Program

6:00-8:00 pm

Exhibit Opening, Reception and Artist Talk
Location: The Payne Art Gallery

Bill Needs: A Visual Journey Through the History of the Moravian Church

Payne Gallery, in conjunction with the Institute for Moravian History and World Heritage, presents more than 30 works by Moravian alumnus and artist Bill Needs ’62.

In 2017, at the age of 78, Needs joined an educational tour through Central and Eastern Europe exploring the historical roots of the Moravian Church. Traveling with a sketchbook, he began imagining and recording the people, places, and events that shaped the history of the Unitas Fratrum.

Combining historical research with artistic imagination, Needs brings centuries of Moravian history to life through drawings and paintings that invite visitors to encounter the past through a distinctly personal and visual lens.

12:00 noon

Opening Reception
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 410 A and B

12:30 pm

17:30 UTC

Words of Welcome & Land Acknowledgement
– President Bryon Grigsby, Moravian University
– Dr. Katie Faull, Executive Director of the Institute for Moravian History and World Heritage
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 410 A and B

1:30-3:00 pm

18:30-20:00 UTC

Session 1 – Indigenous Encounters and Land-Based Epistemologies
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 410 C
Moderator: Katie Faull

• Susan Ellis, Moravian Historical Society and Katelyn Lucas, Delaware National Historic Preservation Officer, Lenape Ancestors Return Home: Building Relationships Between Moravian Cultural Institutions and Native Nations [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Ulrike Wiethaus, Wake Forest University, Citizens of the World? The Moravian Mission to the Cherokee in the Early Nineteenth Century as Cosmopolitan Hub and Politico-Theological Crossways [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Anca Wilkening, University of Pennsylvania, Making Relatives: Indigenous Kinship Governance and Early Moravian Missions [ABSTRACT PDF]

Session 2 – World Heritage Sites and Sustainable Communities
Location: HUB 450 A and B
Moderator: Janel Rice

• Cory Dieterly, Moravian University, Sustainable Foundations: Examining the Moravian Settlement of Bethlehem and the UN’s 17 Goals for Sustainable Communities [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Thomas J. McCullough, Moravian Archives (Northern Province), The Role of Moravian Archives in Supporting World Heritage [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Steen Rosenvinge Lundbye, Christiansfeld Site Manager (remote), Christiansfeld – 10 Years as a World Heritage Site – the Past and the Future [ABSTRACT PDF]

3:30-5:00 pm

20:30-22:00 UTC

Session 3 – Indigenous Moravian Spaces and Contemporary Connections
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 410 C
Moderator: Christina Petterson (remote)

• Joanna Kodzik, University of Versailles Saint Quentin-en-Yvelines/ University of Paris Saclay, Arctic Life Stories – Conceptualizing the Indigenous “self” in missionary writing from Greenland [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Olga Lauter, University of Texas at El Paso, Creation of Indigenous Moravian Spaces in an Alaskan City [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Rachel Wheeler, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Remembering Gnadenhütten: Painful Histories and Public History [ABSTRACT PDF]

Session 4 – Slavery, Post-Emancipation, and the Caribbean
Location: HUB 450 A and B
Moderator: Scott Gordon

• John Balz, University of Wisconsin-Madison (remote), The Creole Diaries: Carriols in Eighteenth-Century Moravian Mission Stations on St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Armando Lampe, Independent researcher (remote), John was Their Name: About the Conversion of Two Maroons to the Moravian Church in the Slave Society of Suriname [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Paul Peucker, Moravian Archives (Northern Province), Zinzendorf, Slavery, and the Curse of Ham [ABSTRACT PDF]

8:15-9:15 am

Light breakfast refreshments
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 410 A and B

9:15-10:45 am

14:15-15:45 UTC

Session 5 – Heritage Preservation: Case Studies
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 410 C
Moderator: Craig Atwood

• David J. Johnston, Gracehill Trust, Reviving Gracehill’s Old Shop: A Case Study in Heritage Preservation and Community-Led Restoration [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Winelle Kirton-Roberts (remote), New Herrnhut to Norre Gade: Moravian Mission From The Estate To The Street, 1732-1882 [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Peter Vogt, Herrnhut Moravian Church, Corpse House and Burial Vaults: Unexpected Discoveries and Challenges of Heritage Preservation in Herrnhut [ABSTRACT PDF]

Session 6 – Digital Humanities: Digitization Projects
Location: HUB 450 A and B
Moderator: Cory Dieterly

• Zack Biro, Walt Rice, Carol Smith, A Demonstration of the Philadelphia Congregations Project’s Interactive AI Using Records from the First Moravian Church of Philadelphia [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Meaghan O’Riordan, Moravian Archives (Southern Province), Digitizing the Daily Text [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Victoria Starbuck, Independent researcher, Quantifying the Count: A Network Analysis of Themes in Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf’s Hymns [ABSTRACT PDF]

