Archives 2

Exhibit dates: Feb 13, 2008 - March 26, 2008

(for more exhibit info, click on photo)

The story of Oskar Schindler, the German-Catholic industrialist and rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust who was the subject of the film Schindler's List.

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Key Ingredients

Exhibit dates: Dec 7th, 2007 - January 27, 2008

The Smithsonian Institute comes to Frankenmuth

Key Ingredients & Michigan Foodways

Exhibit overview, Local events, and programming

Thank you to our local Sponsors: Bavarian Inn, Zehnder's Restaurant, Star of the West Milling Company, Frankenmuth Credit Union, and Gordon Food service!!

More information can be obtained at the Michigan Foodways website as well: http://www.michiganfoodways.org/frankenmuth/index.shtml

Link to Key Ingredients material

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Emigration Stories (Auswanderung Geschichten)
Exhibit dates: Opened May, 2007

Link to Emigration Stories Timeline

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Michigan Week 2006 Youth Photo Contest State Winners

Exhibit dates: Opened April, 2007

Wing House Museum in Coldwater

The statewide Michigan Week Youth Photo Contest gave youth aged 9 to 19 a way to celebrate and share their community's heritage through photography. In keeping with the Michigan Week theme of "Great Lakes, Great Traditions," young photographers were asked to photograph a favorite Michigan historic site that is more than 50 years old. This exhibit features the twelve winning photos from all regions of our state.

The Michigan Week Youth Photo Contest was coordinated by Michigan State University Extension's 4-H Youth Development and Michigan History magazine, an agency of the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HAL). Funding was provided by donations to the Michigan 4-H Foundation, the Michigan Barn Preservation Network and Michigan History for Kids magazine.

The exhibit will be on display through April 26, 2007

Check out the HAL website for information on future contests: www.michigan.gov/hal

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"An Angel on Her Shoulder"

Exhibit dates: Opened February, 2007

When Gert Maves bought her first angel, she didn’t start out to have a collection that numbered 500 when she stopped counting. She didn’t plan on displaying her angels anywhere but in her own home, but is the curator for the exhibit, “An Angel on Her Shoulder” at Frankenmuth Historical Museum through February 28th. Like angels, life can be mysterious.

Mrs. Maves explains that, after she bought her first angel figures as decorations, “They started to accumulate.” Family and friends began to add to the collection. Some of her favorites were gifts from brothers and sisters at her 65th birthday.

In addition to angels she has received or purchased, Gert makes her own by the paper-cutting technique known as Scherenschnitte (pronounced share’-n-shnit). This centuries-old German art form involves cutting images into paper by hand. The paper snowflakes that children learn to create are a simple version of this technique. Three trees in the exhibit are decorated with Gert’s work. She says that Scherenschnitte gives her something to do, “I can’t just sit around.”

Since before the time of Moses, mankind has wondered about the existence of “the beautiful presence of celestial beings in human affairs” as Sophy Burnham writes in her book, Angel Letters. The subject has fascinated authors and artists. The presence of guardian angels has comforted children.

The thought that an angel is standing by to help has also comforted many adults. In his book, Brush of an Angel’s Wing, Charlie W. Schedd gives the Credo for the Angel Believer. “I believe in a loving God whose heaven is never far away. I also believe that because he loves me, he sends his angels to bless me and to use me. Therefore, even when things seem to the contrary, I believe the universe and my life in it are unfolding as they should and everything is on schedule.”

Angels have a recognized place in the Christmas holiday. The English word “angel” derives from the Roman and Greek words for “messenger” and that is the service angels performed at the birth of Christ.

In certain parts of Germany, an angel known as the Christkindlein (pronounced gris’ kindla) traditionally assists with the decoration of the Christmas tree. Another German tradition involving the Christkindlein is the Christkindlmarkt, an open-air market for Christmas shopping. Gert has a limited number of her Scherenschnitte angels available for sale.

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Quilts: Stitches in Time

Exhibit dates: August 1 - October 31, 2006

This rotating exhibit will include quilts from Frankenmuth Historical Association’s
collection through August.

In September and October quilts owned by members of Frankenmuth Women’s Club will take center stage. These quiltswill be joined by “guest”quilts, such as the fiftieth wedding anniversary quilt made by Rebecca (Knoll) Carr in 2002 (left) for Alan and Ruth Knoll and a 1930s Dresden Plate pattern quilt (middle), made by Ruth Knoll’s mother, and quilt block made by Mrs. A.C. (Margaret nee Wuerflein) Klammer (right), wife of St. Lorenz Church’s pastor.

