The Study of Mennonite Folklore and Folklife

Although first study of North American Mennonite folk culture appeared in 1939, disciplined analysis of Mennonite and folklife has lagged behind historical and sociological studies. Mennonite Community magazine (1947-1953) shared many of goals of folklife studies of that period. An understanding of scope and methods of current folkloristics suggests value that such studies hold for understanding groups like Mennonites and Amish, whose most important practices and values have been and still are transmitted by oral tradition and customary example. Topics for further research are suggested, and an appendix gives a historical list of some key publications and developments in appreciation and study of Mennonite folk ********** order to solve problems of life itself, we will need to have a very thorough knowledge of our traditional culture. --Alfred A. Shoemaker (1) It would be easy to claim that, during 100-year history of Mennonite Historical Library at Goshen College, field of folk culture, or folklife, has been one of most neglected areas in Mennonite studies. Although American Folklore Society and its flagship publication, journal of American date from 1888, first article published there on Mennonite was John Umble's essay on Amish hymns and hymn tunes in 1939, followed by an article on same subject by Bruno Nettl in 1957 and then William Schreiber's study of Amish wedding days in I960. (2) In addition to Umble, Mennonite scholars who published early on Mennonite included John R. Mumaw in Pennsylvania Folklife (1960) and, soon thereafter, John A. Hostetler in his sociological surveys of two Anabaptist folk cultures, Amish Society (1963) and Hutterite Society (1973). In 1970 Pennsylvania German Society published Melvin Gingerich's Mennonite Attire through Four Centuries, which is still regarded as a model historical analysis by folklife specialists. (3) Yet to claim gross neglect would be somewhat unfair, since academic discipline of folklore, sometimes called folkloristics, is a relatively recent development. Although as early as 1922 Stith Thompson taught comparative-historical method in his classes at Indiana University, academic studies really stem from 1953 and establishment of doctorate in at Indiana University by Richard Dorson, and from 1963 with establishment of Department of Folklore and Folklife at University of Pennsylvania (by Don Yoder). As timeline at end of this article illustrates, studies of Mennonite and Amish folkore and folklife have grown apace since 1970, often carried out by trained folklorists. As of 2006, a handful of Mennonites have earned master's degrees in folklore, but only one has earned a doctorate. Few have carried out significant work in Mennonite communities. MENNONITE COMMUNITY AND THE FOLKLIFE MOVEMENT Alfred A. Shoemaker first brought term and concept of to conscious awareness of a wide Mennonite reading audience in a 1951 essay, The Meaning of Folklore, which appeared in Mennonite Community, a magazine edited by Grant Stoltzfus and sponsored by Mennonite Community Association. (4) Shoemaker was one of earliest academic folklorists in U.S. In 1940 he had earned a doctorate with a dissertation on Amish of Arthur, Illinois, and after World War II he studied folklife movement in Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and Sweden. In 1948 Shoemaker established first department in U.S. at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, where he also created, with Don Yoder and William Frey, Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore (later, Folklife) Center, published Pennsylvania Dutchman (later, Pennsylvania Folklife) magazine and began Kutztown Folk Festival, which continues today. In his essay in Mennonite Community Shoemaker defined the new science of folklore as the study of material and intellectual culture of tradition-bound elements in our contemporary, civilized societies. …