampler. Once they were married their time was occupied with other household duties and embroidery was usually done as an embellishment on a piece. This exhibit will show a variety of samplers, pieces of redwork, along with embroidered tablework, clothing, handkerchiefs and decorative pieces. Embroidery is the delicate art of drawing on cloth with stitches of thread. It is applied to cloth that is already woven and is quite distinct from tapestry. With tapestry, the designs are actually woven into the cloth as it is created on the loom. (John Seymour, The Forgotten Left: Embroidery Lessons with Colored Studies 1906 printed by the Brainerd & Armstrong Co. of New London, Conn. Embroidery magazines and catalogs were popular in the early twentieth century. Punch Needle Craft Workshop Sat., March 25th 12 to 3 pm Pre-register, deadline March 3rd Fee: $50 per person Easter Workshop for Kids! Sat., April 8th 1 to 3 pm Pre-register, deadline April 4th Fee: $5 per child What s All the Buzz About? Sat., April am to 12 pm FREE What s Happening in June Civil War Event Sat., June 3 10 am to 5 pm Sun., June 4 10 am to 4 pm FREE Vintage Base Ball at its Best! Sun., June 25 1 to 4 pm FREE Note change in date from prior listing Continued on Page 2 Friend us on FACEBOOK/PennypackerMills

2 Page 2. Continued from Page 1. Household Crafts, 1987.) Foremost is the fact that throughout history no other tangible art has been so associated with women. It is true that men have pursued (and are pursuing) this art form, but their contribution, as amateur needleworkers, has been a minimal one. The second is the uniqueness of this material - whether new or old. The needleworker has never and does not today practice an exact science. (Needlework An Historical Survey A New and Expanded Edition, edited by Betty Ring, 1984.) In the eighteenth century, girls were expected to grow up, get married, have children and take care of the home. A girl s education was much different than that of boys. In order for a girl to learn to sew to eventually make clothing, a girl would make two samplers. The first one known as a marking sampler taught the girl basic embroidery techniques by stitching the alphabet and numbers. This was usually taught by her mother or possibly her grandmother. It served the dual purpose of learning the basic stitches, but also learning the alphabet. The Moravian community in Bethlehem created a school for girls in 1749 that became the Bethlehem Female Seminary in The instruction in the early period of these schools was confined to the ordinary branches of an English education, and included reading, Above: Samuel W. Pennypacker wrote that this needlework picture upon silk was done by Elizabeth Zeller about the year Above: Pillow sham, red turkey embroidery design. writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, history, astronomy, and plain sewing. In the 18th century, this school put an emphasis on spinning and weaving, but by 1825 the emphasis changed to music and ornamental needlework. Painting on velvet and making flowers in wax were also introduced. (William C. Reichel, History of the Rise, Progress, and Present Condition of the Bethlehem Female Seminary With a Catalogue of its Pupils , 1858.) It was perceived that the woman s place was in the home and that the girl only needed to know enough to read, write and some basic history to hold a conversation. The basics did not change much during the nineteenth century especially among private girls schools, but the emphasis on other branches of would change. art A woman s leisure time could Above: Sampler made by Anna Maria Whitaker (Pennypacker) when she was nine years old and presented to Samuel W. Pennypacker (her son) on December 25, always be filled with sewing or embroidering. In the country life of America there are many moments when a woman can have recourse to nothing but her needle for employment. In a dull company, and in dull weather, for instance, it is ill-manners to read; it is ill-manners to leave them; no card-playing there among genteel people-that is abandoned to blackguards. The needle is then a valuable resource. Besides without knowing how to use it herself, how can the mistress of a family direct the work of her servants? These words of advice from Thomas Jefferson to his young daughter, Martha, remind us of the limitations placed on women s leisure hours centuries ago, and of the importance of needlework in the lives of gentlewomen. Due to the growth in textile factories in the nineteenth century it was no longer necessary for women to take flax, spin it into thread and turn it into a bedsheet, and the emphasis would shift from spin- Continued on Page 4 Reach the site at or PennypackerMills@montcopa.org

3 Page 3. Photograph & Paper Ephemera Preservation Sun., March 19th 1 to 2 pm Attend a special presentation on how to identify and care for your historic paper photographs and documents. FREE, suggested donation $2 per person. By pre-registration only. Punch Needle Craft Workshop Sat., March 25th 12 to 3 pm Punch needle embroidery uses a needle-like tool to make small loops which are similar to a hooked rug. Finished project will fit a 8 x8 frame (not provided). All materials for the punch needle craft are supplied. Ages: Adult. Fee: $50/person. Refreshments served. By pre-registration only, deadline March 3rd. Easter Workshop for Kids! Sat., April 8th 1 to 3 pm Spring & Easter will soon be in the air! Sign up early to attend our Easter Workshop for Kids! We ll make four crafts that include a 3- D Easter card, dye eggs, a blue bird craft and more! Ages 5+, accompanied by an adult. Fee: $5/child. Refreshments served. By pre -registration only, deadline April 4th. Pre-register me for a Workshop! All workshops & programs located in the Classroom Building. Call site for availability first. Name Street Address City State Zip Code Tel # for e-confirmation X $ = $ # attending Fee Total Enclosed Check off which workshop(s) you are pre-registering for: Paper Ephemera Easter Workshop Punch Needle Return form with check payable to: Pennypacker Mills 5 Haldeman Road, Schwenksville, PA If paying by credit card, call Website:

