Contemporary Authors

• Social Organization and Cultural Aesthetics: Essays in Honor of William H. Davenport University Press of America (Lanham, MD), 1997
• Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage Pennsylvania State University Press (University Park, PA), 2016

1. Serious Nonsense : Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage LCCN 2015038258 Type of material Book Personal name Donner, William Wilkinson, author. Main title Serious Nonsense : Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage / William W. Donner. Published/Produced University Park, Pennsylvania : The Pennsylvania State University Press, [2016] Description xv, 164 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm ISBN 9780271071183 (pbk. : alk. paper) CALL NUMBER F160.G3 D66 2016 CABIN BRANCH Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms - STORED OFFSITE 2. Social organization and cultural aesthetics : essays in honor of William H. Davenport LCCN 97019969 Type of material Book Main title Social organization and cultural aesthetics : essays in honor of William H. Davenport / edited by William W. Donner, James G. Flanagan. Published/Created Lanham, Md. : University Press of America, 1997. Description v, 151 p. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0761807837 (cloth : alk. paper) 0761807845 (pbk. : alk. paper) Shelf Location FLS2015 070411 CALL NUMBER GN325 .S62 1997 OVERFLOWJ34 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms (FLS2)

• Pennsylvania Humanities Council - http://www.pahumanities.org/commonwealth-speakers/william-w-donner

  William W. Donner
  Biography
  William W. Donner is a professor of anthropology at Kutztown University. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Donner completed over three and a half years of ethnographic research on Sikaiana, a Polynesian people in the Solomon Islands. He also has researched Pennsylvania German (Dutch) history, culture and heritage. He developed a website about Sikaiana and written a book about the Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodges: Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge and Pennsylvania German Heritage.

  Presentations
  Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodges
  Life on a Polynesian Island

  Contact
  Interested in having William Donner speak to your group? E-mail him.

• Sikaiana Archives - http://www.sikaianaarchives.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/CVpdfUPDATEwebsite.pdf

