The "Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum: The Contact" Story

Foreword: Over the next few months I will post a few stories about the historical Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum.  The place, located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, came about because of the forethought of brothers George and Henry Landis.  Seems that their German ancestors had settled in Lancaster County during the early 1700's.  

Brothers Henry Kinzer Landis (1865-1855) (left) and George
Diller Landis (1867-1954) opened their museum at their
Landis Valley residence which had been a small Pennsylvania
German settlement since the mid-1800's.

Realizing the significance of their culture and its traditions, they began to collect objects from their Pennsylvania German heritage from the 1700's and 1800's with the intention of placing the objects in a museum.  In the 1920's they established a small museum on the grounds of their Landis Valley homestead, using many of the 75,000 objects they had collected.  Then, in 1953, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired the Landis brothers' museum and began to add more structures which were original to the Landis Valley environs.  Today the museum includes exhibit buildings, a crossroads village, historical breeds of animals and heirloom plants.  All that plus demonstrations of traditional crafts and skills are helping to preserve the past of Pennsylvania German rural life.  It is the largest Pennsylvania German museum in the country and provides its visitors with an overview of two brother's passion for collecting "things of the past."

The Weathervane Museum Store taken on Polaoid film and altered.

It was an ordinary day.  Standing on the porch of the Weather- vane Museum Store, now called the Landis Valley Museum Store, talking with Bob who handles sales of items on consignment to the store.  I showed him my altered Polaroid photos that I had taken perhaps 30 years ago and asked if he was interested in selling them in the store.  He looked through the samples I had brought and looked at me and with a smile told me that he had just talked to his boss a short time ago about having a photographer come to Landis Valley to take photos of the buildings that could be sold to visitors of the farm museum.  

The Landis Valley Museum Store as it appears today.

Looks like I arrived at just the right time!  Back in the 1980's, after discovering that I could take Polaroid photos and alter the image as it slowly developed with a tool given to me by an art teacher where I taught school, I visited what was then known as the Landis Valley Farm Museum and took my first "official" Polaroid of the Weathervane Museum Store.  Took it home and showed my wife who said, "I'll bet you could sell copies of that photo at Landis Valley."  And now, 30 years later, it looks like that may be a possibility.  Bob and I talked about what I charge and after hearing my prices told me he was very interested in seeing more photos.  Viola!!  I opened my photo album and leafed to the rear and showed him the 15-20 photos I had taken of Landis Valley Farm Museum.  Just about all of the buildings still remain and he picked out nine photos and told me to make a variety of sizes and he would put them on sale at the store.  So, finally, I may get the chance to sell a few more of my altered  Polaroids.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.