11:00 am-12:30 pm 

16:00-17:30 UTC

Session 7 – Transatlantic Perspectives
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 450 A and B
Moderator: Jill Vogt

• Sally Ann Johnston, Moravian Archive of Ireland, To See Ourselves as Others See Us: 18th-19th Century Travellers’ Accounts of the Moravian Settlement of Gracehill [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Giovanna Montenegro, Binghamton University, Saamaka Resilience: Amidst Environmental and Cultural Destruction [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Livingstone Thompson, Belfast School of Theology & Moravian Church (British Province) (remote), Exile, Refuge and Commemoration: Rev B. Patras Zula’s Thermopylae Garden at Kilwarlin Moravian Church [ABSTRACT PDF]

12:30-2:00 pm

Bag Lunch and Open House
Lunch is provided
Location: Moravian Archives, 41 W Locust St, Bethlehem, PA 18018

2:00-3:30 pm

17:00-20:30 UTC

Session 8 – Community Transitions and Institutional History
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 410 C
Moderator: Paul Peucker

• Frank L. Crouch, Moravian University, School of Theology, Moravian Resistance to and Complicity with Segregated Education in the US, 1890s-1920s and Beyond [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Joshua Follweiler, Princeton Theological Seminary, Moravian Communities in Transition: Bethlehem and Winston-Salem in the Mid-Nineteenth Century [ABSTRACT PDF]
• C. Riddick Weber, Moravian University, School of Theology, The Single Brothers Deal with the Death of Their “Never-to-be Forgotten Christel” [ABSTRACT PDF]

Session 9 – Cross-Cultural Missions in Asia
Location: HUB 450 A and B
Moderator: Christian Rice

• John Bray, Independent scholar (remote), Moravian Christianity in the Tibetan Buddhist World of the Western Himalayas [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Susan Lena Kennedy, Independent researcher, Paradise Garden: Jerusalem’s Leper Home 1865 to the Present [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Pragya Sharma, University of Brighton (remote), Moravian Missionaries and Hand-Knitting in Colonial India c.18th–19th [ABSTRACT PDF]

4:00-5:15 pm

21:00-22:15 UTC

Session 10 – Moravian Diaspora In Europe
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 410 C
Moderator: Heikki Lempa

• Wolfgang Breul, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Constructing an European Network of True Believers – The Moravian Diaspora Conferences 1760–1765 [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Vanessa Romero, Moravian University, The French Moravian Diaspora, 1806–1870 [ABSTRACT PDF]

Session 11 – Moravians in Tanzania
Location: HUB 450 A and B
Moderator: Richard Anderson

• Ronald J. Mbao and Revocatus Meza, Teofilo Kisanji University (TEKU) (remote), Moravian Bishopric Office: Historical Developments and Its Pitfalls in the Tanzanian Context [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Lorraine Parsons, Provincial Archives of the Moravian Church of Great Britain and Ireland, The Pioneering Medical Work of Dr Arthur and Adie Keevill with the Moravian Missions in Tanzania [ABSTRACT PDF]

5:15-5:50 pm

Posters & Networking
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 4th Floor Lounge

• Cory Dieterly, Moravian University, Moravian Seminary and College for Women’s Newspaper Digitization Project [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Mark Koscinski, Moravian University, Jan Hus: The Pre-Reformation Root of Moravianism and Independent Catholicism [ABSTRACT PDF]
• David J. Johnston, Gracehill Trust, Sister Shaukirk: Our First World Heritage Guide – A Transatlantic Moravian Life [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Makenna Aylward, Moravian University, Hidden Gems within Reach
• Holly Wiener & Joshua Testa, Moravian University, A Resounding Heritage: Musical Instruments throughout Moravian History
• Lexi Jordan, Megan Smith, Karolina Zakova, Moravian University, Digital Work on Moravian Lives
• Open Networking

6:00-6:30 pm

Schattschneider Award presentation
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 450 A and B
– Citation by Dr. Peter Vogt for the recipient, Dr. Hans Rollmann

6:30-8:30 pm

Conference Banquet (tickets required)
Location: Haupert Union Building (HUB) 410 A, B, and C

8:15-9:00 am

Light breakfast refreshments
Location: Bahnson Center Kitchen and Lounge Area

9:00-10:30 am

14:00-15:30 UTC

Session 12 – Access, Interpretation, and Public Engagement
Location: Genadendal
Moderator: Peter Vogt

• Richard Anderson, Moravian University, Interpreting World Heritage Through Undergraduate Video Documentary: A Case Study [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Christina Petterson (remote), History as Heritage, Heritage as History [ABSTRACT PDF]

Session 13 – Music, Performance, and Moravian Identity
Location: Saal
Moderator: Lanie Yaswinski

• Kyle Johnston, Moravian Music Foundation, Creating a (Nearly) Complete Collection of Moravian Chorales [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Catherine Moore, Moravian Academy, The Benigna Monologues: Interpreting Moravian History Through Performance [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Inga Strungytė-Liugienė, Institute of the Lithuanian Language, Where are the limits of religious text transformation? The case of Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf’s hymns [ABSTRACT PDF]

