Current Changing Exhibits

Elephants, the Michelin Man, and Sunbonnet Sue: 20th-Century Pictorial Embroidered Quilts

Putera Meeting Room

June 18, 2024–April 2025

Among the most cheerful and charming quilts made in the 1900s were white with red, blue, green, or multicolored embroidered images—some realistic and lovely, others cartoonish and silly. These quilts were hugely popular across the country from the 1910s into the 1930s, and 100 years later these newly minted antiques survive in considerable numbers.

Next Stop, Pennsburg: A History of Model Trains

Dolloff Local History Gallery

July 16, 2024–April 2025

Do you love model trains and trains in general?  We are delighted to announce our new exhibit in the Dolloff Local History Gallery on this popular toy that became a beloved hobby. Guest Curator Glenn Stinson, a collector himself, has identified important pieces from his collection and others to lend to the Heritage Center. The exhibit will track (no pun intended) the development of model trains and regional train history and also will include a variety of train-related ephemera. You will also see some unique and unexpected trains!

Stories Are Made. . .Loop by Loop

Fraktur Gallery

September 10, 2024–March 28, 2025

In this exhibition curated by Susan Feller, artists use rug hooking to document and explore social, emotional, and personal topics. They use a variety of materials from traditional wool fabric to recycled plastics; pulling strips through an open weave fabric to create loops, pile, and texture. Rug hooking is steeped in generations of resourceful, creative, out-spoken makers. These contemporaries work the technique’s simple repetitive motions by hand, one loop at a time.

Putz

Dolloff Local History Gallery

November 15, 2024–February 28, 2025

This year’s Putz is a little different than past years, though just as intriguing. Instead of an “old” stone house on the farm, we are using a mid-century dollhouse. And our train is decked out for Santa! The Putz appropriately is on display next to “Next Stop Pennsburg” exhibit of model trains. As always, there are lots of small details to find and enjoy. Can you find the toy train shop?

Changing Exhibit Spaces

Fraktur Gallery on Ground Floor

Often showcasing our large Schwenkfelder fraktur collection, this gallery also is used for other small exhibits. During the Penn Dry Goods Market, the Fraktur Gallery is often home to special textile exhibits.

Art Gallery on First Floor

The Art Gallery is home to smaller exhibits of local artists and a variety of short-term exhibits featuring the permanent collection. Occasionally the Art Gallery also serves as overflow space for exhibits in the adjacent Dolloff Local History Gallery.

Dolloff Local History Gallery on the First Floor

The Dolloff Local History Gallery is specifically dedicated to exhibits with a non-Schwenkfelder focus. In the past, exhibits on community history, both broadly, such as on local and regional historic architecture and Native American presence, and more specifically, including historical overviews of our local municipalities and organizations, have been held in the gallery.

Putera Meeting Room on the First Floor

The walls of the Putera Meeting Room are often lined with artwork by local artists, both as individual and group shows. When not being used as an art space, quilts are often exhibited in this room, and it also has hosted student art exhibits from our local schools.

Artists who are interested in exhibiting in the Putera Meeting Room or the Art Gallery should contact Candace Perry, Curator of Collections, at 215-679-3103 or candace@schwenkfelder.org for more details.