Elmer Schwieder's Books

A Peculiar People

Iowa's Old Order Amish

By: Elmer Schwieder,Dorothy Schwieder

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A Peculiar People

Iowa's Old Order Amish

By: Elmer Schwieder,Dorothy Schwieder

Now back in print with a new essay, this classic of Iowa history focuses on the Old Order Amish Mennonites, the state’s most distinctive religious minority. Sociologist Elmer Schwieder and historian Dorothy Schwieder began their research with the largest group of Old Order Amish in the state, the community near Kalona in Johnson and Washington counties, in April 1970; they extended their studies and friendships in later years to other Old Order settlements as well as the slightly less conservative Beachy Amish. A Peculiar People explores the origin and growth of the Old Order Amish in Iowa, their religious practices, economic organization, family life, the formation of new communities, and the vital issue of education. Included also are appendixes giving the 1967 “Act Relating to Compulsory School Attendance and Educational Standards”; a sample “Church Organization Financial Agreement,” demonstrating the group’s unusual but advantageous mutual financial system; and the 1632 Dortrecht Confession of Faith, whose eighteen articles cover all the basic religious tenets of the Old Order Amish. Thomas Morain’s new essay describes external and internal issues for the Iowa Amish from the 1970s to today. The growth of utopian Amish communities across the nation, changes in occupation (although The Amish Directory still lists buggy shop operators, wheelwrights, and one lone horse dentist), the current state of education and health care, and the conscious balance between modern and traditional ways are reflected in an essay that describes how the Old Order dedication to Gelassenheit—the yielding of self to the interests of the larger community—has served its members well into the twenty-first century.

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Page Count

215

Publisher

University of Iowa Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1587298481

ISBN 13

9781587298486

Buxton

A Black Utopia in the Heartland, An Expanded Edition

By: Dorothy Schwieder,Joseph Hraba,Elmer Schwieder

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Buxton

A Black Utopia in the Heartland, An Expanded Edition

By: Dorothy Schwieder,Joseph Hraba,Elmer Schwieder

From 1900 until the early 1920s, an unusual community existed in America's heartland-Buxton, Iowa. Originally established by the Consolidation Coal Company, Buxton was the largest unincorporated coal mining community in Iowa. What made Buxton unique, however, is the fact that the majority of its 5,000 residents were African Americans—a highly unusual racial composition for a state which was over 90 percent white. At a time when both southern and northern blacks were disadvantaged and oppressed, blacks in Buxton enjoyed true racial integration—steady employment, above-average wages, decent housing, and minimal discrimination. For such reasons, Buxton was commonly known as “the black man's utopia in Iowa.” Containing documentary evidence—including newspapers, census records, photographs, and state mining reports—along with interviews of 75 former residents, Buxton: Work and Racial Equality in a Coal Mining Community (originally published in 1987 and winner of the 1988 Benjamin Shambaugh Award) explored the Buxton experience from a variety of perspectives. The authors—an American historian, a family sociologist, and a race relations sociologist—provided a truly interdisciplinary history of one Iowa's most unique communities. Now, eighty years after the town's demise and fifteen years after Buxton's original publication, the history of this Iowa town remains a compelling story that continues to capture people's imaginations. In Buxton: A Black Utopia in the Heartland, the authors offer further reflections upon their original study and the many former Buxton residents who shared their memories. In the new essay, “A Buxton Perspective,” issues such as social class and the town's continuing legacy are addressed. The voices captured inBuxton, although recorded over twenty years ago, still resonate with exuberance, affection, and poignancy; this expanded edition will bring their amazing stories back to the forefront of Iowa and American history.

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Page Count

277

Publisher

University of Iowa Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1587298953

ISBN 13

9781587298950

A Peculiar People

Iowa's Old Order Amish

By: Elmer Schwieder,Dorothy Schwieder

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A Peculiar People

Iowa's Old Order Amish

By: Elmer Schwieder,Dorothy Schwieder

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

215

Publisher

University of Iowa Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1587298481

ISBN 13

9781587298486

Buxton

A Black Utopia in the Heartland, An Expanded Edition

By: Dorothy Schwieder,Joseph Hraba,Elmer Schwieder

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Buxton

A Black Utopia in the Heartland, An Expanded Edition

By: Dorothy Schwieder,Joseph Hraba,Elmer Schwieder

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

277

Publisher

University of Iowa Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1587298953

ISBN 13

9781587298950

Book's by Elmer Schwieder

A Peculiar People

A Peculiar People

Buxton

Buxton

A Peculiar People

A Peculiar People

Buxton

Buxton

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