4 Page 4. Continued from Page 2 Above: Pictorial Sampler made by Mary Ann Pennypacker in ning to ornamental embroidery. The Catalogue of Linden Hall, Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies at Lititz, Lancaster County, PA for 1870 states in addition to the main branches of study, instruction is given in the following, viz: In the German, French, Italian, Spanish and Latin languages. In Landscape Drawing in pencil. In Drawing heads and figures in crayon. In Landscape Painting in oil. In Music on the Piano Forte, Guitar and Harp. In Vocal Music. In Ornamental Needlework. In Wax Flowers. Notice how each section of drawing was defined rather than just stating instruction in art. As a teenager, a girl often created a second or decorative pictorial sampler. These were often framed and showed the maker s virtues of patience, obedience and skill. These pictorial samplers often had the girl s name, date and a saying embroidered on them and used a multitude of colored threads and a variety of stitches. When the girl married, her focus shifted to practical embroidery to be done on anything from tablecloths and towels to handkerchiefs and clothing. The nineteenth century saw many embroidery guides available with ideas for patterns, and women s guides of the era always included a section on home decorations. It became big business for companies to have designs stamped on tablecloths that one would be able to embroider. This became very popular with women. A variation of this was redwork embroidery which became very popular in the late Above: Redwork towel with a scene of geese and a house s. The Royal School of Needlework in Kensington, England began in 1872 and started redwork as a way to teach the students using the outline stitch. Redwork used an inexpensive red colorfast cotton thread known as Turkey Red. Silk threads were much more expensive as were certain other colors due to the dyes that were used. Companies produced preprinted patterns where one only needed to follow the outline. Popular for young girls were penny squares where the pattern was on a square and cost a penny. Other color threads were used as well and are also referred to as redwork even if the color blue, purple or green was used. More than two hundred years of devotion to the needle arts, whether as toil or pastime, produced the historical needlework which we admire and so eagerly seek today. It is this fine material from the past which has and can continue to serve as models of craftsmanship for those who are pursuing needlework with a new interest today. (Needlework An Historical Survey A New and Expanded Edition, edited by Betty Ring, 1984.) Left: Photograph shows the bottom section of a table scarf made by Anna Maria Whitaker Pennypacker at the age of 84. Embroidering is something a girl learned at an early age and could be used by them throughout their life. Samuel W. Pennypacker wrote in his autobiography that his mother in her eighty-fourth year she made me an elaborate piece of needlework, so elaborate that a maid of eighteen would have abandoned the task. This piece is a table scarf measuring 21 wide by 50 long that Samuel had framed and is highlighted in the exhibit. The exhibit features samplers, redwork and a variety of embroidered pieces. The galleries are located on the second floor of the mansion at Pennypacker Mills and included in all mansion tours.

5 Page 5. Sat., April 29th 10 am to 12 pm Meet our bee keeper, Scott Famous, and discover the world of honey bees! He ll discuss how bees make honey, how they pollinate flowers, what a bee colony is all about, why they make beeswax, what s the Waggle Dance? and much more! Did you know that every colony has 1 Queen, 50,000 busy Workers, 300 Drones, 9000 hungry larvae, and 20,000 older larvae that need to be kept warm and about 6000 eggs from which new larvae will hatch! Come to the Classroom Building.to find out more! Scott is an Executive Board Member of the Montgomery County Bee Keepers Association of Pennsylvania which provides mentoring, informational presentations, and outreach for the preservation of pollinators and pollinator resources. He has been a bee keeper since In January, Pennypacker Mills acquired a book previously owned by Samuel W. Pennypacker. Pennypacker was well-known as a collector of books and was interested in all things Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was founded on the basis of religious freedom and became a haven for many religious societies. There was a need for printing Bibles, hymnals and religious texts. The founding of the Rittenhouse Paper Mill in 1690 in Germantown made Philadelphia a printing hub for the colony. The Philadelphia region had many well-known printers including Benjamin Franklin and Christoph Saur. Saur was the first in America to publish the Bible in German in 1743 and printed it using a Fraktur typeface that was easier for the German community to read. Franklin published many items in German, but used the Roman typeface. In 1783, Michael Billmeyer and his father-in-law Peter Leibert purchased what was usable of the Saur press, since the British destroyed much of it in The book that was acquired is a Mennonite hymnal printed by Michael Billmeyer in 1811 entitled Die Kleine Geistliche Harfe Der Kinder Zions and is in the Fraktur typeface. The title translates as "The Little Spiritual Harp of the Children of Zions." This was the second edition of this book for the Mennonite congregation. The first edition was published by Billmeyer in 1803 and a third edition was published in Billmeyer served as the main printer for the Franconia Conference of Mennonites up until his death in The book still contains Pennypacker s bookplate and has his numbering system along with Saml W. Pennypacker Phila. Feb 12, Support this historic site, join the Friends of Pennypacker Mills

6 Pennypacker Mills 5 Haldeman Road Schwenksville, PA MONTGOMERY COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS VALERIE A. ARKOOSH, MD, MPH, CHAIR KENNETH E. LAWRENCE, JR., VICE CHAIR JOSEPH C. GALE, Commissioner Enjoy a casual brunch menu, champagne cocktails, and listen to a fantastic Jazz Sanctuary trio while you socialize on the serene porch of Pennypacker Mills. The Jazz Sanctuary showcases some of the most accomplished Philadelphia Style Jazz musicians from the area. Due to the service of alcohol, this is a ticketed event. TICKETS: $20.00 for Friends' members $25.00 for the general public Limited number of tickets are available. Last sale date is May 24. Go to to place your order. Tickets ordered online will be mailed to your home. Tickets ordered after May 21 will be held at the door. Tickets are also on sale at Pennypacker Mills. For information, please call