11:00 am – 12:30 pm 

16:00-17:30 UTC

Session 14 – Digital Humanities: Network Analysis and AI
Location: Genadendal
Moderator: Katie Faull

• Alexander Lasch, Institute of German Studies at Dresden Technological University (remote), Digital Humanities and Reparative Practices: From Primary Digitization to New Forms of Narrative [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Aaron Palmore, Loyola University, The Role of Latin in the Moravian World of the Early Americas [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Thomas Ruhland, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (remote), Moravian Botany – The Scientific Legacy of the Moravian Church’s Global Network [ABSTRACT PDF]

Session 15 – Moravian Music as Moravian Heritage
Location: Saal
Moderator: David J. Johnston

• Devandré Boonzaaier, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Embodied Spirituality: The Role of the Body in Moravian Congregational Music [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Sarah Eyerly Florida State University, Interpreting Moravian Heritage Through Sound and Music [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Tom Gordon, Professor Emeritus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Meeting through Song: Pre-contact Inuit and Moravian Music Traditions in Dialogue [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Christopher Ogburn, Moravian Music Foundation, Finding a Voice: Music and Identity for Nineteenth Century American Moravians [ABSTRACT PDF]

12:30-2:00 pm

Lunch with Panel: Presenting and Interpreting Cultural Heritage – Echoes from a Symposium in Christiansfeld 2025
Buffet lunch is provided
Location: Saal
Moderator: Sally Ann Johnston

• Alice Caldwell, Independent Scholar, Supporting the Work of Performers Approaching Moravian Music with Historical and Cultural Authenticity
• Christina Ekström, University of Gothenburg, Strategies for Presenting Results from the Project “Music-making in the Single Sisters’ House in Christiansfeld” beyond the Academy
• Joel Speerstra, University of Gothenburg, Embodied Music-Making as Global Cultural Heritage: The Clavichord from a Moravian Perspective
• [ABSTRACT PDF]

2:00-3:30 pm

19:00-20:30 UTC

Session 16 – Heritage Preservation: Southern Province and Beyond
Location: Genadendal
Moderator: Thomas McCullough

• Martha Hartley, Old Salem Museums & Gardens, Historic Preservation and Moravian Legacy in the Southern Province: Old Salem and Beyond [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Justin Rabbach, Board of World Mission of the Moravian Church in North America, What We Wish We Knew: Designing Born-Digital Mission Archives for Future Moravian Heritage [ABSTRACT PDF]

Session 17 – Zinzendorf’s “Litany of the Wounds”
Location: Saal
Moderator: C. Riddick Weber

• Elisabeth von Baumbach, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (remote), Zinzendorf’s 34 Homilies on the Litany of the Wounds – A Moravian Emotional Style? [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Cosima Edith Macco-Winter, Heidelberg University, At Home in Cities, Temples, Tents, and Nests: “Heimat” as Metaphor in Zinzendorf’s Sermons on the Litany of the Wounds [ABSTRACT PDF]
• Chaz Snider (remote), The Heart Still Speaks: The Heritage and Theology of Arthur J. Freeman [ABSTRACT PDF]

5:30-7:00 pm

Reception
Location: Bahnson Center Kitchen and Lounge Area

9 and 11am

Worship at Central Moravian Church/Old Chapel
The worship service at Central (9:00 am Old Chapel and 11:00 am Sanctuary) offers a celebration of the decision to choose Christ as the Chief Elder for the Moravian Church. This decision, made on Sept. 16, 1741, and announced to congregations on November 13, recognizes that in our diversity throughout the Moravian world, we return and recenter ourselves in the leading, teachings, and love of Jesus Christ. This service will offer Holy Communion. All are welcome.    

1:15 pm departure;
2:00 pm concert

Optional trip to Nazareth
“1776 Tannenberg Organ Program“
Location: Moravian Historical Society (Whitefield House)
214 East Center Street, Nazareth, PA

History comes to life through the extraordinary sound of the Moravian Historical Society’s 1776 Tannenberg Organ, celebrating its 250th birthday this year alongside the nation’s 250th anniversary. This special concert invites audiences to experience the remarkable voice of one of America’s most historic instruments. The Moravian Historical Society’s Tannenberg organ is one of only nine surviving organs built by Moravian organ builder David Tannenberg, recognized as one of America’s most important early instrument builders. Originally installed in the Single Brethren’s House in Bethlehem, the organ was played for George Washington when he visited Bethlehem. The program will feature organist Thomas Dressler, a specialist in historic performing practices, who has performed for more than fifty years, frequently on some of the oldest and most significant organs in the United States. 

Tickets: $15 | $10 for MHS members | $5 for students with ID
Tickets are available here

Learn more at https://www.moravianhistory.org

2:00 pm

World Heritage Bethlehem tours
Tickets are available here