The Bruderhof Museum brings to life the eighty-year history of the
Bruderhof, an international Christian communal movement. Designed, built,
and operated by college age youth of the Bruderhof, the museum houses a
dozen main exhibits that tell a colorful story spanning four continents
and five generations.
news1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> The Bruderhof Museum was created by a group of college-age youth in
> 1998. Like everyone who grows up on the Bruderhof, we had been
> encouraged to leave home after high school and explore the world --
> either at college, by traveling, or by doing volunteer work. Our
> experiences varied: some went to hospitals in rural Haiti where
> children die of treatable diseases, others studied dead languages at
> expensive private colleges, while still others roamed Europe and the
> Middle East with backpacks. Several years later, we were surprised to
> find ourselves back at the Bruderhof, all wondering what the purpose
> of communal movement dedicated to love and justice in a world of greed
> and war was, and what had made our parents and grandparents commit
> their lives to the Bruderhof. We spent long hours discussing the places
> and people we'd seen, and the home we had left and returned to. One
> question we kept coming back to was, why has the Bruderhof flourished
> for eighty years when so many other efforts at community quickly fail?
> To find out, we explored the movements and individuals that influenced
> our community and immersed ourselves in the stories of the men and
> women whose lives make up the history of the Bruderhof. The Bruderhof
> Archives opened its files and vaults to us and we ****ed over old
> letters, photographs, and notes of members meetings. We talked to our
> grandparents and heard stories of privation and sacrifice -- all gladly
> suffered, they told us, for the sake of their vision of a society where
> men love and care for each other. Learning about the past, we realized
> that understanding our history is the key to keeping our movement
> alive.
>
> The research we did grew into the Bruderhof Museum. Over the following
> year, youth at each of the nine Bruderhof communities in the US and
> England designed and installed the displays that bring this rich
> history to life. A large room (4100 square feet) in the center of the
> Woodcrest was made available to us, and we started drawing up floor
> plans, building walls, deciding which aspects of Bruderhof history to
> highlight in the displays, and how to turn this complex, exciting story
> into displays that would be understandable to other people. Since none
> of us are professional museum designers (most of us had dropped out of
> college), we had to rely on enthusiasm about the history we were
> learning to guide our efforts (in the years since then, we've figured
> some things out -- for instance, that text in 10 point type placed two
> feet from the floor is unlikely to be read). The Museum is a work in
> progress, so when you visit you're likely to see sections of displays
> being revised. And since the museum tour-guides are the same people who
> created the displays, we'll be happy to tell you the parts of the story
> that didn't fit on the walls.
>
> Although the Bruderhof Museum's mission is to explain the past and
> bring its spirit to life rather than to preserve relics, there are some
> original tools, artwork, and craft items in the displays, including
> sixteenth century Habaner pottery created by a community in Central
> Europe. In the orientation section is a wooden beam that was made for
> the dining room at the Rhön Bruderhof in Germany in the 1930s. More
> valuable than any artifact is the vision expressed by the words carved
> into it: "Das wyr uns von Herzen eyn ander lieben, und ym Friede
> auff eynem Synn bleiben" - That we from our hearts love one another,
> of one mind, in peace, remain together.
>
> For more information on the Bruderhof, visit www.bruderhof.com or
> download the free e-book Why We Live in Community (
> http://www.bruderhof.com/e-books/WhyWeLive.htm
) by Bruderhof founder
> Eberhard Arnold.
>
> The Bruderhof Museum is located at the Woodcrest Bruderhof on Route
> 213, along the Walkill River twenty minutes south of Kingston and
> fifteen minutes north of New Paltz. Please e-mail museum@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> or call 845.658.7754 for further directions.
>
> Your visit can include a round-table discussion with members of the
> Bruderhof on any of the topics below. Bruderhof author Johann Christoph
> Arnold is available for discussions on the issues addressed in his
> books.
>
> This list is just a starting point - let us know if there is an issue
> that is relevant to your class or group which you would like to focus
> on during your time at the Bruderhof Museum.
>
> What is an intentional community?
> Living Answers to Economic Injustice
> Jesus' Sermon on the Mount - beautiful ideal or practical manifesto?
> The Anabaptist Reformation
> Intentional Communities in America with a focus on communities after
> WWII and the Bruderhof experience
> Radical Religious Movements in History - Mystics and Rebels for the
> 21st Century
> Upside Down World - Learning from the Early Christians
>
> © 2005 The Bruderhof Foundation.
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