Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Harmoniefest to focus on the “Great Schism” and descendants of the Harmonie Society
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Historic New Harmony and Harmonie Associates will co-sponsor the annual Harmoniefest celebration on Friday, February 13, at Thrall’s Opera House. Harmoniefest is free to attend and will begin with a pitch-in dinner at 6:30 p.m. followed by a lecture at 7:30 p.m. This year’s celebration will feature guest speaker Dr. Eileen Aiken English, professor emeritus of education at California University of Pennsylvania. A native of Monaca (formerly Phillipsburg), Pennsylvania, she has researched and written about the founders of the New Philadelphia Society whose members seceded from George Rapp’s Harmonie Society at Economy, Pennsylvania. Also on the program will be Dr. Donald E. Pitzer, USI professor emeritus of history and director emeritus of the Center for Communal Studies, and Jan Kahle, education coordinator for Historic New Harmony. The program will relate to the “Great Schism” of 1832 and the reunion, in June 2008, of descendants of those that that left the Harmonie Society. “I am looking forward to learning more about the Harmonists who left the society. I've always wondered what happened to the Harmonist families who may have stayed in this area when George Rapp and his followers returned to Pennsylvania,” said Martha Raske, Harmonie Associates President. Harmoniefest celebrates the official founding of the Harmonie Society in 1805 and the date each year new members were invited to join the group. Members of the Society, led by George Rapp, founded what would become New Harmony in 1814. Thrall’s Opera House is located at 612 Church Street in New Harmony. For more information, call 812/682-4488 or go to www.newharmony.org. The mission of Historic New Harmony is to preserve New Harmony’s utopian legacy by inspiring renewal and fellowship between people and communities through its programs and collections. Historic New Harmony is a unified program of the University of Southern Indiana and the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites. Harmonie Associates is a community organization founded in 1964 to preserve and promote the history of New Harmony. Samantha Brown Historic New Harmony sabrown1@usi.edu or 812/682-4488 |
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