Selling the Amish: The Tourism of Nostalgia

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments D uringthemorethanfifteenyearsthatIhavebeenresearchingand writing this book, I have accumulated many debts of gratitude for the assistance given to me. Among the helpful persons in the Holmes County settlement in Ohio, I want especially to thank Elsie Sommers (co-owner with her husband, Junior Sommers, of Sommers General Store), who graciously talked with me at length about tourism in Berlin. Leslie Keser and Patricia Keser were crucial for helping me to understand the history of Sugarcreek as a tourist destination. Others, such as Ruth Schlabach, Rebecca Miller, Gloria Yoder, and Steve Mullet, generously shared information from their experience in business and with tourists and helped to nuance my readings of Amish Country tourism. I also wish to recognize the crucial assistance of Mike Huber, at the Elkhart County Travel and Visitors Bureau, and Shasta Mast, at the Holmes County Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, for sharing statistical data with me and answering my many questions concerning that data. Also, I remember Raymond Stutzman, now deceased, who introduced me to his friends in the Swartzentruber Amish community, who, trusting him, allowed me to photograph and study their plain style of living. I owe the greatest debt to Joan and Jake Mast. Welcoming me warmly and thoroughly into their lives, they shared with me a great deal of wisdom about Amish life and Amish Country tourism. And they tirelessly and always lovingly embraced the opportunity to spend time with my children, their grandchildren, as I spent countless hours exploring Ohio Amish Country tourism in their hometown and elsewhere. To the communities of academics to which I have had the great privilege of being connected, I owe many debts of gratitude. As I formulated, wrote, and revised my arguments, many scholars helped me to sharpen my focus as well as my prose. I thank scholars within the field of speech communication ,likeGregorySpicerandG.ThomasGoodnight,whoreadone or more of my chapters or listened to my conference presentations, encouraged me to continue the project, and offered specific ideas for improvement . I thank scholars within the field of Amish and Anabaptist studies , such as John Roth, Steve Nolt, Tom Meyers, David Weaver-Zercher, and Diane Zimmerman Umble, who took my work seriously, engaged it in their own scholarship, and/or gave me good reason to reconsider one or another claim. Perry Bush provided ongoing inspiration to me to complete the book, not only through his explicit words of encouragement but also in his wonderfully visible passion for his own work, which reminded me of my enthusiasm for mine. And I owe a special debt of gratitude to John Kampen, who served as proof that it is possible to serve one’s institution and one’s students while maintaining an active research program, and who, when I really needed it, challenged me to devote time to my research. Faculty and staff at the University of Dayton have also provided me with crucial assistance and support. Ria Kapluck, an IT support specialist , helped me to get all of my photographs well cropped and in the proper format. Heidi Gauder, coordinator of instruction at the Roesch Library, gave me essential help in locating current studies and statistics as well as regular encouragement. Sheryl Brittig, a librarian with expertise in art and architecture, assisted me in identifying a work of art important in one of the chapters. Una Cadegan’s clear and elegant prose inspired me to keep revising mine, and her enthusiasm for celebrating every step toward completion brought countless moments of joy to the project. By her relentless efforts, as dear friend and wonderful department chair, Sheila Hassell Hughes minimized administrative demands on my time so that I could complete revisions. I want especially to thank Anthony Smith, scholar of religion and popular culture, who not only read each chapter carefully but also talked through each one with me at length. His insights were brilliant and his enthusiasm for the project was infectious, so that I always left those conversations with renewed energy. In addition to these individuals , I express my deep gratitude to Dean Paul Benson, Associate Dean Don x฀ :฀acknowledgments ;฀ Pair, and all of the members of the English Department at the University of Dayton for their warm welcome of me to this grace-filled community. At a conference long ago when I presented one of my first papers on this topic, Donald Kraybill took an interest in my project. His affirmation gave me confidence...