Lydia Gross’s forgotten marriage

Written by Forrest Moyer on May 15, 2020

(Updated 9/17/2020)

The first part of this post, about Lydia Gross’s leadership in the Doylestown Mennonite Sewing Circle and proposed Women’s Missionary Society, was written by Mary Jane Hershey and published in the MHEP Newsletter in March 1996.

The rest of the post, written by myself, is about Lydia’s brief marriage to a tattooed ruffian named Henry Howlett, and how the marriage was intentionally forgotten by her Mennonite church and family. Though divorced, Lydia retained the respect of the church and

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Food heritage highlights

Written by Sarah Heffner on July 10, 2019

Mennonite Heritage Center staff have been exploring and developing a major exhibit on the topic of food, a daily and essential part of our lives. Food touches on creation, celebration and community. Food is also increasingly a concern, as we hear daily news about extreme weather cycles and global strife impacting the production of food and people’s access to adequate food.

Museum exhibits about food have ranged from reproducing nostalgic food themes as a reflection of culture to more participatory

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