52nd Annual Delaware Show

PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS & PATRIOTIC FOLK ART BY LISA MINARDI The Pennsylvania Germans have long been renowned for their colorful folk art, embellished with tulips, hearts, birds, and other whimsical motifs. But during the American Revolution, many began to incorporate patriotic imagery into their artwork. Also known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, the Pennsylvania Germans descend from the approximately 80,000 German-speaking people who had immigrated to Pennsylvania before the war; about 90 percent were from the Palatinate region of southwest Germany and belonged to the Lutheran or Reformed Church. The remaining 10 percent included the Amish, Mennonites, Schwenkfelders, Moravians, and other sectarian groups. Although many Pennsylvania Germans supported the War for Independence, a number did so reluctantly, or not at all. Some were loath to break the oaths of allegiance they had Fig. 1. Cutwork picture of two soldiers, attributed to the Sussel-Washington Artist, Lancaster County, Pa., ca. 1776. Watercolor and ink on laid paper, 4 x 3¼ in. Museum purchase with funds provided by Nicholas and Jo Helen Wilson, Thomas K. Johnson II, Bridget and Al Ritter, and the Henry Francis du Pont Collectors Circle 2013.31.102 — 145 —