An Establishment of Order and Prosperity: Outsider Visitation to Moravian Bethlehem

Between 1741-1762, the Moravian town of Bethlehem changed from a church-controlled communal society to an open society. In this talk, Christopher Malone will discuss how outsider visitation precipitated this change. Outsiders flocked to Bethlehem for their health, entertainment, and for the church’s international trade connections, introducing the Moravians to the world’s changing tastes. Malone will illustrate how outsider visitation influenced Bethlehem's development from an economy based on supporting the Moravians' missionary goals to one that focused on providing goods and services to those outside of the Moravian community. 

Christopher Malone completed the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture in 2021. His thesis won the 2021 E. McClung Fleming Thesis Prize for the most distinguished thesis. A former staff member at the Moravian Historical Society, Malone is currently the curator at the American Swedish Historical Museum, a columnist for Maine Antiques Digest, and the creator of The Daily Antiquarian, a blog focusing on the history, architecture, and material culture of the Mid-Atlantic. 

Please note that the museum galleries, where the talk will take place, are on the second floor of our historic Whitefield House and are accessible only by stairs. The special exhibition galleries and Museum Store on the first floor are accessible via ramp.

This event is supported in part by the Northampton County Hotel Tax grant. 

Image: (Detail) View of Bethlehem from the southwest, 1784, watercolor and ink wash on paper, Nicholas Garrison, Jr. and Christian Friedrich Oerter, DP f.260.1, Moravian Archives, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.