  Curriculum Vitae
  (May 2012)
  WILLIAM W. DONNER
  AREAS OF INTEREST: Social Organization, Family, Polynesia, Pennsylvania Germans,
  Culture Change and Modernization, Language and Culture, Heritage Studies and Public Culture.
  EDUCATION
  University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. PhD, Graduate Department of Anthropology.
  Haverford College, Haverford, PA. BA with Honors in Anthropology.
  RESEARCH PROJECTS
  2000-present Language use and change among Pennsylvania Germans.
  Project on the history of the Grundsow Lodges and Fersommling.
  1997-present Education and culture change among the Pennsylvania Germans. 1988-92 Social and cultural change in rural towns in Pennsylvania.
  1993 Follow-up research on Sikaiana, Solomon Islands; participation in NEH summer seminar, "The Politics of Cultural Identity," Honolulu, Hawaii.
  1992-93 Ethnographic research on retention in the mathematics program at Swarthmore College.
  1987 Follow-up research on language and social change on Sikaiana, Solomon Islands: seven months research on emigration, occupational roles, and language change among the Sikaiana.
  1982-83 Sikaiana lexicon and grammar: 9 months to compile a lexicon of the Sikaiana lan- guage with about 4000 terms, reference grammar, parts of speech, examples, idioms and usage notes.
  1980-1983 Sikaiana social organization and interaction: 24 months of research on social organization and change on Sikaiana.
  1979-80 Social contexts of educational change: 18 months of ethnographic research on schools in the US.
  TEACHING EXPERIENCE
  2009-present, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Kutztown University. 2003-2009, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Kutztown University. 2000-2003 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Kutztown University.
  1988-2000 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Kutztown University. 1990-2005 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Millersville University. 1990 Visiting Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
  1985-86 Visiting Professor, Philadelphia Center, Great Lakes College Association.
  EMPLOYMENT and PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
  1988-present Assistant, Associate Professor, Professor, Kutztown University.
  Taught courses in sociology and anthropology, including language and culture,
  marriage and family, introduction to anthropology, introduction to sociology, Oceania, culture and personality, research methods, medical anthropology, cultures and adaptations in the Pennsylvania region, senior seminar, history and theory of anthropology, the Pennsylvania Germans, and comparative ethnography.
  1990-2005 Adjunct Assistant Professor, Millersville University.
  1990 Visiting Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania. Taught courses in social organization.
  1988-90 Correspondent, Lebanon Daily News, Lebanon, PA.
  Freelance reporting on history and events in rural towns for local newspaper.
  1987-90 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania. Follow-up fieldwork on Sikaiana, Solomon Islands.
  1985-86 Visiting Professor, Philadelphia Center, Great Lakes College Association. Taught courses on the anthropology of urban life.
  1985 Visiting Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania. Taught courses in comparative ethnography.
  1980-83 National Science Foundation grant.
  Ethnographic and linguistic field research on Sikaiana, Solomon Islands.
  1979-80 Staff Associate, Research for Better Schools Inc, Philadelphia, PA.
  Conducted ethnographic case studies about change programs in several schools.
  1975-78 Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
  1972-75 Teacher Coordinator, Drug Treatment Unit,
  Adult Probation Department, Philadelphia, PA.
  Developed and taught a high school equivalency curriculum to drug addicts who were in prison and drug rehabilitation centers.
  2
  PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
  EDITOR
  2006-2010 2005-2010 2002–2005
  1999-2001
  Association of Social Anthropologists in Oceania 1985-present
  Pennsylvania German Society
  Board of Trustees: 1999-2009
  Secretary: 2002-2009
  Publications Committee: 2003-2009
  Chair, Newsletter Committee, 2005-2009 Editor, ‘S Elbedritssch, (Newsletter), 2005-2009 Editor, Der Reggeboge (Journal), 2007-2009
  Kutztown Pennsylvania German Festival
  Seminar Stage Manager, 1999-present
  Cultural Director and Consultant, 2005-present
  Organizer, Liar’s Contest and PA German Writing Festival, 2005- present Organizer, Student Essay Contest, 2006-present
  Organizer, Lecture and Conference Series, 2006-present
  Grundsow Lodge #1
  Honorary Member of Raad (Board of Directors), 2009-present
  Editor, Der Reggeboge (Journal of the Pennsylvania German Society). Editor, Es Elbedritsche (Newsletter of the Pennsylvania German Society).
  Editor, Pennsylvania German Review (Journal of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University).
  Editor, Pennsylfaanisch Deitsch Barichta (Newsletter of the Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Culture Society).
  PUBLICATIONS
  MONOGRAPHS
  1988 Sikaiana Vocabulary: Na Talatala ma na Male o Sikaiana.
  (Dictionary of the Sikaiana Language.) Government Press, Honiara, Solomon Islands.
  1997 editor, Social Organization and Cultural Aesthetics: Papers in Honor of William Davenport. Co-editor with James Flanagan. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
  3
  PUBLISHED ARTICLES
  2012 (in press) (with Richard Feinberg), “Kinship and Social Structure of the Polynesian Outliers” in Richard Feinberg and Richard Scaglione editors, The Polynesian Outliers: State of the Art. University of Pittsburg: Ethnology Monography Series.
  2010 The First College Course in Pennsylvania German, in William D. Keel and C. Richard Beam, eds., The Language and Culture of the Pennsylvania Germans: A Festschrift for Earl C. Haag, pages 15-26. Topeka, KS: Society for German- American Studies.
