Putting the Amish to Work: Mennonites and the Amish Culture Market, 1950–1975
In May 1951, Mennonite churchman Grant Stoltzfus profiled the rising renown of Lancaster County's sectarian groups for readers of the Lancaster-based Pennsylvania Dutchman. In his “Memorandum to Persons Interested in Disseminating Information about Mennonites and Amish and Their Way of Life,” S...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
1999
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| In: |
Church history
Year: 1999, Volume: 68, Issue: 1, Pages: 87-117 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | In May 1951, Mennonite churchman Grant Stoltzfus profiled the rising renown of Lancaster County's sectarian groups for readers of the Lancaster-based Pennsylvania Dutchman. In his “Memorandum to Persons Interested in Disseminating Information about Mennonites and Amish and Their Way of Life,” Stoltzfus described how, in recent years, the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce had been inundated with requests for information about the county's Mennonite and Amish residents. Even more significant—and, to Stoltzfus, more unsettling—was the commerce in information that transpired outside the chamber's walls. Stoltzfus characterized what he saw being sold in Lancaster's bus station as “cheap, tawdry literature on the Amish and Mennonites,” and he complained that similar materials were available throughout southeastern Pennsylvania. Stoltzfus concluded his memo with a rhetorical question and a call to action: “Can we blame these businesses for handling [this literature] until we take some positive steps to provide something better?” Scholarly works have their place, wrote Stoltzfus, but the hour's most pressing need was the production of “some good popular pamphlets on Mennonite and Amish life.” |
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| ISSN: | 1755-2613 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Church history
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3170111 |