Early History

We tend to think of quilts as being a common thread through American history.
This can, however, lead us to ignore the ancient and worldwide history of quilting.

The image of a colonial woman quilting before the fire may not be very accurate. Historians have pointed out that during our colonial period most women had very
little time for anything more than the necessities. Pins and needles were also
in short supply.

On the other hand, historians have discovered that quilting has an ancient history. An ivory carving from the 35th century B.C. depicts a king of the Egyptian First Dynasty wearing a quilted piece of clothing. The carving was found in the Temple of Osiris at Abydos. Chinese silk ornamental quilts from were excavated from tombs dating from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 to 221 B.C.). The oldest surviving quilt is a linen carpet found in a Mongolian cave tomb, from the period between the 1st century B.C. and the 2nd century A.D.

Quilting in Europe and America

The first surviving European bed quilts are three trapunto (padded design) quilts from a Sicilian workshop, about 1395. From ship inventories it is known that quilted bedcovers were used in France in the 12th and 13 century. A quilted linen blanket, dating from the 16th or 17th century was made in Germany, but the concept of traditional pieced quilt designs was not as popular in Germany as in other European countries until recently.

Imported cotton in England was first mentioned in a 1620 document. In 1678 the first cotton print works was founded at Amersfoort in Holland.

Chintzes, embroideries and quilts were imported from India to Europe and to the “colonies” where a 1689 New York inventory listed three quilts. The earliest surviving example of medallion patchwork quilt known to have been made in America is inscribed, “ANNA TUELS HER BEDQUILT GIVEN TO HER BY HER MOTHER IN THE YEAR AU 23. 1785”

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The Golden Anniversary
of the Golden Arches (1955-2005)

Bavarian Charm Under the Golden Arches

(1981-2006)

Exhibit Runs: May 17 - July 31, 2006

The history of McDonald’s Restaurant begins with Raymond Albert Kroc (1902-1984) who mortgaged his home and invested his entire life savings to be the exclusive distributor of a five-spindled milk shake maker called the Multimixer. In 1954 A McDonald’s hamburger stand in California was running eight of these Multimixers at a time and Ray decided to check it out. A salesman by training, he pitched the idea of opening more restaurants to brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. Ray Kroc opened the Des Plaines restaurant in 1955. The first day’s revenue was $366.12. The rest, as they say, is history.

October 17, 1980 saw the groundbreaking ceremonies for McDonald’s Restaurant in Frankenmuth. The restaurant opened January 12, 1981. Tony D’Anna was a successful man working for Rockwell International in Tennessee, but wanted to be in business for himself. His wife, Geri, missed living in Michigan. “There wasn’t any doubt that we wanted the business when we saw it, and once the agreement was made with McDonald’s we went out and bought a house here in town. For our three children, Catherine, 7, Bill, 6, and Anthony, 2, we felt that this was about the best environment we could bring them up in.” They worked together to make the restaurant a success.

On January 12, 2004, the restaurant closed its doors – at least, temporarily. Everything except the kitchen and Playland were remodeled in the 4,400-square-foot building located at 478 North Main Street. The German décor, an important part of the restaurant’s appearance from the beginning, was retained. However, the walls are now decorated with images of German towns, such as Gunzenhausen (Frankenmuth’s sister city), Rosstal, Frankfurt, Munich and Rothenburg o.d.T. “No one was laid off … we just beefed up our drive-through service.”

The exhibit features changes through McDonald’s history in uniform styles, slogans and Happy Meal toys.

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Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

Exhibit Runs: April 3 - May 12, 2006

Dating from earliest cultures, the egg has been the emblem of resurrection (life from seemingly lifelessness). Christians borrowed the symbolism for Christ’s Resurrection. The name Easter derives from Eostre, either an ancient Teutonic Goddess of Spring or the word for “dawn” depending on which scholar is writing the interpretation. As Christmas has been identified with the winter solstice, Easter was celebrated in the spring in recognition of the rebirth of nature.

The tradition of decorating the Easter egg in bright colors became associated with a legend of Simon of Cirene, who carried Christ’s cross. Simon, according to the legend, was an egg merchant. When he returned from Calvary to retrieve his basket, his eggs had miraculously been colored and adorned.

Germany shares some traditions with other areas of Europe. If Good Friday eggs were cooked on Easter, they would promote the fertility of trees and crops. Two yolks in an Easter egg were supposed to be a sign of financial prosperity to come. For hundreds of years, children have enjoyed rolling hard-boiled eggs (on a field or down a hill) and crashing them into each other until only one intact egg remains.

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