  2008 Changing Concepts of Chief and Hierarchy on a Polynesian Outlier, Pacific Studies 31(2):1-24.
  2008 “Neither Germans nor Englishmen, but American”: Education, Assimilation and Ethnicity among 19th Century Pennsylvania Germans. Pennsylvania History 75 (2)197-226.
  2008 Across the Reef: Separation, Conflict and Romance in the Relations between Sikaiana Men and Women. In Laura Tamakoshi and Jeannette Dickerson-Putnam, Pulling the Right Threads: The Ethnographic Legacy of Jane C. Goodale. University of Illinois Press, 149-167.
  2004 Leschte Wadde, Pennsylvania German Review, Fall 2004: 58-59.
  2004 Harbaugh’s Das Alt Schulhaus An Der Krick: The Original Document,
  Pennsylvania German Review, Fall 2004:21-31.
  2004 Samuel Baer and John Ermentrout: 19th Century Advocates of Bilingual Education in Berks County. Der Reggeboge (Journal of the Pennsylvania German Society) (38 (1): 9-18).
  2004 (with Dave Valuska), The Past and Future of the Pennsylvania German Language: Many Ways of Speaking German; Many Ways of Being American in Andreas Gardt and Bernd Huppauf, editors, Globalization and the Future of German, pages 229- 242. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
  2004 (with Ron Treichler), 1934 Grundsow Skit, Pennsylvania German Review, Spring 2004: 27-36.
  2003 Lillian and Bill Walter’s Pictures of the Kutztown Festival, Pennsylvania German Review, Fall 2003: 23-26.
  2003 Research Note: Pennsylvania German Demographics, Pennsylvania German Review, Fall 2003, 41-51.
  4
  2003 Reply to Boyer, “The Beautiful Truth”—Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, Pennsylvania German Review, Spring 2003, 41-44.
  2002 “Loss uns Deitcha wos m’r sin: Leave us Dutch the way we are”: The Grundsow Lodges, Pennsylvania German Review (Spring 2002, pages 39-57).
  2002 Rice and Tea, Fish and Taro: Sikaiana Migration to Honiara. Pacific Studies 25(1,2):23-44.
  2001 Abraham Reeser Horne: Educator and Pastor. The Periodical (Journal of the Lutheran Historical Society of Eastern Pennsylvania) 26(2):1-7.
  2000 "We Are What We Make of Ourselves": Abraham Reeser Horne and the Education of Pennsylvania Germans. Pennsylvania Magazine of Biography and History, CXXIV (4): 521-546.
  1999 Abraham Reeser Horne: To the Manor Born. Der Reggeboge (Journal of the Pennsylvania German Society) 33:1&2:3-17.
  1999 Sharing and Compassion: Fosterage in a Polynesian Society. Journal of Comparative Family Studies. XXX:4:703-722.
  1998 Assimilation and Localism: Some Very Small Towns in Mass Society. Sociological Inquiry 68 (1): 61-82.
  1998 Sikaiana Songs. Entry in Adrienne L. Kaeppler and Jacob W. Love, editors, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 9: Australia and the Pacific. Pages 335, 844-848, and CD recording. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.
  1997 Kinship and Social Organization: Some Traditional Issues in the Study of Modernity. In William W. Donner and James G. Flanagan, editors, Social Organization and Cultural Aesthetics: Papers in Honor of William Davenport, pp 73-93. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
  1997 Introduction (co-authored with James Flanagan). In William W. Donner and James G. Flanagan, editors, Social Organization and Cultural Aesthetics: Papers in Honor of William Davenport, pp 1-18. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
  1996 Lingua Franca and Vernacular: Language Use and Language Change on Sikaiana, Solomon Islands. Pacific Studies 19 (2): 59-82.
  1995 From Outrigger to Jet: Three Centuries of Polynesian Voyaging. In Richard Feinberg, editor, Seafaring in the Contemporary Pacific Islands, pp 144-158. University of Northern Illinois Press.
  1994 Alcohol, Community and Modernity: The Social Organization of Toddy Drinking in a Polynesian Society. Ethnology XXXIII (3):245-260.
  5
  1993 Kastom and Modernisation on Sikaiana. Anthropological Forum VI(4): 541-556. Special Issue, Custom Today, Lamont Lindstrom and Geoffrey White, Guest Editors.
  1993 Sikaiana. Entry in Marc S. Miller and the staff of Cultural Survival, State of the Peoples: A Global Rights Report on Societies in Danger. Boston: Beacon Press.
  1992 Lineages and Court Disputes on a Polynesian outlier. Man 27: 319-339.
  1992 “The Same Old Song but with a Different Meaning”: Expressive Culture in Sikaiana Ethnic and Community Identity. Pacific Studies 15(4): 67-82. Special issue, The Arts and Politics, Karen Nero, Guest Editor.
  1990 Ontong Java. Entry in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume II: Oceania. Edited by David Levinson and The Human Relations Area Files staff. MacMillan.
  1989 “Far-away” and “Close-up”: World War II and Sikaiana Perceptions of Their Place in the World, in G. White and M. Lindstrom, editors, The Pacific Theater: Islander Representations of World War II, pp 149-165. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
  1988 The Contexts for Egalitarian Relationships on a Polynesian Outlier. In J. Flanagan and S. Rayner, editors, Rules, Decisions and Inequality, pp. 145-163. London: Gower Press.
  1987 "Don't Shoot the Guitar Player": Tradition, Assimilation and Change in Sikaiana Song Composition. Journal of the Polynesian Society 96: 201-221.
  1987 The Cultural Contexts of Care for the Childless Elderly on Sikaiana. Journal of Cross Cultural Gerontology 2: 43-59.
  1984 Sikaiana: A Contemporary Polynesian Society. Expedition 26(4):3-12. Digitalized in 2005 at www.museum.upenn.edu/expedition. Originally 1984.
  IN PREPARATION
  “Pennsylvania German Education” in Simon Bronner, editor, Companion to Pennsylvania German Studies, Penn State Press.
  “Pennsylvania German Heritage” in Simon Bronner, editor, Companion to Pennsylvania German Studies, Penn State Press.
  Making Tradition: Versammlinge and Pennsylvania German Identity. Manuscript to be submitted for publication
  6

