Home What´s New   Search this site   About this site   About R & T   Overview   History   Membership   The Whistle   Photo Albums   Reg. Events   Special   Articles   Visitors Info   2008 Schedule     Tractor Pulls   Regulations   Register form   Exhibitor Info   Gift Shop   Organization   Officers&Dir's   Committees   Volunteer Corner   What is it?   Contacting Us     October 2, 2000		The History of Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association, Inc. 1948 - 1988 as told by Marie Bongiavonni Page 3 of 3   Throughout the years, Rough and Tumble has hosted diverse events in response to popular demand. For example, in the 1970s, tractor pulls were well attended and raised money for the organization´s building fund. In addition, Rough and Tumble has sponsored an increasingly integrated annual reunion where everyone can show their pride and joy, whether it´s steam, gas engines, gas tractors, models, hobbies, crafts, or antique farm machinery. Every reunion features demonstrations of stone crushing, sawmill operations, and grinding flour, along with music of all sorts - from fiddlin´ and pickin´, to uplifting hymns, to the distinctive melodies of a handcrafted steam calliope. And each year, a special display highlights a specific line of tractors, farm machinery, and related memorabilia. For example, exhibits have included International Harvester, John Deere, J. I. Case, Allis Chalmers, Oliver, Minneapolis-Moline, and the International J. I. Case Expo. Based upon studies of the interaction between play and work, "the steam and gas hobby has different aspects - collecting, restoring, and modeling. And the show is where all those things fit together," said Malachi O´Connor, who has extensively researched the association while working on a doctoral degree in folklore and folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. "At Rough and Tumble, they seem to have taken a Lancaster County work ethic, right out of the Pennsylvania German tradition, and transferred this to a secular way of looking at things that emphasizes realizing and fulfilling yourself through your work." Whether it´s putting on the shows or restoring engines, it´s totally volunteer. They´re not paid. Nobody´s paid. This is love. It´s not just love, but it´s doing what you know best. All the time. And it´s social. On the first Saturday of the month from March through November, workdays are well-attended at the museum. Participants enjoy fun, fellowship, and nowadays, in return for a day´s labor, a traditional Lancaster County noon meal prepared by the ladies auxiliary. "When we organized the auxiliary in 1978, we decided it would be a way to maybe get more fellows out to work and to keep the group closer knit," said Hazel Stauffer, first president of the auxiliary. Whether working or relaxing, Rough and Tumblers are fascinated by power. Although there are many hand- and horse-powered tools, the real issue at Rough and Tumble is power. Steam power, gas power, traction engines for agricultural . . ., stationary engines for industrial and around the farm, single cylinder gas engines.... "I think that what´s going on at Rough and Tumble is very important for various reasons, including the way that they approach the past," O´Connor said. "There are loads of places that try to reconstruct the past, but they give you a very static reconstruction. "In much of our society, leisure time is spent by many in consuming the past. They buy pieces of it. Or they eat it. Or they visit someplace. But they never actually see it, touch it, or feel it. They never actually become involved in the past. As a result, many are never really satisfied. . . ." But at Rough and Tumble, both volunteers and tourists become actively involved with the past. At Rough and Tumble, folks are involved physically as well as mentally with historical objects. As a result, they get a chance to enter the mind and mindset of the maker, though O´Connor emphasized that the current experience is reinterpreted by the participant. And the thing that tourists enjoy at Rough and Tumble that they don´t get elsewhere is that not only do the workers work, but the machines actually work. Visitors can actually smell the steam, get dirty from the soot, and get a little bit of a flavor of what it was actually like. They can hear an engine bark. And they can listen. It´s a multisensory experience. A real kinesic. It´s not the same as going to another museum where engines run on fairly sweetsmelling stuff or run on air instead of steam. At Rough and Tumble, you can see the action. "Right now - in 1988 - we´re starting at a great divide," said Dwight L. Groff, Rough and Tumble´s president. "Folks who are 50 plus years and older are able to reminisce about machinery displayed.... But we have an altogether new crop of people coming on." Reminiscence and memories will no longer serve members and guests, so the museum must increasingly be used as a teaching tool. Textbooks are fine, but 'hands-on' is far better with Rough and Tumble. "Programming will have to be tailored around how much land we secure," Groff continued. "In looking towards the future, there´s been discussion of getting more land in a neighboring area. We´re a growing organization as far as artifacts and programs are concerned, and land will be a hinge as to how much bigger one can become. At present, we are almost able to grow more than we´re able to expand." The 1980s have generated considerable growth for Rough and Tumble, both in terms of show attendance and exhibitions. The past decade seems to have prompted greater commitment among membership, greater awareness among the public, and an increase in acquisitions. "People seem to be realizing that Rough and Tumble is really a stable place," he said, "more a growing and valuable museum than just a show."   © Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association, Kinzer, PA The above history is reprinted from the book "Rough and Tumble Engineering", which is itself a reprint of James H. Maggard´s "Book of Instructions for Operators of Farm and Traction Engines". The reprint was originally published in 1988 in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association. This book is available from the Rough and Tumble Gift Shop.
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