Dipper c. 1938

Jacob Gielens made this watercolor and graphite drawing of a dipper, sometime between 1874 and 1955. It's a humble object, simply rendered, but it evokes a particular time and place. Gielens was born in the Netherlands, but this image belongs to a series of renderings of Pennsylvania German objects. Pennsylvania German culture thrived from the 17th to the 19th centuries in rural communities in the American Mid-Atlantic. Many of these communities were relatively isolated, helping them to preserve distinct cultural traditions. Everyday objects, like this dipper, took on symbolic importance. Renderings of these objects, such as those made by Gielens, elevated them to the status of cultural artifacts worthy of preservation. The broader history of this image and others like it can be explored through historical societies, museums, and archives. The act of preservation gives special meaning to this image.