  SAMPLE of RECENT LECTURES, PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS (2003-present)
  Commonwealth Speaker, Pennsylvania Humanities Council, “No English Spoken Here: The Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodges,” (2006-2008; 2008-2010, 2010-2012).
  75th Anniversary Presentation to Grundsow Lodge Numma Ains, Germansville, PA, February 2, 2011
  “The Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodges: The Origins and Construction of a Tradition” conference paper at annual meetings of the Pennsylvania Historical Association, October 16, 2008.
  “William Troxell, Thomas Brendle, Clarence Rahn and the Construction of Pennsylvania German Ethnic Identity in the 20th Century.” Friends of the Library Annual Lecture, Franklin and Marshall College, October 24, 2006.
  “Pennsylvania German Intellectuals,” Joint Conference of the Pennsylvania German Society and the Society for German-American Studies, Lancaster, PA, May 6, 2006.
  “The Kutztown Pennsylvania German Festival,” Special Lecture to the Conference, Joint Conference of the Pennsylvania German Society and the Society for German-American Studies, Lancaster, PA, May 6, 2006.
  Manager, Seminar Stage, Kutztown Pennsylvania German Festival, 9 day festival, every year, 1999-present. Numerous presentations on Pennsylvania German culture and life, including the “History and Origins of the Pennsylvania Germans,” “Humor and Pennsylvania German Life,” “Pennsylvania Germans and Education,” “The Pennsylvania German Language.” Organizer, Pennsylvania German Language Writing Festival, and Liar’s Contest on the Seminar Stage, 2005, 2006, 2007.
  “Life on a Polynesian Atoll,” Pacific Islands Event, Reading Public Museum, March 5, 6, 2005. .
  “Past and Future of Pennsylvania German Studies,” German-American Studies Conference, Baltimore, April 23-26, 2003.
  “The Pennsylvania German Language, Past and Present,” Panel Organizer, at The Future of the German Language, New York University, April 5, 2002.
  “The Pennsylvania Germans, Past and Present,” Frontier Museum, Staunton Virginia, March 26, 2002.
  “Education among 19th Century Pennsylvania Germans,” Lehigh County Historical Society. February 20, 2002.
  7
  TECHNICAL REPORTS
  1992 Struggling with Confidence: An Ethnographic Perspective on the Swarthmore College Mathematics Program. Submitted to Mathematics Department, Swarthmore College, funded by the Charles A. Dana Foundation.
  1981 (with Firestone, William A.) Knowledge Use in Educational Development: Tales from a Two-Way Street. Research Report, Research for Better Schools. ERIC ED 241583.
  1980 Research into Use: The Social Contexts of Knowledge Transfer. Written for Research for Better Schools, Inc. through funding from the National Institute of Education. Available in ERIC Microfiche # ED 202 883.
  UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE and SERVICE (since 2003) Sabbatical, Spring 2012
  Acting Chair, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, 2010-11 Chair, Search Committees, Anthropology and Sociology Department
  Fall 2002, Fall 2003, Fall 2004, Summer 2005, Summer 2006, Spring 2007, 2008-09, 2009-2010.
  Department Representative, University Senate Fall 2004, 2005-2011
  Chair, Academic Standards and Policies Committee Fall 2003-Spring 2004
  Director of Academic Programs, Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, 1999-2004
  COMMUNITY WORK
  Head Coach, Breiningsville T-Ball, 2003
  Head Coach, Breiningsville Transitional Team Baseball, 2004
  Assistant Coach, Kutztown Youth Junior League Baseball, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 Assistant and Timekeeper, Kutztown Mites Football, 2005
  Assistant Coach, Kutztown Midget Football, 2006-9
  Merit Badge Instructor, Boy Scouts of America, Troop 132, Bowers, PA, 2007-present

