Patrick Donmoyer

Patrick Donmoyer, formerly of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, is the Site Director at the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, a folklife museum and research center on the Kutztown Campus. A fluent speaker of Pennsylvania Dutch and advocate for regional folk culture, Patrick’s work blends language, ritual traditions, and vernacular architecture in his folklife research. He is the author of numerous articles, and two books, the most recent of which is entitled "Hex Signs: Myth and Meaning in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars" (2013), as well as "Der Freund in der Noth, or The Friend in Need: An Annotated Translation of an Early Pennsylvania Folk-Healing Manual" (2012). He also edited the posthumous work of Dr. Don Yoder, Father of the American Folklife Studies movement, entitled: "The German Bible in America" (2016), as well as the 25th Anniversary Edition of Dr. Yoder's folklife manifesto, "Discovering American Folklife" (2015), and dedicated an exhibition catalog entitled "Powwowing in Pennsylvania" (2015) to the legacy of Dr. Yoder. He is currently completing a forthcoming book, lecture series, and traveling exhibition on the ritual traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch.