GAHM Hosts Opening for In Praise of the Pencil
On Thursday, April 14th, the German-American Heritage Museum of the USA™ opened its latest exhibit, In Praise of the Pencil, at its facility in the historic Hockemeyer Hall. Though the connection between this topic and German heritage may not be obvious, there’s a point to pencils.
Guests of the opening reception enjoyed refreshments while viewing the exhibit. A short lecture delivered by Heritage Museum Executive Director Erika Harms. Ms. Harms, who joined the Museum in Fall of 2015, provided a brief history of the writing implement and the Germans who began to manufacture them en masse. She continued to speak to the industry of those German immigrants who had taken pencil manufacturing to North American shores. This includes the founder of STAEDLTER®, th exhibit’s corporate sponsor. Harms ended by thanking the staff of the German-American Heritage Center in Davenport, Iowa, from whom the exhibit is currently on loan, as well as the artists whose unique works are now on display through July.
In Praise of the Pencil is the latest of GAHM’s exhibits in its German Entrepreneurship Series. Like the Museum’s preceding exhibit Colony 1714: Germanna and the Ironworkers, it aims to celebrate the immense contributions of immigrants to the fabric of American society. The Museum plans to continue to engage diverse audiences in the coming three months through continued lectures, artist workshops, and educational programming. For more information on In Praise of the Pencil or upcoming events, visit: gahmusa.org/events