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• Project Muse
  https://muse.jhu.edu/article/663970
  Word count: 702

  In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:
  Reviewed by
  John B. Frantz
  William W. Donner. Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016). Pp. 164. Illustrations, notes, glossary, index. Paper, $29.25.
  The heritage that the Versammlinge (gatherings) and groundhog lodges celebrate was developed by descendants of eighteenth-century German and Swiss immigrants during their over three hundred years in this colony and state. Their normal port of entry was Philadelphia, where a significant number remained; however, most settled in the rural interior. The vast majority were Protestant, mostly Lutheran and Reformed. A small minority was Mennonite, Amish, and Pietistic German Baptists. Even fewer were Catholic. They spoke Pennsifawnisch Deitsch, which Donner considers a language, not a dialect. It resembles what is spoken in the Rhenish Palatinate. Donner explains that most academicians call them Pennsylvania Germans, though many of the "farmers and working-class people" (10) call themselves Pennsylvania Dutch. Whatever they are called or call themselves, they are different from nineteenth-century German immigrants, and they have preserved their culture longer.
  In the 1920s and 1930s, Pennsylvania Germans confronted "a rapidly changing and modernizing world" (iii). When they, especially William Troxell and Thomas Brendle, realized the need to preserve their heritage and language, they organized Versammlinge. They first met in 1933. Donner notes that in 1934, seventeen groups organized formally into lodges, located primarily in southeastern Pennsylvania. The lodges adopted the groundhog as their mascot and claimed that it had the ability to predict the weather, a tradition carried over from Europe. Members were required to speak Deitsch and were fined if they spoke in English. Donner describes the lodges' organizational pattern and specifies their officers in Deitsch with accompanying translations. [End Page 394]
  Although the lodge members were serious about preserving their culture, their meetings included much that was "nonsensical." Donner reports that meetings begin with a procession led by a replica of a groundhog held high for all to see. It is placed under the speaker's podium, followed by a prayer, the pledge of allegiance to the United States, and the singing of "My Country 'Tis of Thee," all in Deitsch. There is always a meal, which in early years included buffalo and even groundhog. Recently, the menu usually consists of chicken, ham, sausage, potatoes, beans, corn, and filling. Among the many songs that they sing, "Snitzelbank" is the favorite.
  Normally one or more speakers provide entertainment. Their talks might have serious points, but almost always include humor that sometimes is earthy. It often pokes fun at themselves and their ancestors. Donner considers Rev. Clarence Rahn the most popular and effective speaker. Rahn was a Reformed pastor who served a five-church rural charge for fifty years despite opportunities to move on to larger, more prestigious congregations. He died in 1976. Donner was told that Rahn avoided philosophical and theological complexities, but drew from his own experiences while growing up on a farm, working in his grandfather's blacksmith shop, on a road crew, running a chicken farm, and listening to his parishioners. He would select a point that he wanted to get across and use stories to illustrate it. Of course, he spoke in Deitsch. He believed that Deitsch "made direct expression possible" (88). According to Rahn, "Pennsylvania German words show a disregard for frills, as did the people who created them" (88). Rahn was called the "Will Rogers or Mark Twain of the Pennsylvania Germans because his messages appealed to the common people" (81).
  Also on the program are skits. Donner states that he is "fascinated" (63) by what he calls the Pennsylvania Germans' "theatricality" (63). It proceeds from a nineteenth-century tradition of Pennsylvania German writers translating English plays into German. During the 1920s and 1930s, Pennsylvania German writers wrote original plays. For the lodge meetings, scriptwriters cooperate with the players, who often spontaneously insert their own lines during the performances. Serious plays emphasize the past, but do not advocate a return to it. They sometimes compare the unsophisticated past to the overly complex present. Lighter plays revolve around the activities of the groundhog or current events. Donner describes a recent skit that included a (fictional) call from President Barak Obama...

• H-Net Reviews
  http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=47214
  Word count: 992

  QUOTED: "Donner has provided an informative exploration of Pennsylvania German culture in Serious Nonsense. His training as an anthropologist is evident in his exploration of groundhog lodges and versammlinge, as he analyzes them from a cultural perspective and compares the activities to those he observed while researching in the Solomon Islands. The book is well illustrated ... and [includes] music and lyrics to the 'Schnitzelbank' song. Anyone who has Pennsylvania German heritage—or even those who do not—will enjoy Serious Nonsense."

