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HISTORICAL 'FIRSTS' DISPLAYED FOR BETHLEHEM MORAVIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY - MARKS CITY'S 250TH ANNIVERSARY

Morning Call - Allentown, Pa. Author: JENNIFER RITENOUR, The Morning Call

Copyright Morning Call Apr 17, 1991

When Susan Dreydoppel began planning an exhibition to recognize Bethlehem's 250th anniversary, she immediately began a title search.

"The title is difficult," the executive director of the Moravian Historical Society says. "You have to have it early, it has to be catchy, and it has to say it all on a few words."

Like the Moravian settlers who named the city in December 1741, Dreydoppel turned to a hymn for guidance.

"Favored Bethlehem," opened April 7 in the first-floor exhibition gallery of the Whitefield House in Nazareth. The exhibition, which portrays Bethlehem's contributions to music, art, education and commerce, runs through Jan. 31.

"The title was fortuitous," Dreydoppel says, adding that it became more and more appropriate as the exhibition developed.

Preparations for the exhibition began with lists of items in the Historical Society's collection that had a Bethlehem connection. Much of the material had been displayed in the past, but never in that context. The Bethlehem connection drew together a variety of historical and artistic pieces.

"As I started putting things together, I realized how appropriate the title was," Dreydoppel says. "The exhibit really shows how Bethlehem has been blessed. Bethlehem has a lot of firsts ... a lot of honors for a town of its size."

Bethlehem, for example, boasts the first municipal water-pumping system in the American colonies, the oldest independent school for girls in the colonies and some of the earliest musical instruments.

A section of wood pipe and a metal collar from the original 1762 waterworks are in the exhibition. The pipes, made of hemlock and pitch pine, were joined with metal collars. They were replaced by lead pipes in 1796. The old wood pipes, which resemble hollowed out logs, are still found under Main Street, Dreydoppel says.

From the Female Seminary, the forerunner of the present Moravian Academy and Moravian College, there are examples of 19th century embroidery, autograph cards, a pen-and-ink portfolio and decorated wood items including a cup, a ruler and a fire screen.

The exhibition includes a violin made by Bethlehem musician John Antes in 1759. The instrument, one of only two Antes instruments that survive, may be the first violin made in colonial America. "We haven't come across any older ones yet," Dreydoppel says.

Other musical features include a clavichord given to the Bethlehem Moravians by a London fanmaker in 1743, a collection of 19th century string instruments made by C.F. Hartmann of Nazareth and Bethlehem, a trombone collection, and wind instruments sold by H.G. Guetter. The clavichord, the first of its kind in the city, was acquired through the Young Men's Missionary Society, which operated a museum in Bethlehem until 1922.

"For a long time we were the only Moravian museum in the area," Dreydoppel says, explaining why so many items pertaining to Bethlehem ended up in the Nazareth museum.

Among those Bethlehem treasures is the sign from the Crown Inn, a South Side inn that housed many famous visitors. The wood sign, a carved crown with the word "Inn" and the year "1743" inscribed on it, is believed to be the original, even though the inn was constructed in 1745. "It's been in the society's collection since the 1800s, listed as the 'Crown jewels,'" Dreydoppel said, adding that pictures in Bethlehem history books say it is the original. "We still haven't figured out why it says 1743."

Society officials, however, have found out the name of the artist who drew the 1755 map of Bethlehem that is prominently displayed in the collection. The map, in pen and ink and watercolor, is believed to be the work of Andreas Hoeger, who drew designs for a number of buildings, Dreydoppel says. "He never signed anything. We figured it out last Monday by comparing the handwriting with handwriting on other drawings in the Moravian archives." The map, which includes ornate drawings, will leave the exhibition early to go on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.

The remainder of the exhibition, which includes furniture, copper kettles, business memorabilia, photographs, frakturs, prints, maps and paintings by Gustavus Gruneveld, Rosina Kliest, E.C. Boutelle and John Valentine Haidt, will be on display Monday through Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. through Jan. 31 at the Whitefield House, 214 E. Center St., Nazareth. Admission is free.

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