  William W. Donner. Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Penn- sylvania German Heritage. University Park: Penn State University Press, 2016. Illus- trations. 208 pp. $29.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-271-07118-3.
  Reviewed by Karen Guenther (Mans eld University) Published on H-Pennsylvania (March, 2017) Commissioned by Allen J. Dieterich-Ward

  My mother grew up in a home in which Pennsylvania Dutch was spoken on a daily basis and at family gather- ings (and still is among older family members). However, she and her family never talked about the social gather- ings known as versammlinge (also known as Fersomm- ling in Berks County) that can be held throughout the year or the related phenomena of groundhog lodges that meet on Groundhog Day in early February. William W. Donner’s book Serious Nonsense thus provided me with a wonderful window into an unfamiliar aspect of Pennsyl- vania German culture.
  Donner begins by summarizing the origins of the terms “Pennsylvania Dutch” and “Pennsylvania German” and uses “Deitsch” to identify the language spoken at the versammlinge. He e ectively explains the origins and evolution of the “Deitsch” dialect in eighteenth-century Pennsylvania. Not until the nineteenth century did au- thors write using Deitsch, with orthography in uenced by English; however, scholars who had a knowledge of standard German (i.e., Deutsch) used that spelling, which meant a distinction between common and academic writ- ers.
  e versammlinge movement, according to Donner, re ects how Pennsylvania Germans—who trace their an- cestry to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century immi- grants, in contrast to later German immigrants—continue to celebrate the distinctiveness of their culture and her- itage. Participants in these gatherings a ended main- stream churches (Lutheran and German Reformed), not sects like the Amish and Mennonites. e rst ver- sammling was held in 1933, with the establishment of
  the rst groundhog lodge a year later. Versammlinge typically included food, songs, speeches, and presenta- tions, with only Deitsch used to communicate. Ground- hog (Grundsau) lodges primarily celebrate the weather- predicting rodent and defend his reputation. All of the groundhog lodges formed the Grossdaadi (Grandfather) Lodge, which coordinated activities. e Grossdaadi Lodge has also sponsored Deitsch-language classes to ex- pand knowledge of the dialect, and it created a Penn- sylvania German ag. Gender bias still exists, as only men can speak at gatherings, but participation does cut across socioeconomic boundaries. Rituals mirror those of fraternal organizations like Masonic lodges; many of the founders were members of these groups. Above all else, versammlinge only use Deitsch in their activities. A endees pay a ne if they speak English.
  Donner’s fascination with the theatricality at ver- sammlinge is a highlight of the book. Because groundhog lodges only have male members, men play all roles in the plays. is does lead to a bit of slapstick, as upstanding members of the lodge and community play roles quite di erent from their traditional persona. Skits o en refer to current events; for example, the groundhog becomes a presidential candidate during election years. Program covers also re ect current events, as the one for the 1999 meeting spoofs President Bill Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
  Versammlinge also included speeches that focused on ordinary people. Reverend Clarence Rahn was a popu- lar speaker until his death, using his experience growing up on a farm to connect with lodge members. e use
  1
  of Deitsch is important, as the dialect is more expressive than English; at the same time, it does not always easily translate to English. e messages typically emphasized Pennsylvania German heritage, particularly the contri- butions of ordinary people and traditional values.
  Donner concludes by reviewing commemoration and appreciation of Pennsylvania German heritage and the Deitsch language. Such organizations as the Pennsyl- vania German Society, dialect literature, and heritage events contributed to a revival in Pennsylvania German culture a er World War I. e versammlinge, Donner contends, developed from this renewed interest, and to- day they are vital in maintaining the Deitsch language. Unlike most cultural festivals that occasionally involve academics in their preparation, versammlinge are di er- ent in that they celebrate the language in addition to the heritage. He concludes that because the versamm-
  H-Net Reviews
  linge rely on the Deitsch language, one that is less com- mon among anyone born a er 1940, he anticipates their demise within the next century. e end of the versamm- linge, however, will not lead to the end of Pennsylvania German cultural heritage events.
  Donner has provided an informative exploration of Pennsylvania German culture in Serious Nonsense. His training as an anthropologist is evident in his explo- ration of groundhog lodges and versammlinge, as he an- alyzes them from a cultural perspective and compares the activities to those he observed while researching in the Solomon Islands. e book is well illustrated with copies of program covers, photographs of meetings and groundhogs, and music and lyrics to the “Schnitzelbank” song. Anyone who has Pennsylvania German heritage— or even those who do not—will enjoy Serious Nonsense.
  If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at: h ps://networks.h-net.org/h-pennsylvania
  Citation: Karen Guenther. Review of Donner, William W., Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage. H-Pennsylvania, H-Net Reviews. March, 2017.
  URL: h p://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=47214
  is work is licensed under a Creative Commons A ribution-Noncommercial-
  No Derivative Works 3.0 Un

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